title: Omar Ali Saifuddien III

text: He was a keen admirer of the wartime British Prime Minister, Sir Winston Churchill. In 1971, his admiration became clear when he opened the world's only museum solely dedicated to Winston Churchill and it was named the Churchill Memorial Building, Bandar Seri Begawan which costed an estimated $5 million. Since its opening, it had been a notable tourist attraction in Brunei and also became well known throughout Southeast Asia. In 1992, in conjunction with Silver Jubilee of His Majesty's Ascension to the Throne celebrations, the memorial had become the Royal Brunei Regalia Building. Also in 2017, the building was renamed to Royal Regalia Museum in conjunction with the Golden Jubilee.


title: Omar Ali Saifuddien III

text: His first wife was Dayang Siti Amin binti Pehin Orang Kaya Pekerma Setia Laila Diraja Awang Haji Hashim, but the couple had no children and later divorced in 1944. On 6 September 1941, he married his cousin as his second wife, Pengiran Anak Damit binti Pengiran Bendahara Seri Maharaja Permaisuara Pengiran Anak Abdul Rahman. She was the great-granddaughter of Hashim Jalilul Alam Aqamaddin. She bore him 10 children:


title: Omar Ali Saifuddien III

text: On 13 September 1979, his wife, "Paduka Suri Seri Begawan Raja Isteri" Pengiran Anak Damit died. After that, for the last time, he married "Pengiran Bini" Pengiran Anak Hajah Salhah binti Pengiran Bendahara Seri Maharaja Permaisuara Pengiran Anak Abdul Rahman, who was also his sister-in-law.


title: Omar Ali Saifuddien III

text: He had an interest in writing poems. Apart from that, he was also known for designing the national medals. He also made a design of flowers on his clothes, the "Tenunan Brunei" which he wore on several occasions. Also, he was interested in self-defence martial arts such as silat and kuntau.


title: Joshua Dobbs

text: Robert Joshua Dobbs (born January 26, 1995) is an American football quarterback for the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Tennessee, and was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the fourth round of the 2017 NFL Draft.


title: Joshua Dobbs

text: Dobbs was born and raised in Alpharetta, Georgia, the son of Stephanie and Robert Dobbs. His mother retired from United Parcel Service (UPS) as a region manager in corporate human resources and his father is a senior vice president for Wells Fargo bank. Dobbs has alopecia areata, an autoimmune disease causing hair loss, which first developed when he was transitioning from elementary to junior high school.


title: Joshua Dobbs

text: Dobbs started playing competitive football when he was five years old. He attended Wesleyan School and then Alpharetta High School. As a senior with the Alpharetta Raiders football team, he threw for 3,625 yards with 29 touchdowns. Dobbs was a three-star recruit by Rivals.com and a four-star by Scout.com. He originally committed to Arizona State University to play college football, but in February 2013, he changed his commitment to the University of Tennessee.


title: Joshua Dobbs

text: Dobbs majored in aerospace engineering during his time at the University of Tennessee. The university presented him with the 2017 Torchbearer Award, the highest honor for an undergraduate student, which recognizes accomplishments in the community and academics. Dobbs was heralded as possessing a perfect 4.0 grade point average and being named to the Southeastern Conference Academic Honor Roll.


title: Joshua Dobbs

text: As a true freshman at the University of Tennessee in 2013, Dobbs played in five games with four starts after starter Justin Worley was injured in a 45–10 loss against the #1 Alabama Crimson Tide at Bryant–Denny Stadium. Dobbs came into the game on the road at No. 1 Alabama and completed 5-of-12 passes for 75 yards. He started his first career game against the #10 Missouri Tigers at Faurot Field. He completed 26-of-42 passes for 240 yards in the 31–3 loss, which was the most passing yards in a freshman debut since 2004; Erik Ainge (118) and Brent Schaefer (123) against the UNLV Rebels. After a 55–23 loss to the #7 Auburn Tigers and a 14–10 loss to the Vanderbilt Commodores, Dobbs put together a solid performance against the Kentucky Wildcats at Commonwealth Stadium. In the 27–14 victory, Dobbs threw his first two career touchdown passes and had a 40-yard rushing touchdown. Overall, he completed 72-of-121 passes for 695 yards with two touchdowns and six interceptions and also rushed for 189 yards and a touchdown in his true freshman season.


title: Joshua Dobbs

text: Dobbs competed with Worley (a senior) and Nathan Peterman (a sophomore), to be Tennessee's starter for the 2014 season. Worley was announced the starter, but Dobbs took over as the starter in November after Worley was injured in a 34–3 loss to the #3 Ole Miss Rebels at Vaught–Hemingway Stadium. Although Dobbs was not pushed into action immediately after the injury, in the following week against #4 Alabama Crimson Tide, Peterman was named the starter, but he was relieved quickly by Dobbs. Dobbs performed well in the 34–20 defeat by recording 192 passing yards and two rushing touchdowns against the Crimson Tide. Against South Carolina, Dobbs had a breakout performance against the Gamecocks at Williams–Brice Stadium. In the 45–42 comeback win in overtime, Dobbs had 301 passing yards, two passing touchdowns, 166 rushing yards, and three rushing touchdowns. Against the Kentucky Wildcats at Neyland Stadium, Dobbs had 297 passing yards, three passing touchdowns, 48 rushing yards, and one rushing touchdown in the 50–16 victory. Dobbs and team helped Tennessee reach their first bowl game since the 2010 season. Dobbs was named the 2015 TaxSlayer Bowl MVP in Tennessee's 45–28 victory over Iowa. In the game, Dobbs passed for 129 yards and one touchdown and rushed for 76 yards and two touchdowns. Dobbs threw for 1,206 yards with nine touchdowns and six interceptions during his sophomore season. He finished the 2014 season with 469 yards rushing and eight rushing touchdowns in just six games.


title: Joshua Dobbs

text: Dobbs received two Offensive Player of the Week honors from the Southeastern Conference, both of which came from his combined passing and rushing performances for over 400 yards in each game.


title: Joshua Dobbs

text: Dobbs entered the 2015 season as Tennessee's starting quarterback. He started and appeared in all 12 regular season games and the bowl game. To open Tennessee's season on September 5, Dobbs recorded 205 passing yards, two passing touchdowns, 89 rushing yards, and one rushing touchdown against the Bowling Green Falcons in a 59–30 win at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee. In a 2OT 31–24 loss to the #19 Oklahoma Sooners in the Tennessee 2015 home opener, Dobbs had 125 passing yards, one passing touchdown, 12 rushing yards, and one rushing touchdown. In a 28–27 loss to SEC East rival Florida at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, Dobbs had a season-high 136 rushing yards and had a 58-yard receiving touchdown thrown by teammate wide receiver Jauan Jennings on a trick play. Dobbs's touchdown reception against Florida was the first reception by a Tennessee quarterback since Peyton Manning caught a 10-yard pass from running back Jamal Lewis in 1997 against Arkansas. Against the rival #19 Georgia Bulldogs, Dobbs had a season-high 312 yards passing and three touchdowns to go along with 118 rushing yards and two touchdowns. His efforts in the game led Tennessee to their first win over the Bulldogs since 2009. Against the #8 Alabama Crimson Tide in their annual rivalry game, Dobbs had 171 yards passing and one passing touchdown in the narrow 19–14 loss at Bryant–Denny Stadium. Against rival South Carolina, Dobbs passed for 255 yards and two touchdowns in the 27–24 home victory. Dobbs led Tennessee to a 9–4 record, which was the most wins for the Tennessee program since 2007. The 2015 season was culminated with a 45–6 victory over the #12 Northwestern Wildcats in the 2016 Outback Bowl. In the bowl game, Dobbs had two rushing touchdowns.


title: Joshua Dobbs

text: Dobbs entered the 2016 season as Tennessee's starting quarterback in his final season of collegiate eligibility. He started and appeared in all 12 regular season games and the bowl game. Dobbs started the season with a solid performance in a home game against Appalachian State. In the 20–13 overtime win, Dobbs had 192 yards passing but fumbled on the goal line; the ball was recovered by teammate and running back Jalen Hurd to give Tennessee the go-ahead score. In the 2016 Pilot Flying J Battle at Bristol, Dobbs three passing touchdowns to go along with two rushing touchdowns. In a 38–28 comeback victory over the #19 Florida Gators, Dobbs had 319 yards passing, four passing touchdowns, 80 rushing yards, and a rushing touchdown to lead the Volunteers to their first win over the Gators since 2004. Against #25 Georgia, Dobbs had 230 yards passing, three passing touchdowns, and a rushing touchdown to win 34–31. Dobbs's last touchdown was a Hail Mary throw to wide receiver Jauan Jennings as time expired. The winning play is referenced by many as the "Dobbs-Nail Boot". With the victory, Tennessee was 5–0 with Dobbs as quarterback and ranked as high as top 10 in some polls. In a 2OT 45–38 loss to the #8 Texas A&M Aggies at Kyle Field, Dobbs had a season-high 398 passing yards and one passing touchdown. In addition, he caught a receiving touchdown from Jauan Jennings, his second career receiving touchdown. Dobbs continued solid performances over the rest of the season: he had five touchdowns, 223 passing yards and 190 rushing yards in a 63–37 win over Missouri and 340 passing yards in a 45–34 loss against Vanderbilt at Vanderbilt Stadium. Despite his play, Tennessee faded from their 5–0 start to finish 8–4.


title: Joshua Dobbs

text: In the final game of his Tennessee career, Dobbs led the Volunteers past the #24 Nebraska Cornhuskers by a score of 38–28 in the 2016 Music City Bowl at Nissan Stadium in Nashville. He had 291 passing yards, one passing touchdown, 11 rushes for 118 yards, and three rushing touchdowns. Dobbs was named the MVP of the game.


title: Joshua Dobbs

text: Dobbs led Tennessee to a second consecutive 9–4 record. Tennessee's 18 wins with Dobbs at the helm were the most for the school over a two-year span since 2006–2007.


title: Joshua Dobbs

text: Dobbs received an invitation to the Senior Bowl and was named the starting quarterback for the South. He finished the game completing 12-of-15 pass attempts for 102 passing yards and an interception, as the South defeated the North 16–15. The majority of NFL draft experts and analysts projected him to be a fourth to fifth round pick. NFL analyst Mike Mayock projected him to be selected in the second round and NFL.com projected him to be drafted in the third round. After attending the NFL Scouting Combine, he was ranked the seventh best quarterback in the draft by ESPN, the ninth best quarterback by "Sports Illustrated", and NFLDraftScout.com ranked him the eighth best quarterback in the draft. He attended Tennessee's Pro Day and scripted his own set of plays; 19 other teammates also participated in Tennessee's Pro Day. He held workouts for six teams: the Kansas City Chiefs, Tennessee Titans, Carolina Panthers, San Diego Chargers, Pittsburgh Steelers, and New Orleans Saints.


title: Joshua Dobbs

text: The Pittsburgh Steelers selected Dobbs in the fourth round (135th overall) of the 2017 NFL Draft. He was the seventh quarterback selected, and the Steelers also drafted his former Tennessee and Senior Bowl teammate, cornerback Cameron Sutton. He replaced Zach Mettenberger following the draft.


title: Joshua Dobbs

text: On May 22, 2017, the Pittsburgh Steelers signed Dobbs to a four-year, $2.95 million contract with a signing bonus of $554,295.


title: Joshua Dobbs

text: After two starts and four appearances during the pre-season, Dobbs spent his entire rookie season behind incumbent starter Ben Roethlisberger and long-term backup Landry Jones.


title: Joshua Dobbs

text: Dobbs made his NFL regular season debut on October 7, 2018, in a 41–17 Steelers win against the Atlanta Falcons, as on the final play of the game, he kneeled down for a loss of 3 yards.


title: Joshua Dobbs

text: On November 4, 2018, in a 23–16 Steelers Week 9 victory against the Baltimore Ravens, Dobbs completed a 22-yard pass to JuJu Smith-Schuster, after stepping in for Ben Roethlisberger, who got injured on the previous play. In Week 14, against the Oakland Raiders, Dobbs once again had to step in for Roethlisberger, who had suffered a rib injury. He finished 4-of-9 for 24 yards and one interception in the 24–21 loss. Overall, in the 2018 season, he appeared in five games and went 6-of-12 for 43 yards and one interception.


title: Joshua Dobbs

text: On September 9, 2019, Dobbs was traded to the Jacksonville Jaguars for a fifth-round pick in the 2020 NFL Draft. Dobbs was traded after Mason Rudolph won the backup job and Jaguars’ quarterback Nick Foles sustained a broken clavicle during the season opener and was subsequently placed on injured-reserve.


title: Joshua Dobbs

text: On September 6, 2020, Dobbs was claimed off of waivers by the Pittsburgh Steelers, his former team. He re-signed with the Steelers on a one-year contract on April 19, 2021.


title: Joshua Dobbs

text: On April 9, 2022, Dobbs signed a one-year, $1 million dollar deal with the Cleveland Browns. He was waived on November 28, 2022, after Deshaun Watson returned from suspension.


title: Chopped and screwed

text: Chopped and screwed (also called screwed and chopped or slowed and throwed) is a music genre and technique of remixing music that involves slowing down the tempo and deejaying. It developed in the Houston hip hop scene in the early 1990s by DJ Screw. The screwed technique involves slowing the tempo of a song down to 60 and 70 quarter-note beats per minute and applying techniques such as skipping beats, record scratching, stop-time and affecting portions of the original composition to create a "chopped-up" version of the song.


title: Chopped and screwed

text: Preceding the late 1990s, most Southern hip hop was upbeat and fast, like Miami bass and Memphis, which was inspired by Afrika Bambaataa & the Soulsonic Force with their groundbreaking track "Planet Rock". Unlike its southern musical counterparts Houston's rap style has consistently remained slower, even in the beginning of Houston hip hop, as can be heard on the earliest Houston based group Geto Boys records from the mid to late 80's.


title: Chopped and screwed

text: It is unknown when DJ Screw definitively created "screwed and chopped" music. Screw's former manager Charles Washington stated, "Screw mistakenly created the sound while hanging out with friends at an apartment in the late 80s." Screw discovered that dramatically reducing the pitch of a record gave a mellow, heavy sound that emphasized lyrics to the point of storytelling. Initially, the slow-paced hip hop genre was referred to as laid-back driving music and was limited to South Houston until it was popularized by DJs such as DJ T-Rent Dinero and DJ Z-Rusty.


title: Chopped and screwed

text: In Houston, between 1991 and 1992, there was a notable increase in the use of lean (also known as purple drank and sizzurp) which many believe contributed to the allure of screw music. The drug beverage has been considered a major influence on the making and listening of chopped and screwed music due to its perceived effect of slowing the brain down, and giving the slow, mellow music its appeal. In an interview for the documentary film "Soldiers United For Cash", DJ Screw denounced the claim that one has to use lean to enjoy screwed and chopped music, saying, "People think just to listen to my tapes you gotta be high or dranked out. That ain't true. There's kids getting my tapes, moms and dads getting my tapes, don't smoke or drink or nothing."


title: Chopped and screwed

text: In the mid-1990s, chopped and screwed music started to move to the north side of Houston by way of DJ Michael "5000" Watts, and later OG Ron C. A rivalry between north and south Houston over the true originators of chopped and screwed began to arise. Michael "5000" Watts always gave credit to DJ Screw as the originator of chopped and screwed music, although Watts has been a proponent of the slogan "screwed and chopped" instead of "chopped and screwed". In the late 1990s, with the help of P2P networks such as Napster, chopped and screwed music spread to a much wider audience.


title: Chopped and screwed

text: On November 16, 2000, DJ Screw was found dead in the bathroom of his music studio. The autopsy report later revealed that Screw died from a lethal combination of codeine, marijuana and alcohol.


title: Chopped and screwed

text: Following the death of DJ Screw, his musical influence spread all over the southern United States. Later in 2000, the Memphis-based group Three 6 Mafia came out with their song "Sippin' on Some Syrup". The song debuted as a minor hit but later became one of Three 6 Mafia's most popular songs.


title: Chopped and screwed

text: The 2007 documentary film "Screwed in Houston" details the history of the Houston rap scene and the influence of the chopped and screwed subculture on Houston hip hop. In 2011, University of Houston Libraries acquired over 1,000 albums owned by DJ Screw. Some of the albums were part of an exhibit in early 2012 and, along with the rest, went available for research in 2013.


title: Chopped and screwed

text: As of to date, the chopped and screwed music genre has been added to all forms of streaming services including iTunes, Spotify and has crossed over to receive mass mainstream appeal.


title: Chopped and screwed

text: Created by Swishahouse Records Co-founder OG Ron C they began calling their remixes ChopNotSlop due to all the “sloppy” remixes that came out after the passing of DJ Screw. Since 2001 they have dedicated their cause to the legacy of DJ Screw. The Chopstars have become the prominent source for chopped up music. With official releases with Brent Fiayaz, Don Toliver and Little Dragon (Nabuma Purple Rubberband) they have made a niche in the sub genre. They currently have a radio show called ChopNotSlopShow on Sound 42 which is Drake’s radio station on SiriusXM. Notable members include DJ Ryan Wolf, official DJ of the Cleveland Browns, DJ Candlestick, DJ Hollygrove, Mike G formerly of Odd Future and Oscar Award winning director Barry Jenkins as a creative collaborator.


title: Chopped and screwed

text: In the mid-2010s, producers on SoundCloud began experimenting with fusing chopped and screwed music and EDM. It has since developed into subgenres such as "future screw and lean house".


title: Chopped and screwed

text: "Slowed and reverb" (stylized as "slowed + reverb") is a technique of remixing which involves slowing down and adding reverb to a previously existing song, often created by using digital audio editors such as Audacity. The technique originated in 2017, when Houston-based producer Jarylun Moore (known online as Slater), having been inspired by DJ Screw, began uploading remixes of popular songs using the technique to YouTube. The first of these a remix of Lil Uzi Vert's song "20 Min" earned over one million views on the platform in under two months, eventually earning over four million views before being taken down. Other notable producers in this sub-genre include wretchshop (also known as "ciki 8k"), rum world, Aestheticg, imlonely, Chovies as well as streliz. The style became especially popular on YouTube, where it became common to play remixes over looping clips from retrofuturistic anime scenes. Slowed and reverb remixes were also uploaded to Spotify using the service's podcast feature. For Okayplayer, Elijah C. Watson dubbed slowed and reverb remixes "the soundtrack for Generation Z", comparing the style to .


title: Chopped and screwed

text: Remixes using the technique also became popular on the video-sharing service TikTok. However, they became controversial on social media in mid-2020 after a viral video posted to TikTok failed to attribute the creation of slowed and reverb to chopped and screwed, causing users to brand slowed and reverb a "gentrified" version of chopped and screwed. For the "Houston Chronicle", Shelby Stewart wrote, "Give DJ Screw his flowers. Slowed + reverb is a poor imitation of what chopped and screwed music is."


title: 2S25 Sprut-SD

text: The 2S25 Sprut-SD (Russian: 2С25 «Спрут-СД»; 2S25 "Kraken-SD") is a self-propelled anti-tank gun developed and to be manufactured by the Volgograd Tractor Plant to meet the requirements of the VDV. In mid-2001, the Volgograd tractor plant revealed that the development of the 2S25 had lasted several years.


title: 2S25 Sprut-SD

text: The Sprut-SD is designed to defeat tanks, hard-skinned material and enemy manpower by airborne and amphibious landing forces, as well as by specially designated units of ground forces. Its main armament, the 2A75, is capable of firing APFSDS, HE-Frag, HEAT and ATGM ammunition. This allows the 2S25 firepower to be as powerful as a main battle tank and as maneuverable and amphibious as airborne infantry combat vehicles. The 2S25 can be used by units of ground forces and naval infantry as a light amphibious tank. the only operators of the 2S25 are the Russian airborne troops with 24 of these vehicles in service. the South Korean and Indian militaries have expressed interest in acquiring the 2S25 Sprut-SD.


title: 2S25 Sprut-SD

text: In the early 1990s, the Volgograd tractor plant created a new self-propelled tank destroyer based on a modified prototype light tank classified as Object 934. The plant was also the designer and manufacturer of the BMD-1, BMD-2, BMD-3 and latest BMD-4 airborne combat vehicles that are used by the Russian Air Assault Divisions. After the completion of the chassis modification, it received the index "Object 952". The turret was developed in Yekaterinburg artillery plant number 9. In mid-2001, it was stated that the Volgograd tractor plant had been working on the 2S25 for about seven years. Recent information has indicated that production of the BMD-4 airborne combat vehicle has been transferred to the Kurgan Machine Construction Plant, where production of the BMP-3 armored fighting vehicle and its variants are currently undertaken for the local and export markets. As far as it is known, production of the 2S25 self-propelled anti-tank gun is still being carried out at the Volgograd tractor plant. One of its first trials took place on May 8, 2001, on the "Prudboy" tank firing range located North Caucasian military district for the representatives of the power ministries of Russia and foreign military and diplomatic corps from 14 other countries of Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Africa and South America.


title: 2S25 Sprut-SD

text: According to Russian information, the Russian Army placed an initial contract for 15 2S25 SPATG in three batches of five vehicles each in 2005. This was followed by a second batch of 45 units with the total requirement being for up to 85–110 units. However, there were only four batteries (24 vehicles) in service with the airborne forces as of 2009. In 2010, the cancellation of further procurement was announced as well as the termination of release due to a fire caused by a fuel leakage on one of the vehicles after a military parade on Red Square. The cancellation of further purchases was later denied by VDV commander Vladimir Shamarov in an interview with RIA Novosti military commentator Ilya Kramnik. In February 2016 serial production was expected to start in 2018, but is still being prepared.


title: 2S25 Sprut-SD

text: The 2S25 is based on the chassis of the BMD-3 Infantry fighting vehicle, which is also produced by the Volgograd tractor factory and is in service with the Russian airborne troops. Notable distinctions from the BMD-3 are the armament, the fire control system and the addition of two wheels to each side of the vehicle; which increases the number to seven on each side. The crew is located at the front of the chassis. The turret and ammunition occupies the middle of the vehicle, while the engine-transmission compartment is towards the rear. The driver has a hatch on the front deck; the commander and gunner have hatches on the turret deck. In the stowed position, the commander sits to the right of the driver, while the gunner sits to the left. Each crew member has available built-in roof observant instruments with the day and night channels. Standard equipment includes an electronic NBC protection system to ensure survivability of the crew in case of nuclear fallout.


title: 2S25 Sprut-SD

text: The 2S25 Sprut-SD is equipped with a two-man turret armed with a 125 mm anti-tank gun. The gun is fitted with an autoloader, which ensures the high rate of fire of 6−8 rounds per minute with both conventional projectiles and rounds with guided missiles. It is completely stabilized in the vertical and horizontal planes and conducts fire with the same 125 mm separate case ammunition loadings that are used for the 2A46 smoothbore tank gun installed on Russian main battle tanks. With the fire control system featuring this stabilization of the elevation and azimuth, it also includes a laser rangefinder and a ballistic computer that provides ever-changing data about the target. The two-plane stabilization of the commander's sight is aligned with the laser sight for aiming the 125 mm shells onto the laser rangefinder.


title: 2S25 Sprut-SD

text: The main armament of the 2S25 is a 125 mm smoothbore 2A75 tank gun, which is a derivative of the 125 mm 2A46 tank gun. The angles of elevation and depression for the anti-tank gun are +15° and −5° respectively. When aimed towards the stern of the vehicle, the elevation and depression of the gun changes to +17° and −3° respectively. Given the need to install a gun to a substantially lighter chassis, designers created a new recoil device with a new ejector and thermal insulation jacket; it lacks a muzzle brake. The 2A75's ammunition includes laser guided missiles like the 9M119 Svir, which have a maximum range of 4 km, for defeating armored targets. Reloading the main gun is completed by means of a horizontal autoloader mounted behind the turret. It can carry 40 rounds for the main armament, with 22 ready to use in the autoloader. In case the autoloader is no longer intact, manual loading is possible at the cost of a substantially longer reload time. A coaxial 7.62 mm PKT machine gun mounted to the left side of the main armament serves as the secondary armament of the 2S25; equipped with one tape of 2000 rounds.


title: 2S25 Sprut-SD

text: The weight of the 2S25 is 18 tonnes, which is comparable to that of infantry fighting vehicles. Like the BMD-3, the 2S25 features hydropneumatic suspension with a variable height clearance of 190–590 mm, which can be altered within 6–7 seconds to reduce visibility. Hydropneumatic suspension provides high smoothness while driving and dampens recoil of the main gun. Suspension on each side consists of seven single rollers, four support rollers, rear wheel drive and a front-mounted steering wheel. There are hydraulic track adjusters in assistance for greater mobility. In the engine-transmission compartment, multi-fuel diesel engine 2V-06-2S installed, which develops a power of 510 hp (380 kW). It features an automatic transmission that has five gears forward and five gears reverse.


title: 2S25 Sprut-SD

text: While driving, the 2S25 can reach a top speed of on an even road; the average speed being 45−50 km/h (28-31 mph) when driving off-road. The vehicle exerts a ground pressure of 0.36 to 0.53 kg/cm depending on the type of tracks. It can overcome vertical obstacles as tall as and cross trenches. Like many other Russian armored fighting vehicles, the Sprut-SD is completely amphibious and moves with the help of two water jets that allow it to reach a speed of 8–10 km/h depending on the state of the currents. To increase the buoyancy, wheels are equipped with airtight chambers and powerful water pumps; extracting water from the lower chassis. The vehicle is sea worthy and can cross water obstacles without preparation in a sea state of up to 3. While waterborne, the 2S25 retains the capability of firing the gun within a ±35° sector towards the front of the chassis.


title: 2S25 Sprut-SD

text: The hull of the 2S25 self-propelled anti-tank gun is composed of welded aluminium armor with a composite skin to maintain a light weight. Through the frontal arc, 40° left and right of the frontal armor provides protection against attack from 23 mm weapons at 500 m (550 yd) and against small arms fire and shell splinters through the remainder of the vehicle. Two banks of three smoke-grenade dischargers are mounted towards the rear on each side of the turret as countermeasures to infrared weapons.


title: 2S25 Sprut-SD

text: Possessing a high power-to-weight ratio of 28.3 hp/tonne, the 2S25 can operate in high altitudes of up to 4000 m, while the installed rubber-clad shoes or snow-riding tracks expand the vehicle's capabilities in various climates. According to the manufacturer, the 2S25 can also be employed as a light amphibious tank by rapid deployment forces, airborne, marine and special purpose units. With its low weight, it can become essential in mountains and swamps regions, where heavy equipment cannot travel. The 2S25 is designed to be parachuted from aircraft such as the Il-76 with the crew inside, allowing nearly immediate combat readiness upon landing to provide high firepower alongside paratroopers.


title: 2S25 Sprut-SD

text: The tank destroyer Sprut-SD is tasked specifically with seeking out and destroying enemy tanks and armoured fighting vehicles, whether from an entrenched position or actively hunting. The relatively large gun provided with such a mobile, airborne chassis allows paratroopers both significant fire support and sustained contact when engaging hard targets, such as entrenchments, fortifications and concrete structures (an often difficult task for airborne or light infantry). While amphibious, it can climb onto ships under its own power during a combat mission.


title: Alien and Sedition Acts

text: The Alien and Sedition Acts were a set of four laws enacted in 1798 that applied restrictions to immigration and speech in the United States. The Naturalization Act increased the requirements to seek citizenship, the Alien Friends Act allowed the president to imprison and deport non-citizens, the Alien Enemies Act gave the president additional powers to detain non-citizens during times of war, and the Sedition Act criminalized false and malicious statements about the federal government. The Alien Friends Act and the Sedition Act expired after a set number of years, and the Naturalization Act was repealed in 1802. The Alien Enemies Act is still in effect.


title: Alien and Sedition Acts

text: The Alien and Sedition Acts were controversial. They were supported by the Federalist Party, and supporters argued that the bills strengthened national security during the Quasi-War, an undeclared naval war with France from 1798 to 1800. The acts were denounced by Democratic-Republicans as suppression of voters and violation of free speech under the First Amendment. While they were in effect, the Alien and Sedition Acts, and the Sedition Act in particular, were used to suppress publishers affiliated with the Democratic-Republicans, and several publishers were arrested for criticism of the Adams administration. The Democratic-Republicans took power in 1800, in part because of backlash to the Alien and Sedition Acts, and all but the Alien Enemies Act were eliminated by the next Congress. The Alien Enemies Act has been invoked several times since, particularly during World War II. The Alien and Sedition Acts are generally received negatively by modern historians, and the Supreme Court has since indicated that aspects of the laws would be found unconstitutional if challenged.


title: Alien and Sedition Acts

text: The Alien Friends Act (officially "An Act Concerning Aliens") authorized the president to arbitrarily deport any non-citizen that was determined to be "dangerous to the peace and safety of the United States." Once a non-citizen was determined to be dangerous, or was suspected of conspiring against the government, the president had the power to set a reasonable amount of time for departure, and remaining after the time limit could result to up to three years in prison. The law was never directly enforced, but it was often used in conjunction with the Sedition Act to suppress criticism of the Adams administration. Upon enactment, the Alien Friends Act was authorized for two years, and it was allowed to expire at the end of this period.


title: Alien and Sedition Acts

text: While the law was not directly enforced, it resulted in the voluntary departure of foreigners who feared that they would be charged under the act. The Adams administration encouraged these departures, and Secretary of State Timothy Pickering would ensure that the ships were granted passage. Though Adams did not delegate the final decision-making power, Secretary Pickering was responsible for overseeing enforcement of the Alien Friends Act. Both Adams and Pickering considered the law too weak to be effective; Pickering expressed his desire for the law to require sureties and authorize detainment prior to deportation.


title: Alien and Sedition Acts

text: Many French nationals were considered for deportation, but were allowed to leave willingly, or Adams declined to take action against them. These figures included: philosopher Constantin François de Chassebœuf, comte de Volney, General Victor Collot, scholar Médéric Louis Élie Moreau de Saint-Méry, diplomat Victor Marie du Pont, journalist William Duane, scientist Joseph Priestley, and journalist William Cobbett. Secretary Pickering also proposed applying the act against the French diplomatic delegation to the United States, but Adams refused. Journalist John Daly Burk agreed to leave under the act informally to avoid being tried for sedition, but he went into hiding in Virginia until the act's expiration.


title: Alien and Sedition Acts

text: The Alien Enemies Act (officially "An Act Respecting Alien Enemies") was passed to supplement the Alien Friends Act, granting the government additional powers to regulate non-citizens that would take effect in times of war. Under this law, the president could authorize the arrest, relocation, or deportation of any non-citizen male residing in the United States that was 14 years or older. It also provided some legal protections for those subject to the law. The Alien Enemies Act was not allowed to expire with the other Alien and Sedition Acts, and it remains in effect as Chapter 3, Sections 21–24 of Title 50 of the United States Code. President James Madison invoked the act against British nationals during the War of 1812. President Woodrow Wilson invoked the act against nationals of the Central Powers during World War I. In 1918, an amendment to the act struck the provision restricting the law to males.


title: Alien and Sedition Acts

text: On December 7, 1941, in response to the bombing of Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt used the authority of the revised Alien Enemies Act to issue presidential proclamations #2525 (Alien Enemies – Japanese), #2526 (Alien Enemies – German), and #2527 (Alien Enemies – Italian), to apprehend, restrain, secure, and remove Japanese, German, and Italian non-citizens. Roosevelt later cited further wartime powers to issue Executive Order 9066, which interned Japanese Americans using powers unrelated to the Alien Enemies Act. Hostilities with Germany and Italy ended in May 1945, and President Harry S. Truman issued presidential proclamation #2655 on July 14. The proclamation gave the Attorney General authority regarding enemy aliens within the continental United States, to decide whether they are “dangerous to the public peace and safety of the United States,” to order them removed, and to create regulations governing their removal, citing the Alien Enemies Act. On September 8, 1945, Truman issued presidential proclamation #2662, which authorized the Secretary of State to remove enemy aliens that had been sent to the United States from Latin American countries. On April 10, 1946, Truman issued presidential proclamation #2685, which modified the previous proclamation, and set a 30-day deadline for removal.


title: Alien and Sedition Acts

text: In "Ludecke v. Watkins" (1948), the Supreme Court interpreted the time of release under the Alien Enemies Act. German alien Kurt G. W. Ludecke was detained in 1941, under Proclamation 2526, and continued to be held after cessation of hostilities. In 1947, Ludecke petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus to order his release, after the Attorney General ordered him deported. The court ruled 5–4 to release Ludecke, but also found that the Alien Enemies Act allowed for detainment beyond the time hostilities ceased, until an actual treaty was signed with the hostile nation or government.


title: Alien and Sedition Acts

text: The Naturalization Act increased the residency requirement for American citizenship from five to 14 years, and increased the notice time from three to five years. At the time, the majority of immigrants supported Thomas Jefferson and the Democratic-Republicans—the political opponents of the Federalists. It did not have an expiration date, but it was repealed by the Naturalization Law of 1802.


title: Alien and Sedition Acts

text: The Sedition Act made it illegal to make false or malicious statements about the federal government. The act was used to suppress speech critical of the Adams administration, including the prosecution and conviction of many Jeffersonian newspaper owners who disagreed with the Federalist Party. The Sedition Act did not extend enforcement to speech about the Vice President, as then-incumbent Thomas Jefferson was a political opponent of the Federalist-controlled Congress. The Sedition Act was allowed to expire in 1800, and its enactment is credited with helping Jefferson win the presidential election that year.


title: Alien and Sedition Acts

text: The Alien and Sedition Acts were passed by Congress while it was controlled by the Federalist Party in 1798. Members of the Federalist Party grew increasingly distrustful of the opposing Democratic-Republican Party with the Democratic-Republicans' support of France in the midst of the French Revolution. Some appeared to desire a similar revolution in the United States to overthrow the government and social structure. Newspapers sympathizing with each side exacerbated the tensions by accusing the other side's leaders of corruption, incompetence, and treason. The spreading unrest in Europe and calls for secession in the United States appeared to threaten the newly formed American republic. Some of this agitation was seen by Federalists as having been caused by French and French-sympathizing immigrants. The Alien and Sedition Acts were supported for different reasons, including the prevention of potential unrest by targeting immigrants, restriction of speech that may induce crime, reduction of partisan divides by penalizing expressly partisan speech, and suppression of political opponents of the Federalists.


title: Alien and Sedition Acts

text: The Acts were highly controversial at the time, especially the Sedition Act. The Sedition Act, which was signed into law by Adams on July 14, 1798, was hotly debated in the Federalist-controlled Congress and passed only after multiple amendments softening its terms, such as enabling defendants to argue in their defense that their statements had been true. Still, it passed the House only after three votes and another amendment causing it to automatically expire in March 1801. They continued to be loudly protested and were a major political issue in the election of 1800. Opposition to them resulted in the also-controversial Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions, authored by James Madison and Thomas Jefferson. Upon assuming the presidency, Thomas Jefferson pardoned those still serving sentences under the Sedition Act, and Congress soon repaid their fines.


title: Alien and Sedition Acts

text: After the passage of the highly unpopular Alien and Sedition Acts, protests occurred across the country, with some of the largest being seen in Kentucky, where the crowds were so large they filled the streets and the entire town square of Lexington. Critics argued that they were primarily an attempt to suppress voters who disagreed with the Federalist party and its teachings, and violated the right of freedom of speech in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. They also raised concerns that the Alien and Sedition acts gave disproportionate power to the federal executive compared to state governments and other branches of the federal government. Noting the outrage among the populace, the Democratic-Republicans made the Alien and Sedition Acts an important issue in the 1800 presidential election campaign. While government authorities prepared lists of aliens for deportation, many aliens fled the country during the debate over the Alien and Sedition Acts, and Adams never signed a deportation order.


title: Alien and Sedition Acts

text: The Virginia and Kentucky state legislatures also passed the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions, secretly authored by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, denouncing the federal legislation. While the eventual resolutions followed Madison in advocating "interposition", Jefferson's initial draft would have nullified the Acts and even threatened secession. Jefferson's biographer Dumas Malone argued that this might have gotten Jefferson impeached for treason, had his actions become known at the time. In writing the Kentucky Resolutions, Jefferson warned that, "unless arrested at the threshold", the Alien and Sedition Acts would "necessarily drive these states into revolution and blood".


title: Alien and Sedition Acts

text: The Alien and Sedition Acts were never appealed to the Supreme Court, whose power of judicial review was not established until "Marbury v. Madison" in 1803. Subsequent mentions in Supreme Court opinions beginning in the mid-20th century have assumed that the Sedition Act would today be found unconstitutional. Most modern historians view the Alien and Sedition Acts in a negative light, considering them to have been a mistake.


title: Dileesh Pothan

text: Dileesh Philip (born 19 February 1980), also known as Dileesh Pothan is an Indian film director, actor and producer, who works in Malayalam cinema. He made his directorial debut with the 2016 comedy drama film "Maheshinte Prathikaaram", starring Fahadh Faasil. The film received the Best Feature Film in Malayalam Award at the 64th National Film Awards. Pothan also won the Best Director Award at the 64th Filmfare Awards South.


title: Dileesh Pothan

text: Pothan began his career as an associate director to the 2010 film "9 KK Road". He served as an assistant director under Aashiq Abu, assisting in five of Aashiq's films. He made his acting debut as a film director in one scene in Aashiq Abu's 2011 film "Salt N' Pepper". His second directional was "Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum" (2017), which was also a critical and commercial hit. "Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum" won the Best Feature Film in Malayalam Award as well at the 65th National Film Awards.


title: Dileesh Pothan

text: His third and latest film "Joji", also starring Fahadh Faasil, released to highly positive reviews on the OTT platform of Amazon Prime Video in April 2021. "Joji" won the best International Film Award at the Swedish International Film Festival (SIFF 2021).


title: Dileesh Pothan

text: Pothan was born in Omalloor of Manjoor panchayat-village in northern Kottayam district, Kerala. He did his schooling at Emmanuel's High School, Kothanalloor. After pre-degree from Kuriakose Elias College, Mannanam, he pursued a BSc degree at St. Philomena's College, Mysore. Due to his keen interest in drama and cinema, he followed up with an M.A. in Theatre Arts at Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, Kalady and an M.Phil. in Theatre Arts from Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam. Pothan married Jimsy in December 2012 at St. Thomas Church, Kuruppanthara. They have a daughter and a son.


title: Dileesh Pothan

text: Pothan started his film career as an assistant director in the film "9 KK Road" (2010). Later on he became an associate director to Aashiq Abu. He assisted Aashiq Abu in films like "22 Female Kottayam" (2012), "Da Thadiya" (2012), and "Gangster" (2014). He was the chief associate director in Dileesh Nair's 2014 film "Tamaar Padaar".


title: Dileesh Pothan

text: His first appearance in front of a movie camera was as a junior artist in the movie Chandranudikunna Dikkil (1999) directed by Lal Jose. Later his first proper role as an actor was in Salt N' Pepper. He has also acted in small roles mostly in Aashiq Abu's films, "Salt N' Pepper" (2011), "22 Female Kottayam" (2012), "Idukki Gold" (2013), "Gangster" (2014), "Iyobinte Pusthakam" (2014), and "Rani Padmini" (2015). He has acted in several films since then.


title: Dileesh Pothan

text: Pothan ventured into film production by forming the film production company Working Class Hero in 2018, partnered by Syam Pushkaran. Their first movie was Kumbalangi Nights.


title: Dileesh Pothan

text: Pothen's filmmaking style―flirting with molecule level details, imbuing vibrance; one of its kind and stamping touches of sensationalism, is from the KG George school. But Pothen is also singularly distinctive in his approach, which is a delectable medley of native roots (classy old-school) and modern kerala. In "Maheshinte Prathikaram", Pothen charts a "butterfly effect" idiom through remarkable attention for detail and sensational film language, using every medium―song, sky, rain, space, place and drama with consummated precision.


title: Michael Clifford (musician)

text: Michael Gordon Clifford (born 20 November 1995) is an Australian musician, best known as the lead guitarist of the pop rock band 5 Seconds of Summer. Since 2014, 5 Seconds of Summer have sold more than 10 million albums, sold over 2 million concert tickets worldwide, and the band's song streams surpass 7 billion, making them one of the most successful Australian musical exports in history.


title: Michael Clifford (musician)

text: Michael Gordon Clifford was born on 20 November 1995 and raised in the Quakers Hill suburb of Sydney, New South Wales.  He is the only child of parents Karen and Daryl Clifford, who ran a computer business based outside of Sydney. Clifford attended Norwest Primary school where he befriended future band-mate Calum Hood in the third grade. For his high-school education, Clifford attended Norwest Christian college where he met band-mate, Luke Hemmings in Year 7. He later revealed that he initially "hated" Hemmings for "a solid year" before becoming friends and forming the band. Clifford met future band-mate Ashton Irwin through mutual friends in Year 9. Admitting in a People magazine interview that he "spent a lot of time away from school", Clifford's irregular attendance eventually resulted in him leaving high-school entirely when he was in Year 10 and instead, completing a course at TAFE.


title: Michael Clifford (musician)

text: Clifford first learned how to play guitar from the video game "Guitar Hero" when he was eight years old. Growing up, Clifford took both singing lessons and piano lessons before quitting because he "hated" them. At the age of eleven, his parents bought him an acoustic guitar and Clifford began taking guitar lessons. In high-school, Clifford joined his school's church band to play the instrument.


title: Michael Clifford (musician)

text: In 2011, Clifford, Hood and Hemmings began posting song covers on Hemmings' YouTube channel. The trio eventually added mutual friend Ashton Irwin to their videos, forming the current 5 Seconds of Summer lineup.  After months of posting song covers together, the band began attracting interest from major music labels and publishers and initially signed a publishing deal with Sony/ATV Music Publishing. Clifford has since released four studio albums with the band, each met with worldwide success: "5 Seconds of Summer" (2014), "Sounds Good Feels Good" (2015), "Youngblood" (2018), and "Calm" (2020).


title: Michael Clifford (musician)

text: At the NAMM Show in January 2019, Clifford, in collaboration with Gibson, revealed the "Michael Clifford Signature Melody Maker g"uitar"." The guitar was released for purchase in May 2019, with Clifford citing his main inspiration for the guitar being his own first guitar, Joan Jett's "Melody" "Maker". He stated that the goal of his Melody Maker was to "be an homage to the Joan Jett Melody Maker" and that he hoped the guitar would "inspire" someone, just as Jett inspired him. Clifford is the youngest guitarist to ever receive a custom guitar in his name.


title: Michael Clifford (musician)

text: In June 2019, it was revealed Clifford had partnered with Nightfood Ice Cream in developing a custom chocolate flavor for the brand.


title: Michael Clifford (musician)

text: Apart from the band, Clifford has expressed interest in gaming. His Twitch account, which he uses to live-stream game sessions, has amassed over 150,000 followers. During the Australian Bushfires in January 2020, Clifford held a charity Twitch live-stream, in which all proceeds were donated to Australian Red Cross.


title: Michael Clifford (musician)

text: Clifford has been diagnosed with anxiety and depression. Since the beginning of his career, Clifford has used his platform to raise awareness and be an advocate for mental health. In June 2015, Clifford suffered minor face, hair, and shoulder injuries from a pyrotechnics accident during the band's Rock Out With Your Socks Out Tour at the SSE Wembley Arena in London.


title: Michael Clifford (musician)

text: In January 2019, Clifford posted on his Instagram account announcing his engagement to his girlfriend of three years, Crystal Leigh Lauderdale. On 11 January 2022, the couple announced their one-year anniversary, saying that they had wedded a year before in a secret ceremony.


title: Michael Clifford (musician)

text: In 2019, it was reported that Clifford bought an eight-bedroom, 4-acre mansion in Los Angeles' Valley Village neighborhood located in San Fernando Valley. As of 2020, Clifford's net worth is estimated to be US$25 million.


title: Amiri Baraka

text: Amiri Baraka (born Everett Leroy Jones; October 7, 1934 – January 9, 2014), previously known as LeRoi Jones and Imamu Amear Baraka, was an American writer of poetry, drama, fiction, essays and music criticism. He was the author of numerous books of poetry and taught at several universities, including the University at Buffalo and Stony Brook University. He received the PEN/Beyond Margins Award in 2008 for "Tales of the Out and the Gone". Baraka's plays, poetry, and essays have been described by scholars as constituting defining texts for African-American culture.


title: Amiri Baraka

text: Baraka's career spanned nearly 52 years, and his themes range from black liberation to white racism. His notable poems include "The Music: Reflection on Jazz and Blues", "The Book of Monk", and "New Music, New Poetry", works that draw on topics from the worlds of society, music, and literature.


title: Amiri Baraka

text: Baraka's poetry and writing have attracted both high praise and condemnation. In the African-American community, some compare Baraka to James Baldwin and recognize him as one of the most respected and most widely published black writers of his generation, though some have said his work is an expression of violence, misogyny, and homophobia. Baraka's brief tenure as Poet Laureate of New Jersey (in 2002 and 2003) involved controversy over a public reading of his poem "Somebody Blew Up America?", which resulted in accusations of antisemitism and negative attention from critics and politicians.


title: Amiri Baraka

text: Baraka was born in Newark, New Jersey, where he attended Barringer High School. His father Coyt Leroy Jones worked as a postal supervisor and lift operator. His mother Anna Lois (née Russ) was a social worker. Jazz was something Baraka became interested in as a kid. He wanted to be just like Miles Davis. "I wanted to look like that too — that green shirt and rolled up sleeves on "Milestones"...always wanted to look like that. And be able to play "On Green Dolphin Street" or "Autumn Leaves" ... That gorgeous chilling sweet sound. That's the music you wanted playing when you was coming into a joint, or just looking up at the sky with your baby by your side, that mixture of America and them changes, them blue African magic chants." The influence of jazz can be seen throughout his work later in life.


title: Amiri Baraka

text: He won a scholarship to Rutgers University in 1951 but transferred in 1952 to Howard University. His classes in philosophy and religious studies helped lay a foundation for his later writings. He subsequently studied at Columbia University and The New School without taking a degree.


title: Amiri Baraka

text: In 1954, he joined the United States Air Force as a gunner, reaching the rank of sergeant. This was a decision he would come to regret. He once explained: "I found out what it was like to be under the direct jurisdiction of people who hated black people. I had never known that directly." This experience was yet another that influenced Baraka's later work. His commanding officer received an anonymous letter accusing Baraka of being a communist. This led to the discovery of Soviet writings in Baraka's possession, his reassignment to gardening duty, and subsequently a dishonorable discharge for violation of his oath of duty. He later described his experience in the military as "racist, degrading, and intellectually paralyzing". While he was stationed in Puerto Rico, he worked at the base library, which allowed him ample reading time, and it was here that, inspired by Beat poets back in the mainland US, he began to write poetry.


title: Amiri Baraka

text: The same year, he moved to Greenwich Village, working initially in a warehouse of music records. His interest in jazz evolved during this period. It was also during this time that he came in contact with the avant-garde Black Mountain poets and New York School poets. In 1958 he married Hettie Cohen, with whom he had two daughters, Kellie Jones (b. 1959) and Lisa Jones (b.1961). He and Hettie founded Totem Press, which published such Beat poets as Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg. In cooperation with Corinth, Totem published books by LeRoi Jones and Diane di Prima, Ron Loewinsohn, Michael McClure, Charles Olson, Paul Blackburn, Frank O'Hara, Gary Snyder, Philip Whalen, Ed Dorn, Joel Oppenheimer and Gilbert Sorrentino and an anthology of four young female poets, Carol Berge, Barbara Moraff, Rochelle Owens, and Diane Wakoski. They also jointly founded a quarterly literary magazine, "Yugen", which ran for eight issues (1958–62). Through a party that Baraka organized, Ginsberg was introduced to Langston Hughes while Ornette Coleman played saxophone.


title: Amiri Baraka

text: Baraka also worked as editor and critic for the literary and arts journal "Kulchur" (1960–65). With Diane di Prima he edited the first twenty-five issues (1961–63) of their small magazine "The Floating Bear". In October 1961, the U.S. Postal Service seized "The Floating Bear #9"; the FBI charged them for obscenity over William Burroughs' piece "Roosevelt after the Inauguration". In the autumn of 1961 he co-founded the New York Poets Theatre with di Prima, the choreographers Fred Herko and James Waring, and the actor Alan S. Marlowe. He had an extramarital affair with di Prima for several years; their daughter, Dominique di Prima, was born in June 1962.


title: Amiri Baraka

text: Baraka visited Cuba in July 1960 with a Fair Play for Cuba Committee delegation and reported his impressions in his essay "Cuba Libre". There he encountered openly rebellious artists who declared him to be a "cowardly bourgeois individualist" more focused on building his reputation than trying to help those who were enduring oppression. This encounter led to a dramatic change in his writing and goals, causing him to become emphatic about supporting black nationalism.


title: Amiri Baraka

text: In 1961 Baraka co-authored a "Declaration of Conscience" in support of Fidel Castro's regime. Baraka also was a member of the Umbra Poets Workshop of emerging Black Nationalist writers (Ishmael Reed and Lorenzo Thomas, among others) on the Lower East Side (1962–65).


title: Amiri Baraka

text: His first book of poems, "Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note," was published in 1961. Baraka's article "The Myth of a 'Negro Literature'" (1962) stated that "a Negro literature, to be a legitimate product of the Negro experience in America, must get at that experience in exactly the terms America has proposed for it in its most ruthless identity". He also stated in the same work that as an element of American culture, the Negro was entirely misunderstood by Americans. The reason for this misunderstanding and for the lack of black literature of merit was, according to Jones:


title: Amiri Baraka

text: As long as black writers were obsessed with being an accepted middle class, Baraka wrote, they would never be able to speak their mind, and that would always lead to failure. Baraka felt that America only made room for white obfuscators, not black ones.


title: Amiri Baraka

text: In 1963 Baraka (under the name LeRoi Jones) published "Blues People: Negro Music in White America", his account of the development of black music from slavery to contemporary jazz. When the work was re-issued in 1999, Baraka wrote in the Introduction that he wished to show that "The music was the score, the actually expressed creative orchestration, reflection of Afro-American life ... That the music was explaining the history as the history was explaining the music. And that both were expressions of and reflections of the people." He argued that though the slaves had brought their musical traditions from Africa, the blues were an expression of what black people became in America: "The way I have come to think about it, blues could not exist if the African captives had not become American captives."


title: Amiri Baraka

text: Baraka (under the name LeRoi Jones) wrote an acclaimed, controversial play titled "Dutchman", in which a white woman accosts a black man on the New York City Subway. The play premiered in 1964 and received the Obie Award for Best American Play in the same year. A film of the play, directed by Anthony Harvey, was released in 1967. The play has been revived several times, including a 2013 production staged in the Russian and Turkish Bathhouse in the East Village, Manhattan.


title: Amiri Baraka

text: After the assassination of Malcolm X in 1965, Baraka changed his name from LeRoi Jones to Amiri Baraka. At this time, he also left his wife and their two children and moved to Harlem, where he founded the Black Arts Repertory/Theater School (BARTS) since the Black Arts Movement created a new visual representation of art. However, the Black Arts Repertory Theater School remained open for less than a year. In its short time BARTS attracted many well-known artists, including Sonia Sanchez, Sun Ra and Albert Ayler. The Black Arts Repertory Theater School's closure prompted conversation with many other black artists who wanted to create similar institutions. Consequently, there was a surge in the establishment of these institutions in many places across the United States. In December 1965 Baraka moved back to Newark after allegations surfaced that he was using federal antipoverty welfare funds for his theater.


title: Amiri Baraka

text: Baraka became a leading advocate and theorist for the burgeoning black art during this time. Now a "black cultural nationalist", he broke away from the predominantly white Beats and became critical of the pacifist and integrationist Civil Rights Movement. His revolutionary poetry became more controversial. A poem such as "Black Art" (1965), according to Werner Sollors of Harvard University, expressed Baraka's need to commit the violence required to "establish a Black World".


title: Amiri Baraka

text: Baraka even uses onomatopoeia in "Black Art" to express that need for violence: "rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr ... tuhtuhtuhtuhtuhtuht..." More specifically, lines in "Black Art" such as "Let there be no love poems written / until love can exist freely and cleanly", juxtaposed with "We want a black poem. / And a Black World", demonstrate Baraka's cry for political justice during a time when racial injustice was rampant, despite the Civil Rights Movement.


title: Amiri Baraka

text: "Black Art" quickly became the major poetic manifesto of the Black Arts Literary Movement, and in it, Jones declaimed, "we want poems that kill", which coincided with the rise of armed self-defense and slogans such as "Arm yourself or harm yourself" that promoted confrontation with the white power structure. Rather than use poetry as an escapist mechanism, Baraka saw poetry as a weapon of action.


title: Amiri Baraka

text: In April 1965, Baraka's "A Poem for Black Hearts" was published as a direct response to Malcolm X's assassination, and it further exemplifies the poet's uses of poetry to generate anger and endorse rage against oppression. Like many of his poems, it showed no remorse in its use of raw emotion to convey its message. It was published in the September issue of "Negro Digest" and was one of the first responses to Malcolm's death to be exposed to the public. The poem is directed particularly at black men, and it scoldingly labels them "faggots" in order to challenge them to act and continue the fallen activist's fight against the white establishment.


title: Amiri Baraka

text: Baraka also promoted theatre as a training for the "real revolution" yet to come, with the arts being a way to forecast the future as he saw it. In "The Revolutionary Theatre", Baraka wrote, "We will scream and cry, murder, run through the streets in agony, if it means some soul will be moved." In opposition to the peaceful protests inspired by Martin Luther King Jr., Baraka believed that a physical uprising must follow the literary one.


title: Amiri Baraka

text: Baraka's decision to leave Greenwich Village in 1965 was an outgrowth of his response to the debate about the future of black liberation.


title: Amiri Baraka

text: In 1966, Baraka married his second wife, Sylvia Robinson, who later adopted the name Amina Baraka. The two would open a facility in Newark known as Spirit House, a combination playhouse and artists' residence. In 1967, he lectured at San Francisco State University. The year after, he was arrested in Newark for having allegedly carried an illegal weapon and resisting arrest during the 1967 Newark riots. He was subsequently sentenced to three years in prison. His poem "Black People", published in the "Evergreen Review" in December 1967, was read by the judge in court, including the memorable phrase: ""All the stores will open if you say the magic words. The magic words are: "Up against the wall motherfucker this is a stick up!"" Shortly afterward an appeals court reversed the sentence based on his defense by attorney Raymond A. Brown. He later joked that he was charged with holding "two revolvers and two poems".


title: Amiri Baraka

text: Not long after the 1967 riots, Baraka generated controversy when he went on the radio with a Newark police captain and Anthony Imperiale, a politician and private business owner, and the three of them blamed the riots on "white-led, so-called radical groups" and "Communists and the Trotskyite persons". That same year his second book of jazz criticism, "Black Music", came out. It was a collection of previously published music journalism, including the seminal "Apple Cores" columns from "Down Beat" magazine. Around this time he also formed a record label called Jihad, which produced and issued only three LPs, all released in 1968: "Sonny's Time Now" with Sunny Murray, Albert Ayler, Don Cherry, Lewis Worrell, Henry Grimes, and Baraka; "A Black Mass", featuring Sun Ra; and "Black & Beautiful – Soul & Madness" by the Spirit House Movers, on which Baraka reads his poetry.


title: Amiri Baraka

text: In 1967, Baraka (still LeRoi Jones) visited Maulana Karenga in Los Angeles and became an advocate of his philosophy of Kawaida, a multifaceted, categorized activist philosophy that produced the "Nguzo Saba", Kwanzaa, and an emphasis on African names. It was at this time that he adopted the name "Imamu Amear Baraka". "Imamu" is a Swahili title for "spiritual leader", derived from the Arabic word "Imam" (إمام). According to Shaw, he dropped the honorific "Imamu" and eventually changed "Amear" (which means "Prince") to "Amiri".


title: Amiri Baraka

text: In 1970 he strongly supported Kenneth A. Gibson's candidacy for mayor of Newark; Gibson was elected as the city's first African-American mayor.


title: Amiri Baraka

text: In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Baraka courted controversy by penning some strongly anti-Jewish poems and articles with a stance similar to the stance at that time of the Nation of Islam. Historian Melani McAlister points to an example of this writing: "In the case of Baraka, and in many of the pronouncements of the NOI [Nation of Islam], there is a profound difference, both qualitative and quantitative, in the ways that white ethnicities were targeted. For example, in one well-known poem, "Black Arts" [originally published in "The Liberator" January 1966], Baraka made offhand remarks about several groups, commenting in the violent rhetoric that was often typical of him, that ideal poems would 'knockoff ... dope selling wops' and suggesting that cops should be killed and have their 'tongues pulled out and sent to Ireland.' But as Baraka himself later admitted [in his piece "I was an AntiSemite" published by "The Village Voice" on December 20, 1980, vol. 1], he held a specific animosity for Jews, as was apparent in the different intensity and viciousness of his call in the same poem for 'dagger poems' to stab the 'slimy bellies of the ownerjews' and for poems that crack 'steel knuckles in a jewlady's mouth.'"


title: Amiri Baraka

text: Prior to this time, Baraka prided himself on being a forceful advocate of black cultural nationalism; however, by the mid-1970s, he began finding its racial individuality confining. Baraka's separation from the Black Arts Movement began because he saw certain black writers – capitulationists, as he called them – countering the Black Arts Movement that he created. He believed that the groundbreakers in the Black Arts Movement were doing something that was new, needed, useful, and black, and those who did not want to see a promotion of black expression were "appointed" to the scene to damage the movement.


title: Amiri Baraka

text: In 1974, Baraka distanced himself from Black nationalism, embracing Marxism-Leninism in the context of Maoist third-world liberation movements.


title: Amiri Baraka

text: In 1979, he became a lecturer in the State University of New York at Stony Brook's Africana Studies Department in the College of Arts and Sciences at the behest of faculty member Leslie Owens. Articles about Baraka appeared in the University's print media from "Stony Brook Press", "Blackworld", and other student campus publications. These articles included a page-one exposé of his positions in the inaugural issue of "Stony Brook Press" on October 25, 1979, discussing his protests "against what he perceived as racism in the Africana Studies Department, as evidenced by a dearth of tenured professors". Shortly thereafter, Baraka took a tenure-track assistant professorship at Stony Brook in 1980 to assist "the struggling Africana Studies Department"; in 1983, he was promoted to associate professor and earned tenure.


title: Amiri Baraka

text: In June 1979 Baraka was arrested and jailed at Eighth Street and Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. Different accounts emerged around the arrest, yet all sides agree that Baraka and his wife, Amina, were in their car arguing over the cost of their children's shoes. The police version of events holds that they were called to the scene after a report of an assault in progress. They maintain that Baraka was striking his wife, and when they moved to intervene, he attacked them as well, whereupon they used the necessary force to subdue him. Amina's account contrasted with that of the police; she held a news conference the day after the arrest accusing the police of lying. A grand jury dismissed the assault charge, but the resisting arrest charge moved forward. In November 1979 after a seven-day trial, a criminal court jury found Baraka guilty of resisting arrest. A month later he was sentenced to 90 days at Rikers Island (the maximum he could have been sentenced to was one year). Amina declared that her husband was "a political prisoner". Baraka was released after a day in custody pending his appeal. At the time it was noted that if he was kept in prison, "he would be unable to attend a reception at the White House in honor of American poets." Baraka's appeal continued up to the State Supreme Court. During the process his lawyer William M. Kunstler told the press Baraka "feels it's the responsibility of the writers of America to support him across the board". Backing for his attempts to have the sentence cancelled or reduced came from "letters of support from elected officials, artists and teachers around the country". Amina Baraka continued to advocate for her husband and at one press conference stated, "Fascism is coming and soon the secret police will shoot our children down in the streets." In December 1981 Judge Benrard Fried ruled against Baraka and ordered him to report to Rikers Island to serve his sentence on weekends occurring between January 9, 1982, and November 6, 1982. The judge noted that having Baraka serve his 90 days on weekends would allow him to continue his teaching obligations at Stony Brook. Rather than serve his sentence at the prison, Baraka was allowed to serve his 48 consecutive weekends in a Harlem halfway house. While serving his sentence he wrote "The Autobiography", tracing his life from birth to his conversion to socialism.


title: Amiri Baraka

text: In 1980 Baraka published an essay in the "Village Voice" that was titled "Confessions of a Former Anti-Semite". Baraka insisted that a "Village Voice" editor titled it and not himself. In the essay Baraka went over his life history, including his marriage to Hettie Cohen, who was Jewish. He stated that after the assassination of Malcolm X he found himself thinking, "As a Black man married to a white woman, I began to feel estranged from her ... How could someone be married to the enemy?" He eventually divorced Hettie and left her with their two bi-racial daughters. In the essay Baraka went on to say


title: Amiri Baraka

text: We also know that much of the vaunted Jewish support of Black civil rights organizations was in order to use them. Jews, finally, are white, and suffer from the same kind of white chauvinism that separates a great many whites from Black struggle. ... these Jewish intellectuals have been able to pass over into the Promised Land of American privilege.


title: Amiri Baraka

text: In the essay he also defended his position against Israel, saying, "Zionism is a form of racism." Near the end of the essay Baraka stated the following:


title: Amiri Baraka

text: Anti-Semitism is as ugly an idea and as deadly as white racism and Zionism ...As for my personal trek through the wasteland of anti-Semitism, it was momentary and never completely real. ... I have written only one poem that has definite aspects of anti-Semitism...and I have repudiated it as thoroughly as I can.


title: Amiri Baraka

text: ...Smile jew. Dance, jew. Tell me you love me, jew. I got something for you ... I got the extermination blues, jewboys. I got the hitler syndrome figured ... So come for the rent, jewboys ... one day, jewboys, we all, even my wig wearing mother gonna put it on you all at once.


title: Amiri Baraka

text: During the 1982–83 academic year, Baraka returned to Columbia University as a visiting professor, teaching a course entitled "Black Women and Their Fictions". After becoming a full professor of African Studies at Stony Brook in 1985, Baraka took an indefinite visiting appointment in Rutgers University's English department in 1988; over the next two years, he taught a number of courses in African American literature and music. Although Baraka sought a permanent, tenured appointment at the rank of full professor in early 1990 (in part due to the proximity between the University's campus in New Brunswick, New Jersey and his home in Newark), he did not attain the requisite two-thirds majority of the senior faculty in a contentious 9–8 vote that favored his appointment. Baraka would go on to collectively liken the committee to an "Ivy League Goebbels" while also characterizing the senior faculty as "powerful Klansmen", leading to a condemnation from department chair Barry Qualls. Thereafter, Baraka was nominally affiliated with Stony Brook as professor emeritus of Africana Studies until his death. In 1987, together with Maya Angelou and Toni Morrison, he was a speaker at the commemoration ceremony for James Baldwin.


title: Amiri Baraka

text: In 1989 Baraka won an American Book Award for his works as well as a Langston Hughes Award. In 1990 he co-authored the autobiography of Quincy Jones, and in 1998 he was a supporting actor in Warren Beatty's film "Bulworth". In 1996, Baraka contributed to the AIDS benefit album "" produced by the Red Hot Organization.


title: Amiri Baraka

text: In July 2002, Baraka was named Poet Laureate of New Jersey by Governor Jim McGreevey. The position was to be for two years and came with a $10,000 stipend. Baraka held the post for a year, during which time he was mired in controversy, including substantial political pressure and public outrage demanding his resignation. During the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival in Stanhope, New Jersey, Baraka read his 2001 poem on the September 11th attacks "Somebody Blew Up America?", which was criticized for anti-Semitism and attacks on public figures. Because there was no mechanism in the law to remove Baraka from the post, and he refused to step down, the position of state poet laureate was officially abolished by the State Legislature and Governor McGreevey.


title: Amiri Baraka

text: Baraka collaborated with hip-hop group The Roots on the song "Something in the Way of Things (In Town)" on their 2002 album "Phrenology".


title: Amiri Baraka

text: In 2002, scholar Molefi Kete Asante included Amiri Baraka on his list of "100 Greatest African Americans".


title: Amiri Baraka

text: In 2003, Baraka's daughter Shani, aged 31, and her lesbian partner, Rayshon Homes, were murdered in the home of Shani's sister, Wanda Wilson Pasha, by Pasha's ex-husband, James Coleman. Prosecutors argued that Coleman shot Shani because she had helped her sister separate from her husband. A New Jersey jury found Coleman (also known as Ibn El-Amin Pasha) guilty of murdering Shani Baraka and Rayshon Holmes, and he was sentenced to 168 years in prison for the 2003 shooting.


title: Amiri Baraka

text: His son, Ras J. Baraka (born 1970), is a politician and activist in Newark, who served as principal of Newark's Central High School, as an elected member of the Municipal Council of Newark (2002–06, 2010–present) representing the South Ward. Ras J. Baraka became Mayor of Newark on July 1, 2014. (See 2014 Newark mayoral election.)


title: Amiri Baraka

text: Amiri Baraka died on January 9, 2014, at Beth Israel Medical Center in Newark, New Jersey, after being hospitalized in the facility's intensive care unit for one month before his death. The cause of death was not reported initially, but it is mentioned that Baraka had a long struggle with diabetes. Later reports indicated that he died from complications after a recent surgery. Baraka's funeral was held at Newark Symphony Hall on January 18, 2014.


title: Amiri Baraka

text: Most American white men are trained to be fags. For this reason it is no wonder their faces are weak and blank ... The average ofay [white person] thinks of the black man as potentially raping every white lady in sight. Which is true, in the sense that the black man should want to rob the white man of everything he has. But for most whites the guilt of the robbery is the guilt of rape. That is, they know in their deepest hearts that they should be robbed, and the white woman understands that only in the rape sequence is she likely to get cleanly, viciously popped.


title: Amiri Baraka

text: Those quotes are from the essays in "Home", a book written almost fifty years ago. The anger was part of the mindset created by, first, the assassination of John Kennedy, followed by the assassination of Patrice Lumumba, followed by the assassination of Malcolm X amidst the lynching, and national oppression. A few years later, the assassination of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy. What changed my mind was that I became a Marxist, after recognizing classes within the Black community and the class struggle even after we had worked and struggled to elect the first Black Mayor of Newark, Kenneth Gibson.


title: Amiri Baraka

text: In July 2002, ten months after the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center, Baraka wrote a poem entitled "Somebody Blew Up America?" that was accused of antisemitism and met with harsh criticism. The poem is highly critical of racism in America, and includes humorous depictions of public figures such as Trent Lott, Clarence Thomas, and Condoleezza Rice. It also contains lines claiming Israel's knowledge of the World Trade Center attacks:


title: Amiri Baraka

text: Baraka said that he believed Israelis and President George W. Bush had advance knowledge of the September 11 attacks, citing what he described as information that had been reported in the American and Israeli press and on Jordanian television. Baraka himself denied that the poem is antisemitic due to the use of word Israeli rather than Jewish.


title: Amiri Baraka

text: However, antisemitism watchdog organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) denounced the poem as antisemitic. The ADL noted that the "4000 workers" conspiracy theory had initially referred to Jews writ large and that Baraka was using a common antisemitic tactic of replacing references to Jews writ large with references to Israel and then claiming a comment is merely anti-Zionist.


title: Amiri Baraka

text: After the poem's publication, then-governor Jim McGreevey tried to remove Baraka from the post of Poet Laureate of New Jersey, to which he had been appointed following Gerald Stern in July 2002. McGreevey learned that there was no legal way, according to the law authorizing and defining the position, to remove Baraka. On October 17, 2002, legislation to abolish the post was introduced in the State Senate and subsequently signed by Governor McGreevey, becoming effective July 2, 2003.


title: Amiri Baraka

text: Baraka ceased being poet laureate when the law became effective. In response to legal action filed by Baraka, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled that state officials were immune from such suits, and in November 2007 the Supreme Court of the United States refused to hear an appeal of the case.


title: Amiri Baraka

text: Baraka served as the second Poet Laureate of New Jersey from July 2002 until the position was abolished on July 2, 2003. In response to the attempts to remove Baraka as the state's Poet Laureate, a nine-member advisory board named him the poet laureate of the Newark Public Schools in December 2002.


title: Amiri Baraka

text: Baraka received honors from a number of prestigious foundations, including the following: fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts, the Langston Hughes Award from the City College of New York, the Rockefeller Foundation Award for Drama, an induction into the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the Before Columbus Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award.


title: Amiri Baraka

text: A short excerpt from Amiri Baraka's poetry was selected to be used for a permanent installation by artist Larry Kirkland in New York City's Pennsylvania Station.


title: Amiri Baraka

text: Carved in marble, this installation features excerpts from the works of several New Jersey poets (from Walt Whitman, William Carlos Williams, to contemporary poets Robert Pinsky and Renée Ashley) and was part of the renovation and reconstruction of the New Jersey Transit section of the station completed in 2002.


title: Amiri Baraka

text: Despite numerous controversies and polarizing content of his work, Baraka's literary influence is undeniable. His co-founding of the Black Arts Movement in the 1960s promoted a uniquely black nationalist perspective and influenced an entire literary generation. Critic Naila Keleta-Mae argues that Baraka's legacy is one of "saying the unsayable", a course that likely damaged his own literary reputation and canonization. For example, Baraka was left out of the 2013 anthology "Angles of Ascent", a collection of contemporary African American poetry published by Norton. In a review of the anthology, Baraka, himself, criticized editor Charles H. Rowell's hostility towards the Black Arts Movement, calling Rowell's "attempt to analyze and even compartmentalize" contemporary African American poetry as "flawed". Indeed, Rowell's introduction to "Angles of Ascent" references the "fetters of narrow political and social demands that have nothing to do with the production of artistic texts", evincing a political/apolitical dichotomy where the editor considers overly political works of lesser artistic value. Critic Emily Ruth Rutter recognizes the contribution to African American literary studies of "Angles of Ascent" yet also proposes adding Baraka and others to ensure students do not "unknowingly accept" the notion that Baraka and writers like him were somehow absent from influencing twenty-first century poetry.


title: Amiri Baraka

text: In "Rain Taxi", Richard Oyama criticized Baraka's militant aesthetic, writing that Baraka's "career came to represent a cautionary tale of the worst 'tendencies' of the 1960s—the alienating rejections, the fanatical self-righteousness, the impulse toward separatism and Stalinist repression versus multi-racial/class coalition-building ... In the end, Baraka's work suffered because he preferred ideology over art, forgetting the latter outlasts us all."


title: Amiri Baraka

text: Baraka's participation in a diverse array of artistic genres combined with his own social activism allowed him to have a wide range of influence. When discussing his influence in an interview with NPR, Baraka stressed that he had influenced numerous people. When asked what he would write for his own epitaph, he quipped, "We don't know if he ever died", evincing the personal importance of his own legacy to him. NPR's obituary for Baraka describes the depths of his influence simply: "...throughout his life – the Black Arts Movement never stopped". Baraka's influence also extends to the publishing world, where some writers credit him with opening doors to white publishing houses which African American writers previously had been unable to access.


title: Nick Valensi

text: Nicholas Valensi (born January 16, 1981) is an American musician and songwriter, best known for his role as lead and rhythm guitarist in the American rock band The Strokes. Since 2001, the band has released six studio albums, some of which Valensi has also contributed keyboard and backing vocals. In 2013, he founded the band CRX, for which he acts as singer, songwriter, and lead and rhythm guitarist. Their debut album, "New Skin", was released in 2016, and was followed by the 2019 album "Peek". Valensi has also worked as a songwriter and session guitarist with various artists, including Sia, Regina Spektor and Kate Pierson.


title: Nick Valensi

text: Valensi was born in New York City, to a Tunisian father and a French mother, Danielle. His mother was from a Catholic family in South Western France, near Bordeaux, and his father was a North African Sephardic Jew. Valensi's mother had moved to Boston as a teenager and met his father in New York; his mother converted to Judaism to marry his father.


title: Nick Valensi

text: Valensi was raised on the Upper East Side of Manhattan with two sisters, Céline and Alessandra. Until the age of 16, Valensi spent summers at his grandfather's home near Bordeaux. He began learning guitar at the age of five, following an impromptu strum on one of his father's guitars. His father described him as a natural guitarist, due to his quickness at picking up the ability to strum along with the rhythm of songs at a young age. Valensi's father died when Nick was nine. Valensi was arrested at age 11 and was assigned a probation officer for a year.


title: Nick Valensi

text: Valensi attended New York City public schools while growing up. He began attending The Dwight School at age 13, where he met Julian Casablancas on the first day of the school's orientation program. Soon after, he met classmate Fabrizio Moretti and the three formed a band. He was once quoted as saying, "I always thought I wanted to be able to play any song you could name. But once I started playing with Julian, that's when I really started to understand music." Through Casablancas, Valensi also met Nikolai Fraiture during this time. The two later attended Hunter College together.


title: Nick Valensi

text: In the late 1990s, Valensi was part of an informal band with vocalist Casablancas and drummer Moretti in high school, and continued after he and Casablancas left Dwight. Nikolai Fraiture started playing as the bassist and the band was formed when guitarist Albert Hammond Jr. joined in fall 1998. Their first show as The Strokes was at the Spiral in New York City on September 14, 1999. The band released The Modern Age EP in 2001 under Rough Trade Records and was signed for a five-album record deal by RCA Records. The band released six LPs including "Is This It", "Room on Fire", "First Impressions of Earth", "Angles", "Comedown Machine and The New Abnormal" with tours and festival sets in the North America, Europe, South America, East Asia and Australia. Following the completion of their album contract deal with RCA Records in 2013, the band has continued to release new music through Casablancas' Cult Records.


title: Nick Valensi

text: In 2013, Valensi co-founded the Los Angeles-based rock band CRX. He is the frontman of the group, and is backed by drummer Ralph Alexander, multi-instrumentalist Brad Oberhofer, bassist Jon Safley, and guitarist Darian Zahedi. The band released their debut album, "New Skin", on October 28, 2016. This was followed by the 2019 record "Peek". Valensi has described the band's sound as a mix of power pop and heavy metal, and has named The Cars, Cheap Trick and Elvis Costello as influences.


title: Nick Valensi

text: While much of his career has been focused on playing and writing for The Strokes and CRX, Valensi has also contributed as a session musician and songwriter to some of his contemporaries. One of his first notable credits was playing guitar for Regina Spektor's song "Better," which was released on her 2006 album "Begin to Hope" and also published as a single in a slightly different version on which the guitar parts are rearranged.


title: Nick Valensi

text: He has collaborated with artists Devendra Banhart, The Stroke's Moretti, and Sia on multiple occasions. Nick Valensi sang backing vocals and played guitar for Devendra Banhart's song "Shabop Shalom" on the 2007 album "Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon". Furthermore, he contributed backing vocals on the self-titled debut album of his bandmate Fab Moretti's band, Little Joy. He appears in the video for "No One's Better Sake" by Little Joy as drummer. He also appears in the video for "Adam & Steve," a song by Devendra Banhart and Moretti's side project Megapuss.


title: Nick Valensi

text: He plays guitar on Sia's album 2010 "We Are Born" and has also written several hooks and melodies on it. Sia has also stated that she and Valensi are planning to write songs together for other artists. He also co-wrote the track "Hostage" on Sia's 2014 album "1000 Forms of Fear". Other credits include co-writing with Brody Dalle in 2014, Kate Pierson for her 2015 album "Guitars and Microphones," Kesha, and again with Sia for the 2017 Blondie track, "Best Day Ever."


title: Nick Valensi

text: Valensi's main guitar, which he uses for nearly every live show and recorded song, is a 1990s Epiphone Riviera with Gibson P-94 pick-ups, which was given to him by friend and fellow Strokes guitarist Albert Hammond Jr. In a 2004 interview with Epiphone, he called it "the greatest guitar never made" because Gibson had never produced a semi-hollow with humbucker-sized P-94 pickups. He has several models in different colours (all with P-94s), including multiple naturals, one in vintage sunburst, one in red, and a 12-string elite in red. In 2005, Epiphone released a signature model of his guitar, the Elitist Nick Valensi Riviera P-94, and followed it up with a standard model Nick Valensi Riviera P-94 in 2007. Back-up/warm-up guitars include an Epiphone Dot fitted with 2 P-94s, an Epiphone Casino, an Epiphone Sheraton, and a Gibson Faded Special Double Cutaway with 2 P-90s. Valensi often borrows fellow Strokes guitarist Albert Hammond, Jr.'s backup guitars, which include a Gibson Les Paul Jr. and a Les Paul Special. New guitars used for the First Impressions of Earth tour include a Les Paul Custom in black, a Fender Telecaster Custom (which he can be seen using in the music video for Under Cover of Darkness ), and a Duesenberg semi-hollow. Valensi's main amplifier is a 2x12" Fender Hot Rod DeVille, used with Fender 4x12" extension cabinets during live shows. He also recently purchased a Carr amplifier to use on the last few stops of the First Impressions tour.


title: Nick Valensi

text: His pedalboard consists of a Visual Sound Jekyll & Hyde Ultimate Overdrive pedal, Boss TR-2 Tremolo, Vox Cooltron Bulldog Distortion, MXR Micro Amp (2) and a Boss TU-2 Chromatic Tuner. He has also been seen with an Electro Harmonix Memory Man and a Boss Blues Driver. His recent pedalboard consists of a Fulltone GT-500 Distortion/Booster, a Korg Pitchblack Tuner, A Visual Sound Visual Volume Pedal, a Visual Sound Double Trouble dual overdrive, a Maxon Distortion Master, an Electro-Harmonix XO Holy Grail Reverb, an Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man, and an MXR Micro Amp Boost. He uses a Fender Super-Sonic 100-watt head into two Fender 2x12" cabinets.


title: Nick Valensi

text: He cites his influences as The Velvet Underground, The Cars, George Harrison, Slash, Bob Marley, and Blondie.


title: Nick Valensi

text: In summer 2006, Valensi married his girlfriend of five years, English photographer and television personality Amanda de Cadenet. With De Cadenet, Valensi has fraternal twins, Silvan and Ella. He has a step-daughter, Atlanta, through de Cadenet's first marriage. De Cadenet published a book of photographs entitled "Rare Birds" in 2005, which includes several pictures of Valensi, whom she refers to as her "muse" on her website. Valensi has lived with his family in Los Angeles since the mid-2000s. In the past, they have lived in the neighborhoods of Van Nuys and Studio City in Los Angeles and in Midtown Manhattan and Park Slope in New York City.


title: 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group C

text: The 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification UEFA Group C was one of the ten UEFA groups in the World Cup qualification tournament to decide which teams would qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup finals tournament in Qatar. Group C consisted of five teams: Bulgaria, Italy, Lithuania, Northern Ireland and Switzerland. The teams played against each other home-and-away in a round-robin format.


text: The group winners, Switzerland, qualified directly for the World Cup finals, while the runners-up, Italy, advanced to the second round (play-offs).


text: The fixture list was confirmed by UEFA on 8 December 2020, the day following the draw. Times are CET/CEST, as listed by UEFA (local times, if different, are in parentheses).


title: Suzanne Cryer

text: Suzanne Rossell Cryer (born January 13, 1967) is an American actress known for her roles as Ashley on the ABC sitcom "Two Guys and a Girl" and as Laurie Bream on the HBO original series "Silicon Valley". She featured in "The Yada Yada", an award-winning and fan favourite episode of "Seinfeld". She has also performed on Broadway.


title: Suzanne Cryer

text: Cryer was born in Rochester, New York. She graduated from Greenwich High School in Greenwich, Connecticut in 1984 and then attended Yale University, where she attained a degree in English literature. She went on to study for a master's degree from the Yale School of Drama. During this time she spent a summer performing at the Utah Shakespeare Festival where her roles included Rosalind in "As You Like It", and Anne in "Richard III."


title: Suzanne Cryer

text: After graduation, she appeared at Hartford Stage in "The Rivals," Baltimore Center Stage in "Don Juan" and began making guest appearances on television series. She won critical acclaim for her performance in the premiere of Donald Margulies' two-person play "Collected Stories" at Southcoast Repertory Theater. She then went on to film "Wag the Dog" while simultaneously performing in the West coast premiere of "Arcadia" at the Mark Taper Forum. Her next major role was that of Josie in "Neil Simon's Proposals" which began at the Ahmanson Theater in Los Angeles and then toured the country before arriving on Broadway at the Broadhurst Theater. In 1997, Cryer made a guest appearance on an episode of "Seinfeld" in the episode "The Yada Yada." She played George's girlfriend Marcy, who frequently made use of the term "yada yada yada." In 1999, she joined the cast of the ABC sitcom "Two Guys and a Girl" (the show's second season) as Ashley Walker, a love interest for Berg (Ryan Reynolds). She became a series regular and remained with the show until it ended in 2001. She made two appearances on "Frasier "as Roz's sister, Denise, in the episodes "The Guilt Trippers" and "Sea Bee Jeebies." In recent years, she returned to theater to play Tracy Lord in "The Philadelphia Story" at Hartford Stage and appeared in Chris Shin's play "What Didn't Happen" at Playwright's Horizon. She made appearances in the television series "Dexter," "," "Shark," "Bones," "Grey's Anatomy" and "Desperate Housewives."


title: Surviving R. Kelly

text: Surviving R. Kelly is a Lifetime documentary detailing sexual abuse allegations against American singer Robert "R." Kelly. It aired over three nights, from January 3 to January 5, 2019. Filmmaker and music critic Dream Hampton served as executive producer together with Joel Karsberg, Jesse Daniels and Tamra Simmons. Musicians Chance the Rapper, John Legend and Stephanie "Sparkle" Edwards appeared in the documentary. Its premiere episode on January 3, 2019, was Lifetime's highest-rated program in more than two years, with 2 million total viewers. It received critical acclaim, with a 95% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The documentary also spurred several musicians who previously collaborated with Kelly on projects, including Lady Gaga and Ciara, to condemn Kelly and remove their works with him from streaming services.


title: Surviving R. Kelly

text: Shortly after the docuseries aired, Kelly's final record label, RCA Records, dissolved its working relationship with him. In February 2019, Kelly was arrested and charged with 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse. In June 2022, Kelly was convicted and sentenced to 30 years in prison in connection with his sexual crimes.


title: Surviving R. Kelly

text: On December 11, 2019, it was announced that there would be a second season titled "Surviving R. Kelly Part II: The Reckoning", which premiered on January 2, 2020.


title: Surviving R. Kelly

text: A documentary series focused on R. Kelly's history of alleged sexual abuse was green-lit by Lifetime in May 2018.


title: Surviving R. Kelly

text: "We've been working for over a year to bring forth the stories of these women," executive producer Joel Karsberg told "The Hollywood Reporter". "We are proud to team with Lifetime to shed light on these stories as well as an industry that has looked the other way for so many years."


title: Surviving R. Kelly

text: Hampton was invited onto the project by an executive at Bunim/Murray Productions. "[...] That executive, Jesse Daniels, and Tamara Simmons, another co-EP on this project, have been holding these relationships with some of his survivors for months before I came on board," Hampton said in an interview with NPR. "I remember talking to them early on, kind of figuring out if we were going to work together...Having been adjacent in some ways to the music industry, when there was one, I knew that it took dozens, if not hundreds of people, for R. Kelly to operate as long as he has in the way that he has."


title: Surviving R. Kelly

text: Hampton said that Simmons would call prospective interviewees late into the night. "She was handling and had the relationships with, not just the women and girls who survived R. Kelly, but also the families," Hampton said. "We had three families who were trying to get their daughters back. So she in particular, she and Jesse, had been caring for those relationships. And then I came on as showrunner and made it a show."


title: Surviving R. Kelly

text: Many musicians who worked with R. Kelly refused to participate in the series. "When it comes to celebrities, it was incredibly difficult to get people who had collaborated (artistically) with Kelly to come forward," Hampton said. "We asked Lady Gaga. We asked Erykah Badu. We asked Celine Dion. We asked Jay-Z. We asked Dave Chappelle. (They're) people who have been critical of him." Hampton specifically praised John Legend for appearing in the documentary.


title: Surviving R. Kelly

text: The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 95% approval rating for the first season with an average rating of 8.19/10, based on 21 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "By unearthing previously suppressed histories, "Surviving R. Kelly" exposes the dangers of enabling predatory behavior and gives necessary voice to its survivors." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 86 out of 100 based on 9 critics, indicating "universal acclaim."