title: Ontronik Khachaturian

text: Khachaturian was born to Armenian parents in Los Angeles, California. He met Daron Malakian and Shavo Odadjian in high school. He then met Serj Tankian when they decided in 1994 to form the band System of a Down. Together, they recorded a demo titled "Untitled 1995 Demo" and "Demo Tape 1". In 1996, they recorded "Demo Tape 2" and in 1997, recorded "Demo Tape 3" and "Demo Tape 4". In 1997, after spending three years with System of a Down, Khachaturian had to leave the band due to an injury inflicted while practicing Jeet Kune Do after punching a hole in the wall and breaking every bone in his hand. He was replaced by John Dolmayan, the current drummer of System of a Down.


title: Ontronik Khachaturian

text: In 1998, Khachaturian, with Art Karamian, David Hakopyan and Sammy J. Watson, decided to form the band The Apex Theory, bringing to market two music albums and an EP. In 2002, he left the band because of musical differences.


title: Ontronik Khachaturian

text: After leaving The Apex Theory, Khachaturian formed a rock band in 2004 with a group of friends, called VoKee. In 2010, he co-founded the industrial rock trio KillMatriarch and produced the first EP titled "Order Through Chaos". In 2012, the band disbanded and currently, Khachaturian is working in Los Angeles on his OnTronik solo project.


title: Svetlana Alexievich

text: Svetlana Alexandrovna Alexievich (born 31 May 1948) is a Belarusian investigative journalist, essayist and oral historian who writes in Russian. She was awarded the 2015 Nobel Prize in Literature "for her polyphonic writings, a monument to suffering and courage in our time". She is the first writer from Belarus to receive the award.


title: Svetlana Alexievich

text: Born in the west Ukrainian town of Stanislav (Ivano-Frankivsk since 1962) to a Belarusian father and a Ukrainian mother, Svetlana Alexievich grew up in Belarus. After graduating from high school she worked as a reporter in several local newspapers. In 1972 she graduated from Belarusian State University and became a correspondent for the literary magazine "Nyoman" in Minsk (1976).


title: Svetlana Alexievich

text: In a 2015 interview, she mentioned early influences: "I explored the world through people like Hanna Krall and Ryszard Kapuściński." During her career in journalism, Alexievich specialized in crafting narratives based on witness testimonies. In the process, she wrote artfully constructed oral histories of several dramatic events in Soviet history: the Second World War, Afghan War, dissolution of the Soviet Union, and the Chernobyl disaster.


title: Svetlana Alexievich

text: In 1989 Alexievich's book "Zinky Boys", about the fallen soldiers who had returned in zinc coffins from the Soviet-Afghan War of 1979 – 1985, was the subject of controversy, and she was accused of "defamation" and "desecration of the soldiers' honor". Alexievich was tried a number of times between 1992 and 1996. After political persecution by the Lukashenko administration, she left Belarus in 2000. The International Cities of Refuge Network offered her sanctuary, and during the following decade she lived in Paris, Gothenburg and Berlin. In 2011, Alexievich moved back to Minsk.


title: Svetlana Alexievich

text: Alexievich's books trace the emotional history of the Soviet and post-Soviet individual through carefully constructed collages of interviews. According to Russian writer and critic Dmitry Bykov, her books owe much to the ideas of Belarusian writer Ales Adamovich, who felt that the best way to describe the horrors of the 20th century was not by creating fiction but through recording the testimonies of witnesses. Belarusian poet Uladzimir Nyaklyayew called Adamovich "her literary godfather". He also named the documentary novel "I'm From Fire Village" () by Ales Adamovich, Janka Bryl and Uladzimir Kalesnik, about the villages burned by the German troops during the occupation of Belarus, as the main single book that has influenced Alexievich's attitude to literature. Alexievich has confirmed the influence of Adamovich and Belarusian writer Vasil Bykaŭ, among others. She regards Varlam Shalamov as the best writer of the 20th century.


title: Svetlana Alexievich

text: Her most notable works in English translation include a collection of first-hand accounts from the war in Afghanistan ("Zinky Boys: Soviet Voices from a Forgotten War") and an oral history of the Chernobyl disaster ("Chernobyl Prayer / Voices from Chernobyl"). Alexievich describes the theme of her works this way:


title: Svetlana Alexievich

text: Her first book, "War's Unwomanly Face", came out in 1985. It was repeatedly reprinted and sold more than two million copies. The book was finished in 1983 and published (in short edition) in "Oktyabr", a Soviet monthly literary magazine, in February 1984. In 1985, the book was published by several publishers, and the number of printed copies reached 2,000,000 in the next five years. This novel is made up of monologues of women in the war speaking about the aspects of World War II that had never been related before. Another book, "", describes personal memories of children during wartime. The war seen through women's and children's eyes revealed a new world of feelings.


title: Svetlana Alexievich

text: In 1992, Alexievich published "Boys in Zinc". The course of the Soviet-Afghan War (1979-1989) is told through emotive personal testimony from unnamed participants of the war; from nurses, to commissioned officers and pilots, mothers and widows. Each provides an excerpt of the Soviet-Afghan War which was disguised in the face of criticism first as political support, then intervention, and finally humanitarian aid to the Afghan people. Alexievich writes at the beginning of the book:


title: Svetlana Alexievich

text: Alexievich was not embedded with the Red Army due to her reputation in the Soviet Union; instead, she travelled to Kabul on her own prerogative during the war, and gathered many accounts from veterans returned from Afghanistan. In "Boys in Zinc", Alexievich calls herself 'a historian of the untraceable' and 'strive[s] desperately (from book to book) to do one thing - reduce history to the human being.' She brings brutally honest accounts of the war to lay at the feet of the Soviet people, but claims no heroism for herself: 'I went [to watch them assemble pieces of boys blown up by an anti-tank mine] and there was nothing heroic about it, because I fainted there. Perhaps it was from the heat, perhaps from the shock. I want to be honest.' The monologues which make up the book are honest (if edited for clarity) reproductions of the oral histories Alexievich collected, including those who perhaps did not understand her purpose: 'What's your book for? Who's it for? None of us who came back from there will like it anyway. How can you possibly tell people how it was? The dead camels and dead men lying in a single pool of blood, with their blood mingled together. Who wants that?' Alexievich was brought to trial in Minsk between 1992 and 1996, accused of distorting and falsifying the testimony of Afghan veterans and their mothers who were 'offended [...] that their boys were portrayed exclusively as soulless killer-robots, pillagers, drug addicts and rapists...' The trial, while apparently defending the honour of the army and veterans, is widely seen as an attempt to preserve old ideology in post-communist Belarus. The Belarus League for Human Rights claims that in the early 1990s multiple cases were directed against democratically inclined intelligentsia with politically motivated verdicts.


title: Svetlana Alexievich

text: In 1993, she published "Enchanted by Death", a book about attempted and completed suicides due to the downfall of the Soviet Union. Many people felt inseparable from the Communist ideology and unable to accept the new order surely and the newly interpreted history.


title: Svetlana Alexievich

text: Her books were not published by Belarusian state-owned publishing houses after 1993, while private publishers in Belarus have only published two of her books: "Chernobyl Prayer" in 1999 and "Second-hand Time" in 2013, both translated into Belarusian. As a result, Alexievich has been better known in the rest of world than in Belarus.


title: Svetlana Alexievich

text: She has been described as the first journalist to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature. She herself rejects the notion that she is a journalist, and, in fact, Alexievich's chosen genre is sometimes called "documentary literature": an artistic rendering of real events, with a degree of poetic license. In her own words:


title: Svetlana Alexievich

text: During the 2020 Belarusian protests Alexievich became a member of the Coordination Council of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya.


title: Svetlana Alexievich

text: On 20 August, Alexander Konyuk, the Prosecutor-General of Belarus, initiated criminal proceedings against the members of the Coordination Council under Article 361 of the Belarusian Criminal Code, on the grounds of attempting to seize state power and harming national security.


title: Svetlana Alexievich

text: On 26 August, Alexievich was questioned by Belarusian authorities about her involvement in the council.


title: Svetlana Alexievich

text: On 9 September 2020, Alexievich alerted the press that "men in black masks" were trying to enter her apartment in central Minsk. "I have no friends and companions left in the Coordinating Council. All are in prison or have been forcibly sent into exile," she wrote in a statement. "First they kidnapped the country; now it's the turn of the best among us. But hundreds more will replace those who have been torn from our ranks. It is not the Coordinating Council that has rebelled. It is the country." Diplomats from Lithuania, Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania, Slovakia, and Sweden began to keep a round-the-clock watch on Alexievich's home to prevent her abduction by security services.


title: Svetlana Alexievich

text: On 28 September 2020, Alexievich left Belarus for Germany, promising to return depending on political conditions in Belarus. Prior to her departure, she was the last member of the Coordination Council who was not in exile or under arrest.


title: Svetlana Alexievich

text: In August 2021, her book "The Last Witnesses" was excluded from the school curriculum in Belarus and her name was removed from the curriculum. It was assumed that the exclusion was made for her political activity.


title: Svetlana Alexievich

text: Following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, she commented that "providing a territory for an aggressor country is nothing but complicity in a crime" in relation to Belarusian involvement in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.


title: Svetlana Alexievich

text: Alexievich is a member of the advisory committee of the Lettre Ulysses Award. She will give the inaugural Anna Politkovskaya Memorial Lecture at the British Library on 9 October 2019. The lecture is an international platform to amplify the voices of women journalists and human rights defenders working in war and conflict zones.


title: Pras

text: Prakazrel Samuel Michel (; born October 19, 1972) is a Haitian-American rapper, producer, songwriter and actor. He is best known as a member of the hip hop group Fugees, alongside Wyclef Jean and Lauryn Hill. After the Fugees, he earned two Top 40 hits, the Grammy-nominated song "Ghetto Supastar (That Is What You Are)" featuring Ol' Dirty Bastard and Mýa from the film "Bulworth," and "Avenues" with Refugee Camp All-Stars and Ky-Mani Marley.


title: Pras

text: Born in Brooklyn, New York City and raised in Irvington, New Jersey, Pras cultivated an early interest in music. When he was 15, he met Lauryn Hill, while both attended Columbia High School in Maplewood, New Jersey. In 1988, Pras introduced Lauryn to Wyclef Jean. Pras Michel, Wyclef Jean and Lauryn Hill began to rehearse under the guidance of Kool and the Gang's producer, Ronald Khalis Bell, and subsequently they formed a musical group called The Rap Translators in 1989 (also known as Tranzlator Crew.)


title: Pras

text: In 1994, before and during the time that The Fugees were recording their first album "Blunted on Reality", under the supervision of Ronald Khalis Bell, Pras attended Rutgers University and Yale University, pursuing a double major in Philosophy and Psychology. In 1996, The Fugees achieved historic crossover success with "The Score", which went multi-platinum. Pras has also forged a successful solo career, beginning with an international hit single from his first full-length solo LP, "Ghetto Supastar (That Is What You Are)", featuring Mýa and Ol' Dirty Bastard. "Ghetto Superstar" became a top ten single in 1999, and the eighth most played single; it earned Pras a performance at the World Music Awards. The hit single was included in the soundtrack for the film "Bulworth". "Ghetto Supastar" spent eight weeks in the UK Top 5, peaking at No. 2 in July 1998, and reached US No. 15 a month later. "Blue Angels", from the same album, was a UK Top 10 hit, reaching No. 6 in November. Pras also featured on the track "Turn You On" by Swedish artist DeDe which was released in 2007. "Turn You On" was also written and produced by Pras Michél. After nine weeks on Sweden's single chart, it peaked at No. 2. He also featured "Pushin'" from the album "Equalize" by Swami, which was released in 2007.


title: Pras

text: After his cameo debut in the 1999 feature film "Mystery Men", Pras gained an interest in Hollywood. In 2000, Pras starred in the New Line film, "Turn It Up." In early 2002, he appeared in the Sony and Urban World release "Higher Ed," and "Go for Broke" in which he starred and produced. He also co-starred in three 20th Century Fox films in 2007. These included "The Mutant Chronicles".


title: Pras

text: In 2006, Pras created "Skid Row, Los Angeles", a documentary account of his nine-day experience posing as a homeless person living in downtown Los Angeles. Using a hidden camera, Pras captured the reality of homelessness. The film was produced by Teryn Fogel. "Skid Row" was released on August 24, 2007.


title: Pras

text: In 2009, Pras travelled to Somalia to film the documentary "Paper Dreams" which examines piracy off the African coast. During filming, pirates invaded the ship he was on, the "MV Maersk Alabama", and took the captain of the ship hostage. Due to be released in 2014, the documentary remains unfinished due to a legal dispute.


title: Pras

text: In 2015, Pras completed a documentary, "Sweet Micky For President", which chronicles the rise of Haitian musician Michel Martelly, through his election to fight corruption as President of Haiti, an election campaign that was strongly endorsed by Pras. The film had its World premiere at the 2015 Slamdance Film Festival.


title: Pras

text: In 2013, Michel became a "top initial donor" to Organizing for Action, a political advocacy group formed by Obama associates in January 2013.


title: Pras

text: The United States Department of Justice indicted Michel on May 10, 2019, for his part in a criminal conspiracy that alleges, between June 2012 and November 2012, he aided in the illegal transfer of approximately $865,000 from foreign entities into the Barack Obama 2012 presidential campaign as purportedly legitimate contributions, stolen from the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB). Ultimately it was alleged that $21 million in foreign campaign contributions was funneled into the 2012 US presidential election. to benefit political candidate "A". The "Washington Post" identified "Candidate A" as B. Obama.


title: Pras

text: In June 2021, Michel was charged by a federal grand jury for running a back-channel campaign to get the Trump administration to drop an investigation of Jho Low and the 1MDB investment company.


title: Saul Williams

text: Saul Stacey Williams (born February 29, 1972) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, musician, poet, writer, and actor. He is known for his blend of poetry and alternative hip hop, and for his lead roles in the 1998 independent film "Slam" and the 2013 jukebox musical "Holler If Ya Hear Me".


title: Saul Williams

text: Saul Stacey Williams was born in Newburgh, New York, on February 29, 1972, the youngest of three children. He attended Newburgh Free Academy, where he wrote his song "Black Stacey". He graduated from Morehouse College with a BA in acting and philosophy, then moved to New York City, where he earned an MFA in acting from New York University's Graduate Acting Program at the Tisch School of the Arts. While at New York University, he became part of the New York café poetry scene. He also lived in Brazil as an exchange student from 1988 to 1989.


title: Saul Williams

text: By 1995, Williams had become an open mic poet. In 1996, he won the title of Nuyorican Poets Cafe's Grand Slam Champion. The documentary film "SlamNation" follows Williams and the other members of the 1996 Nuyorican Poets Slam team (Beau Sia, muMs da Schemer, and Jessica Care Moore) as they compete in the 1996 National Poetry Slam held in Portland, Oregon. The following year, Williams landed the lead role in the 1998 feature film "Slam". Williams featured as both a writer and actor in the film, which would win both the Sundance Festival Grand Jury Prize and the Cannes Camera D'Or (Golden Camera).


title: Saul Williams

text: Around 1998, Williams was also breaking into music. He had performed with such artists as Nas, The Fugees, Christian Alvarez, Blackalicious, Erykah Badu, KRS-One, Zack De La Rocha, De La Soul, Buckethead, and DJ Krust, as well as poets Allen Ginsberg and Sonia Sanchez. After releasing a string of EPs, he released the LP "Amethyst Rock Star" with producer Rick Rubin in 2001. In September 2004, he released his self-titled album to much acclaim. He played several shows supporting Nine Inch Nails on their European tour in summer 2005, and has also supported The Mars Volta. Williams was invited to the Lollapalooza music festival around that time, and the Chicago stage allowed Williams to attract a wider audience. He appeared on the Nine Inch Nails album "Year Zero", and supported the group on their 2006 tour of North America. On the tour, Williams announced that Trent Reznor would co-produce his next album.


title: Saul Williams

text: This collaboration resulted in 2007's "The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust!". The album was available only from its website until a physical CD was issued, featuring new tracks and extended album artwork. The first 100,000 customers on the website had the option to download a free lower-quality audio version of the album. The other option was for users to pay $5 to support the artist directly and be given the choice of downloading the higher-quality MP3 version or the lossless FLAC version. The material was produced by Trent Reznor and mixed by Alan Moulder. It was Reznor who said, after his own recent dealings with record labels, that they should release it independently and directly to the audience.


title: Saul Williams

text: In early 2008, a Nike Sparq Training commercial featured Williams' song "List of Demands (Reparations)". In a November 2008 interview with Wired.com, Williams talked about his forthcoming projects: "There's one album that I'm waist-deep into. I'm aiming to finish it up next month. Trent wants to work on a sequel for "Niggy" that I think would be cool, and I also have an album and new songs demoed at home that I'm ready to go into the studio and lay down. It’s a complete reflection of how I feel in this country; it's a very transformative time."


title: Saul Williams

text: Williams' fourth album, "Volcanic Sunlight", was released on November 11, 2011. Williams showcased the album at London's Hoxton Bar Kitchen on January 26, 2011. Livemusic interviewed Williams on the evening and made a subsequent film, produced by artist Alex Templeton-Ward. When Williams was asked what the point of poetry was, he said: "I'm making this up, I have no idea but here we go. I think that it would be to express, to share, to relieve, to explore. For me, poetry offers some what of a cathartic experience. I am able to move through emotions and emotional experience particularly, you know, break-ups, difficulties in all the things that I may face, whether that is with an industry or a loved one or whomever, there needs to be an infiltration process, like you have a window open over there. That is the purpose of poetry: it is the window that opens, that allows some air in, some other insight, some other possibility so we can explore all that we feel, all that we think but with the space to see more than what we know, because there is so much more than we know. If I didn't open myself to the possibilities of the unknown, then I would be lost."


title: Saul Williams

text: Williams' fifth album, "MartyrLoserKing", was released on January 29, 2016. The first single released from the album was "Burundi", a collaboration with Emily Kokal of Warpaint.


title: Saul Williams

text: In March 2018, The Kills released their cover of Williams' "List of Demands (Reparations)" and Williams opened for The Kills' sold-out performance at the Regent Theater in Los Angeles on August 13, 2018.


title: Saul Williams

text: As a writer, Williams has been published in "The New York Times", "Esquire", "Bomb Magazine", and "African Voices", as well as releasing four collections of poetry. As a poet and musician, Williams has toured and lectured across the world, appearing at many universities and colleges. In his interview in the book "Words in Your Face: A Guided Tour Through Twenty Years of the New York City Poetry Slam", Williams explained why he creates within so many genres: "It's not that I balance those arts out, all the different arts balance me out. So, that there is a certain type of emotion that is more easily accessible through music than poetry... some things are meant to be written, some are meant to be sung, some things are meant to be hummed, some things are made to be yelled, and so that's just how life works."


title: Saul Williams

text: In January 2009, he released "NGH WHT The Dead Emcee Scrolls with The Arditti Quartet", a reading of his 2006 poetry book of the same name. This collaboration with Thomas Kessler (who also set Williams' spoken-word track ",said the shotgun to the head" to music) was released with two payment options: listeners could download chapters 18 to 22 of the 27-minute composition in MP3 format for free, or could download the entire 33-chapter composition in lossless AIFF format for $6, along with the isolated vocal and quartet multitracks. The entire paid download totalled in size at 563 megabytes. Williams contributed to two tracks on the 2011 album "Baba Love" by Arthur H.


title: Saul Williams

text: Williams starred in "Slam" (1998) and "Today" (2012). On stage, he was chosen for the lead role in "Holler If Ya Hear Me", a Broadway musical featuring music by Tupac Shakur. Though it features Shakur's music, the musical is not about his life. It is an original script written by Todd Kreidler. "Rolling Stone" described the production as "the first hip-hop jukebox musical in Broadway history". The show opened on June 19, 2014. Williams' role in the musical landed him an interview on "The Colbert Report", where he spoke about his career and performed a poem entitled "Amethyst Rocks".


title: Saul Williams

text: He received a Canadian Screen Award nomination for Best Actor at the 9th Canadian Screen Awards in 2021, for his performance in the film "Akilla's Escape".


title: Saul Williams

text: In 2021, Neptune Frost, which Williams wrote and co-directed with Anisia Uzeyman, premiered in Cannes at Directors' Fortnight. The film was supported by a successful Kickstarter campaign in 2018.


title: Saul Williams

text: Williams is a vegan. He is a vocal critic of the War on Terrorism and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Among his better-known works are the anti-war anthems "Not in My Name" and "Act III Scene 2 (Shakespeare)". In 2011, he added his name to Occupy Musicians, supporting the worldwide Occupy movement against income inequality. He identifies as queer.


title: Saul Williams

text: Williams and Marcia Jones, a visual artist and art professor, began their relationship in 1995 as collaborative artists on the Brooklyn performance art and spoken word poetry circuit. Their daughter, Saturn, was born in 1996. A collection of poems by Williams entitled "S/HE" is a series of reflections on the demise of his relationship with Jones. Jones created the cover artwork for "The Seventh Octave", images throughout "S/HE" in response to Williams, and set-designed his 2001 album "Amethyst Rock Star". Saturn performed with her father on his 2008 concert tour. Williams also has a son named Xuly with renowned choreographer Fatima Robinson.


title: Saul Williams

text: On February 29, 2008 (his 36th birthday), Williams married actress Persia White after a five-year relationship. They met when he made a guest appearance on the series "Girlfriends". On January 17, 2009, White announced via her Myspace blog that she and Williams were no longer together. He is now married to actress Anisia Uzeyman. He lived in Paris for four years but now resides in Los Angeles.


title: Ghassan Massoud

text: Ghassan Massoud ( / ; born September 20, 1958) is a Syrian actor and filmmaker. He is best known in the West for his role as Saladin in Ridley Scott's 2005 film "Kingdom of Heaven".


title: Ghassan Massoud

text: Massoud is known in Syria for his appearance in many Syrian-made films, and writing and directing the theatre play "Diplomasiyyoun", and was part of the Syrian Ministry of Culture’s National Theater’s 2002 season. He has appeared in the Syrian television miniseries "The Chant of Rain", and in Haytham Hakky's well known work "Memories of the Forthcoming Age", and on the Syrian stage was an actor in August Strindberg's "Miss Julie". Most recently, he starred as the companion of Muhammad, Abu Bakr in MBC's series "Omar".


title: Ghassan Massoud

text: Internationally, he is known for playing the role of Ayyubid sultan Saladin in Ridley Scott's 2005 film "Kingdom of Heaven". He also played the "Sheikh" in the 2006 Turkish film "Kurtlar Vadisi: Irak" (""), Ammand the Corsair in "". and Ramesses II's Grand Vizier, Paser in Ridley Scott's 2014 Bible epic, "Exodus". Massoud turned down a role in the 2005 film "Syriana", claiming he feared the movie would be anti-Arab. Massoud also cited concerns regarding the political situation in his country and the wider region in declining the role. He later said he regretted his decision after seeing the completed film.


title: Ghassan Massoud

text: He is married and has a son and a daughter. Massoud teaches Drama at both the Damascus Music and Drama School and Higher Institute for Dramatic Arts.


title: Rohit Roy

text: Rohit Bose Roy (born 5 April 1969) is an Indian television and film actor. He is known for his role in Hindi television serials such as "Des Mein Niklla Hoga Chand" and "Swabhimaan". Besides working in television series, Roy has also acted in notable Bollywood movies such as "Kaabil", "Ek Khiladi Ek Haseena", "Apartment" and "Plan" among others. He starred in the movie "Shootout at Lokhandwala", in which he portrayed the character Fattu, one of the gang members. Roy has also directed a short film named "Rice Plate" – as a part of the anthology film "Dus Kahaniyaan". Roy launched his own fashion brand in the year 2020, "Rohit Roy for Styched", in association with "Styched Life".


title: Rohit Roy

text: Roy is a Bengali and he had spent his formative years in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. He did his schooling from St. Xavier's School, Ahmedabad. He is also an alumnus of St. Xavier's College, Ahmedabad. He is the younger son of businessman Brothindranath and Dolly Bose Roy. His elder brother, Ronit Roy is a well-known television and film actor.


title: Rohit Roy

text: Roy married actress Manasi Joshi Roy on 23 June 1999. They have one daughter together, Kiara. He can also speak Gujarati fluently.


title: Vladikavkaz

text: Vladikavkaz (, , , ;), formerly known as Ordzhonikidze () and Dzaudzhikau (), is the capital city of the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania, Russia. It is located in the southeast of the republic at the foothills of the Caucasus Mountains, situated on the Terek River. The city's population was 311,693 as of the 2010 Census. As a result, Vladikavkaz is one of the most populous cities in the North Caucasus region.


title: Vladikavkaz

text: The city is an industrial and transportation centre. Manufactured products include processed zinc and lead, machinery, chemicals, clothing and food products.


title: Vladikavkaz

text: From 1931 to 1944 and from 1954 to 1990, its name in both Russian and Ossetic languages was "Ordzhonikidze" () (after Sergo Ordzhonikidze, a Georgian Bolshevik), and from 1944 to 1954 it was officially called "Dzaudzhikau" () in Russian and () in Ossetic. "Vladikavkaz" resumed its old Russian name, in 1990, shortly before the dissolution of the Soviet Union; the official Ossetic name was reverted to "Дзæуджыхъæу" ("Dzæwdžyqæw").


title: Vladikavkaz

text: Russian troops built the Vladikavkaz fortress, which had the purpose of serving as an outpost for the routes of communication between Russia and Georgia. The Georgian Military Highway, crossing the mountains, was constructed in 1799 to link the city with Georgia to the south, and in 1875 a railway was built to connect it to Rostov-on-Don and Baku in Azerbaijan. Vladikavkaz has become an important industrial centre for the region, with smelting, refining, chemicals and manufacturing industries. During the Russian Empire, the settlement was the administrative capital of the Vladikavkazsky Okrug of the Terek Oblast.


title: Vladikavkaz

text: The city is one of the largest in the Russian-controlled Caucasus, along with Grozny, and was the capital of the Mountain Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, a Soviet Republic established after the annexation of the Mountainous Republic of the North Caucasus. It existed from 1921 to 1924 and comprised most of the modern-day territories of Chechnya, North Ossetia and Kabardino-Balkaria.


title: Vladikavkaz

text: Vladikavkaz was fought over in both the Russian Civil War and World War II. In February 1919, the anti-Communist Volunteer Army under General Anton Denikin seized the city, before being expelled by the Red Army in March 1920. In early November 1942, the forces of Nazi Germany tried unsuccessfully to seize the city but were repelled. The Nazis left North Ossetia in January 1943.


title: Vladikavkaz

text: On 26 November 2008, Vitaly Karayev, the mayor of Vladikavkaz was killed by an unidentified gunman. On 31 December 2008, his successor, Kazbek Pagiyev, was also killed by unidentified gunmen.


title: Vladikavkaz

text: Vladikavkaz is the capital of the republic. Within the framework of administrative divisions, it is, together with six rural localities, incorporated as Vladikavkaz City Under Republic Jurisdiction—an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the districts. As a municipal division, Vladikavkaz City Under Republic Jurisdiction is incorporated as Vladikavkaz Urban Okrug.


title: Vladikavkaz

text: The city is served by the bus network ("marshrutkas"). There are also tram (since 1904) and trolleybus (since 1977) networks, plus the main Vladikavkaz railway station.


title: Vladikavkaz

text: The Georgian Military Road, which is a part of European route E117, starts in Vladikavkaz and it connects the city with the South Caucasus.


title: Vladikavkaz

text: According to the 1917 publication of the "Caucasian Calendar", Vladikavkaz had 73,243 residents in 1916, the national composition was as follows:


title: Vladikavkaz

text: According to the results of the 2010 Census, the city population of Vladikavkaz was 330,148. The ethnic makeup of city's population was:


title: Vladikavkaz

text: FC Spartak Vladikavkaz was an association football club based in Vladikavkaz, which won the Russian Premier League in 1995. The club folded in 2020, and was succeeded by FC Alania Vladikavkaz.


title: Vladikavkaz

text: Vladikavkaz is home to one of the World's most prestigious Freestyle Wrestling academies, opened in February 2016: The Wrestling Academy of Aslan Khadartsev - the biggest wrestling academy in the South of Russia. It provides access to a number of facilities including a swimming pool, sauna, gym, personal dietitians, dorm rooms (which include a TV, comfortable beds, wardrobes, en-suite bathroom and showers), for 45 athletes and the main training hall, consisting of six mats- this academy is capable of hosting 250 wrestlers at one time. There have been many Olympic, World and European champions training at the Academy: Soslan Ramonov, Zaurbek Sidakov, Artur Naifonov, Chermen Valiev, Khetag Tsabolov are just some of the successful athletes in recent times to train and represent the Academy. This academy is also home to the Freestyle team of North Ossetia, to ensure a high-level of preparation and coaching is given to aid success in international and domestic tournaments.


title: Vladikavkaz

text: In Vladikavkaz, there is a guyed TV mast, tall, built in 1961, which has six crossbars with gangways in two levels running from the mast structure to the guys.


title: Vladikavkaz

text: The city's primary religion is Eastern Orthodox Christianity, which is followed by the majority of Ossetians, Russians and Georgians. The rest of the Ossetian population adheres to the next largest religion, Uatsdin, an Ossetian folk religion, which nationwide is followed by 29% of the population. The remainder follow Protestantism, Islam, Armenian Orthodoxy and other beliefs.


title: Vladikavkaz

text: Vladikavkaz experiences a humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification "Dfb") with warm, wet summers and cold, drier winters (though very mild for Russia).


title: Coastal Plain League

text: The Coastal Plain League (CPL) is a wood-bat collegiate summer baseball league, featuring college players recruited from throughout the nation. The league takes its name from the Class D level Coastal League which operated in the area from 1937 to 1952.


title: Coastal Plain League

text: The modern Coastal Plain League was formed with six teams in 1997. The league has expanded over the years with teams across North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and Georgia, with the 2023 addition of the Boone Bigfoots being the most recent expansion, bringing the league to 14 teams.


title: Coastal Plain League

text: The league was founded in 1997 by Pete Bock. Bock conceived the idea in the early 1990s while traveling long distances to the Valley Baseball League in Virginia to see his son, Jeff, play summer baseball. Bock, an experienced sports executive, wanted a collegiate summer league closer to his home. He acted on it and the Coastal Plain league began play for the 1997 season.


title: Coastal Plain League

text: "Playoff seedings based on overall record, so division champions listed are based on overall record."


title: Hong Kong flu

text: The Hong Kong flu, also known as the 1968 flu pandemic, was a flu pandemic whose outbreak in 1968 and 1969 killed between one and four million people globally. It is among the deadliest pandemics in history, and was caused by an H3N2 strain of the influenza A virus. The virus was descended from H2N2 (which caused the Asian flu pandemic in 1957–1958) through antigenic shift, a genetic process in which genes from multiple subtypes are reassorted to form a new virus.


title: Hong Kong flu

text: The first recorded instance of the outbreak appeared on 13 July 1968 in British Hong Kong. It has been speculated that the outbreak began in mainland China before it spread to Hong Kong; On 11 July, before the outbreak in the colony was first noted, the Hong Kong newspaper "Ming Pao" reported an outbreak of respiratory illness in Guangdong Province, and the next day, "The Times" issued a similar report of an epidemic in southeastern China. Later reporting suggested that the flu had spread from the central provinces of Sichuan, Gansu, Shaanxi, and Shanxi, which had experienced epidemics in the spring. However, due to a lack of etiological information on the outbreak and a strained relationship between Chinese health authorities and those in other countries at the time, it cannot be ascertained whether the Hong Kong virus was to blame.


title: Hong Kong flu

text: The outbreak in Hong Kong, where the population density was greater than 6,000 people per square kilometre (20,000 per sq. mi.), reached its maximum intensity in two weeks. The outbreak lasted around six weeks, affecting about 15% of the population (some 500,000 people infected), but the mortality rate was low and the clinical symptoms were mild.


title: Hong Kong flu

text: There were two waves of the flu in mainland China, one between July–September in 1968 and the other between June–December in 1970. The reported data were very limited due to the Cultural Revolution, but retrospective analysis of flu activity between 1968 and 1992 shows that flu infection was the most serious in 1968, implying that most areas in China were affected at the time.


title: Hong Kong flu

text: Despite the lethality of the 1957–1958 pandemic in China, little improvement had been made regarding the handling of such epidemics.


title: Hong Kong flu

text: By 13 August, was clear to virologists that strains isolated from the outbreak in Hong Kong differed markedly from previous strains of influenza. However, they were not at the time considered to be an entirely new subtype of influenza A, only a variant of older strains. Nevertheless, the World Health Organization warned of potential worldwide spread of the virus on 16 August. An outbreak of influenza-like illness in Singapore during the second week of August was the first indication of spread outside of Hong Kong. Around the same time, an outbreak became apparent in the Philippines and Malaysia, and, before the end of the month, an epidemic was underway in the Republic of Vietnam.


title: Hong Kong flu

text: The first known cases of the flu in the United Kingdom were identified in early August in an infant and her mother in London with no history of travel or known contact with anyone with a history of travel from the Far East. More isolated cases soon followed, but it was not until September that larger outbreaks began occurring in school settings.


title: Hong Kong flu

text: In September 1968, the flu reached India, northern Australia, Thailand, and Europe. The same month, the virus entered the United States and was carried by troops returning from the Vietnam War, but it did not become widespread in the country until December 1968.


title: Hong Kong flu

text: During the second week of September, nearly 2000 participants from 92 countries, including some in southeast Asia where the flu was epidemic, met in Tehran for the Eighth International Congresses on Tropical Medicine and Malaria. An outbreak of influenza soon erupted among the participants, afflicting at least a third of them. The convention was the apparent origin of a broader outbreak within the capital city, which thereafter spread rapidly throughout Iran.


title: Hong Kong flu

text: The virus entered Japan repeatedly throughout August and September, but these introductions did not spark any larger outbreak. The first "true epidemic" began in early October, almost entirely confined to school settings.


title: Hong Kong flu

text: The development of the pandemic at first resembled that of the 1957 pandemic, which had spread unencumbered throughout the spring and summer and had become truly worldwide by October, by which point nearly all countries were experiencing their first or even second wave. However, the two experiences eventually diverged within a couple of months after their initial outbreaks. In 1968, many countries (e.g., the UK, Japan) did not immediately see outbreaks despite repeated introductions of the virus throughout August and September. Additionally, after September, there was little evidence of continued spread in new areas, despite similar importations of the virus into those areas. Epidemics did eventually develop during the winter months, but these were often mild (especially when compared to the US experience). In some countries (such as the UK and Japan), it was not until the following winter of 1969–1970 that truly severe epidemics developed.


title: Hong Kong flu

text: At the time of the outbreak, the Hong Kong flu was also known as the "Mao flu" or "Mao Tse-tung flu". The name "Hong Kong flu" was not used within the colony, where the press dubbed it the "killer flu" after the first several deaths. Before the end of July, the "South China Morning Post" predicted that "Fingers of scorn" would be directed at Hong Kong in the coming weeks and stated that the colony had "acted, unwillingly, in our old role as an entrepot for a sneeze". (An outbreak of influenza in Hong Kong had been the first one to occur outside of mainland China during the 1957–1958 pandemic and had been what alerted the rest of the world to the developing situation, when international press began to report on it.)


title: Hong Kong flu

text: A city councilor later decried the widespread adoption of the name "Hong Kong flu", claiming that it was "giving Hong Kong a bad name". He asked why foreign press and health authorities did not refer to it by its "proper name—China flu". China certainly did not escape associations with the new virus, however, as the name "Mao flu" suggests. It was speculated even at the time that the virus had originated from "Red China". These differing names for the flu resulted in some confusion: In January 1969, a British member of parliament asked David Ennals, the Secretary of State for Social Services, "in what way the characteristics of Mao flu can be distinguished from those of Hong Kong flu". In addition to these names, the virus was also often referred to as "Asian flu" or "Asiatic flu", as it was not yet considered an entirely different subtype from the previously circulating influenza A.


title: Hong Kong flu

text: Worldwide deaths from the virus peaked in December 1968 and January 1969, when public health warnings and virus descriptions had been widely issued in the scientific and medical journals. Isolated countries like Albania reported the first cases of the flu in December 1969, reaching a peak in infections in the first months of the year 1970. In Berlin, the excessive number of deaths led to corpses being stored in subway tunnels, and in West Germany, garbage collectors had to bury the dead because of a lack of undertakers. In total, East and West Germany registered 60,000 estimated deaths. In some areas of France, half of the workforce was bedridden, and manufacturing suffered large disruptions because of absenteeism. The UK postal and rail services were also severely disrupted.


title: Hong Kong flu

text: After a major epidemic of H2N2 during the 1967–1968 flu season that resulted in outbreaks in all but four states, the Communicable Disease Center (today the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) in June 1968 forecasted little or no activity in 1968–1969. The vaccines for the upcoming season would incorporate the then-circulating seasonal flu strains, and the CDC's recommendations for their use extended mainly to individuals in older age groups (over the age of 45) and the chronically ill.


title: Hong Kong flu

text: Following the outbreak in Hong Kong and the recognition that it had been caused by a new variant of influenza, the CDC on 4 September revised its prediction for the 1968–1969 season. An extensive outbreak across the country was now more likely. It repeated more strongly its recommendation that existing vaccines go only to those at highest risk and recommended vaccinating or revaccinating this group once the monovalent vaccine specific to the new variant became available.


title: Hong Kong flu

text: The first cases of the virus were reported in Atlanta on 2 September. The first was a Marine Corps major returning from Vietnam, who fell ill four days after arriving back in the US. Two days later, his wife, who had not left the country, fell ill as well. The first outbreak occurred in a Marine Corps school in San Diego that same week. Before the end of the week, influenza surveillance was heightened all across the country, and summaries of the data were thereafter reported regularly by the CDC each week in its "Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report". Further outbreaks among military personnel with connections to southeast Asia were soon to follow during the middle of September.


title: Hong Kong flu

text: Isolated cases, mostly in those recently returning from the Far East, seeded the virus across the country throughout September. The first outbreaks in the civilian population occurred in late September and in October, and activity increased markedly throughout November, affecting 21 states by Thanksgiving.


title: Hong Kong flu

text: The epidemic became widespread in December, involving all 50 states before the end of the year. Outbreaks occurred in colleges and hospitals, in some places the disease attacking upwards of 40% of their populations. Reports of absenteeism among students and nurses grew. Schools in Los Angeles, for example, reported rates ranging from 10 to 25%, compared to a typical 5 or 6%. The Greater New York Hospital Association reported absenteeism of 15 to 20% among staff and urged its members to impose visitor restrictions to safeguard patients.


title: Hong Kong flu

text: Institutions in many states dismissed their students early for the holidays. In New York and many other areas, holiday sales suffered mid-December, which affected retailers blamed on the flu epidemic (though inflation could have contributed to this as well). Economic activity was also hampered by high levels of industrial absenteeism.


title: Hong Kong flu

text: On 18 December, it was reported that President Johnson had been hospitalized at Bethesda Naval Hospital with flu-like symptoms, but whether the new variant was the cause of his illness was not made clear. He returned to the White House on 22 December. Vice President Humphrey was also reported to be ailing from the flu on the day Johnson's condition was revealed. Flu-like illness kept other senior governmental officials from their posts around this time, such as National Security Advisor Walt Rostow, Deputy White House Press Secretary Tom Johnson, and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Earle Wheeler. On 23 December, it was reported that President-elect Nixon had been ill with the flu at his daughter's wedding the day before. Nixon later claimed that "the wedding cured the flu."


title: Hong Kong flu

text: Peak influenza activity for most states most likely occurred in the latter half of December or early January, but the exact week was impossible to determine due to the holiday season. Activity declined throughout January. Excess pneumonia-influenza mortality passed the epidemic threshold during the first week of December and increased rapidly over the next month, peaking in the first half of January. It took until late March for mortality to return to normal levels. There was no second wave during this season.


title: Hong Kong flu

text: Following the epidemic of influenza A, outbreaks of influenza B began in late January and continued until late March. Mostly elementary-school children were affected. This influenza B activity fit within the pattern of epidemics every three to six years, but the 1968–1969 flu season became the first documented instance of two major influenza A epidemics to occur in successive seasons.


title: Hong Kong flu

text: Given the widespread epidemic levels of influenza A activity in 1968–1969, the CDC in June 1969 predicted little more than "sporadic cases" of influenza A in the 1969–1970 season. Influenza activity was indeed less than the preceding season, but there was "considerably more" than expected. The flu affected 48 states the following season but was widespread in only six, compared to 44 out of the 50 states in which activity was reported in 1968–1969.


title: Hong Kong flu

text: In October 1969, the CDC, alongside Emory University, collaborated with the WHO to host an international conference on the novel influenza in Atlanta. A wide range of topics was discussed, including the origin and path of the pandemic, the experiences of individual countries, and effective control measures, such as vaccination.


title: Hong Kong flu

text: It became apparent once the extent of antigenic variation in the virus was recognized that a new vaccine would be needed to protect against it. However, production of the previously recommended vaccines in the US had concluded by July 1968, and supply of fertilized chicken eggs, in which flu vaccines are grown, was limited. The first cultures of the virus were provided to manufacturers in August by the Division of Biologics of the National Institutes of Health for preliminary study. A strain isolated in Japan was sent to the US and, after showing greater potential for vaccine production, was given to manufacturers on 9 September.


title: Hong Kong flu

text: In 1968, American microbiologist Maurice Hilleman was head of the virus and vaccination research programs at the pharmaceutical firm Merck & Co., one of the licensed vaccine manufacturers in the US. Hilleman, as the director of the Department of Respiratory Diseases at the Army Medical School (now the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research), had foreseen the 1957 pandemic and kickstarted vaccine production then. He was similarly instrumental in the development of the 1968 pandemic vaccine and, with the use of the Japanese strain, helped initiate early production. Merck would go on to produce over 9 million of the nearly 21 million doses of vaccine produced. The other half was produced together by Eli Lilly & Co., Lederle Laboratories, Parke Davis & Co., the National Drug Company, and Wyeth Laboratories. All of these except Wyeth had been involved in the production of the 1957 vaccine.


title: Hong Kong flu

text: On 15 November, 66 days after the production strain became available, the first batch of 110,000 doses of vaccine was released, most of which went to the Armed Forces. This represented a quicker turnaround than the release of the first doses of the 1957 vaccine, which took three months after its production strain became available. At this time, the flu was spreading fast around the country. There was much interest within the press and among public figures in the vaccine. On 18 November, the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association announced that 17.5 million doses would be available for civilian use but said that "substantial quantities" would only come after the New Year. By the end of the year, over 10 million doses had been released. At this point, influenza was widespread in the country.


title: Hong Kong flu

text: Notably, the crew of Apollo 8 received the vaccine on 3 December prior to their mission later in the month. President Johnson received "two types" of vaccine prior to his bout of flu in December, but it is not clear if one of these was the pandemic vaccine. Johnson, 60 at the time, was in poor health and had been hospitalized several times during his presidency. He thus would have been prioritized for vaccine given the CDC recommendations, even outside of being the president.


title: Hong Kong flu

text: Lots of vaccine continued to be released throughout January 1969, with nearly 21 million doses available by the end of the month. By this point, however, influenza activity and subsequent mortality had already peaked. Demand for the vaccine diminished and a considerable surplus remained. Given the time it took to build up antibodies, it is unlikely a significant number of people were effectively immunized to alter the course of the epidemic. Hilleman himself would later acknowledge that the vaccine was "too little and too late" for most of the country. However, it was estimated that a "considerably higher" proportion of the recommended priority group of older and chronically ill persons received the pandemic vaccine than in 1957. Nevertheless, even after the debacle that was the vaccination effort in 1957, US health officials by 1968 still had "no meaningful information regarding [influenza vaccine's] actual distribution", such as "to what extent it actually reaches persons at highest risk."


title: Hong Kong flu

text: Following the epidemic in the US, leftover vaccine was made available for the southern hemisphere and parts of Europe where the main outbreak had not yet happened. The Japanese strain of the new variant was incorporated into the bivalent vaccines recommended for the 1969–1970 flu season in the US.


title: Hong Kong flu

text: Outside the US, vaccination efforts were undertaken in many countries in anticipation of an epidemic. In contrast to US policy, Japan had, since 1963, carried out mass vaccination campaigns against influenza every year regardless of whether an epidemic was expected. This began with the immunization of all children in kindergartens and primary and secondary schools followed by the vaccination of those working in crowded conditions. Enough vaccine was produced each year to vaccinate about 24 million people (nearly a quarter of Japan's population at this time), and this became the goal in 1968, targeting the same priority groups as in a typical flu season.


title: Hong Kong flu

text: The same Japanese strain used for vaccine production in the US was immediately sent out to the seven manufacturing firms in Japan. It was soon decided a bivalent vaccine consisting of two parts the new variant and one part influenza B would be produced, in contrast to the US's use of monovalent vaccine. The objective was also set that enough vaccine to immunize about 12 million people would be produced by the end of October, with the hope of at least vaccinating children to guard against an epidemic developing out of schools. After some delay, the mass vaccination campaign was nearly completed before the end of the year.


title: Hong Kong flu

text: Yugoslavia received the Japanese strain in mid-October and immediately began experimental trials prior to large-scale production. During this time before the new vaccine was ready, 1.5 million doses of seasonal influenza A vaccine were distributed for use. Ten million doses of the pandemic vaccine had been produced by mid-January 1969, and nearly 1 million people were immunized before the end of February. About 100,000 doses were designated for the mass immunization of schoolchildren.


title: Hong Kong flu

text: In Denmark, the influenza department at the governmental Statens Serum Institut produced about 200,000 doses of pandemic vaccine during the winter of 1968–1969, incorporating a strain isolated in Stockholm. There were no particular difficulties in production, but yield was poor.


title: Hong Kong flu

text: Millions of doses of vaccine were available in South Africa before its epidemic began at the end of March 1969, which afforded the opportunity to perform "limited studies" of its effectiveness.


title: Hong Kong flu

text: By January 1969, vaccine production in Australia was underway at the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories (CSL), then a department of the federal government. The trivalent pandemic vaccine, composed of two influenza A strains and a B strain, was anticipated for release in early March ahead of the winter flu season. The inoculation consisted of a two-dose series, each given four weeks apart.


title: Hong Kong flu

text: CSL was aggressive in its promotion of the vaccine, at least to doctors. A spokesman for the laboratories described the new virus as "the worst flu we have had" and called an epidemic that year "almost certain". In light of the situation, the Australian Pensioners Federation in early January wrote to Minister for Health Jim Forbes "demanding" that the vaccine be given free of charge to pensioners. In contrast to CSL's bolder predictions, Forbes described an outbreak that winter as "possible" but did not think it would "necessarily be serious or extensive". While the Department of Health reviewed the question of pandemic vaccine allocation in Australia, the government exported 1 million doses of its vaccine to Britain, already at the peak of its epidemic.


title: Hong Kong flu

text: In early February, the epidemiology committee of Australia's National Health and Medical Research Council met in Melbourne to discuss the influenza threat and the best use of vaccine the coming winter. A "serious epidemic" was considered the "strongest possibility", and it was recommended to Forbes that older people, children, and pregnant women receive free immunization against the flu. However, the council advised against a mass vaccination campaign, citing the findings of its study which showed the unreliable protection against infection of the present vaccines, and considered it unwise to vaccinate healthy people while the limited supply could be better used to mitigate severe outcomes in at-risk groups.


title: Hong Kong flu

text: On the last day of February, the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee met to consider the question of making the pandemic vaccine a pharmaceutical benefit for pensioners. Before the end of the week, Forbes announced that shots would be given for free to all pensioners and their dependents, representing about two-thirds of the three groups recommended for priority immunization. The policy would go into effect starting 1 April.


title: Hong Kong flu

text: Vaccination against the flu was recommended beginning 1 March, but issues surrounding availability of vaccine soon became apparent throughout the month. In response to Representative Gordon Scholes of Victoria, who had heard complaints from chemists unable to acquire vaccine, Forbes clarified that bulk orders from larger establishments would be met first. He relayed the expectation of the director of CSL that the present situation would be met once quantities of single doses became available in early April.


title: Hong Kong flu

text: In the middle of March, Forbes assured that all medical practitioners would be able to acquire the vaccine by the middle of April. He described the new type of flu as milder than that which Australia had typically seen each year.


title: Hong Kong flu

text: Representative Charles Jones of Newcastle later in the month questioned Forbes why his home city's order had not been filled. Forbes revealed the export of 1 million doses to Britain earlier in the year but assured that the order "did not delay, or in any way hinder, [the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories'] capacity to fill Australian orders" and that there would be enough supply to meet expected demand. By this time, 1,755,000 doses had been released, and production continued its pace of 200,000 doses per week.


title: Hong Kong flu

text: Despite these assurances from Forbes, the Director General of the Department of Health William Refshauge sent a letter on 9 April to all doctors in the country asking them not to vaccinate healthy people until at-risk groups in the community have been inoculated. Forbes reported meeting with the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories commission to discuss how to speed up distribution of vaccine. Two days later, the director of CSL, W. R. Lane, dismissed criticism of the supply situation from the New South Wales branch of the Australian Medical Association as "a lot of nonsense". Contradicting the laboratories' more forceful marketing earlier in the year, he downplayed the likelihood of a serious epidemic but shared the expectation of 4 million doses distributed by the end of May, eight times as much as the average annual total distribution of 500,000 vaccine doses.


title: Hong Kong flu

text: On 22 April, Forbes testified in the House of Representatives regarding the vaccine situation. He reported 2.5 million doses had been produced by this time since February. When asked by Representative Theo Nicholls of South Australia to consider importing vaccine to alleviate the present shortage, Forbes noted that the country had already imported the 150,000 doses available. He lamented CSL's recent subjection to a "good deal of abuse" regarding the "temporary shortages" around the country, repeating the comparison between the present production effort and the country's average annual distribution of only 500,000 doses. That same day, N. F. Keith, president of the Victorian branch of the Pharmacy Guild, called on CSL to explain the situation surrounding vaccine supply to the public, which was putting pressure on chemists due to the lack of vaccines.


title: Hong Kong flu

text: On 25 April, it was reported that the Department of Health had reimported the remaining vaccine from the order of 1 million that the government had exported to Britain in January. After being sent to Britain, packaged there, and then sent back to Australia, it was sold to doctors at a markup of nearly 50 percent. Doctors criticized the Department and CSL's poor planning with respect to vaccine supply and the decision to export vaccine to Britain when it had already reached the peak of its flu season. They also blamed the shortage on an overreaction by the public, a response which they considered largely due to public statements made by CSL and health officials. The Department later attributed the decision to reimport the vaccine to a desire to ensure a reliable supply for pensioners. It also denied any involvement in the commercial sales of vaccine, in response to reporting on price markups on the reimported vaccine, saying that all it did was authorize the reimportation and list the product as a pharmaceutical benefit. The government itself was paying the same for the reimported vaccine as it was for that being distributed by CSL.


title: Hong Kong flu

text: By the end of April, 2.8 million doses of vaccine had been produced and distributed, with no signs of production slowing down. 250,000 doses were now being produced each week, and nearly half a million more were anticipated for 2 May.


title: Hong Kong flu

text: The H3N2 virus displaced the previously circulating H2N2 virus, which first emerged in 1957, and returned during the following 1969–70 flu season, which resulted in a second, deadlier wave of deaths in Europe, Japan, and Australia.


title: Hong Kong flu

text: Following the season of intense activity in many countries in the Southern Hemisphere, there was relatively low incidence of flu the subsequent two global flu seasons, from October 1970 to September 1971. Influenza B was predominant in the north, causing extensive outbreaks in the United States, but minimal in the south. The Hong Kong virus, on the other hand, was responsible for some large outbreaks in the Southern Hemisphere, some most likely occurring in populations that had still not been exposed to the virus.


title: Hong Kong flu

text: It was during this period that the city of Coonoor, in India, experienced a "fairly extensive" outbreak, in July 1971. Samples of the virus responsible were collected but their significance was not immediately recognized. The virus did not immediately spread to other countries, or at least did not immediately cause outbreaks, but it was amid an epidemic in England in early 1972, fueled by more original strains, that a variant showing considerable antigenic drift was identified in one isolate tested out of over 700. It ultimately came to be designated A/England/42/72. It was soon recognized, by comparison with the strains isolated then, that this virus had been the one responsible for the epidemic in India.


title: Hong Kong flu

text: The novel variant did not immediately spread after that outbreak, and circulating strains largely continued to resemble quite closely the original Hong Kong virus through April 1972. In May, however, at the onset of the flu season in the Southern Hemisphere, epidemics caused by the variant struck Malaysia, Singapore, and Australia, though South Africa and South America were unaffected. The die seemingly cast, the novel variant went on to cause widespread outbreaks in the Northern Hemisphere, by which point US press had dubbed the bug "London flu". It completely replaced the previous strains still resembling the original pandemic virus. In places such as the US and England and Wales, the 1972–1973 flu season was the deadliest since their respective deadliest waves of the pandemic between 1968 and 1970.


title: Hong Kong flu

text: The Hong Kong flu was the first known outbreak of the H3N2 strain, but there is serologic evidence of H3N1 infections in the late 19th century. The virus was isolated in Queen Mary Hospital.


title: Hong Kong flu

text: Soon after the initial outbreak in Hong Kong, the virus responsible was recognized to be antigenically distinct from the current influenza A strain in circulation (which at the time was called "A2") but was generally not considered an entirely new subtype. Analysis using the conventional techniques at the time revealed that it was indeed very different from older A2 viruses but also, at the same time, seemingly related to them, depending on one's reading of the data. Experiments involving newer methods of analysis soon identified another surface antigen, neuraminidase, in addition to hemagglutinin, which had already been recognized. It thus became clear that it was the hemagglutinin that had changed compared to older strains while the neuraminidase was identical. These findings, in part, prompted the World Health Organization in 1971 to revise its system of nomenclature for influenza viruses, taking into consideration both antigens. The novel virus was thereafter designated H3N2, indicating its partial similarity to H2N2 but also its antigenic distinction.


title: Hong Kong flu

text: The H3N2 pandemic flu strain contained genes from a low-pathogenicity avian influenza virus. Specifically, it had acquired a new hemagglutinin gene and a new PB1 gene, while it preserved the neuraminidase and five other genes from the preexisting human H2N2 strain. The new hemagglutinin helped H3N2 evade preexisting immunity in humans. It is possible that the new PB1 facilitated viral replication and human-to-human transmission.


title: Hong Kong flu

text: The new subtype arose in pigs coinfected with avian and human viruses and was soon transferred to humans. Swine were considered the original "intermediate host" for influenza because they supported reassortment of divergent subtypes. However, other hosts appear capable of similar coinfection (such as many poultry species), and direct transmission of avian viruses to humans is possible. H1N1, associated with the 1918 flu pandemic, may have been transmitted directly from birds to humans.


title: Hong Kong flu

text: Accumulated antibodies to the neuraminidase or internal proteins may have resulted in many fewer casualties than most other pandemics. However, cross-immunity within and between subtypes of influenza is poorly understood.


title: Hong Kong flu

text: The estimates of the total death toll due to Hong Kong flu (from its beginning in July 1968 until the outbreak faded during the winter of 1969–70) vary:


title: Hong Kong flu

text: However, the death rate from the Hong Kong flu was lower than most other 20th-century pandemics. The World Health Organization estimated the case fatality rate of Hong Kong flu to be lower than 0.2%. The disease was allowed to spread through the population without restrictions on economic activity, and a vaccine created by American microbiologist Maurice Hilleman and his team became available four months after it had started. Fewer people died during this pandemic than in previous pandemics for several reasons:


title: Hong Kong flu

text: For this pandemic, there were two geographically distinct mortality patterns. In North America (the United States and Canada), the first pandemic season (1968–69) was more severe than the second (1969–70). In the "smoldering" pattern seen in Europe and Asia (United Kingdom, France, Japan, and Australia), the second pandemic season was two to five times more severe than the first. The United States health authorities estimated that about to people died in the U.S; most excess deaths were in those aged 65 and older.


title: Henderson–Hasselbalch equation

text: relates the pH of a chemical solution of a weak acid to the numerical value of the acid dissociation constant, "K", of acid and the ratio of the concentrations, formula_2 of the acid and its conjugate base in an equilibrium.


title: Henderson–Hasselbalch equation

text: The Henderson–Hasselbalch equation can be used to estimate the pH of a buffer solution by approximating the actual concentration ratio as the ratio of the analytical concentrations of the acid and of a salt, MA.


title: Henderson–Hasselbalch equation

text: The equation can also be applied to bases by specifying the protonated form of the base as the acid. For example, with an amine, formula_5


title: Henderson–Hasselbalch equation

text: A simple buffer solution consists of a solution of an acid and a salt of the conjugate base of the acid. For example, the acid may be acetic acid and the salt may be sodium acetate.


title: Henderson–Hasselbalch equation

text: The Henderson–Hasselbalch equation relates the pH of a solution containing a mixture of the two components to the acid dissociation constant, "K" of the acid, and the concentrations of the species in solution.


title: Henderson–Hasselbalch equation

text: C is the analytical concentration of the acid and C is the concentration the hydrogen ion that has been added to the solution. The self-dissociation of water is ignored. A quantity in square brackets, [X], represents the concentration of the chemical substance X. It is understood that the symbol H stands for the hydrated hydronium ion. K is an acid dissociation constant.


title: Henderson–Hasselbalch equation

text: The Henderson–Hasselbalch equation can be applied to a polybasic acid only if its consecutive p"K" values differ by at least 3. Phosphoric acid is such an acid.


title: Henderson–Hasselbalch equation

text: This assumption is not, strictly speaking, valid with pH values close to 7, half the value of pK, the constant for self-ionization of water. In this case the mass-balance equation for hydrogen should be extended to take account of the self-ionization of water.


title: Henderson–Hasselbalch equation

text: the concentration of the sodium ion, [Na] can be ignored. This is a good approximation for 1:1 electrolytes, but not for salts of ions that have a higher charge such with magnesium sulphate, MgSO, that form ion pairs.


title: Henderson–Hasselbalch equation

text: Assumption 4: The quotient of activity coefficients, formula_13, is a constant under the experimental conditions covered by the calculations.


title: Henderson–Hasselbalch equation

text: is a product of a quotient of concentrations formula_16 and a quotient, formula_17, of activity coefficients formula_18.


title: Henderson–Hasselbalch equation

text: In these expressions, the quantities in square brackets signify the concentration of the undissociated acid, HA, of the hydrogen ion H, and of the anion A; the quantities formula_19 are the corresponding activity coefficients. If the quotient of activity coefficients can be assumed to be a constant which is independent of concentrations and pH, the dissociation constant, "K" can be expressed as a quotient of concentrations.


title: Henderson–Hasselbalch equation

text: is an association constant, "K", which is simply related to the dissociation constant of the conjugate acid, BH.


title: Henderson–Hasselbalch equation

text: The value of formula_23 is ca. 14 at 25°C. This approximation can be used when the correct value is not known. Thus, the Henderson–Hasselbalch equation can be used, without modification, for bases.


title: Henderson–Hasselbalch equation

text: With homeostasis the pH of a biological solution is maintained at a constant value by adjusting the position of the equilibria


title: Henderson–Hasselbalch equation

text: However, the solubility of carbonic acid in water may be exceeded. When this happens carbon dioxide gas is liberated and the following equation may be used instead.


title: Henderson–Hasselbalch equation

text: formula_28 represents the carbon dioxide liberated as gas. In this equation, which is widely used in biochemistry, formula_29 is a mixed equilibrium constant relating to both chemical and solubility equilibria. It can be expressed as


title: Henderson–Hasselbalch equation

text: where is the molar concentration of bicarbonate in the blood plasma and is the partial pressure of carbon dioxide in the supernatant gas.


title: Henderson–Hasselbalch equation

text: In 1908, Lawrence Joseph Henderson derived an equation to calculate the hydrogen ion concentration of a bicarbonate buffer solution, which rearranged looks like this:


title: Henderson–Hasselbalch equation

text: In 1909 Søren Peter Lauritz Sørensen introduced the pH terminology, which allowed Karl Albert Hasselbalch to re-express Henderson's equation in logarithmic terms, resulting in the Henderson–Hasselbalch equation.


title: Erica Cerra

text: Erica Cerra (born October 31, 1979) is a Canadian actress, best known for her portrayal of Deputy Jo Lupo on the Syfy series "Eureka", and artificial intelligence A.L.I.E. and her creator Becca on "The 100".


title: Erica Cerra

text: Cerra was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, of Italian descent. Captivated by acting from an early age, she first appeared in the Canadian show KidZone then in numerous commercials as a child. She then took a break from acting, because, in her own words; "it was about wanting to be 14...I wanted to be 14 with no responsibility but I always wanted to act again."


title: Erica Cerra

text: Between 2001 and 2006, Cerra had guest roles on several popular and critically acclaimed TV shows including "Battlestar Galactica", "The L Word" and "Smallville". Her other roles included parts in "The 4400", "The Dead Zone", "Reaper", "Huff" and "Dead Like Me", as well as the Canadian police procedural "Cold Squad", the monster-hunting action series "Special Unit 2", and the supernatural thriller series "The Collector". She also appeared in major cinematic movie releases "Man About Town" with Ben Affleck and Rebecca Romijn, and "" with Wesley Snipes.


title: Erica Cerra

text: In 2006, she starred in the music video for the Michael Bublé song "Save the Last Dance for Me". That year also saw her land her most successful role to date, when she was cast as Deputy Jo Lupo in "Eureka", a Syfy series which was broadcast between 2006 and 2012. Cerra was one of the stars of the ensemble cast, with her character playing an integral role throughout the series' five seasons.


title: Erica Cerra

text: She has since appeared in various guest roles in series such as "Warehouse 13", "Sanctuary", "Supernatural" and "Motive". She had a recurring role in the 2014 USA Network series "Rush" and appeared in the CW series "iZombie" in 2015.


title: Erica Cerra

text: Erica appeared in the second season finale of the CW series "The 100" which aired on March 11, 2015, as a mysterious A.I. called A.L.I.E. She played the main antagonist during the third season and reprised the role in an episode of the fourth season. Cerra also played Becca, the creator of A.L.I.E., in a flashback storyline.


title: Erica Cerra

text: Cerra married Raffaele Fiore in November 2010. Cerra gave birth to the couple's first child, a daughter, in May 2012.


title: Benjamin Spock

text: Benjamin McLane Spock (May 2, 1903 – March 15, 1998) was an American pediatrician and left-wing political activist whose book "Baby and Child Care" (1946) is one of the best-selling books of the twentieth century, selling 500,000 copies in the six months after its initial publication in 1946 and 50 million by the time of Spock's death in 1998. The book's premise to mothers was that they "know more than you think you do." Spock's parenting advice and recommendations revolutionized parental upbringing in the United States, and he is considered to be amongst the most famous and influential Americans of the 20th century.


title: Benjamin Spock

text: Spock was the first pediatrician to study psychoanalysis to try to understand children's needs and family dynamics. His ideas about childcare influenced several generations of parents to be more flexible and affectionate with their children and to treat them as individuals. However, his theories were also widely criticized by colleagues for relying too heavily on anecdotal evidence rather than serious academic research. After undergoing a self-described "conversion to socialism", Spock became an activist in the New Left and anti-Vietnam War movements during the 1960s and early 1970s, culminating in his run for President of the United States as the People's Party nominee in 1972. He campaigned on a maximum wage, legalized abortion, and withdrawing troops from all foreign countries. At the time, his books were criticized by conservatives for propagating permissiveness and an expectation of instant gratification, a charge that Spock denied.


title: Benjamin Spock

text: Benjamin McLane Spock was born May 2, 1903, in New Haven, Connecticut; his parents were Benjamin Ives Spock, a Yale graduate and long-time general counsel of the New Haven Railroad, and Mildred Louise (Stoughton) Spock. His name came from Dutch ancestry; they originally spelled the name "Spaak" before migrating to the former colony of New Netherland. Spock was one of six children, including his younger sister environmentalist writer Marjorie Spock.


title: Benjamin Spock

text: As did his father before him, Spock attended Phillips Andover Academy and Yale University. Prior to that he attended Hamden Hall Country Day School. Spock studied literature and history at Yale. Standing a lanky 6 feet and 4 inches, he also was active in college rowing. Eventually he became a part of the Olympic rowing crew (Men's Eights) that won a gold medal at the 1924 games in Paris. At Yale, he was inducted into the Eta chapter of the Zeta Psi fraternity and then into the senior society Scroll and Key. He attended the Yale School of Medicine for two years before shifting to Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons, from which he graduated first in his class in 1929. By that time, he had married Jane Cheney.


title: Benjamin Spock

text: Jane Cheney married Spock in 1927 and assisted him in the research and writing of "Dr. Spock's Baby & Child Care", which was published in 1946 by Duell, Sloan & Pearce as "The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care." The book has sold more than 50 million copies in 42 languages.


title: Benjamin Spock

text: Jane Cheney Spock was a civil liberties advocate and mother of two sons. She was born in Manchester, Connecticut, and attended Bryn Mawr College. She was active in Americans for Democratic Action, the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy. Jane and Benjamin Spock divorced in 1976. Following their divorce, she organized and ran support groups for older divorced women.


title: Benjamin Spock

text: In 1976, Spock married Mary Morgan. They built a home in Arkansas, on Beaver Lake, where Spock would row daily. Mary quickly adapted to Spock's life of travel and political activism. She was arrested with him many times for civil disobedience. Once they were arrested in Washington, D.C. for praying on the White House lawn, along with other demonstrators. When arrested, Morgan was strip searched; Spock was not. She sued the jail and the mayor of Washington, D.C. for sex discrimination. The American Civil Liberties Union took the case, and won. Morgan also introduced Spock to massage, yoga, and a macrobiotic diet, and meditation, which reportedly improved his health. Mary scheduled his speaking dates and handled the legal agreements for "Baby and Child Care" for the 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th editions. She continues to publish the book with the help of co-author Robert Needlman. "Baby and Child Care" still sells worldwide.


title: Benjamin Spock

text: For most of his life, Spock wore Brooks Brothers suits and shirts with detachable collars, but at age 75, for the first time in his life, Mary Morgan got him to try blue jeans. She introduced him to Transactional analysis (TA) therapists, joined him in meditation twice a day, and cooked him a macrobiotic diet. "She gave me back my youth", Spock would tell reporters. He adapted to her lifestyle, as she did to his. There were 40 years difference in their ages, but Spock would tell reporters, when questioned about their age difference, that they were both 16.


title: Benjamin Spock

text: For many years Spock lived aboard his sailboat, the "Carapace", in the British Virgin Islands, off Tortola. At age 84, Spock won 3rd place in a rowing contest, crossing 4 miles (6.4 km) of the Sir Francis Drake Channel between Tortola and Norman Island in 2.5 hours. He credited his strength and good health to his life style and his love for life.


title: Benjamin Spock

text: Spock had a second sailboat named "Turtle", which he lived aboard and sailed in Maine in the summers. They lived only on boats, with no house, for most of 20 years. By 1991, he was unable to walk without assistance and was reported as infirm shortly before his death as well. At the very end of Spock's life, he was advised to come ashore by his physician, Steve Pauker, of New England Medical Center, Boston. In 1992, Spock received the Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience Award at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library for his lifelong commitment to disarmament and peaceable child-rearing.


title: Benjamin Spock

text: Spock died at a house he was renting in La Jolla, California, on March 15, 1998. His ashes are buried in Rockport, Maine, where he spent his summers.


title: Benjamin Spock

text: In 1946, Spock published his book "The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care", which became a bestseller. Its message to parents is that "you know more than you think you do." By 1998 it had sold more than 50 million copies, and had been translated into 42 languages.


title: Benjamin Spock

text: According to the "New York Times", "Baby and Child Care" was, throughout its first 52 years, the second-best-selling book, next to the Bible. According to other sources, it was among best-sellers, albeit not second-best-selling.


title: Benjamin Spock

text: Spock advocated ideas about parenting that were, at the time, considered out of the mainstream. Over time, his books helped to bring about major change. Previously, experts had told parents that babies needed to learn to sleep on a regular schedule, and that picking them up and holding them whenever they cried would only teach them to cry more and not to sleep through the night (a notion that borrows from behaviorism). They were told to feed their children on a regular schedule, and that they should not pick them up, kiss them, or hug them, because that would not prepare them to be strong and independent individuals in a harsh world. In contrast, Spock encouraged parents to show affection for their children and to see them as individuals.


title: Benjamin Spock

text: By the late 1960s however, Spock's opposition to the Vietnam War had damaged his reputation; the 1968 edition of "Baby and Child Care" sold half as many copies of the prior edition. Later in life Spock wrote a book entitled "Dr. Spock on Vietnam" and co-wrote an autobiography entitled "Spock on Spock" (with Mary Morgan Spock), in which he stated his attitude toward aging: "Delay and Deny".


title: Benjamin Spock

text: In the seventh edition of "Baby and Child Care," published a few weeks after he died, Spock advocated for a bold change in children's diets, recommending that all children switch to a vegan diet after the age of 2. Spock himself had switched to an all-plant diet in 1991, after a series of illnesses that left him weak and unable to walk unaided. After making the dietary change, he lost 50 pounds, regained his ability to walk and became healthier overall. The revised edition stated children on an all-plant diet will reduce their risk of developing heart disease, obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes and certain diet-related cancers. Studies suggest that vegetarian children are leaner, and adult vegetarians are known to be at lower risk of such diseases. However, Spock's recommendations were criticized as being irresponsible towards children's health and children's ability to sustain normal growth, which have been aided with minerals such as calcium, riboflavin, vitamin D, iron, zinc and at times protein.


title: Benjamin Spock

text: Spock's approach to childhood nutrition was criticized by a number of experts, including his co-author, Boston pediatrician Dr. Steven J. Parker, as too extreme and likely to result in nutritional deficiencies unless it is very carefully planned and executed, something that would be difficult for working parents. Dr. T. Berry Brazelton, a pediatrician at Boston City Hospital who specialized in child behavior and who was also a longtime admirer and friend of Dr. Spock, called the new dietary recommendations "absolutely insane." Dr. Neal Barnard, president of Physicians for Responsible Medicine, an organization in Washington that advocates strict vegetarian diets for everyone, acknowledged that he had drafted the section on nutrition in the Spock's 1998 edition of "Baby and Child Care", but that Dr. Spock had edited it to give it "his personal touch." It was acknowledged that in his final years, Spock had strokes, bouts with pneumonia and also a heart attack.


title: Benjamin Spock

text: Spock advocated that infants should not be placed on their back when sleeping, commenting in his 1958 edition that "if [an infant] vomits, he's more likely to choke on the vomitus." This advice was extremely influential on health-care providers, with nearly unanimous support through to the 1990s. Later empirical studies, however, found that there is a significantly increased risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) associated with infants sleeping on their abdomens. Advocates of evidence-based medicine have used this as an example of the importance of basing health-care recommendations on statistical evidence, with one researcher estimating that as many as 50,000 infant deaths in Europe, Australia, and the US could have been prevented had this advice been altered by 1970, when such evidence became available.


title: Benjamin Spock

text: In the 1940s, Spock favored circumcision of males performed within a few days of birth. However, in the 1976 revision of "Baby and Child Care" he concurred with a 1971 American Academy of Pediatrics task force that there was no medical reason to recommend routine circumcision, and in a 1989 article for "Redbook" magazine he stated that "circumcision of males is traumatic, painful, and of questionable value." He received the first Human Rights Award from the International Symposium on Circumcision (ISC) in 1991 and was quoted saying, "My own preference, if I had the good fortune to have another son, would be to leave his little penis alone".


title: Benjamin Spock

text: In 1962, Spock joined The Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy, otherwise known as SANE. Spock was politically outspoken and active in the movement to end the Vietnam War. In 1968, he and four others (including William Sloane Coffin, Marcus Raskin, Mitchell Goodman, and Michael Ferber) were singled out for prosecution by then Attorney General Ramsey Clark on charges of conspiracy to counsel, aid, and abet resistance to the draft. Spock and three of his alleged co-conspirators were convicted, although the five had never been in the same room together. His two-year prison sentence was never served; the case was appealed and in 1969 a federal court set aside his conviction.


title: Benjamin Spock

text: In 1967, Spock was pressed to run as Martin Luther King Jr.'s vice-presidential running mate at the National Conference for New Politics over Labor Day weekend in Chicago.


title: Benjamin Spock

text: In 1968, Spock signed the "Writers and Editors War Tax Protest" pledge, vowing to refuse tax payments in protest against the Vietnam War, and he later became a sponsor of the War Tax Resistance project, which practiced and advocated tax resistance as a form of anti-war protest. He was also arrested for his involvement in anti-war protests resulting from his signing of the anti-war manifesto "A Call to Resist Illegitimate Authority" circulated by members of the radical intellectual collective RESIST. The individuals arrested during this incident came to be known as the Boston Five.


title: Benjamin Spock

text: In 1968, the American Humanist Association named Spock Humanist of the Year. On 15 October 1969, Spock was a featured speaker at the Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam march.


title: Benjamin Spock

text: In 1970, Dr. Benjamin Spock was active in The New Party serving as Honorary co-chairman with Gore Vidal. In the 1972 United States presidential election, Spock was the People's Party candidate with a platform that called for free medical care; the repeal of "victimless crime" laws, including the legalization of abortion, homosexuality, and cannabis; a guaranteed minimum income for families; and for an end to American military interventionism and the immediate withdrawal of all American troops from foreign countries. In the 1970s and 1980s, Spock demonstrated and gave lectures against nuclear weapons and cuts in social welfare programs.


title: Benjamin Spock

text: In 1972, Spock, Julius Hobson (his Vice Presidential candidate), Linda Jenness (Socialist Workers Party Presidential candidate), and Socialist Workers Party Vice Presidential candidate Andrew Pulley wrote to Major General Bert A. David, commanding officer of Fort Dix, asking for permission to distribute campaign literature and to hold an election-related campaign meeting. On the basis of Fort Dix regulations 210-26 and 210–27, General David refused the request. Spock, Hobson, Jenness, Pulley, and others then filed a case that ultimately made its way to the United States Supreme Court (424 U.S. 828—"Greer, Commander, Fort Dix Military Reservation, et al., v. Spock et al."), which ruled against the plaintiffs.


title: Benjamin Spock

text: Spock was the People's Party and the Peace and Freedom Party nominee in 1976 for vice president as the running mate of Margaret Wright.


title: Benjamin Spock

text: Norman Vincent Peale was a popular preacher who supported the Vietnam War. During the late 1960s, Peale criticized the anti-Vietnam War movement and the perceived laxity of that era, placing the blame on Dr. Spock's books: "The U.S. was paying the price of two generations that followed the Dr. Spock baby plan of instant gratification of needs."


title: Benjamin Spock

text: In the 1960s and 1970s, blame was placed on Spock for the disorderliness of young people, many of whose parents had been devotees of "Baby and Child Care". Vice President Spiro Agnew also blamed Spock for "permissiveness". These allegations were enthusiastically embraced by conservative adults, who viewed the rebellious youth of that era with disapproval, referring to them as "the Spock generation".


title: Benjamin Spock

text: Spock's supporters countered that these criticisms betrayed an ignorance of what Spock had actually written, and/or a political bias against Spock's left-wing political activities. Spock himself, in his autobiography, pointed out that he had never advocated permissiveness; also, that the attacks and claims that he had ruined American youth only arose after his public opposition to the Vietnam war. He regarded these claims as ad hominem attacks, whose political motivation and nature were clear.


title: Benjamin Spock

text: Spock addressed these accusations in the first chapter of his 1994 book, "Rebuilding American Family Values: A Better World for Our Children."


title: Benjamin Spock

text: In June 1992, Spock told Associated Press journalist David Beard, there was a link between pediatrics and political activism:


title: Benjamin Spock

text: Conservatives also criticize Spock for being interested in the ideas of Sigmund Freud and John Dewey and his efforts to integrate their philosophies into the general population. Spock wrote:


title: Benjamin Spock

text: Spock had two children: Michael and John. Michael was formerly the director of the Boston Children's Museum and since retired from the museum profession; John is the owner of a construction firm. Spock's grandson Peter, Michael's son, died by suicide on Christmas of 1983 at the age of 22 by jumping from the roof of the Children's Museum. He had been employed at the museum part-time and had long been diagnosed with the disease schizophrenia. This story has often been misreported as Michael's, not Peter's suicide.


title: Benjamin Spock

text: In 1924, while at Yale, Spock was part of the all-Yale Men's eight rowing team at the Paris Olympics, captained by James Rockefeller, later president of what would become Citigroup. Competing on the Seine, they won the gold medal.


title: Zahra Khanom Tadj es-Saltaneh

text: Zahra Khanom or Taj al-Saltaneh (1884 – 25 January 1936; ) also known as princess Qajar, was a princess of the Qajar dynasty, known as a feminist, a women's rights activist and a memoirist. She was the daughter of Naser al-Din Shah, the King of Persia from 1848 to May 1896. She was the love interest of Yousef Abdu Aref Qazvini who wrote his poem "Fe eh ya Qajar" for her.


title: Zahra Khanom Tadj es-Saltaneh

text: In her memoires, she describes her upbringing in the royal harem, using details of court rules about having wet nurses and slaves as an opening to criticize Qajar society and the limitations Persian women faced. She describes her understanding of the successful plot and assassination of her father in 1896.


title: Zahra Khanom Tadj es-Saltaneh

text: She was married at age 13 to Sardar Hassan Shojah al-Saltaneh, an aristocrat and the son of the defense minister Shojah al-Saltaneh. They had four children.


title: Zahra Khanom Tadj es-Saltaneh

text: Taj divorced her husband, breaking a taboo and becoming one of the first women in the royal family to get a divorce.


title: Zahra Khanom Tadj es-Saltaneh

text: She detailed the pain of her betrothal at age eight and damage from arranged marriages. She makes a pointed argument against veiling as damaging to family life and overall Persian society. The account also includes the pain from her husband's extramarital affairs and her choice to have an abortion out of fear of a death during childbirth.


title: Zahra Khanom Tadj es-Saltaneh

text: In her later years, she dedicated her life to writing, reading and raising her beloved granddaughter Taj Iran, with whom she had a special bond and heavily influenced her upbringing. She lived with her daughter Tooran al-Dowleh until she died.


title: Zahra Khanom Tadj es-Saltaneh

text: She was a writer, a painter, an intellectual, and an activist who hosted literary salons at her house once a week. She was fluent in Arabic and French and played the violin. She was the first woman in court to take off the hijab and wear western clothes. The first to write a memoir and a vocal critic of the monarchy under her father Naser al-Din Shah and brother Mozaffar ad-Din Shah's rule. She blamed many of Iran's problems then, including poverty, lack of education for masses and women's rights, on incompetent monarchs. Her voice was a lone female voice advocating for change and democracy.


title: Zahra Khanom Tadj es-Saltaneh

text: Taj al-Saltaneh was a trailblazer for women's rights in Iran and a feminist. She was a prominent founding member of Iran's underground women's rights group Women's Freedom Association, working for equal rights for women circa 1910. She secretly organized and attended underground women's rights meetings telling her children and grandchildren that she was attending religious sessions. She once led a women's rights march to parliament and was an avid supporter of Iran's constitutional revolution.


title: Zahra Khanom Tadj es-Saltaneh

text: Zahra Khanom Tadj es-Saltaneh was raised by a staff African slaves, as was the custom, who were referred to as "bond servants", and expressed sympathy for them and dislike of the system of slavery in her memoirs:


title: Zahra Khanom Tadj es-Saltaneh

text: Her memoirs were published under the title of "Crowning Anguish: Memoirs of a Persian Princess from the Harem to Modernity 1884 – 1914" (1996), edited with a preface by Abbas Amanat and translated by Anna Vanzan and Amin Neshati. They were well received, the "Times Literary Supplement" describing them thus: "In somewhat unusual and cumbersome style, Taj's memoirs, written in 1914, cover a thirty-year span of a rapidly changing era [...] A curious blend of the reconstructive and reflective, Taj al Saltaneh's memoirs bring home the intense conflicts of a life straddling the harem and modernism." (March 4, 1994) Nesta Ramazaini's review in "The Middle East Journal" praised the book's open description of the daily life and political infighting in the Qajar harem.


title: Zahra Khanom Tadj es-Saltaneh

text: Her hand-written memoir remained unpublished until 60 years after her death, and is currently in the archives of Iran's National Library.


title: Zahra Khanom Tadj es-Saltaneh

text: She is buried in the Zahir od-Dowleh Cemetery in Tajrish. Her life and her writing and her role as a feminist is a subject of Middle Eastern studies in universities from Tehran University to Harvard. In 2015 Harvard acquired from her descendants their family photos, writings, anecdotes and stories about Taj al-Saltaneh's life for its archives.


title: Jelly Roll (singer)

text: Jason DeFord (born December 4, 1984), known professionally as Jelly Roll (sometimes written as JellyRoll), is an American rapper and singer known for his collaborations with Lil Wyte, Struggle Jennings, Yelawolf, Tech N9ne and Ryan Upchurch.


title: Jelly Roll (singer)

text: Jelly Roll's 2010 collaboration "Pop Another Pill" with Memphis rapper Lil Wyte reached over 6.3 million YouTube views. This song led to the album "Year Round" by the hip-hop group SNO, released on the Hypnotize Minds label in April 2011 and produced by DJ Paul and Juicy J. SNO's song "Come Here White Girl" was named among ""The 10 Most Memorable White Rapper Collaborations"" by "XXL".


title: Jelly Roll (singer)

text: Jelly Roll released many mixtapes including the "Gamblin' on a Whiteboy" series and the "Therapeutic Music" series. His independently released debut solo studio album "The Big Sal Story" was released on October 26, 2012. He released two collaborative albums with Haystak, two collaborative albums with Lil Wyte, four collaborative albums with Struggle Jennings and one album under the group SNO with Lil Wyte and BPZ.