title: Culottes

text: Culottes are used in school uniforms for girls. They can be used along with skirts, or they may be used as a replacement for skirts. Culottes are worn as part of a uniform mainly to primary and middle schools. Culottes were also part of the uniform of UK Brownie Guides up until recently, when the uniform was modernized and the traditional brown culottes (and the navy blue culottes worn by the Girl Guides) were replaced.


title: Culottes

text: A cut which emerged in the 21st century – a combined silhouette of pants which appear to be made out of two separate garments. They look like slim fit jeans from behind, like a skirt or culottes worn on top of slim fit jeans – from the front.


title: Culottes

text: The term "culottes" in French is now used to describe women's panties, an article of clothing that has little or no relation to the historic men's culotte breeches, except that in French, calling something "culottes" is like calling them "bottoms". The historical French term ""sans-culottes"" which was once the rejection of aristocrats' breeches, is now used colloquially to mean the same as an English colloquialism ""going commando"" or not wearing under-pants.


title: Vertical launching system

text: A vertical launching system (VLS) is an advanced system for holding and firing missiles on mobile naval platforms, such as surface ships and submarines. Each vertical launch system consists of a number of "cells", which can hold one or more missiles ready for firing. Typically, each cell can hold a number of different types of missiles, allowing the ship flexibility to load the best set for any given mission. Further, when new missiles are developed, they are typically fitted to the existing vertical launch systems of that nation, allowing existing ships to use new types of missiles without expensive rework. When the command is given, the missile flies straight up far enough to clear the cell and the ship, then turns on to the desired course.


title: Vertical launching system

text: A VLS allows surface combatants to have a greater number of weapons ready for firing at any given time compared to older launching systems such as the Mark 13 single-arm and Mark 26 twin-arm launchers, which were fed from behind by a magazine below the main deck. In addition to greater firepower, VLS is much more damage tolerant and reliable than the previous systems and has a lower radar cross-section (RCS). The U.S. Navy now relies exclusively on VLS for its guided missile destroyers and cruisers.


title: Vertical launching system

text: The most widespread vertical launch system in the world is the Mark 41, developed by the United States Navy. More than 11,000 Mark 41 VLS missile cells have been delivered, or are on order, for use on 186 ships across 19 ship classes, in 11 navies around the world. This system currently serves with the US Navy as well as the Australian, Danish, Dutch, German, Japanese, New Zealand, Norwegian, South Korean, Spanish, and Turkish navies, while others like the Greek Navy preferred the similar Mark 48 system.


title: Vertical launching system

text: The advanced Mark 57 vertical launch system is used on the . The older Mark 13 and Mark 26 systems remain in service on ships that were sold to other countries such as Taiwan and Poland.


title: Vertical launching system

text: When installed on an SSN (nuclear-powered attack submarine), a VLS allows a greater number and variety of weapons to be deployed, compared with using only torpedo tubes.


title: Vertical launching system

text: A vertical launch system can be either "hot launch", where the missile ignites in the cell, or "cold launch", where the missile is expelled by gas produced by a gas generator which is not part of the missile itself, and then the missile ignites. "Cold" means "relatively" cold compared with rocket engine exhaust. A hot launch system does not require an ejection mechanism but does require some way of disposing of the missile's exhaust and heat as it departs the cell. If the missile ignites in a cell without an ejection mechanism, the cell must withstand the tremendous heat generated without igniting missiles in adjacent cells.


title: Vertical launching system

text: An advantage of a hot-launch system is that the missile propels itself out of the launching cell using its own engine, which eliminates the need for a separate system to eject the missile from the launching tube. This potentially makes a hot-launch system relatively light, small, and economical to develop and produce, particularly when designed around smaller missiles. A potential disadvantage is that a malfunctioning missile could destroy the launch tube. American surface-ship VLSs have missile cells arranged in a grid with one lid per cell and are "hot launch" systems. The engine ignites within the cell during the launch and so requires a way of venting rocket exhaust. France, Italy and Britain use a similar hot-launching Sylver system in PAAMS.


title: Vertical launching system

text: The advantage of the cold-launch system is in its safety: should a missile engine malfunction during launch, the cold-launch system can eject the missile, reducing or eliminating the threat. For this reason, Russian VLSs are often designed with a slant so that a malfunctioning missile will land in the water instead of on the ship's deck. As missile size grows, the benefits of ejection launching increase. Above a certain size, a missile booster cannot be safely ignited within the confines of a ship's hull. Most modern ICBMs and SLBMs are cold-launched. Russia produces both grid systems and a revolver arrangement with more than one missile per lid for its cold launch system. Russia also uses a cold launch system for some of its vertical launch missile systems, e.g., the Tor missile system.


title: Vertical launching system

text: Some warships of China's People's Liberation Army Navy use a concentric canister launch (CCL) system that can launch using both hot and cold methods, onboard the Type 052D destroyer and the Type 055 destroyer. The universal launch system is offered for export.


title: Vertical launching system

text: Older Chinese ships use single launch system: Type 052C destroyers, for example, use a cold launch system; Type 054A frigates, a hot launch system.


title: Vertical launching system

text: Transporter erector launchers are wheeled or tracked land vehicles for the launch of surface-to-air and surface-to-surface missiles. In most systems the missiles are transported in a horizontal out-of-battery configuration: in order to fire, the vehicle must stop and the transport/launch tube must be raised to the vertical before firing.


title: Vertical launching system

text: BAE Systems has filed patents relating to the use of Vertical Launch missiles from modified passenger aircraft.


title: Vertical launching system

text: In 2021, the Centre for Military Studies published the total number of VLS cells in use with fourteen NATO navies. The results are displayed below.


title: Vertical launching system

text: Note: The above table does not include NATO navies which do not possess vertical launching systems, namely Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania and Slovenia.


title: Greg Ellis (actor)

text: On the big screen, he is best known for his portrayal of Lieutenant Theodore Groves in Disney's "Pirates of the Caribbean film series" as well as appearing in J.J. Abrams "Star Trek" as Chief Engineer Olsen, the original chief engineer of the Starship Enterprise. He starred in the western "Forsaken" alongside Demi Moore with Donald Sutherland and Brian Cox.


title: Greg Ellis (actor)

text: He joined the cast of "Hawaii Five-0" in season five to play Thomas Farrow in a major recurring arc, was a regular on the Fox drama "Touch" as Trevor Wilcox and played the villainous Michael Amador opposite Kiefer Sutherland in the 3rd season of the hit series "24". He also appeared opposite Anthony Hopkins and Angelina Jolie in "Beowulf" with Brad Pitt in "Mr. and Mrs. Smith", and performed alongside Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet in "Titanic".


title: Greg Ellis (actor)

text: His television credits include: "Dexter", "The X-Files", "Magnum PI", "The Riches", "Bones", "Alcatraz", "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine", "The Closer", "CSI", "Nip/Tuck", "Perception", "Knight Rider", "Days of Our Lives", "Trust Me" and many more.


title: Greg Ellis (actor)

text: He has voiced of Mzingo in Disney's "Lion King" spin-off series "The Lion Guard" and Jet-Vac in the Netflix animated series "Skylanders" as well as the voice of Valen Rudor in the Disney animated series "Star Wars Rebels".


title: Greg Ellis (actor)

text: He has a voice-over career in cartoons, animated movies and video games. His voice was featured in the PlayStation 2 games "Rogue Galaxy" (as Simon Wicard), "" (as Cait Sith), and "" (as Alister Fletcher), as well as in "", "Dragon Age II", and "" (as Cullen Rutherford). His minor video game work includes voices for "SOCOM II U.S. Navy SEALs", "SOCOM 3 U.S. Navy SEALs", "", "", and "Ty the Tasmanian Tiger". He has also voiced characters in cartoons such as "The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy", "Invader Zim", and first three series of the "Ben 10" franchise.


title: Greg Ellis (actor)

text: Ellis played Cmdr. Giles Price in the game "" and reprised the role in "". He reprised his role as Cait Sith in the English version of the CGI film "". He voiced Garmund in the Robert Zemeckis animated film, "Beowulf". Ellis originally started in musicals and originated the role of Rusty in "Starlight Express" at the Apollo Victoria Theatre and was the alternate Chris in the original cast of Miss Saigon at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. He also appears on the cast recording of the new "Starlight Express". He released a single from the show, "Next Time You Fall in Love."


title: Greg Ellis (actor)

text: Ellis wrote a book in 2021, titled "The Respondent: Exposing the Cartel of Family Law" about "a first-person account of family breakdown and the social, political, and legal forces that are fuelling a national health emergency". He founded the CPU: Children and Parents United in 2021 to promote these issues.


title: Greg Ellis (actor)

text: Ellis has been criticized for his support of former President Donald Trump, and right-wing political figures Charlie Kirk and Jordan Peterson. In May of 2020, after creating a video montage critical of the 2020 BLM protests, Ellis faced criticism from fans of the Dragon Age video game series as well as former executive producer Mark Darrah. In December of 2020, Ellis responded to the criticism with a 40-minute YouTube video in-character as the Bioware series' supporting character "Cullen". In this video, he expressed critical views on the "Black Lives Matter" and "Me Too" movements, and "cancel culture," condemning the "cancel culture hedonists" and "intellectual glitterati" which had been critical of him on social media.


title: Greg Ellis (actor)

text: Ellis's political views on gender and family have been further espoused in his podcast, "The Respondent, and book "The Respondent: Exposing the Cartel of Family Law".


title: Turkish Airlines Flight 1951

text: Turkish Airlines Flight 1951 (also known as the Poldercrash or the Schiphol Polderbaan incident) was a passenger flight that crashed during landing at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, the Netherlands, on 25 February 2009, resulting in the deaths of nine passengers and crew, including all three pilots.


title: Turkish Airlines Flight 1951

text: The aircraft, a Turkish Airlines Boeing 737-800, crashed into a field about north of the Polderbaan runway (18R), prior to crossing the A9 motorway inbound, at 09:26 UTC (10:26 CET), having flown from Istanbul, Turkey. The aircraft broke into three pieces on impact. The wreckage did not catch fire.


title: Turkish Airlines Flight 1951

text: The crash was caused primarily by the aircraft's automated reaction, which was triggered by a faulty radio altimeter. This caused the autothrottle to decrease the engine power to idle during approach. The crew noticed this too late to take appropriate action to increase the thrust and recover the aircraft before it stalled and crashed. Boeing has since issued a bulletin to remind pilots of all 737 series and BBJ aircraft of the importance of monitoring airspeed and altitude, advising against the use of autopilot or autothrottle while landing in cases of radio altimeter discrepancies.


title: Turkish Airlines Flight 1951

text: A 2020 investigation by "The New York Times" found that the Dutch investigation into the crash "either excluded or played down criticisms" of Boeing following pressure from Boeing and US federal safety officials, who instead "emphasized pilot error as a factor ... rather than design flaws."


title: Turkish Airlines Flight 1951

text: The aircraft operating Flight 1951 was a 7-year-old "Next Generation" Boeing 737-800 series model 8F2 with registration "TC-JGE", named "Tekirdağ". "Model 8F2" denotes the configuration of the 737-800 built for use by Turkish Airlines. It had 51 aircraft of this model in service at the time of the crash. The aircraft made its first flight on January 24, 2002, and was delivered to Turkish Airlines on March 27, 2002.


title: Turkish Airlines Flight 1951

text: On board were 128 passengers and seven crew members. The flight was under the command of Instructor Captain Hasan Tahsin Arisen (age 54). A former Turkish Air Force fleet commander, Captain Arisen had been working for Turkish Airlines since 1996 and was one of the most experienced pilots at the airline. He had over 5,000 hours of flight time on the F-4E Phantom II. Olgay Özgür (age 28) was the safety pilot of the flight, a graduate of a flight school in Ankara, who flew the MD-80 for World Focus Airlines before joining Turkish Airlines and passing the 737 type rating in 2006; he was sitting in the cockpit's center jump seat. Murat Sezer (42), co-pilot under line training, was flying as co-pilot. The cabin crew consisted of Figen Eren, Perihan Özden, Ulvi Murat Eskin, and Yasemin Vural.


title: Turkish Airlines Flight 1951

text: The flight was cleared for an approach on runway 18R (also known as the Polderbaan runway), but came down short of the runway threshold, sliding through the wet clay of a plowed field.


title: Turkish Airlines Flight 1951

text: The aircraft suffered significant damage. Although the fuselage broke into three pieces, it did not catch fire. Both engines separated and came to rest from the fuselage.


title: Turkish Airlines Flight 1951

text: While several survivors and witnesses indicated that rescuers took 20 to 30 minutes to arrive at the site after the crash, others have stated that the rescuers arrived quickly at the scene. About 60 ambulances arrived along with at least three LifeLiner helicopters (air ambulances, Eurocopter EC135), and a fleet of fire engines. An unconfirmed report by "De Telegraaf" states that the firefighters were at first given the wrong location for the crash site, delaying their arrival. Lanes of the A4 and A9 motorways were closed to all traffic to allow emergency services to quickly reach the site of the crash.


title: Turkish Airlines Flight 1951

text: The bodies of the three cockpit crew members were the last to be removed from the plane, around 20:00 that evening, because the cockpit had to be examined before it could be cut open to get to these crew members. Also, some of the survivors say that at least one of the pilots was alive after the crash. The relatives of the passengers on the flight were sent to Amsterdam by Turkish Airlines shortly afterward.


title: Turkish Airlines Flight 1951

text: All flights in and out of Schiphol Airport were suspended, according to an airport spokeswoman. Several planes were diverted to Rotterdam The Hague Airport and to Brussels Airport. Around 11:15 UTC (12:15 CET), the Kaagbaan runway (06/24) was reported to have been reopened to air traffic, followed by the Buitenveldertbaan runway (09/27).


title: Turkish Airlines Flight 1951

text: Turkish Airlines continues to use the flight number 1951 on its Istanbul-to-Amsterdam route, primarily operated by an Airbus A321neo and a Airbus A330.


title: Turkish Airlines Flight 1951

text: The investigation was led by the Dutch Safety Board (DSB, or "OVV"), and assisted by an expert team from Turkish Airlines and a representative team of the American NTSB, accompanied by advisors from Boeing and the FAA, Turkish Directorate General of Civil Aviation (SHGM), the operator, the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch, and the French "Bureau d'Enquêtes et d'Analyses pour la sécurité de l'Aviation Civile" (BEA). The cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder were recovered quickly after the crash, after which they were transported to Paris to read out the data. The Dutch public prosecution initially asked the DSB to hand over the black boxes, but the DSB refused to do so. It stated that no indication of homicide, manslaughter, hijacking, or terrorism was present, which would warrant an investigation by the prosecution.


title: Turkish Airlines Flight 1951

text: While on final approach for landing, the aircraft was about 2,000 ft (610 m) above ground, when the left-hand (captain's) radio altimeter suddenly changed from to read height, although the right-hand (co-pilot's) radio altimeter functioned correctly. The voice recording showed that the crew was given an audible warning signal (landing gear warning horn) that indicated that the aircraft's landing gear should be down, as the aircraft was, according to the captain's radio altimeter, flying too low. This happened several times during the approach to Schiphol. The reason that the captain's radio altimeter was causing problems was the first officer making a mistake when arming the aircraft's autopilot system for a dual channel ILS (Instrument Landing System) approach.


title: Turkish Airlines Flight 1951

text: The Boeing 737NG type aircraft has two autopilot systems or flight control units (FCU), which can work independently of each other (single channel) or together (dual channel). These Systems are called CMD A and CMD B. CMD A is the left seat FCU (Captain), while CMD B is the right seat FCU (First Officer). The idea is that the PF (Pilot flying) will use his respective FCU either CMD A or CMD B depending on which pilot is flying, during normal operations, This is referered to as "single channel". However if the crew intended to fly an auto-land, which is when the airplane flies the approach and landing itself (During a CAT III ILS Approach), one would engage both FCUs, this way the approach can be flown to greater precision in bad visibility, allowing the pilots to lower the MDA (Minimum decision altitude) to 50ft. this is called a "dual channel". Turkish Airlines' standard operating procedure at the time stated that all approaches should be flown "dual channel" when available, but the inexperienced (on the 737NG) first officer forgot to arm approach mode in the aircraft's mode control panel (MCP) before he engaged CMD A to make the approach "dual channel", meaning that the aircraft thought the pilots wanted to do a single-channel approach using CMD A (captain's autopilot) only. However unbeknownst to the pilots CMD A had a radio altimeter fail, which would be the main contributor to the accident. Later, the safety board's preliminary report indicated that the flight data recorder history of the captain's radio altimeter showed 8191 feet (the maximum possible recorded) until the aircraft descended through 1950, then suddenly showed negative 8 feet.


title: Turkish Airlines Flight 1951

text: The throttles were pulled back to idle thrust to slow the aircraft to descend and acquire the glideslope, but the autothrottle unexpectedly reverted to "retard" mode, which is designed to automatically decrease thrust shortly before touching down on the runway at above runway height. At , the pilots manually increased thrust to sustain that speed, but the autothrottle immediately returned the thrust lever to idle power because the first officer did not hold the throttle lever in position. The throttles remained at idle for about 100 seconds while the aircraft slowed to , below reference speed as the aircraft descended below the required height to stay on the glideslope. The stick-shaker activated about above the ground, indicating an imminent stall, the autothrottle advanced, and the captain attempted to apply full power. The engines responded, but not enough altitude or forward airspeed was available to recover, and the aircraft hit the ground tail first at .


title: Turkish Airlines Flight 1951

text: The data from the flight recorder also showed that the same altimeter problem had happened twice during the previous eight landings, but that on both occasions, the crew had taken the correct action by disengaging the autothrottle and manually increasing the thrust. Investigations are under way to determine why more action had not been taken after the altimeter problem was detected. In response to the preliminary conclusions, Boeing issued a bulletin, Multi-Operator Message (MOM) 09-0063-01B, to remind pilots of all 737 series and Boeing Business Jet (BBJ) aircraft of the importance of monitoring airspeed and altitude (the "primary flight instruments"), advising against the use of autopilot or autothrottle while landing in cases of radio altimeter discrepancies. Following the release of the preliminary report, Dutch and international press concluded that pilot inattention caused the accident, though several Turkish news publications still emphasized other possible causes.


title: Turkish Airlines Flight 1951

text: On 9 March 2009, the recovery of the wreckage started. All parts of the plane were moved to an East Schiphol hangar for reconstruction.


title: Turkish Airlines Flight 1951

text: The first officer reportedly survived the accident, but that rescuers were unable to reach him via the cockpit door, owing to security measures introduced in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks. The rescuers eventually cut their way into the cockpit through the roof, by which time the first officer had died.


title: Turkish Airlines Flight 1951

text: The final report was released on 6 May 2010. The DSB stated that the approach was not stabilized; hence, the crew ought to have initiated a go-around. The autopilot followed the glide slope, while the autothrottle reduced thrust to idle, owing to a faulty radio altimeter showing an incorrect height. This caused the airspeed to drop and the pitch attitude to increase; all this went unnoticed by the crew until the stick-shaker activated. Prior to this, air traffic control caused the crew to intercept the glide slope from above; this obscured the erroneous autothrottle mode and increased the crew's workload. The subsequent approach to stall recovery procedure was not executed properly, causing the aircraft to stall and crash. Turkish Airlines disputed the crash inquiry findings on stall recovery.


title: Turkish Airlines Flight 1951

text: Nine fatalities and a total of 120 injuries occurred, with 11 of them serious. Five of the deceased were Turkish citizens, including the captain, the first officer, a line -training pilot, and one member of the cabin crew. Four were Americans, of whom three have been identified as Boeing employees stationed in Ankara and working on an Airborne Early Warning and Control program for the Turkish military.<ref name="TC/Tubantia"></ref>


title: Turkish Airlines Flight 1951

text: The plane carried 53 passengers from the Netherlands, 51 from Turkey, seven from the United States, three from the United Kingdom, one each from Germany, Bulgaria, Italy, and Taiwan.


title: Turkish Airlines Flight 1951

text: Following media speculation, a spokesperson for the prosecutor's office in Haarlem confirmed in April 2009 to Agence France-Presse that instructions were given following the crash to remove four Boeing laptops from the wreckage, and that the laptops were handed over to the US embassy in The Hague. According to Dutch newspaper "De Telegraaf", the Boeing employees on board were in possession of confidential military information.


title: Turkish Airlines Flight 1951

text: Turkish media outlets "Radikal" and "Sözcü" also reported that the Boeing employees on board were in possession of confidential military information, and that the rescue response was delayed because American officials had specifically requested from Dutch authorities that no one was to approach the wreckage until after the confidential information was retrieved.


title: Turkish Airlines Flight 1951

text: According to "Radikal", the then-CEO of Turkish Airlines, Temel Kotil, had also stated that a Turkish Airlines employee stationed at Schiphol Airport had arrived at the crash site with his apron-access airport identification, but was prevented from reaching the wreckage, and was handcuffed and detained by Dutch authorities after resisting.


title: Turkish Airlines Flight 1951

text: While the "De Telegraaf" article and some Turkish sources allege that U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation or Central Intelligence Agency agents were on-site for recovery, this was denied by the prosecutor's office.


title: Turkish Airlines Flight 1951

text: An investigation by "The New York Times" Chris Hamby published in January 2020 in the aftermath of the Boeing 737 MAX groundings claimed that the DSB "either excluded or played down criticisms of the manufacturer in its 2010 final report after pushback from a team of Americans that included Boeing and federal safety officials...who said that certain pilot errors had not been 'properly emphasized'". The Hamby article draws on a 2009 human factors analysis by Sidney Dekker, which was not published publicly by the DSB until after "The New York Times" investigation was published.


title: Turkish Airlines Flight 1951

text: In February 2020, Boeing reportedly refused to cooperate with a new Dutch review on the crash investigation and that the NTSB had refused Dutch lawmakers' request to participate.


title: Turkish Airlines Flight 1951

text: The Discovery Channel Canada / National Geographic TV series "Mayday" featured the crash and investigation in a season-10 episode titled "Who's in Control?".


title: Gibby Haynes

text: Gibson Jerome Haynes (born September 30, 1957) is an American musician, radio personality, painter, author and the lead singer of the band Butthole Surfers.


title: Gibby Haynes

text: Born and raised in Dallas, Texas, Gibby Haynes is the son of actor Jerry Haynes, best known as Dallas-based children's TV host "Mr. Peppermint", and Doris Haynes. His uncle was decorated U.S. Marines Corps major general Fred E. Haynes Jr. Haynes attended Trinity University to study accounting. After graduating, he went to work as an auditor for the accounting firm Peat Marwick.


title: Gibby Haynes

text: In 1981, Haynes and Trinity classmate Paul Leary published the magazine "Strange V.D.", which featured photos of abnormal medical ailments, coupled with fictitious, humorous explanations for the diseases. After being caught with one of these pictures at work, Haynes left the accounting firm and moved to Southern California along with Leary. After a brief period spent selling homemade clothes and linens emblazoned with Lee Harvey Oswald's image, the pair returned to San Antonio and launched the band that would eventually become Butthole Surfers, which was notorious for their elaborate stage shows and psychedelic music. Haynes would often fire a shotgun above the crowd during the Butthole Surfers live shows.


title: Gibby Haynes

text: Haynes played saxophone on several albums, including the band's debut LP "Psychic... Powerless... Another Man's Sac".


title: Gibby Haynes

text: Haynes, along with Ministry frontman Al Jourgensen, lived with Timothy Leary, and were used as guinea pigs for his psychedelic experiments.<ref name="http://dangerousminds.net"></ref>


title: Gibby Haynes

text: Haynes appeared with Ministry (recording the lead vocals on their song “Jesus Built My Hotrod”) and the 2006 Revolting Cocks CD entitled "Cocked and Loaded".


title: Gibby Haynes

text: Haynes has also fronted the band P with friend and actor Johnny Depp. He also did guest vocals for The Dead Milkmen and Deconstruction, Eric Avery's short-lived post-Jane's Addiction band. Haynes’ solo project is called Gibby Haynes and His Problem. In 2009 he produced Varshons, a record of cover songs by The Lemonheads featuring guest vocals from Liv Tyler and Kate Moss. Gibby Haynes also appeared as a guest vocalist on the song "Atlanta" by Mastodon which was a limited edition release on 18 April 2015 to celebrate Record Store Day 2015. This song can also be found on Mastodon's 2020 album "Medium Rarities."


title: Gibby Haynes

text: Also a painter, in spring of 2011 Haynes exhibited some of his water colors and drawings at the Recess Activities space in the Kidd Yellin Gallery, located in Brooklyn, founded by Charlotte Kidd and Dustin Yellin.


title: Gibby Haynes

text: In the mid-1980s, Haynes and the band interspliced footage from a raucous Detroit concert with pontifications on consciousness, mostly while lying together in a large bed, in the concert video Blind Eye Sees All. Haynes and Johnny Depp produced a mini-documentary about John Frusciante's life called "Stuff". In late 1992, Haynes appeared in GWAR's first long-form video, "Phallus in Wonderland", as director Fritz Wang. Haynes appeared briefly in Jim Jarmusch's 1995 film "Dead Man" as a man being fellated in an alley. He also has a very small cameo appearance in Gregg Araki's 1997 film "Nowhere" and the Adult Swim television show "Delocated". Additionally he appears as uncredited in "CB4".


title: Blacklisting

text: Blacklisting is the action of a group or authority compiling a blacklist (or black list) of people, countries or other entities to be avoided or distrusted as being deemed unacceptable to those making the list. If someone is on a blacklist, they are seen by a government or other organization as being one of a number of people who cannot be trusted or who is considered to have done something wrong. As a verb, blacklist can mean to put an individual or entity on such a list.


title: Blacklisting

text: The English dramatist Philip Massinger used the phrase "black list" in his 1639 tragedy "The Unnatural Combat".


title: Blacklisting

text: After the restoration of the English monarchy brought Charles II of England to the throne in 1660, a list of regicides named those to be punished for the execution of his father. The state papers of Charles II say "If any innocent soul be found in this black list, let him not be offended at me, but consider whether some mistaken principle or interest may not have misled him to vote". In a 1676 history of the events leading up to the Restoration, James Heath (a supporter of Charles II) alleged that Parliament had passed an Act requiring the sale of estates, "And into this black list the Earl of Derby was now put, and other unfortunate Royalists".


title: Blacklisting

text: Edward Gibbon wrote in "The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" (1776) of Andronicus that "His memory was stored with a black list of the enemies and rivals, who had traduced his merit, opposed his greatness, or insulted his misfortunes".


title: Blacklisting

text: The first published reference to blacklisting of an employee dates from 1774. This became a significant employment issue in American mining towns and company towns, where blacklisting could mean a complete loss of livelihood for workers who went on strike. The 1901 Report of the Industrial Commission stated "There was no doubt in the minds of workingmen of the existence of the blacklisting system, though it was practically impossible to obtain evidence of it." It cited a news report that in 1895 a former conductor on the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad committed suicide, having been out of work ever since a strike: "Wherever he went, the blacklist was ahead of him".


title: Blacklisting

text: Though the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 outlawed punitive blacklists against employees who supported trade unions or criticised their employers, the practice continued in common use. The Taft-Hartley Act of 1947 made amendments which sustained blacklisting by affirming the right of employers to be anti-union, and by requiring trade union leaders to make loyalty oaths which had the same effect as the Hollywood blacklist. Since then, lawsuits for unfair dismissal have led to blacklisting being covert or informal, but it remains common.


title: Blacklisting

text: The Hollywood blacklist was instituted by the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1947 to block screenwriters and other Hollywood professionals who were purported to have Communist sympathies from obtaining employment. It started by listing 151 entertainment industry professionals and lasted until 1960 when it was effectively broken by the acknowledgement that blacklisted professionals had been working under assumed names for many years.


title: Blacklisting

text: At least one volunteer (George Drever) in the International Brigades who went to Spain to fight Franco's fascists and who was also well known in the British Communist Party in the 1930s was informed by the police Special Branch that his failure to progress in military or career was due to his volunteering in this cause and his beliefs.


title: Blacklisting

text: During World War I, the British government adopted a "blacklist" based on an Order in Council of 23 December 1915, prohibiting British subjects from trade with specified firms and individuals in neutral countries; the lists were published in the "London Gazette".


title: Blacklisting

text: In the summer of 1940, the SS printed a secret list called "Sonderfahndungsliste G.B." ("Special Search List Great Britain") as part of Nazi Germany's preparations for invasion code-named Operation Sea Lion – when this booklet was found after the war, it was commonly called the Black Book and described as a blacklist.


title: Blacklisting

text: In 1907, the Transvaal Medical Union in South Africa blacklisted patients if they could not pay cash in advance. There was a physical list kept by the community of physicians.


title: Blacklisting

text: In computing, a blacklist is an access control system that denies entry to a specific list (or a defined range) of users, programs, or network addresses.


title: Blacklisting

text: In 2018, a medical journal commentary regarding predatory publishing was published, arguing that "whitelist", "blacklist", among other terms, reinforce existing racial biases and should be avoided in medical literature. The commentary gained public attention in Summer 2020 following the George Floyd protests in the United States wherein a black man was murdered by a Minneapolis police officer, sparking protests against police brutality.


title: Blacklisting

text: The commentary cites examples of the use of "black" as a shorthand for disreputable sources and other negative judgements, and "white" for trustworthiness and safety. The article also notes the origins of "blacklist" as a label for censure and punishment of workers involved in labor unions, and that early use of the term coincides with the rise of slavery in the Americas, but does not claim its etymology as referring directly to skin color. However, the authors criticize the continued use of "blacklist" and similar language as inappropriate and harmful due to the ubiquity of "white" and "black" as descriptors of racial groups in common parlance, arguing that this association results in use of this type of language perpetuates racism, regardless of its linguistic origin.


title: Blacklisting

text: Conflict around this issue often emerges in computing industries where "whitelist" and "blacklist" are prevalent (e.g. "IP whitelisting"). Some companies, open-source communities, and software developers have chosen to deprecate use of "whitelist" and "blacklist" in favor of names which describe the purpose of those lists less ambiguously and are unlikely to come across to a reader as insensitive such as "allow list" and "deny list". An IETF draft technical proposal has been underway since 2018 presenting arguments for avoiding potentially exclusionary language in technical documentation and a standardized set of recommendations for their replacement. Before garnering wider public attention in 2020, similarly motivated changes have also been enacted in years prior to replace terminology such as "master/slave" with alternatives due to concerns over their potential role in workplace discrimination.


title: Blacklisting

text: Some critics of these terminology changes question the interpretation of the deprecated language as racial in nature due to the linguistic root of "blacklist" as being most likely derived from the term "black book", which originated in the 1400s as a reference to "a list of people who had committed crimes or fallen out of favor with leaders," popularized by King Henry VIII's literal use of a black book. Others note the prevalence of positive and negative connotations to "white" and "black" in some translations of the Bible, taking the position that this historical usage invalidates the claim of racial connotations in modern usage because it predates the emergence of "Black" as a widespread word to refer to one's race as a person of color in America during the 1960s Black Power movement.


title: Laplacian matrix

text: In the mathematical field of graph theory, the Laplacian matrix, also called the graph Laplacian, admittance matrix, Kirchhoff matrix or discrete Laplacian, is a matrix representation of a graph. Named after Pierre-Simon Laplace, the graph Laplacian matrix can be viewed as a matrix form of the negative discrete Laplace operator on a graph approximating the negative continuous Laplacian obtained by the finite difference method.


title: Laplacian matrix

text: The Laplacian matrix relates to many useful properties of a graph. Together with Kirchhoff's theorem, it can be used to calculate the number of spanning trees for a given graph. The sparsest cut of a graph can be approximated through the Fiedler vector — the eigenvector corresponding to the second smallest eigenvalue of the graph Laplacian — as established by Cheeger's inequality. The spectral decomposition of the Laplacian matrix allows constructing low dimensional embeddings that appear in many machine learning applications and determines a spectral layout in graph drawing. Graph-based signal processing is based on the graph Fourier transform that extends the traditional discrete Fourier transform by substituting the standard basis of complex sinusoids for eigenvectors of the Laplacian matrix of a graph corresponding to the signal.


title: Laplacian matrix

text: The Laplacian matrix is the easiest to define for a simple graph, but more common in applications for an edge-weighted graph, i.e., with weights on its edges — the entries of the graph adjacency matrix. Spectral graph theory relates properties of a graph to a spectrum, i.e., eigenvalues, and eigenvectors of matrices associated with the graph, such as its adjacency matrix or Laplacian matrix. Imbalanced weights may undesirably affect the matrix spectrum, leading to the need of normalization — a column/row scaling of the matrix entries — resulting in normalized adjacency and Laplacian matrices.


title: Laplacian matrix

text: where "D" is the degree matrix and "A" is the adjacency matrix of the graph. Since formula_7 is a simple graph, formula_8 only contains 1s or 0s and its diagonal elements are all 0s.


title: Laplacian matrix

text: We observe for the undirected graph that both the adjacency matrix and the Laplacian matrix are symmetric, and that row- and column-sums of the Laplacian matrix are all zeros.


title: Laplacian matrix

text: For directed graphs, either the indegree or outdegree might be used, depending on the application, as in the following example:


title: Laplacian matrix

text: In the directed graph, both the adjacency matrix and the Laplacian matrix are asymmetric. In its Laplacian matrix, column-sums or row-sums are zero, depending on whether the indegree or outdegree has been used.


title: Laplacian matrix

text: The formula_9 incidence matrix "B" with element "B" for the vertex "v" and the edge "e" (connecting vertexes formula_10 and formula_11, with "i" > "j") is defined by


title: Laplacian matrix

text: Even though the edges in this definition are technically directed, their directions can be arbitrary, still resulting in the same symmetric Laplacian formula_13 matrix "L" defined as


title: Laplacian matrix

text: An alternative product formula_16 defines the so-called formula_17 "edge-based Laplacian," as opposed to the original commonly used "vertex-based Laplacian" matrix "L".


title: Laplacian matrix

text: The Laplacian matrix of a directed graph is by definition generally non-symmetric, while, e.g., traditional spectral clustering is primarily developed for undirected graphs with symmetric adjacency and Laplacian matrixes. A trivial approach to apply techniques requiring the symmetry is to turn the original directed graph into an undirected graph and build the Laplacian matrix for the latter.


title: Laplacian matrix

text: In the matrix notation, the adjacency matrix of the undirected graph could, e.g., be defined as a Boolean sum of the adjacency matrix formula_18 of the original directed graph and its matrix transpose formula_19, where the zero and one entries of formula_18 are treated as logical, rather than numerical, values, as in the following example:


title: Laplacian matrix

text: A vertex with a large degree, also called a "heavy node," results in a large diagonal entry in the Laplacian matrix dominating the matrix properties. Normalization is aimed to make the influence of such vertices more equal to that of other vertices, by dividing the entries of the Laplacian matrix by the vertex degrees. To avoid division by zero, isolated vertices with zero degrees are excluded from the process of the normalization.


title: Laplacian matrix

text: The symmetrically normalized Laplacian matrix is symmetric if and only if the adjacency matrix is symmetric.


title: Laplacian matrix

text: For a non-symmetric adjacency matrix of a directed graph, either of indegree and outdegree can be used for normalization:


title: Laplacian matrix

text: The left or right normalized Laplacian matrix is not symmetric if the adjacency matrix is symmetric, except for the trivial case of all isolated vertices. For example,


title: Laplacian matrix

text: The example also demonstrates that if formula_1 has no isolated vertices, then formula_31 right stochastic and hence is the matrix of a random walk, so that the left normalized Laplacian formula_32 has each row summing to zero. Thus we sometimes alternatively call formula_33 the random-walk normalized Laplacian. In the less uncommonly used right normalized Laplacian formula_29 each column sums to zero since formula_35 is left stochastic.


title: Laplacian matrix

text: For a non-symmetric adjacency matrix of a directed graph, one also needs to choose indegree or outdegree for normalization:


title: Laplacian matrix

text: The left out-degree normalized Laplacian with row-sums all 0 relates to right stochastic formula_36 , while the right in-degree normalized Laplacian with column-sums all 0 contains left stochastic formula_37.


title: Laplacian matrix

text: Common in applications graphs with weighted edges are conveniently defined by their adjacency matrices where values of the entrees are numeric and no longer limited to zeros and ones. In spectral clustering and graph-based signal processing, where graph vertices represent data points, the edge weights can be computed, e.g., as inversely proportional to the distances between pairs of data points, leading to all weights being non-negative with larger values informally corresponding to more similar pairs of data points. Using correlation and anti-correlation between the data points naturally leads to both positive and negative weights. Most definitions for simple graphs are trivially extended to the standard case of non-negative weights, while negative weights require more attention, especially in normalization.


title: Laplacian matrix

text: Graph self-loops, manifesting themselves by non-zero entries on the main diagonal of the adjacency matrix, are allowed but do not affect the graph Laplacian values.


title: Laplacian matrix

text: For graphs with weighted edges one can define a weighted incidence matrix "B" and use it to construct the corresponding symmetric Laplacian as formula_14. An alternative cleaner approach, described here, is to separate the weights from the connectivity: continue using the incidence matrix as for regular graphs and introduce a matrix just holding the values of the weights. A spring system is an example of this model used in mechanics to describe a system of springs of given stiffnesses and unit length, where the values of the stiffnesses play the role of the weights of the graph edges.


title: Laplacian matrix

text: We thus reuse the definition of the weightless formula_9 incidence matrix "B" with element "B" for the vertex "v" and the edge "e" (connecting vertexes formula_10 and formula_11, with "i" > "j") defined by


title: Laplacian matrix

text: We now also define a diagonal formula_17 matrix "W" containing the edge weights. Even though the edges in the definition of "B" are technically directed, their directions can be arbitrary, still resulting in the same symmetric Laplacian formula_13 matrix "L" defined as


title: Laplacian matrix

text: The construction is illustrated in the following example, where every edge formula_48 is assigned the weight value "i", with formula_49


title: Laplacian matrix

text: Just like for simple graphs, the Laplacian matrix of a directed weighted graph is by definition generally non-symmetric. The symmetry can be enforced by turning the original directed graph into an undirected graph first before constructing the Laplacian. The adjacency matrix of the undirected graph could, e.g., be defined as a sum of the adjacency matrix formula_18 of the original directed graph and its matrix transpose formula_19 as in the following example:


title: Laplacian matrix

text: where the zero and one entries of formula_18 are treated as numerical, rather than logical as for simple graphs, values, explaining the difference in the results - for simple graphs, the symmetrized graph still needs to be simple with its symmetrized adjacency matrix having only logical, not numerical values, e.g., the logical sum is 1 v 1 = 1, while the numeric sum is 1 + 1 = 2.


title: Laplacian matrix

text: Alternatively, the symmetric Laplacian matrix can be calculated from the two Laplacians using the indegree and outdegree, as in the following example:


title: Laplacian matrix

text: The sum of the out-degree Laplacian transposed and the in-degree Laplacian equals to the symmetric Laplacian matrix.


title: Laplacian matrix

text: The goal of normalization is, like for simple graphs, to make the diagonal entries of the Laplacian matrix to be all unit, also scaling off-diagonal entries correspondingly. In a weighted graph, a vertex may have a large degree because of a small number of connected edges but with large weights just as well as due to a large number of connected edges with unit weights.


title: Laplacian matrix

text: Graph self-loops, i.e., non-zero entries on the main diagonal of the adjacency matrix, do not affect the graph Laplacian values, but may need to be counted for calculation of the normalization factors.


title: Laplacian matrix

text: where "L" is the unnormalized Laplacian, "A" is the adjacency matrix, "D" is the degree matrix, and formula_22 is the Moore–Penrose inverse. Since the degree matrix "D" is diagonal, its reciprocal square root formula_55 is just the diagonal matrix whose diagonal entries are the reciprocals of the square roots of the diagonal entries of "D". If all the edge weights are nonnegative then all the degree values are automatically also nonnegative and so every degree value has a unique positive square root. To avoid the division by zero, vertices with zero degrees are excluded from the process of the normalization, as in the following example:


title: Laplacian matrix

text: The symmetrically normalized Laplacian is a symmetric matrix if and only if the adjacency matrix "A" is symmetric and the diagonal entries of "D" are nonnegative, in which case we can use the term the symmetric normalized Laplacian.


title: Laplacian matrix

text: using the weightless formula_9 incidence matrix "B" and the diagonal formula_17 matrix "W" containing the edge weights and defining the new formula_9 weighted incidence matrix formula_60 whose rows are indexed by the vertices and whose columns are indexed by the edges of G such that each column corresponding to an edge "e = {u, v}" has an entry formula_61 in the row corresponding to "u", an entry formula_62 in the row corresponding to "v", and has 0 entries elsewhere.


title: Laplacian matrix

text: where "D" is the degree matrix. Since the degree matrix "D" is diagonal, its inverse formula_64 is simply defined as a diagonal matrix, having diagonal entries which are the reciprocals of the corresponding diagonal entries of "D". For the isolated vertices (those with degree 0), a common choice is to set the corresponding element formula_65 to 0. The matrix elements of formula_27 are given by


title: Laplacian matrix

text: The name of the random-walk normalized Laplacian comes from the fact that this matrix is formula_68, where formula_69 is simply the transition matrix of a random walker on the graph, assuming non-negative weights. For example, let formula_70 denote the i-th standard basis vector. Then formula_71 is a probability vector representing the distribution of a random walker's locations after taking a single step from vertex formula_72; i.e., formula_73. More generally, if the vector formula_74 is a probability distribution of the location of a random walker on the vertices of the graph, then formula_75 is the probability distribution of the walker after formula_76 steps.


title: Laplacian matrix

text: The random walk normalized Laplacian can also be called the left normalized Laplacian formula_77 since the normalization is performed by multiplying the Laplacian by the normalization matrix formula_22 on the left. It has each row summing to zero since formula_79 is right stochastic, assuming all the weights are non-negative.


title: Laplacian matrix

text: In the less uncommonly used right normalized Laplacian formula_29 each column sums to zero since formula_35 is left stochastic.


title: Laplacian matrix

text: For a non-symmetric adjacency matrix of a directed graph, one also needs to choose indegree or outdegree for normalization:


title: Laplacian matrix

text: The left out-degree normalized Laplacian with row-sums all 0 relates to right stochastic formula_36 , while the right in-degree normalized Laplacian with column-sums all 0 contains left stochastic formula_37.


title: Laplacian matrix

text: Because formula_98 can be written as the inner product of the vector formula_101 with itself, this shows that formula_85 and so the eigenvalues of formula_96 are all non-negative.


title: Laplacian matrix

text: i.e., formula_27 is similar to the normalized Laplacian formula_23. For this reason, even if formula_27 is in general not symmetric, it has real eigenvalues — exactly the same as the eigenvalues of the normalized symmetric Laplacian formula_23.


title: Laplacian matrix

text: The graph Laplacian matrix can be further viewed as a matrix form of the negative discrete Laplace operator on a graph approximating the negative continuous Laplacian operator obtained by the finite difference method.


title: Laplacian matrix

text: (See Discrete Poisson equation) In this interpretation, every graph vertex is treated as a grid point; the local connectivity of the vertex determines the finite difference approximation stencil at this grid point, the grid size is always one for every edge, and there are no constraints on any grid points, which corresponds to the case of the homogeneous Neumann boundary condition, i.e., free boundary. Such an interpretation allows one, e.g., generalizing the Laplacian matrix to the case of graphs with an infinite number of vertices and edges, leading to a Laplacian matrix of an infinite size.


title: Laplacian matrix

text: Entries of the adjacency matrix can be complex-valued, in which case the notion of the matrix symmetry needs to be replaced with a Hermitian matrix. Magnetic Laplacian for a directed graph with real weights formula_111 is constructed as the Hadamard product of the real symmetric matrix of the symmetrized Laplacian and the Hermitian phase matrix with the complex entries


title: Laplacian matrix

text: In the context of quantum physics, the magnetic Laplacian can be interpreted as the operator that describes the phenomenology of a free charged particle on a graph, which is subject to the action of a magnetic field and the parameter formula_113 is called electric charge.


title: Laplacian matrix

text: where "I" is the identity matrix, "A" is the adjacency matrix, "D" is the degree matrix, and "s" is a (complex-valued) number. The standard Laplacian is just formula_116 and formula_117 is the signless Laplacian.


title: Laplacian matrix

text: where formula_119 is the degree matrix, and formula_18 is the adjacency matrix. Like the signed Laplacian formula_121, the signless Laplacian formula_109 also is positive semi-definite as it can be factored as


title: Laplacian matrix

text: where formula_124 is the incidence matrix. formula_109 has a 0-eigenvector if and only if it has a bipartite connected component other than isolated vertices. This can be shown as


title: Laplacian matrix

text: An analogue of the Laplacian matrix can be defined for directed multigraphs. In this case the Laplacian matrix "L" is defined as


title: Laplacian matrix

text: where "D" is a diagonal matrix with "D" equal to the outdegree of vertex "i" and "A" is a matrix with "A" equal to the number of edges from "i" to "j" (including loops).


title: Coffin

text: Sometimes referred to as a casket, any box in which the dead are buried is a coffin, and while a casket was originally regarded as a box for jewelry, use of the word "casket" in this sense began as a euphemism introduced by the undertaker's trade. A distinction is commonly drawn between "coffins" and "caskets", using "coffin" to refer to a tapered hexagonal or octagonal (also considered to be anthropoidal in shape) box and "casket" to refer to a rectangular box, often with a split lid used for viewing the deceased as seen in the picture. Receptacles for cremated and cremulated human ashes (sometimes called cremains) are called urns.


title: Coffin

text: First attested in English in 1380, the word "coffin" derives from the Old French , from Latin , which means "basket", which is the latinisation of the Greek κόφινος ("kophinos"), "basket". The earliest attested form of the word is the Mycenaean Greek "ko-pi-na", written in Linear B syllabic script.


title: Coffin

text: The earliest evidence of wooden coffin remains, dated at 5000 BC, was found in the Tomb 4 at Beishouling, Shaanxi. Clear evidence of a rectangular wooden coffin was found in Tomb 152 in an early Banpo site. The Banpo coffin belongs to a four-year-old girl; it measures 1.4 m (4.6 ft) by 0.55 m (1.8 ft) and 3–9 cm thick. As many as 10 wooden coffins have been found at the Dawenkou culture (4100–2600 BC) site at Chengzi, Shandong. The thickness of the coffin, as determined by the number of timber frames in its composition, also emphasized the level of nobility, as mentioned in the "Classic of Rites", "Xunzi" and "Zhuangzi". Examples of this have been found in several Neolithic sites: the double coffin, the earliest of which was found in the Liangzhu culture (3400–2250 BC) site at Puanqiao, Zhejiang, consists of an outer and an inner coffin, while the triple coffin, with its earliest finds from the Longshan culture (3000–2000 BC) sites at Xizhufeng and Yinjiacheng in Shandong, consists of two outer and one inner coffins.


title: Coffin

text: A coffin may be buried in the ground directly, placed in a burial vault or cremated. Alternatively it may be entombed above ground in a mausoleum, a chapel, a church, or in a loculus within catacombs. Some countries practice one form almost exclusively, whereas in others it may depend on the individual cemetery.


title: Coffin

text: In part of Sumatra, Indonesia, ancestors are revered and bodies were often kept in coffins kept alongside the longhouses until a ritual burial could be performed. The dead are also disinterred for rituals. Mass burials are also practiced. In northern Sulawesi, some dead were kept in above ground sarcophagi called waruga until the practice was banned by the Dutch in the 19th century.


title: Coffin

text: The handles and other ornaments (such as doves, stipple crosses, crucifix, symbols etc.) that go on the outside of a coffin are called fittings (sometimes called 'coffin furniture' – not to be confused with furniture that is coffin shaped) while organizing the inside of the coffin with fabric of some kind is known as "trimming the coffin".


title: Coffin

text: Cultures that practice burial have widely different styles of coffins. In Judaism, the coffin must be plain, made of wood and contain no metal parts or adornments. These coffins use wooden pegs instead of nails. All Jews are buried in the same plain cloth shroud from shoulder to knees, regardless of status in life, gender or age. In China, coffins made from the scented, decay-resistant wood of cypress, sugi, thuja and incense-cedar are in high demand. Certain Aboriginal Australian groups use intricately decorated tree-bark cylinders sewn with fibre and sealed with adhesive as coffins. The cylinder is packed with dried grasses.


title: Coffin

text: Sometimes coffins are constructed to permanently display the corpse, as in the case of the glass-covered coffin of the Haraldskær Woman on display in the Church of Saint Nicolai in Vejle, Denmark or the glass-coffin of Vladimir Lenin and Mao Zedong, which are in Red Square, Moscow and Tiananmen Square, Beijing, respectively.


title: Coffin

text: When a coffin is used to transport a deceased person, it can also be called a pall, a term that also refers to the cloth used to cover the coffin while those who carry a casket are the pallbearers.


title: Coffin

text: Coffins are traditionally made with six sides plus the top (lid) and bottom, tapered around the shoulders, or rectangular with four sides. Another form of four-sided coffin is trapezoidal (also known as the "wedge" form) and is considered a variant of the six-sided hexagonal kind of coffin. Continental Europe at one time favoured the rectangular coffin or casket, although variations exist in size and shape. The rectangular form, and also the trapezoidal form, is still regularly used in Germany, Austria, Hungary and other parts of Eastern and Central Europe, with the lid sometimes made to slope gently from the head down towards the foot. Coffins in the UK are mainly similar to the hexagonal design, but with one-piece sides, curved at the shoulder instead of having a join. In Medieval Japan, round coffins were used, which resembled barrels in shape and were usually made by coopers. In the case of a death at sea, there have been instances where trunks have been pressed into use as coffins. Coffins usually have handles on the side so they will be easier to carry.


title: Coffin

text: They may incorporate features that claim to protect the body or for public health reasons. For example, some may offer a "protective casket" that uses a gasket to seal the casket shut after it is closed for the final time. In England, it has long been law that a coffin for interment above ground should be sealed; this was traditionally implemented as a wooden outer coffin around a lead lining, around a third inner shell. After some decades have passed, the lead may ripple and tear. In the United States, numerous cemeteries require a vault of some kind in order to bury the deceased. A burial vault serves as an outer enclosure for buried remains and the coffin serves as an inner enclosure. The primary purpose of the vault is to prevent collapse of the coffin due to the weight of the soil above.


title: Coffin

text: Some manufacturers offer a warranty on the structural integrity of the coffin. However, no coffin, regardless of its construction material ("e.g.", metal rather than wood), whether or not it is sealed, and whether or not the deceased was embalmed beforehand, will perfectly preserve the body. In some cases, a sealed coffin may actually speed up rather than slow down the process of decomposition. An airtight coffin, for example, fosters decomposition by anaerobic bacteria, which results in a putrefied liquefaction of the body, and all putrefied tissue remains inside the container, only to be exposed in the event of an exhumation. A container that allows air to pass in and out, such as a simple wooden box, allows for clean skeletonization. However the situation will vary according to soil or air conditions, and climate.


title: Coffin

text: Coffins are made of many materials, including steel, various types of wood, and other materials such as fiberglass or recycled kraft paper. There is emerging interest in eco-friendly coffins made of purely natural materials such as bamboo, X-Board, willow or banana leaf. In the latter part of the 19th century and the early part of the 20th century in the United States, glass coffins were widely sold by travelling salesmen, who also would try to sell stock of the companies making the coffins.


title: Coffin

text: Custom coffins are occasionally created and some companies also make set ranges with non-traditional designs. These include printing or painting of peaceful tropical scenes, sea-shells, sunsets, cherubim, and patriotic flags. Some manufacturers have designed them to look like gym carry bags, guitar cases, cigar humidors, and even yellow dumpster bins. Other coffins are left deliberately blank so that friends and family can inscribe final wishes and thoughts upon them to the deceased. In Taiwan, coffins made of crushed oyster shells were used in the 18th and 19th centuries.


title: Coffin

text: In the 1990s, the rock group Kiss released a customized Kiss Kasket, which featured their trademark makeup designs and KISS logo and could also be used as a cooler. Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell was buried in one.


title: Coffin

text: Xanita has developed a new grade of environmentally-friendly coffin board which is designed to cleanly incinerate using around half the gas needed to incinerate veneered MDF coffins. This assists crematoriums meet their emissions targets.


title: Coffin

text: Design coffins in Ghana, also called fantasy coffins or figurative coffins, are only made by specialized carpenters in the Greater Accra Region. These colourful objects, which are not only coffins, but considered real works of art, were shown for the first time to a wider Western public in the exhibition "Les Magiciens de la terre" at the "Musée National d’Art Moderne" in Paris in 1989. The seven coffins shown in Paris were done by Seth Kane Kwei (1922–1992) and by his former assistant Paa Joe (b. 1947). Since then coffins of Kane Kweis successors Paa Joe, Daniel Mensah, Kudjoe Affutu or Eric Adjetey Anang and others have been displayed in many international art museums and galleries around the world.


title: Coffin

text: The design coffins of the Ga have long been celebrated in the Western art world as the invention of a single, autonomous artist, the coffin maker Kane Kwei (1924–1992) of Teshie. But as Regula Tschumi shows with her recent research this assumption was false. Design coffins have existed already before Kane Kwei and other Ga carpenters like Ataa Oko (1919–2012) from La have built their first figurative coffins around 1950. Kane Kwei and Ataa Oko had only continued a tradition that already existed in Accra where the kings were using figurative palanquins in the forms of their family symbol. And as those chiefs who were using figurative palanquins had to be buried in a coffin looking like their palanquin, their families used figurative coffins which were formerly nothing else than the copies of the design palanquins. Today figurative coffins are of course no more reserved for the traditional Ga and their kings, many families who use figurative coffins are indeed Christians. For them design coffins have no longer a spiritual function, their appeal is more aesthetic, aimed at surprising mourners with strikingly innovative forms like automobiles or aeroplanes, fish or pigs, onions or tomatoes. So the figurative coffins, rather than constituting a new art form as it was long believed, were developed from the figurative palanquins which had existed already a long time.


title: Coffin

text: With the resurgence of cremation in the Western world, manufacturers have begun providing options for those who choose cremation. For a direct cremation a cardboard box is sometimes used. Those who wish to have a funeral visitation (sometimes called a viewing) or traditional funeral service will use a coffin of some sort.


title: Coffin

text: Some choose to use a coffin made of wood or other materials like particle board or low-density fibreboard. Others will rent a regular casket for the duration of the services. These caskets have a removable bed and liner which is replaced after each use. There are also rental caskets with an outer shell that looks like a traditional coffin and a cardboard box that fits inside the shell. At the end of the services the inner box is removed and the deceased is cremated inside this box.


title: Coffin

text: Traditionally, in the Western world, a coffin was made, when required, by the village carpenter, who would frequently manage the whole funeral. The design and workmanship would reflect the skills of that individual carpenter, with the materials and brasses being the materials that were available to the carpenter at the time. In past centuries, if a pauper's funeral was paid for by the parish, the coffin might have been made of the cheapest, thinnest possible pine. At the other extreme, a coffin bought privately by a wealthy individual might have used yew or mahogany with a fine lining, plated fittings and brass decorations, topped with a decorated velvet drape.


title: Coffin

text: In modern times coffins are almost always mass-produced. Some manufacturers do not sell directly to the public, and only work with funeral homes. In that case, the funeral director usually sells the casket to a family for a deceased person as part of the funeral services offered, and the price of the casket is included in the total bill for services rendered.


title: Coffin

text: Some funeral homes have small showrooms to present families with the available caskets that could be used for a deceased family member. In many modern funeral homes the showroom will consist of sample pieces that show only the end pieces of each type of coffin that can be used. They also include samples of the lining and other materials. This allows funeral homes to showcase a larger number of coffin styles without the need for a larger showroom. Other types may be available from a catalogue, including decorative paint effects or printed photographs or patterns.


title: Coffin

text: Under a United States federal regulation, 16 CFR Part 453 (known as the "Funeral Rule"), if a family provides a casket they purchased elsewhere (for example from a United States retail warehouse store, as illustrated here), the establishment is required to accept the casket and use it in the services. If the casket is delivered direct to the funeral home from the manufacturer or store, they are required to accept delivery of the casket. The funeral home may not add any extra charges or fees to the overall bill if a family decides to purchase a casket elsewhere. If the casket was bought from the funeral home, these regulations require bills to be completely itemized.


title: Presidency of Gerald Ford

text: Gerald Ford's tenure as the 38th president of the United States began on August 9, 1974, upon the resignation of Richard Nixon from office, and ended on January 20, 1977, a period of days. Ford, a Republican from Michigan, had served as vice president since December 6, 1973, following Spiro Agnew's resignation from that office. Ford was the only person to serve as president without being elected to either the presidency or the vice presidency. His presidency ended following his defeat in the 1976 presidential election by Democrat Jimmy Carter.


title: Presidency of Gerald Ford

text: Ford took office in the aftermath of the Watergate scandal and in the final stages of the Vietnam War, both of which engendered a new disillusion in American political institutions. Ford's first major act upon taking office was to grant a presidential pardon to Nixon for his role in the Watergate scandal, prompting a major backlash to Ford's presidency. He also created a conditional clemency program for Vietnam War draft dodgers. Much of Ford's focus in domestic policy was on the economy, which experienced a recession during his tenure. After initially promoting a tax increase designed to combat inflation, Ford championed a tax cut designed to rejuvenate the economy, and he signed two tax reduction acts into law. The foreign policy of the Ford administration was characterized in procedural terms by the increased role Congress began to play, and by the corresponding curb on the powers of the president. Overcoming significant congressional opposition, Ford continued Nixon's détente policies with the Soviet Union.


title: Presidency of Gerald Ford

text: In the 1976 presidential election, Ford was challenged by Ronald Reagan, a leader of the conservative wing of the Republican Party. After a contentious series of primaries, Ford narrowly won the nomination at the 1976 Republican National Convention. In the general election, Ford lost to Carter by a narrow margin in the popular and electoral vote. In polls of historians and political scientists, Ford is generally ranked as a below average president, much like both his predecessor and successor.


title: Presidency of Gerald Ford

text: The Republican ticket of President Richard Nixon and Vice President Spiro Agnew won a landslide victory in the 1972 presidential election. Nixon's second term was dominated by the Watergate scandal, which stemmed from a Nixon campaign group's attempted burglary of the Democratic National Committee's headquarters and the subsequent cover-up by the Nixon administration. Due to a scandal unrelated to Watergate, Vice President Agnew resigned on October 10, 1973. Under the terms of the Twenty-fifth Amendment, Nixon nominated Ford as Agnew's replacement. Nixon selected Ford, then the House Minority Leader, largely because he was advised that Ford would be the most easily confirmed of the prominent Republican leaders. Ford was confirmed by overwhelming majorities in both houses of Congress, and he took office as vice president in December 1973.


title: Presidency of Gerald Ford

text: In the months after his confirmation as vice president, Ford continued to support Nixon's innocence with regards to Watergate, even as evidence mounted that the Nixon administration had ordered the break-in and subsequently sought to cover it up. In July 1974, after the Supreme Court ordered Nixon to turn over recordings of certain meetings he had held as president, the House Judiciary Committee voted to begin impeachment proceedings against Nixon. After the tapes became public and clearly showed that Nixon had taken part in the cover-up, Nixon summoned Ford to the Oval Office on August 8, where Nixon informed Ford that he would resign. Nixon formally resigned on August 9, making Ford the first President of the United States who had not been elected as either president or vice president.


title: Presidency of Gerald Ford

text: Immediately after taking the oath of office in the East Room of the White House, Ford spoke to the assembled audience in a speech broadcast live to the nation. Ford noted the peculiarity of his position: "I am acutely aware that you have not elected me as your president by your ballots, and so I ask you to confirm me as your president with your prayers." He went on to state:


title: Presidency of Gerald Ford

text: Upon assuming office, Ford inherited Nixon's cabinet, although Ford quickly replaced Chief of Staff Alexander Haig with Donald Rumsfeld, who had served as a Counselor to the President under Nixon. Rumsfeld and Deputy Chief of Staff Dick Cheney rapidly became among the most influential people in the Ford administration. Ford also appointed Edward H. Levi as Attorney General, charging Levi with cleaning up a Justice Department that had been politicized to unprecedented levels during the Nixon administration. Ford brought in Philip W. Buchen, Robert T. Hartmann, L. William Seidman, and John O. Marsh as senior advisers with cabinet rank. Ford placed a far greater value in his cabinet officials than Nixon had, though cabinet members did not regain the degree of influence they had held prior to World War II. Levi, Secretary of State and National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger, Secretary of the Treasury William E. Simon, and Secretary of Defense James R. Schlesinger all emerged as influential cabinet officials early in Ford's tenure.


title: Presidency of Gerald Ford

text: Most of the Nixon holdovers in cabinet stayed in place until Ford's dramatic reorganization in the fall of 1975, an action referred to by political commentators as the "Halloween Massacre". Ford appointed George H. W. Bush as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, while Rumsfeld became Secretary of Defense and Cheney replaced Rumsfeld as Chief of Staff, becoming the youngest individual to hold that position. The moves were intended to fortify Ford's right flank against a primary challenge from Ronald Reagan. Though Kissinger remained as Secretary of State, Brent Scowcroft replaced Kissinger as National Security Advisor.


title: Presidency of Gerald Ford

text: Ford's accession to the presidency left the office of vice president vacant. On August 20, 1974, Ford nominated Nelson Rockefeller, the leader of the party's liberal wing, for the vice presidency. Rockefeller and former Congressman George H. W. Bush of Texas were the two finalists for vice presidential nomination, and Ford chose Rockefeller in part due to a "Newsweek" report that revealed that Bush had accepted money from a Nixon slush fund during his 1970 Senate campaign. Rockefeller underwent extended hearings before Congress, which caused embarrassment when it was revealed he made large gifts to senior aides, including Kissinger. Although conservative Republicans were not pleased that Rockefeller was picked, most of them voted for his confirmation, and his nomination passed both the House and Senate. He was sworn in as the nation's 41st vice president on December 19, 1974. Prior to Rockefeller's confirmation, Speaker of the House Carl Albert was next in line to the presidency. Ford promised to give Rockefeller a major role in shaping the domestic policy of the administration, but Rockefeller was quickly sidelined by Rumsfeld and other administration officials.


title: Presidency of Gerald Ford

text: In the wake of Nixon's heavy use of executive privilege to block investigations of his actions, Ford was scrupulous in minimizing its usage. However, that complicated his efforts to keep congressional investigations under control. Political scientist Mark J. Rozell concludes that Ford's:


title: Presidency of Gerald Ford

text: Ford made one appointment to the Supreme Court while in office, appointing John Paul Stevens to succeed Associate Justice William O. Douglas. Upon learning of Douglas's impending retirement, Ford asked Attorney General Levi to submit a short list of potential Supreme Court nominees, and Levi suggested Stevens, Solicitor General Robert Bork, and federal judge Arlin Adams. Ford chose Stevens, an uncontroversial federal appellate judge, largely because he was likely to face the least opposition in the Senate. Early in his tenure on the Court, Stevens had a relatively moderate voting record, but in the 1990s he emerged as a leader of the Court's liberal bloc. In 2005 Ford wrote, "I am prepared to allow history's judgment of my term in office to rest (if necessary, exclusively) on my nomination 30 years ago of Justice John Paul Stevens to the U.S. Supreme Court". Ford also appointed 11 judges to the United States Courts of Appeals, and 50 judges to the United States district courts.


title: Presidency of Gerald Ford

text: Along with the experience of the Vietnam War and other issues, Watergate contributed to a decline in the faith that Americans placed in political institutions. Low public confidence added to Ford's already formidable challenge of establishing his own administration without a presidential transition period or the popular mandate of a presidential election. Though Ford became widely popular during his first month in office, he faced a difficult situation regarding the fate of former President Nixon, whose status threatened to undermine the Ford administration. In the final days of Nixon's presidency, Haig had floated the possibility of Ford pardoning Nixon, but no deal had been struck between Nixon and Ford before Nixon's resignation. Nonetheless, when Ford took office, most of the Nixon holdovers in the executive branch, including Haig and Kissinger, pressed for a pardon. Through his first month in office, Ford publicly kept his options open regarding a pardon, but he came to believe that ongoing legal proceedings against Nixon would prevent his administration from addressing any other issue. Ford attempted to extract a public statement of contrition from Nixon before issuing the pardon, but Nixon refused.


title: Presidency of Gerald Ford

text: On September 8, 1974, Ford issued , which gave Nixon a full and unconditional pardon for any crimes he might have committed against the United States while president. In a televised broadcast to the nation, Ford explained that he felt the pardon was in the best interests of the country, and that the Nixon family's situation "is a tragedy in which we all have played a part. It could go on and on and on, or someone must write the end to it. I have concluded that only I can do that, and if I can, I must."


title: Presidency of Gerald Ford

text: The Nixon pardon was highly controversial, and Gallup polling showed that Ford's approval rating fell from 71 percent before the pardon to 50 percent immediately after the pardon. Critics derided the move and said a "corrupt bargain" had been struck between the men. In an editorial at the time, "The New York Times" stated that the Nixon pardon was a "profoundly unwise, divisive and unjust act" that in a stroke had destroyed the new president's "credibility as a man of judgment, candor and competence". Ford's close friend and press secretary, Jerald terHorst, resigned his post in protest. The pardon would hang over Ford for the remainder of his presidency, and damaged his relationship with members of Congress from both parties. Against the advice of most of his advisers, Ford agreed to appear before a House Subcommittee that requested further information on the pardon. On October 17, 1974, Ford testified before Congress, becoming the first sitting president since Woodrow Wilson to do so.


title: Presidency of Gerald Ford

text: After Ford left the White House, the former president privately justified his pardon of Nixon by carrying in his wallet a portion of the text of "Burdick v. United States", a 1915 Supreme Court decision which stated that a pardon indicated a presumption of guilt, and that acceptance of a pardon was tantamount to a confession of that guilt.


title: Presidency of Gerald Ford

text: During the Vietnam War, about one percent of American men of eligible age for the draft failed to register, and approximately one percent of those who were drafted refused to serve. Those who refused conscription were labeled as "draft dodgers"; many such individuals had left the country for Canada, but others remained in the United States. Ford had opposed any form of amnesty for the draft dodgers while in Congress, but his presidential advisers convinced him that a clemency program would help resolve a contentious issue and boost Ford's public standing. On September 16, 1974, shortly after he announced the Nixon pardon, Ford introduced a presidential clemency program for Vietnam War draft dodgers. The conditions of the clemency required a reaffirmation of allegiance to the United States and two years of work in a public service position. The program for the Return of Vietnam Era Draft Evaders and Military Deserters established a Clemency Board to review the records and make recommendations for receiving a presidential pardon and a change in military discharge status. Ford's clemency program was accepted by most conservatives, but attacked by those on the left who wanted a full amnesty program. Full pardon for draft dodgers would later come in the Carter Administration.


title: Presidency of Gerald Ford

text: The 1974 congressional midterm elections took place less than three months after Ford assumed office. The Democratic Party turned voter dissatisfaction into large gains in the House of Representatives elections, taking 49 seats from the Republican Party, increasing their majority to 291 of the 435 seats. Even Ford's former House seat was won by a Democrat. In the Senate elections, the Democrats increased their majority to 61 seats in the 100-seat body. The subsequent 94th Congress would override the highest percentage of vetoes since Andrew Johnson served as president in the 1860s. Ford's successful vetoes, however, resulted in the lowest yearly spending increases since the Eisenhower administration. Buoyed by the new class of "Watergate Babies," liberal Democrats implemented reforms designed to ease the passage of legislation. The House began to select committee chairs by secret ballot rather than through seniority, resulting in the removal of some conservative Southern committee chairs. The Senate, meanwhile, lowered the number of votes necessary to end a filibuster from 67 to 60.


title: Presidency of Gerald Ford

text: By the time Ford took office, the U.S. economy had entered into a period of stagflation, which economists attributed to various causes, including the 1973 oil crisis and increasing competition from countries such as Japan. Stagflation confounded the traditional economic theories of the 1970s, as economists generally believed that an economy would not simultaneously experience inflation and low rates of economic growth. Traditional economic remedies for a dismal economic growth rate, such as tax cuts and increased spending, risked exacerbating inflation. The conventional response to inflation, tax increases and a cut in government spending, risked damaging the economy. The economic troubles, which signaled the end of the post-war boom, created an opening for a challenge to the dominant Keynesian economics, and laissez-faire advocates such as Alan Greenspan acquired influence within the Ford administration. Ford seized the initiative, abandoned 40 years of orthodoxy, and introduced a new conservative economic agenda as he sought to adapt traditional Republican economics to deal with the novel economic challenges.


title: Presidency of Gerald Ford

text: At the time that he took office, Ford believed that inflation, rather than a potential recession, represented the greatest threat to the economy. He believed that inflation could be reduced, not by reducing the amount of new currency entering circulation, but by encouraging people to reduce their spending. In October 1974, Ford went before the American public and asked them to "Whip Inflation Now". As part of this program, he urged people to wear "WIN" buttons. To try to mesh service and sacrifice, "WIN" called for Americans to reduce their spending and consumption, especially with regards to gasoline. Ford hoped that the public would respond to this call for self-restraint much as it had to President Franklin D. Roosevelt's calls for sacrifice during World War II, but the public received WIN with skepticism. At roughly the same time he rolled out WIN, Ford also proposed a ten-point economic plan. The central plank of the plan was a tax increase on corporations and high earners, which Ford hoped would both quell inflation and cut into government's budget deficit.


title: Presidency of Gerald Ford

text: Ford's economic focus changed as the country sank into the worst recession since the Great Depression. In November 1974, Ford withdrew his proposed tax increase. Two months later, Ford proposed a 1-year tax reduction of $16 billion to stimulate economic growth, along with spending cuts to avoid inflation. Having switched from advocating for a tax increase to advocating a tax reduction in just two months, Ford was greatly criticized for his "flip-flop". Congress responded by passing a plan that implemented deeper tax cuts and an increase in government spending. Ford seriously considered vetoing the bill, but ultimately chose to sign the Tax Reduction Act of 1975 into law. In October 1975, Ford introduced a bill designed to combat inflation through a mix of tax and spending cuts. That December, Ford signed the Revenue Adjustment Act of 1975, which implemented tax and spending cuts, albeit not at the levels proposed by Ford. The economy recovered in 1976, as both inflation and unemployment declined. Nonetheless, by late 1976 Ford faced considerable discontent over his handling of the economy, and the government had a $74 billion deficit.


title: Presidency of Gerald Ford

text: Prior to Ford's presidency, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had illegally assembled files on domestic anti-war activists. In the aftermath of Watergate, CIA Director William Colby put together a report of all of the CIA's domestic activities, and much of the report became public, beginning with the publication of a December 1974 article by investigative journalist Seymour Hersh. The revelations sparked outrage among the public and members of Congress. In response to growing pressure to investigate and reform the CIA, Ford created the Rockefeller Commission. The Rockefeller Commission marked the first time that a presidential commission was established to investigate the national security apparatus. The Rockefeller Commission's report, submitted in June 1975, generally defended the CIA, although it did note that "the CIA has engaged in some activities that should be criticized and not permitted to happen again." The press strongly criticized the commission for failing to include a section on the CIA's assassination plots. The Senate created its own committee, led by Senator Frank Church, to investigate CIA abuses. Ford feared that the Church Committee would be used for partisan purposes and resisted turning over classified materials, but Colby cooperated with the committee. In response to the Church Committee's report, both houses of Congress established select committees to provide oversight to the intelligence community.


title: Presidency of Gerald Ford

text: Due to the frustration of environmentalists left over from the Nixon days, including Environmental Protection Agency head Russell E. Train, environmentalism was a peripheral issue during the Ford years. Secretary of the Interior Thomas S. Kleppe was a leader of the "Sagebrush Rebellion", a movement of western ranchers and other groups that sought the repeal of environmental protections on federal land. They lost repeatedly in the federal courts, most notably in the 1976 Supreme Court decision of "Kleppe v. New Mexico". Ford's successes included the addition of two national monuments, six historical sites, three historic parks and two national preserves. None were controversial. In the international field, treaties and agreements with Canada, Mexico, China, Japan, the Soviet Union and several European countries included provisions to protect endangered species.


title: Presidency of Gerald Ford

text: Ford and his wife were outspoken supporters of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), a proposed constitutional amendment that had been submitted to the states for ratification in 1972. The ERA was designed to ensure equal rights for all citizens regardless of gender. Despite Ford's support, the ERA would fail to win ratification by the necessary number of state legislatures.


title: Presidency of Gerald Ford

text: As president, Ford's position on abortion was that he supported "a federal constitutional amendment that would permit each one of the 50 States to make the choice". This had also been his position as House Minority Leader in response to the 1973 Supreme Court case of "Roe v. Wade", which he opposed. Ford came under criticism for a "60 Minutes" interview his wife Betty gave in 1975, in which she stated that "Roe v. Wade" was a "great, great decision". During his later life, Ford would identify as pro-choice.


title: Presidency of Gerald Ford

text: After the 1972 elections, good government groups like Common Cause pressured Congress to amend campaign finance law to restrict the role of money in political campaigns. In 1974, Congress approved amendments to the Federal Election Campaign Act, establishing the Federal Election Commission to oversee campaign finance laws. The amendments also established a system of public financing for presidential elections, limited the size of campaign contributions, limited the amount of money that candidates could spend on their own campaigns, and required the disclosure of nearly all campaign contributions. Ford reluctantly signed the bill into law in October 1974. In the 1976 case of "Buckley v. Valeo", the Supreme Court overturned the cap on self-funding by political candidates, holding that such a restriction violated freedom of speech rights. The campaign finance reforms of the 1970s were largely unsuccessful in lessening the influence of money in politics, as more contributions shifted to political action committees and state and local party committees.


title: Presidency of Gerald Ford

text: In 1971, the United States Supreme Court ruled in "Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education" that "Busing was a permissible tool for desegregation purposes." However, in the closing days of the Nixon administration, the Supreme Court largely eliminated District Court ability to order busing across city and suburban systems in the case of "Milliken v. Bradley." It meant that disgruntled white families could move to the suburbs and not be reached by court orders regarding segregation of the central city schools. Ford, representing a Michigan district, had always taken the position in favor of the goal of school desegregation but opposition to court-ordered forced busing as a means of achieving it. In the first major bill he signed as president, Ford's compromise solution was to win over the general population with mild anti-busing legislation. He condemned anti-busing violence, promoted the theoretical goal of school desegregation, and promised to uphold the Constitution. The problem did not go away – it only escalated and remained on the front burner for years. Tension exploded in Boston, where working-class Irish neighborhoods inside the city limits violently resisted court-ordered busing of black children into their schools.


title: Presidency of Gerald Ford

text: When New York City faced bankruptcy in 1975, Mayor Abraham Beame was unsuccessful in obtaining Ford's support for a federal bailout. The incident prompted the New York "Daily News"<nowiki>'</nowiki> famous headline "Ford to City: Drop Dead", referring to a speech in which "Ford declared flatly ... that he would veto any bill calling for 'a federal bail-out of New York City. The following month, November 1975, Ford changed his stance and asked Congress to approve federal loans to New York City, upon the condition that the city agree to more austere budgets imposed by Washington, D.C. In December 1975, Ford signed a bill providing New York City with access to $2.3 billion in loans.


title: Presidency of Gerald Ford

text: Despite his reservations about how the program ultimately would be funded in an era of tight public budgeting, Ford signed the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975, which established special education throughout the United States. Ford expressed "strong support for full educational opportunities for our handicapped children" upon signing the bill.


title: Presidency of Gerald Ford

text: Ford was confronted with a potential swine flu pandemic. In the early 1970s, an influenza strain H1N1 shifted from a form of flu that affected primarily pigs and crossed over to humans. On February 5, 1976, an army recruit at Fort Dix mysteriously died and four fellow soldiers were hospitalized; health officials announced that "swine flu" was the cause. Soon after, public health officials in the Ford administration urged that every person in the United States be vaccinated. Although the vaccination program was plagued by delays and public relations problems, some 25% of the population was vaccinated by the time the program was canceled in December 1976. The vaccine was blamed for twenty-five deaths; more people died from the shots than from the swine flu.


title: Presidency of Gerald Ford

text: Ford continued Nixon's détente policy with both the Soviet Union and China, easing the tensions of the Cold War. In doing so, he overcame opposition from members of Congress, an institution which became increasingly assertive in foreign affairs in the early 1970s. This opposition was led by Senator Henry M. Jackson, who scuttled a U.S.–Soviet trade agreement by winning passage of the Jackson–Vanik amendment. The thawing relationship with China brought about by Nixon's 1972 visit to China was reinforced with another presidential visit in December 1975.


title: Presidency of Gerald Ford

text: Despite the collapse of the trade agreement with the Soviet Union, Ford and Soviet Leader Leonid Brezhnev continued the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks, which had begun under Nixon. In 1972, the U.S. and the Soviet Union had reached the SALT I treaty, which placed upper limits on each power's nuclear arsenal. Ford met Brezhnev at the November 1974 Vladivostok Summit, at which point the two leaders agreed to a framework for another SALT treaty. Opponents of détente, led by Jackson, delayed Senate consideration of the treaty until after Ford left office.


title: Presidency of Gerald Ford

text: When Ford took office in August 1974, the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) negotiations had been underway in Helsinki, Finland, for nearly two years. Throughout much of the negotiations, U.S. leaders were disengaged and uninterested with the process; Kissinger told Ford in 1974 that "we never wanted it but we went along with the Europeans ... [i]t is meaningless—it is just a grandstand play to the left. We are going along with it." In the months leading up to the conclusion of negotiations and signing of the Helsinki Final Act in August 1975, Americans of Eastern European descent voiced their concerns that the agreement would mean the acceptance of Soviet domination over Eastern Europe and the permanent incorporation of the Baltic states into the USSR. Shortly before President Ford departed for Helsinki, he held a meeting with a delegation of Americans of Eastern European background, and stated definitively that U.S. policy on the Baltic States would not change, but would be strengthened since the agreement denies the annexation of territory in violation of international law and allows for the peaceful change of borders.


title: Presidency of Gerald Ford

text: The American public remained unconvinced that American policy on the incorporation of the Baltic States would not be changed by the Helsinki Final Act. Despite protests from all around, Ford decided to move forward and sign the Helsinki Agreement. As domestic criticism mounted, Ford hedged on his support for the Helsinki Accords, which had the impact of overall weakening his foreign-policy stature. Though Ford was criticized for his apparent recognition of the Soviet domination of Eastern Europe, the new emphasis on human rights would eventually contribute to the weakening of the Eastern bloc in the 1980s and speed up its collapse in 1989.


title: Presidency of Gerald Ford

text: One of Ford's greatest challenges was dealing with the ongoing Vietnam War. American offensive operations against North Vietnam had ended with the Paris Peace Accords, signed on January 27, 1973. The accords declared a cease fire across both North and South Vietnam, and required the release of American prisoners of war. The agreement guaranteed the territorial integrity of Vietnam and, like the Geneva Conference of 1954, called for national elections in the North and South. South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu was not involved in the final negotiations, and publicly criticized the proposed agreement, but was pressured by Nixon and Kissinger into signing the agreement. In multiple letters to the South Vietnamese president, Nixon had promised that the United States would defend Thieu's government, should the North Vietnamese violate the accords.


title: Presidency of Gerald Ford

text: Fighting in Vietnam continued after the withdrawal of most U.S forces in early 1973. As North Vietnamese forces advanced in early 1975, Ford requested Congress approve a $722 million aid package for South Vietnam, funds that had been promised by the Nixon administration. Congress voted against the proposal by a wide margin. Senator Jacob K. Javits offered "...large sums for evacuation, but not one nickel for military aid". Thieu resigned on April 21, 1975, publicly blaming the lack of support from the United States for the fall of his country. Two days later, on April 23, Ford gave a speech at Tulane University, announcing that the Vietnam War was over "...as far as America is concerned".