title: Micromax Informatics

text: Actors Akshay Kumar and Twinkle Khanna were the first celebrities to endorse Micromax Mobiles. Hugh Jackman was the brand ambassador of Micromax and appeared in a commercial in 2013 for its first flagship smartphone, the Canvas Turbo A250, and for the Canvas 4 and Canvas Sliver 5 thereafter. In July 2013, actress Chitrangada Singh posed for the Canvas 4 smartphone in New Delhi. Vighnesh Pande endorsed Micromax Canvas Unite 4 line of smartphones in 2017.


title: Micromax Informatics

text: In March 2013, Ericsson sued Micromax for infringement of Ericsson's eight patents registered in India that were essential to the 2G and 3G standards. The Delhi High Court ordered Micromax to pay royalty amounts to Ericsson based on the percentages of the net selling prices of the devices incorporating 2G and 3G standards. Around the time that Ericsson filed its patent infringement suit, Micromax filed a concurrent complaint with the Competition Commission of India (CCI), alleging that Ericsson had abused its allegedly dominant position by imposing exorbitant royalties for the use of its SEPs, thus violating the Competition Act 2002. As of February 2016, the CCI had yet to issue a final determinative ruling on the basis of Micromax's allegations.


title: Micromax Informatics

text: In late 2014, Delhi High Court ruled that sales of the OnePlus One smartphone are blocked in India because Cyanogen OS signed an exclusive deal to sell Micromax mobile telephones only in India, although OnePlus One had a worldwide licensing deal. This move was seen as a monopoly to stem the sales of OnePlus One and other smartphone brands. However, the High Court lifted the ban, allowing OnePlus One to be sold in India as the licensing deals with Cyanogen are different for both parties.


title: Micromax Informatics

text: In early 2015, a Reddit user found adware installing itself stealthily on their Micromax Canvas Fire A093 telephone without permission. The adware was also using excess telephone resources such as data, memory storage, and battery life. Further investigations by the XDA community found the advertisements were created by Adups, an AdPush company based in China.


title: Eugène Ionesco

text: Eugène Ionesco (; born Eugen Ionescu, ; 26 November 1909 – 28 March 1994) was a Romanian-French playwright who wrote mostly in French, and was one of the foremost figures of the French avant-garde theatre in the 20th century. Ionesco instigated a revolution in ideas and techniques of drama, beginning with his "anti play", "The Bald Soprano" which contributed to the beginnings of what is known as the Theatre of the Absurd, which includes a number of plays that, following the ideas of the philosopher Albert Camus, explore concepts of absurdism. He was made a member of the Académie française in 1970, and was awarded the 1970 Austrian State Prize for European Literature, and the 1973 Jerusalem Prize.


title: Eugène Ionesco

text: Ionesco was born in Slatina, Romania, to a Romanian father belonging to the Orthodox Christian church and a mother of French and Romanian heritage, whose faith was Protestant (the faith into which her father was born and to which her originally Greek Orthodox Christian mother had converted). Eugène was baptized into the Orthodox Christian faith. Many sources cite his birthdate as 1912, this error being due to vanity on the part of Ionesco himself, who wanted the year of his birth to coincide with that of when his idol, Romanian playwright Caragiale, died.


title: Eugène Ionesco

text: He spent most of his childhood in France and, while there, had an experience he claimed affected his perception of the world more significantly than any other. As Deborah B. Gaensbauer describes in "Eugène Ionesco Revisited", "Walking in summer sunshine in a white-washed provincial village under an intense blue sky, [Ionesco] was profoundly altered by the light." He was struck very suddenly with a feeling of intense luminosity, the feeling of floating off the ground and an overwhelming feeling of well-being. When he "floated" back to the ground and the "light" left him, he saw that the real world in comparison was full of decay, corruption and meaningless repetitive action. This also coincided with the revelation that death takes everyone in the end. Much of his later work, reflecting this new perception, demonstrates a disgust for the tangible world, a distrust of communication, and the subtle sense that a better world lies just beyond our reach. Echoes of this experience can also be seen in references and themes in many of his important works: characters pining for an unattainable "city of lights" ("The Killer", "The Chairs") or perceiving a world beyond ("A Stroll in the Air"); characters granted the ability to fly ("A Stroll in the Air", "Amédée", "Victims of Duty"); the banality of the world which often leads to depression (the Bérenger character); ecstatic revelations of beauty within a pessimistic framework ("Amédée", "The Chairs", the Bérenger character); and the inevitability of death ("Exit the King").


title: Eugène Ionesco

text: He returned to Romania with his father and mother in 1925 after his parents divorced. There he attended Saint Sava National College, after which he studied French Literature at the University of Bucharest from 1928 to 1933 and qualified as a teacher of French. While there he met Emil Cioran and Mircea Eliade, and the three became lifelong friends.


title: Eugène Ionesco

text: In 1936 Ionesco married Rodica Burileanu. Together they had one daughter, Marie-France Ionesco, for whom he wrote a number of unconventional children's stories. With his family, he returned to France in 1938 for him to complete his doctoral thesis. Caught by the outbreak of World War II in 1939, he returned to Romania, but soon changed his mind and, with the help of friends, obtained travel documents which allowed him to return to France in 1942, where he remained during the rest of the war, living in Marseille before moving with his family to Paris after its liberation.


title: Eugène Ionesco

text: Though best known as a playwright, plays were not his first chosen medium. He started writing poetry and criticism, publishing in several Romanian journals. Two early writings of note are "Nu", a book criticizing many other writers, including prominent Romanian poets, and "Hugoliade, or, The grotesque and tragic life of Victor Hugo" a satirical biography mocking Victor Hugo's status as a great figure in French literature. The "Hugoliade" includes exaggerated retellings of the most scandalous episodes in Hugo's life and contains prototypes for many of Ionesco's later themes: the ridiculous authoritarian character, the false worship of language.


title: Eugène Ionesco

text: Ionesco began his theatre career later in life; he did not write his first play until 1948 ("La Cantatrice chauve", first performed in 1950 with the English title "The Bald Soprano"). At the age of 40, he decided to learn English using the Assimil method, conscientiously copying whole sentences in order to memorize them. Re-reading them, he began to feel that he was not learning English, rather he was discovering some astonishing truths such as the fact that there are seven days in a week, that the ceiling is up and the floor is down; things which he already knew, but which suddenly struck him as being as stupefying as they were indisputably true.


title: Eugène Ionesco

text: This feeling only intensified with the introduction in later lessons of the characters known as "Mr. and Mrs. Smith". To her husband's astonishment, Mrs. Smith informed him that they had several children, that they lived in the vicinity of London, that their name was Smith, that Mr. Smith was a clerk, and that they had a servant, Mary, who was English like themselves. What was remarkable about Mrs. Smith, Ionesco thought, was her eminently methodical procedure in her quest for truth. For Ionesco, the clichés and truisms of the conversation primer disintegrated into wild caricature and parody with language itself disintegrating into disjointed fragments of words. Ionesco set about translating this experience into a play, "La Cantatrice Chauve", which was performed for the first time in 1950 under the direction of Nicolas Bataille. It was far from a success and went unnoticed until a few established writers and critics, among them Jean Anouilh and Raymond Queneau, championed the play.


title: Eugène Ionesco

text: Ionesco's earliest theatrical works, considered to be his most innovative, were one-act plays or extended sketches: "La Cantatrice chauve" translated as "The Bald Soprano" or "The Bald Prima Donna" (written 1948), "Jacques ou la soumission" translated as "Jack, or The Submission" (1950), "La Leçon" translated as "The Lesson" (1950), "Les Salutations" translated as "Salutations" (1950), "Les Chaises" translated as "The Chairs" (1951), "L'Avenir est dans les oeufs" translated as "The Future is in Eggs" (1951), "Victimes du devoir" translated as "Victims of Duty" (1952) and, finally, "Le Nouveau locataire" translated as "The New Tenant" (1953). These absurdist sketches, to which he gave such descriptions as "anti-play" ("anti-pièce" in French) express modern feelings of alienation and the impossibility and futility of communication with surreal comic force, parodying the conformism of the bourgeoisie and conventional theatrical forms. In them Ionesco rejects a conventional story-line as their basis, instead taking their dramatic structure from accelerating rhythms and/or cyclical repetitions. He disregards psychology and coherent dialogue, thereby depicting a dehumanized world with mechanical, puppet-like characters who speak in "non-sequiturs". Language becomes rarefied, with words and material objects gaining a life of their own, increasingly overwhelming the characters and creating a sense of menace.


title: Eugène Ionesco

text: With "Tueur sans gages" translated as "The Killer" (1959; his second full-length play, the first being "Amédée, ou Comment s'en débarrasser" in 1954), Ionesco began to explore more sustained dramatic situations featuring more humanized characters. Notably this includes Bérenger, a central character in a number of Ionesco's plays, the last of which is "Le Piéton de l'air" translated as "A Stroll in the Air".


title: Eugène Ionesco

text: Bérenger is a semi-autobiographical figure expressing Ionesco's wonderment and anguish at the strangeness of reality. He is comically naïve, engaging the audience's sympathy. In "The Killer" he encounters death in the figure of a serial killer. In "Rhinocéros" he watches his friends turning into rhinoceroses one by one until he alone stands unchanged against this mass movement. It is in this play that Ionesco most forcefully expresses his horror of ideological conformism, inspired by the rise of the fascist Iron Guard in Romania in the 1930s. "Le Roi se meurt" translated as "Exit the King" (1962) shows him as King Bérenger I, an everyman figure who struggles to come to terms with his own death.


title: Eugène Ionesco

text: Ionesco's later work has generally received less attention. This includes "La Soif et la faim" translated as "Hunger and Thirst" (1966), "Jeux de massacre" (1971), "Macbett" (1972, a free adaptation of Shakespeare's "Macbeth") and "Ce formidable bordel" (1973).


title: Eugène Ionesco

text: Ionesco also wrote his only novel, "The Hermit", during this later period. It was first published in 1975.


title: Eugène Ionesco

text: Apart from the libretto for the opera "Maximilien Kolbe" (music by Dominique Probst) which has been performed in five countries, produced for television and recorded for release on CD, Ionesco did not write for the stage after "Voyage chez les morts" in 1981. However, "La Cantatrice chauve" is still playing at the Théâtre de la Huchette today, having moved there in 1952. It holds the world record for the play that has been staged continuously in the same theatre for the longest time.


title: Eugène Ionesco

text: Like Shaw and Brecht, Ionesco contributed to the theatre with his theoretical writings (Wellwarth, 33). Ionesco wrote mainly in attempts to correct critics whom he felt misunderstood his work and therefore wrongly influenced his audience. In doing so, Ionesco articulated ways in which he thought contemporary theatre should be reformed (Wellwarth, 33). "Notes and Counter Notes" is a collection of Ionesco's writings, including musings on why he chose to write for the theatre and direct responses to his contemporary critics.


title: Eugène Ionesco

text: In the first section, titled "Experience of the Theatre", Ionesco claimed to have hated going to the theatre as a child because it gave him "no pleasure or feeling of participation" (Ionesco, 15). He wrote that the problem with realistic theatre is that it is less interesting than theatre that invokes an "imaginative truth", which he found to be much more interesting and freeing than the "narrow" truth presented by strict realism (Ionesco, 15). He claimed that "drama that relies on simple effects is not necessarily drama simplified" (Ionesco, 28). "Notes and Counter Notes" also reprints a heated war of words between Ionesco and Kenneth Tynan based on Ionesco's above stated beliefs and Ionesco's hatred for Brecht and Brechtian theatre.


title: Eugène Ionesco

text: Ionesco is often considered a writer of the Theatre of the Absurd, a label originally given to him by Martin Esslin in his book of the same name. Esslin, placed Ionesco alongside contemporaries Samuel Beckett, Jean Genet, and Arthur Adamov, calling this informal group "absurd" on the basis of Albert Camus' concept of the absurd. In his view, Beckett and Ionesco better captured the meaninglessness of existence in their plays than works by Camus or Sartre. Because of this loose association, Ionesco is often mislabeled an existentialist. Ionesco claimed in "Notes and Counter Notes" that he was not an existentialist and often criticized existentialist figurehead Jean-Paul Sartre. Although Ionesco knew Beckett and honored his work, the French group of playwrights was far from an organized movement.


title: Eugène Ionesco

text: Ionesco on the metaphysics of death in "Through Parisian Eyes: Reflections on Contemporary French Arts and Culture" by Melinda Camber Porter: "Death is our main problem and all others are less important. It is the wall and the limit. It is the only inescapable alienation; it gives us a sense of our limits. But the ignorance of ourselves and of others to which we are condemned is just as worrying. In the final analysis, we don't know what we're doing. Nevertheless, in all my work there is an element of hope and an appeal to others."


title: Eugène Ionesco

text: Ionesco claimed instead an affinity for ’Pataphysics and its creator Alfred Jarry. He was also a great admirer of the Dadaists and Surrealists, especially his fellow countryman Tristan Tzara. Ionesco became friends with the founder of Surrealism, André Breton, whom he revered. In "Present Past, Past Present", Ionesco wrote, "Breton taught us to destroy the walls of the real that separate us from reality, to participate in being so as to live as if it were the first day of creation, a day that would every day be the first day of new creations." Raymond Queneau, a former associate of Breton and a champion of Ionesco's work, was a member of the Collège de ’Pataphysique and a founder of Oulipo, two groups with which Ionesco was associated. Politically, Ionesco expressed sympathy with the left-libertarian Transnational Radical Party of Marco Pannella.


title: Eugène Ionesco

text: Ionesco was made a member of the Académie française in 1970. He also received numerous awards including Tours Festival Prize for film, 1959; Prix Italia, 1963; Society of Authors Theatre Prize, 1966; Grand Prix National for theatre, 1969; Monaco Grand Prix, 1969; Austrian State Prize for European Literature, 1970; Jerusalem Prize, 1973; and honorary Doctoral Degrees from New York University and the Universities of Leuven, Warwick and Tel Aviv. In 1964 he was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature.


title: Eugène Ionesco

text: Eugène Ionesco died at age 84 on 28 March 1994 and is buried in the Cimetière du Montparnasse in Paris. In 2009, the Romanian Academy granted posthumous membership to Ionesco.


title: Barbara Bouchet

text: Barbara Bouchet (born Bärbel Gutscher; 15 August 1943) is a German-American actress and entrepreneur who lives and works in Italy.


title: Barbara Bouchet

text: She has acted in more than 80 films and television episodes and founded a production company that has produced fitness videos and books. She also owns and operates a fitness studio. She appeared in "Casino Royale" (1967) as Miss Moneypenny, in "Don't Torture a Duckling" (1972) as Patrizia, in "Sweet Charity" (1969) as Ursula, in "The Red Queen Kills Seven Times" (1972) as Kitty Wildenbrück, in "Caliber 9" (1972) as Nelly Bordon, in "The Scarlet and The Black" (1983) as Minna Kappler, and in Martin Scorsese's "Gangs of New York" (2002) as Mrs. Schermerhorn.


title: Barbara Bouchet

text: Bärbel Gutscher was born in Reichenberg, Sudetenland, a part of Czechoslovakia that was ceded to National Socialist Germany and is today part of the Czech Republic. She had four siblings. Her father, Fritz, was a photographer, and her mother, Ingrid, was an actress.


title: Barbara Bouchet

text: After World War II, her family was placed in a resettlement camp in the American occupation zone in Germany. They were granted permission to emigrate to the United States under the humanitarian provisions of the Displaced Persons Act of 1948.


title: Barbara Bouchet

text: After arriving in the United States, the family lived in Five Points, California on the west side of the Central Valley and eventually settled in San Francisco, where Gutscher was raised. During the early 1960s San Francisco Bay Area television station KPIX-TV ran a show named "The KPIX Dance Party" and offered Gutscher the opportunity to become a member of the show's dance group.


title: Barbara Bouchet

text: These were teenage dancers who danced live to the hit songs of the day and became locally known in their own right by being on television six days per week. She was on the show from 1959 until 1962, then moved to Hollywood to get into the film industry, changing her Germanic sounding name to the French sounding Barbara Bouchet.


title: Barbara Bouchet

text: Bouchet began her career modelling for magazine covers and appearing in television commercials, before eventually becoming an actress. Her first acting role was a minor part in "What a Way to Go!" (1964), which led to a series of other roles in the 1960s. She appeared in the films "John Goldfarb, Please Come Home" (1964), "In Harm's Way" (1964), and "Agent for H.A.R.M." (1966).


title: Barbara Bouchet

text: She appeared, semi-nude, in two editions of "Playboy" magazine: May 1965 (stills from "In Harm's Way") and February 1967 ("The Girls of "Casino Royale"").


title: Barbara Bouchet

text: In "Casino Royale" (1967), Bouchet played the role of Miss Moneypenny. She guest-starred in the "" episode "By Any Other Name" (1968), and appeared in the musical film "Sweet Charity" (1969) playing Ursula.


title: Barbara Bouchet

text: Tired of being typecast and unable to get starring roles in Hollywood, Bouchet moved to Italy in 1970 and began acting in Italian films, such as "Black Belly of the Tarantula", "Amuck!", "The Man with Icy Eyes", "The French Sex Murders", "The Red Queen Kills Seven Times", "Don't Torture a Duckling" and "Sex with a Smile".


title: Barbara Bouchet

text: She starred with Gregory Peck in "The Scarlet and The Black" (1983), a successful TV movie. In 1985, she established a production company and started to produce a successful series of fitness books and videos. In addition, Bouchet opened a fitness studio in Rome. In 2002, Bouchet appeared in "Gangs of New York", playing Mrs. Schermerhorn.


title: Barbara Bouchet

text: In 1974, Bouchet married Luigi Borghese, a producer, with whom she has two sons: Alessandro (b. 1976), a TV chef, and Massimiliano (b. 1989), a bartender. Her husband subsequently produced some of her later films. They separated in 2006, citing different aspirations.


title: Wrangler (jeans)

text: Wrangler is an American manufacturer of jeans and other clothing items, particularly workwear. The brand is owned by Kontoor Brands Inc., which also owns Lee. Its headquarters is in downtown Greensboro, North Carolina, in the United States, with production plants in a variety of locations throughout the world.


title: Wrangler (jeans)

text: Wrangler Jeans were first made by the Blue Bell Overall Company, which had acquired the brand when it took over Casey Jones in the mid-1940s. Blue Bell employed Bernard Lichtenstein ("Rodeo Ben"), a Polish tailor from Łódź who worked closely with cowboys, to help design jeans suitable for rodeo use. He convinced several well-known rodeo riders of the time to endorse the new design.


title: Wrangler (jeans)

text: The 13MWZ style, short for the thirteenth version of men's western jeans with zipper, was introduced in 1947. This model is still available and the company has since introduced several other lines that are more designated towards a specific group or demographic. Examples include 20X, Riggs, and Aura. Wrangler also exports its goods to many countries, with Europe and Australia being some of its main export markets.


title: Wrangler (jeans)

text: 1897: Twenty-year-old C.C. Hudson leaves Spring Hill Farm in Williamson County, Tennessee, and makes his way to Greensboro, North Carolina, seeking his fortune in the emerging textile industry. He finds work in a factory making overalls, where he earns 25 cents a day sewing on buttons.


title: Wrangler (jeans)

text: 1904; Hudson's workplace closes. He and a few others buy several of the sewing machines, lease space above a downtown grocery store and incorporate as the Hudson Overall Company.


title: Wrangler (jeans)

text: 1919: The business builds its first factory on South Elm Street in Greensboro and changes its name to Blue Bell Overall Company.


title: Wrangler (jeans)

text: 1936: Blue Bell launches Super Big Ben Overalls made out of 100% Sanforized Fabric that reduces shrinkage after washing to less than 1%. This sets a new standard for the industry.


title: Wrangler (jeans)

text: 1943: Blue Bell acquires the Casey Jones Work-Clothes Company and the rights to a rarely used Casey Jones brand name: Wrangler.


title: Wrangler (jeans)

text: 1946: Blue Bell starts to develop a jeans line for cowboys, hiring famous tailor "Rodeo Ben". Blue Bell workers take part in a contest to give the jeans a brand name. The winning name is Wrangler, synonymous with the name for a working cowboy.


title: Wrangler (jeans)

text: 1947: After designing and testing 13 pairs of prototype jeans, Blue Bell introduces the Wrangler 11MWZ to American consumers. The Wrangler Jeans featured several innovations aimed particularly at cowboys: Felled outseams and inseams, rear pockets positioned for comfort in the saddle, 'no scratch' rivet pocket reinforcement, a zipper fly, and use of a strong tack in the crotch instead of a metal rivet. A promotional campaign is launched featuring 11MWZ test riders and rodeo legends Freckles Brown, Bill Linderman, and Jim Shoulders.


title: Wrangler (jeans)

text: 1952: Lot number 11MWZ is renamed 13MWZ to conform to the denim weight being used to manufacture the style.


title: Wrangler (jeans)

text: 1962: Blue Bell opens a factory in Belgium and the Wrangler brand name enjoys a successful launch in Europe.


title: Wrangler (jeans)

text: 1997: The 50th anniversary of the 13MWZ. A Special Collectors Edition of the 13MWZ is created to celebrate this event.


title: Wrangler (jeans)

text: 2004: A new Wrangler European print campaign is launched, "Wanted," representing a powerful modern expression of Wrangler's roots. Wrangler also celebrates 100 years of manufacturing quality denim by producing Blue Bell by Wrangler, a limited edition collection that reproduces the first Wrangler jeans right down to the last detail. Wrangler also reworks the mainstream collection, producing new fits using icons inspired by the very first jeans designed by Rodeo Ben. The Wrangler brand is now recognized in 22 European countries.


title: Wrangler (jeans)

text: 2011: Wrangler conducts consumer design competition to find the next thing in jeans. The winner, Song Anh Nguyen of Greensboro, had her design produced by Wrangler and made available for sale.


title: Wrangler (jeans)

text: 2018: Wrangler parent company VF Corporation announces plans to spin off its jeans operations including Wrangler into a separate public company.


title: Wrangler (jeans)

text: 2019: Wrangler, together with Lee and Rock & Republic, becomes part of Kontoor Brands, an independently, publicly traded spin-off from VF Corporation.


title: Wrangler (jeans)

text: 2022: Wrangler Apparel Corp. files a U.S. trademark application for the name WRANGLERVERSE for, among other services, hosting live and virtual performances, concerts, and social entertainment events and providing virtual environments in which users can interact for recreational, leisure, or entertainment purposes. The application signals an intent to expand the WRANGLER brand into the Metaverse.


title: Wrangler (jeans)

text: Wrangler rose to prominence to many eyes in the early 1980s with their "One Tough Customer" campaign in which they sponsored most prominently NASCAR Winston Cup Series driver Dale Earnhardt which would go onto become one of the most iconic cars and drivers in the sports history, and would also sponsor other drivers such as Ricky Rudd, Jody Ridley, Bobby Hillin Jr., Steve Park, Martin Truex Jr., Ty Dillon, Ryan Blaney, and Matt DiBenedetto between 1984 and 2020.


title: Ray Bourque

text: Raymond Jean Bourque (born December 28, 1960) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. He holds records for most career goals, assists, and points by a defenceman in the National Hockey League (NHL). He won the James Norris Memorial Trophy as the NHL's best defenceman five times, while finishing second for that trophy a further six times. He also twice finished second in the voting for the Hart Memorial Trophy, a rarity for a defenceman. He was named to the end-of-season All-Star teams 19 times, 13 on the first-team and six on the second-team.


title: Ray Bourque

text: Bourque was also an Olympian with Canada and became nearly synonymous with the Boston Bruins franchise, for which he played 21 seasons and became Boston's longest-serving captain. Bourque finished his career with the Colorado Avalanche, with whom he won his only Stanley Cup in his final NHL game. In 2017, he was named one of the 100 Greatest NHL Players.


title: Ray Bourque

text: Bourque was born in Saint-Laurent, Quebec, the son of Raymond Bourque Sr. and Anita Allain. Both of his parents were originally from New Brunswick, and moved to Montreal in the 1950s. His mother died from cancer when he was 12 years old, while his father died in 2009. Bourque was raised bilingual, speaking both English and French at home, though he went to a French school.


title: Ray Bourque

text: Bourque was the third-round pick of the Trois-Rivières Draveurs of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL). Halfway through his rookie season, head coach and general manager (GM) Michel Bergeron traded Bourque to Sorel for high-scoring Benoît Gosselin. After a stellar junior career with Sorel and Verdun of the QMJHL, in which he was named the league's best defenceman in 1978 and 1979, Bourque was drafted eighth overall by the Bruins in the 1979 NHL Entry Draft, with a first-round draft choice obtained from the Los Angeles Kings in a 1977 trade for goaltender Ron Grahame (whose son John would be a future teammate of Bourque's). Boston GM Harry Sinden intended to select defenceman Keith Brown, but Brown was selected by the Chicago Blackhawks immediately prior to Boston's selection. Panicking, the Bruins settled on Bourque, allegedly against their better judgment.


title: Ray Bourque

text: Bourque would make an immediate impact in Boston during his rookie season of 1979–80, scoring a goal in his first game while facing the Winnipeg Jets. Bourque asserted himself from the start as one of the best defensemen in the league, winning both the Calder Memorial Trophy as Rookie of the Year and a First Team All-Star selection, the first time in NHL history a non-goaltender had ever achieved the distinction. His 65 points that season was a record at the time for a rookie defenseman.


title: Ray Bourque

text: In 1985, upon the retirement of Bruins' captain Terry O'Reilly to coach the club, Bourque and veteran Rick Middleton were named co-captains of the team, Middleton to wear the "C" during home games and Bourque for road games. Upon Middleton's retirement in 1988, Bourque became the team's sole captain, and retained the position for the remainder of his Bruins' tenure. In so doing, he passed Dit Clapper as the longest-tenured Bruins' captain in history, as well as passing Alex Delvecchio of the Detroit Red Wings as the longest-serving team captain in NHL history, a mark since surpassed by Steve Yzerman of the Red Wings.


title: Ray Bourque

text: Bourque proved a solid force for Boston for 21 seasons (1979–2000), famous for combining offensive prowess at a level that few defencemen in league history had ever achieved—he was a perennial shot accuracy champion at All-Star Games—and near-unparalleled defensive excellence. Bourque won five Norris Trophies as the league's top defenceman and finished second to Mark Messier in 1990 in the closest race ever for the Hart Memorial Trophy, the league's Most Valuable Player award. The Bruins' reliance on Bourque's on-ice mastery was so total that—while Bourque was very durable throughout much of his career—the team was seen by many to flounder whenever he was out of the lineup.


title: Ray Bourque

text: During Bourque's tenure with the Bruins, the team continued what would be a North American professional record twenty-nine consecutive seasons in the playoffs, a streak that would persist through the 1996 season. In the playoffs, Bourque led the team to the Stanley Cup Final against the Edmonton Oilers in both 1988 and 1990, where the Bruins lost in both series. In the 1996–97 season, Bourque missed the playoffs for the only time in his career, when the Bruins finished with the NHL's worst record that season.


title: Ray Bourque

text: Bourque was also popular among Bruins fans because of his willingness to re-sign with Boston without any acrimonious or lengthy negotiations. He passed over several opportunities to set the benchmark salary for defenceman; instead, he usually quietly and quickly agreed to terms with the Bruins, and this stance irritated the National Hockey League Players' Association (NHLPA), which had been pushing to drive up players' wages.


title: Ray Bourque

text: The Bruins' record for most consecutive seasons in the playoffs by any team in North American professional sports was ended at 29 seasons in the 1996–97 season. The next two seasons, the Bruins returned to the playoffs and in 1999, they won a playoff series for the first time since 1994.


title: Ray Bourque

text: Despite a nucleus of young talent and high expectations for 1999–2000, injuries caused the Bruins to plummet to the bottom of their division, and they went on track to miss the playoffs. This was further exacerbated by negative attention over teammate Marty McSorley's hit on Donald Brashear. With his career nearing an end and the team going in the wrong direction, Bourque requested a trade from the fading Bruins so he would have a chance to win the Stanley Cup. Bourque and fellow veteran Dave Andreychuk were sent to Colorado in exchange for Brian Rolston, Martin Grenier, Samuel Påhlsson and a first-round draft pick (2000 draft, 27th overall, Martin Samuelsson).


title: Ray Bourque

text: Although Bourque played just one-and-a-half seasons with the Avalanche, he proved to be a force both on the ice and in the locker room. In 2000, he helped the struggling Avalanche improve their form and capture their division. During the playoffs, they advanced to the conference finals, where they lost to the Dallas Stars in a hard-fought series, with Bourque hitting the post in the last minutes of Game 7, which would have tied the game after his team rallied from a 3–0 deficit in the third period to 3–2.


title: Ray Bourque

text: Bourque returned to the Avs for the 2000–01 season and was named as an alternate captain. He led all Colorado defencemen in scoring and formed a solid defensive pairing with Adam Foote and Rob Blake, the latter of whom the Avs received from the Los Angeles Kings in a trade. Bourque was named to the post-season First All-Star team, finishing as runner-up to the Detroit Red Wings' Nicklas Lidström for the Norris Trophy.


title: Ray Bourque

text: The Avalanche advanced all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals, where Bourque scored the game-winning goal in Game 3 against the New Jersey Devils. Colorado took the series in seven games to win their second Stanley Cup. During the post-game presentation that followed the Avalanche's victory in the decisive seventh game, team captain Joe Sakic broke with tradition and gave the Cup to Bourque so he could skate with it first. Colorado goaltender Patrick Roy, whose fourth championship had come the same day as Bourque's first, said of the Stanley Cup and his teammate, "A name was missing from that [Cup], and today it is back to normal." Bourque had waited longer to win his first Cup than any other Cup-winning player had in the 108-year history of the Stanley Cup, having played 1,612 regular season and 214 playoff games before winning the ultimate prize.


title: Ray Bourque

text: On June 12, 2001, three days after the Cup victory, Bourque brought the Cup back to Boston for an emotional rally attended by some 20,000 fans at Boston's City Hall Plaza. Bourque retired shortly thereafter, having set defensive regular-season records in goals (410) and assists (1169) for 1579 points. During the 2000–01 season, which would be the last for both players, Bourque surpassed Paul Coffey (intended to be Bourque's replacement on his former team, the Bruins) to become the all-time leader in goals, assists and points for a defenceman at any senior professional level.


title: Ray Bourque

text: Bourque played for Team Canada in the Canada Cup in 1981, 1984 and 1987. However, he did not play in the 1991 edition, despite attempts by Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier to persuade him to take part. Bourque also played for the NHL All-Stars in Rendez-vous '87 against the Soviet Union, and played for the Canadian team in the 1998 Winter Olympics, leading all defencemen in scoring with one goal and two assists in six games.


title: Ray Bourque

text: For a majority of his NHL career, Bourque wore jersey number 77. After he retired following the 2000-2001 season, both the Bruins and the Avalanche honored him by retiring number 77.


title: Ray Bourque

text: When he was initially called up to the Bruins, Bourque was assigned the number 7, which had been worn by former Bruins star forward Phil Esposito from the time he was acquired by the team in 1967 until he departed in 1976 via trade. Bourque was the third player to be issued the number following Esposito's departure, following Sean Shanahan and Bill Bennett.


title: Ray Bourque

text: In 1987, six years after Esposito's retirement, and three years after he was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame, the Bruins decided to retire number 7 in his honor. Bourque, thus, would be the last Bruin to wear #7 and was permitted to do so as long as he desired to even after Esposito's retirement ceremony, which was scheduled for December 3 of that year. Bourque, however, came up with his own way to honor the veteran Bruin and did so at the ceremony.


title: Ray Bourque

text: As the Bruins were dressing for that night's game, Bourque put on two jerseys with his normal #7 as the top layer. When the team came out for the retirement ceremony, Bourque skated over to Esposito just before he was about to speak to the Boston crowd. He removed his #7 jersey and handed it to Esposito, a move that was seen as "surrendering" the number to him. In doing this, Bourque also revealed his new number to the crowd, as the jersey he had been wearing underneath his #7 bore the number 77 he would wear for the remainder of his career.


title: Ray Bourque

text: Bourque was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2004, his first season of eligibility. His uniform number 77 has been retired by both the Bruins and the Avalanche; he is one of only nine players whose jersey has been retired by more than one club. His birthplace of Saint-Laurent named the "Aréna Raymond-Bourque" in his honour.


title: Ray Bourque

text: Bourque and his wife Christiane still live in Massachusetts, where they are active in several local charities. Bourque was named a Bruins team consultant on November 3, 2005. He is also the co-owner of an Italian restaurant called Tresca in Boston's North End. Bourque founded the Bourque Family Foundation in the summer of 2017.


title: Ray Bourque

text: Bourque's younger brother Richard was also a hockey player and was drafted by the Bruins in the 1981 NHL Entry Draft in the tenth round, but never played professional hockey. Bourque's eldest son, Christopher, was drafted by the Washington Capitals in 2004. Christopher played for the Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League (AHL) in the 2007 season and made his NHL debut for the Capitals in 2007. Chris then joined the Boston Bruins on May 26, 2012. His younger son, Ryan, was a third-round draft choice of the New York Rangers in 2009, and was a member of the USA's 2010 gold-medal World Junior Championship team, earning three assists during the tournament. Ryan plays for the Hershey Bears in the AHL alongside his brother Chris and was an alternate captain for the USA's 2011 World Junior Championship team, in which he again earned three assists as the team won the bronze medal.


title: Ray Bourque

text: Bourque's exceptional talent as a player has led him to become one of the most honored players in hockey history. During his career, he was selected to thirteen NHL First Team (the most in history) and six Second Team All-Star squads, second in total in league history only to Gordie Howe and most amongst defencemen. He won the Norris Trophy as the top defenceman in the league five times, fourth all-time after Bobby Orr, Doug Harvey and Nicklas Lidström.


title: Ashish Nehra

text: Ashish Nehra (; born 29 April 1979) is a cricket coach and former cricketer who played in all formats of the game. Nehra announced his retirement from all forms of cricket in late 2017, with the Twenty20 International match against New Zealand on 1 November 2017 at Feroz Shah Kotla Ground his last appearance.


title: Ashish Nehra

text: Nehra was born in 1979 in Sadar Bazaar, Delhi Cantonment, Delhi to Diwan Singh Nehra and Sumitra Nehra in a Hindu Jat family.


title: Ashish Nehra

text: In the 2013–14 Ranji Trophy, he took 6/16 from 10 overs to bowl out Vidarbha for a meagre 88 in the first innings at the Roshanara Club Ground at Delhi.


title: Ashish Nehra

text: After recovering from the ankle injury that prevented him from playing for the Delhi Ranji Team in the 2007–08 season, Nehra joined the Indian Premier League and signed up for the Mumbai Indians franchise. For his performances in 2014 and 2015 for Chennai Super Kings, he was named in the Cricinfo CLT20 XI.


title: Ashish Nehra

text: In January 2018, Royal Challengers Bangalore appointed Ashish Nehra as their bowling coach. Nehra retained his position in 2019's season of IPL.


title: Ashish Nehra

text: In January 2022, he was appointed the head coach of newly formed Indian Premier League franchise Gujarat Titans. In the 2022 IPL season, Gujarat Titans finished top of the table and went on to win the trophy in the final against Rajasthan Royals. Nehra also became the first Indian head coach to win the Indian Premier League.


title: Antawn Jamison

text: Antawn Cortez Jamison (; born June 12, 1976) is an American former professional basketball player who played 16 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He serves as director of pro personnel for the Washington Wizards. Jamison played college basketball for the North Carolina Tar Heels, being named national player of the year in 1998. He was selected by the Toronto Raptors as the fourth overall pick of the 1998 NBA draft before being traded to the Golden State Warriors for former Tar Heel teammate Vince Carter.


title: Antawn Jamison

text: Named to the NBA All-Rookie Team with the Warriors, Jamison was a two-time All-Star and won the NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award in 2004. He was a member of the United States national team in 2006. Upon his retirement from the NBA, he worked as an analyst for Time Warner Cable SportsNet and as a scout for the Los Angeles Lakers before being hired by the Washington Wizards as their director of pro personnel in 2019.


title: Antawn Jamison

text: Jamison was born in Shreveport, Louisiana. His parents named him "Antwan", but the hospital misspelled it "Antawn" on his birth certificate. The error was never corrected, but the pronunciation (as "Antoine") did not change. Jamison played basketball and football (as a quarterback) at Quail Hollow Middle School in Charlotte, North Carolina. He went on to play high school basketball at Charlotte's Providence High School, where he was named a McDonald's All-American after his senior season, during which he averaged 27 points, 13 rebounds and 4.5 blocks per game.


title: Antawn Jamison

text: Jamison played three seasons of college basketball for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, averaging 19.0 points and 9.9 rebounds per game. In his junior year, he was awarded both the Naismith and Wooden Awards as the most outstanding men's college basketball player for the 1997–98 season. Jamison decided to forgo his senior year of eligibility and enter the NBA draft in 1998. He subsequently returned and earned a B.A. in Afro-American and African studies, graduating in August 1999.


title: Antawn Jamison

text: On March 1, 2000, Jamison's #33 was retired at the Dean E. Smith Center, the seventh Tar Heel so honored.


title: Antawn Jamison

text: Jamison was selected with the fourth pick of the 1998 NBA draft by the Toronto Raptors, who then dealt his rights to the Golden State Warriors in exchange for former North Carolina teammate and best friend Vince Carter. Jamison spent the first five years of his NBA career with the Warriors. He scored a career-high 51 points on two occasions, back-to-back against Seattle and the Lakers (the Warriors won that game). He averaged a career-high 24.9 points per game in 2000–01, his third season in the league.


title: Antawn Jamison

text: In 2003, Jamison was traded to the Dallas Mavericks in a nine-player deal that sent him, forwards Danny Fortson and Chris Mills, and guard Jiří Welsch to the Mavs and guard Nick Van Exel, center Evan Eschmeyer, guard Avery Johnson, and forwards Popeye Jones and Antoine Rigaudeau to the Warriors. With Dallas, Jamison experienced his first winning season in 2003–04 as the Mavericks finished 52–30 and made the playoffs, which also marked the first time in his career that Jamison had experienced post-season play. Jamison was named as the NBA's Sixth Man of the Year for his efforts. The Mavericks suffered a setback in the first round, falling in five games to the Sacramento Kings.


title: Antawn Jamison

text: At season's end Jamison was traded again, this time to the Wizards, in exchange for former Tar Heel Jerry Stackhouse, Christian Laettner, and a first-round draft pick (which turned out to be University of Wisconsin–Madison point guard, Devin Harris).


title: Antawn Jamison

text: In the 2004–05 season with the Wizards, he was named to the NBA All-Star team for the first time in his career and the Wizards enjoyed a solid 45–37 win–loss season, their finest effort in 26 years. They also made the playoffs for the first time since 1997 and advanced to the second round for the first time since 1982.


title: Antawn Jamison

text: In 2006, Jamison played for the US national team in the 2006 FIBA World Championship, winning a bronze medal.


title: Antawn Jamison

text: Jamison led the Wizards against the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round of the 2007 playoffs. Jamison averaged 32 points and 10 rebounds per game during the series.


title: Antawn Jamison

text: During the 2007–08 season, Jamison was named to his second NBA Eastern All-Star team. On June 30, 2008, Jamison signed a four-year, $50 million contract with the Wizards.


title: Antawn Jamison

text: On February 17, 2010, Jamison was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers as part of a three-team, six-player trade that sent Al Thornton from the Los Angeles Clippers to the Washington Wizards, Žydrūnas Ilgauskas, a 2010 first-round pick and the rights to Emir Preldžič from Cleveland to Washington, Drew Gooden from Washington to Los Angeles and Sebastian Telfair from Los Angeles to Cleveland. In his first game with the Cleveland Cavaliers against the Charlotte Bobcats, Jamison scored only two points from two free throws as he went 0 for 12 from the field. In his second game with the Cavaliers, Jamison scored 19 points against the Orlando Magic.


title: Antawn Jamison

text: The Cleveland Cavaliers made the NBA playoffs as the team with the best record. The Cavaliers defeated Derrick Rose and the Chicago Bulls in five games, but fell to the Boston Celtics in 6 games. Weeks after the series, Jamison's teammate LeBron James left the Cavaliers, to join the Miami Heat alongside Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.


title: Antawn Jamison

text: The Cavaliers had very little success in the 2010–11 NBA season, setting an NBA record 26-game losing streak (breaking a mark set by the franchise in 1983). That streak was finally snapped with a 126–119 overtime win against the Los Angeles Clippers. In January 2011, Jamison said that he was considering retirement, and that his 2011–12 season could be his last. On February 27, in a loss to the 76ers, Jamison was fouled and broke his left pinky. He underwent a surgery, and would be out the rest of the season. He finished his 14th NBA season in 2011–12 with averages of 17.2 points and 6.3 rebounds.


title: Antawn Jamison

text: On July 25, 2012, Jamison signed with the Los Angeles Lakers for the NBA veteran's minimum. On November 30 against the Denver Nuggets, he scored a season-high 33 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, becoming the first Laker since Shaquille O'Neal in 1998 to record a 30/10 game as a reserve. However, coach Mike D'Antoni did not play him for multiple games, partially due to Jamison's inconsistent shooting and subpar defense. On January 4, 2013, he played against the Los Angeles Clippers for the first time after six games on the bench. On January 6, he entered in the first quarter against the Denver Nuggets and hit a jumper for his first points since December 13. He played four minutes before being benched the rest of the game. Jamison again became a part of the Lakers' regular rotation after forward Pau Gasol was out with a foot injury. After the early communication issues with D'Antoni, their relationship improved significantly.


title: Antawn Jamison

text: On August 28, 2013, Jamison signed with the Los Angeles Clippers. On December 11, 2013, in the second quarter against the Boston Celtics, Jamison scored a 3-pointer which took his career points tally past the 20,000 mark, becoming just the 39th player in NBA history to achieve this.


title: Antawn Jamison

text: On February 20, 2014, Jamison was traded to the Atlanta Hawks in exchange for the draft rights to Cenk Akyol. He was waived by the Hawks the next day.


title: Antawn Jamison

text: Of all former NBA players that are (or have been) eligible for election to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Jamison is one of only two players (along with Tom Chambers) to have scored 20,000 or more career points without being elected to the Hall.


title: Antawn Jamison

text: In October 2014, Jamison retired from professional basketball and became a broadcaster for Time Warner Cable SportsNet as a TV analyst for the Los Angeles Lakers.


title: Antawn Jamison

text: On October 3, 2017, Jamison was hired in a scouting role by the Los Angeles Lakers. In August 2019, he was hired by the Wizards to become their director of pro personnel.


title: Antawn Jamison

text: Jamison awarded his first Antawn C. Jamison Scholarship at his high school alma mater in 2003. Jamison has also launched a campaign which he calls "A Better Tomorrow" which he hopes to use to provide the underprivileged with a chance at a better future. He says of the project: "As a professional athlete, I have an obligation to help those less fortunate. I really enjoy being in a position to aid my community – both in the Bay Area and back home in Charlotte – and put a smile on somebody's face. That is what it is all about. I think it is especially important to give back during the holidays, when people tend to feel a little down if things are not going too well."


title: Kapu (caste)

text: Kapu refers to a social grouping of agriculturists found primarily in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Kapus are primarily an agrarian community, forming a heterogeneous peasant caste.


title: Kapu (caste)

text: They are classified as a Forward caste in Andhra Pradesh, where they are the dominant community in the districts of East Godavari and West Godavari. They are distinct from three other Kapu communities that were present in the state prior to its bifurcation with the creation of Telangana in 2014. The Munnuru Kapu are found primarily in Telangana, the Turpu Kapu in the areas of Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam, and the Balija in Rayalaseema. The first two of these other three communities are classified as Other Backward Classes.


title: Kapu (caste)

text: "Kāpu" literally means cultivator or agriculturist in Telugu. Various subgroups of Kapus branched off into separate communities in the post-Kakatiya period (Velamas, Panta Kapus and Pakanati Kapus—both of whom got labelled Reddys, and Kapus of Kammanadu—eventually labelled Kammas). The remaining Kapus continue to use the original label. All the cultivator caste clusters have a common ancestry in the legends. According to Cynthia Talbot, the transformation of occupational identities as caste labels occurred in the late Vijayanagara period (17th century) or later.


title: Kapu (caste)

text: The Kapu are considered to be a Sat-Shudra community in the traditional Hindu ritual ranking system known as varna.


title: Kapu (caste)

text: The Kapu have been described by Srinivasulu as a "dominant peasant caste in coastal Andhra", with the Telaga listed as "a backward peasant caste" and the Balija as a peasant caste who hold Lingayat beliefs. Srinisavulu has analysed the 1921 census of India to cause alignment with the present-day state and classification system, from which he concludes that Kapus (including Reddys) amounted to around 17 percent of the state's then population and were regarded as a Forward caste, whilst the Balija and Telaga were regarded as Backward castes, comprising 3 percent and 5 percent of the 1921 population, respectively.


title: Kapu (caste)

text: Srinivasulu notes that the Reddys and Kammas are the politically dominant communities of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, and that the Kapus are among a group with lesser but still significant influence, despite their small population. They are particularly effective in the districts of East Godavari and West Godavari, although Srinivasulu notes that "The Kapus of the coastal districts are distinct from the Munnur Kapus of Telangana. While the former are fairly prosperous, the political emergence of the latter, who are part of the OBC category, is a recent phenomenon."


title: Kapu (caste)

text: The official government classifications rarely distinguished between the Kapu sub-castes. All Kapus were classified as forming a backward caste in 1915 by the British government of the Madras Presidency, which remained in force even after the formation of Andhra Pradesh until 1956. In that year, the government of Andhra Pradesh removed Kapus from the list of backward castes. Even though various governments have since made efforts to include them again, the efforts have not been successful. In 1968, the Anantha Raman Commission set up by the Andhra Pradesh government recognised Munnuru Kapus and Turpu Kapus as backward classes, but not the Kapus as a whole. The Mandal Commission set up by the Government of India in the 1980s recommended that Kapus be included among the Other Backward Classes (OBC). But the state governments were entrusted with finalising the list of castes for the OBC category. The state commission headed by N. K. Muralidhar Rao did not recommend any change to the status of the other Kapu castes.


title: Kapu (caste)

text: In early 2016, the Kapus of the residual Andhra Pradesh state launched an agitation demanding the OBC status, leading to violent protests. The Indian National Congress party and the YSR Congress party have supported their demand. The then-ruling Telugu Desam Party was said to be opposed to the demand.


title: Paulownia tomentosa

text: Paulownia tomentosa, common names princess tree, empress tree, or foxglove-tree, is a deciduous hardwood tree in the family Paulowniaceae, native to central and western China. It is an extremely fast-growing tree with seeds that disperse readily, and is a persistent exotic invasive species in North America, where it has undergone naturalisation in large areas of the Eastern US. "P. tomentosa" has also been introduced to Western and Central Europe, and is establishing itself as a naturalised species there as well.


title: Paulownia tomentosa

text: The generic name "Paulownia" honours Anna Pavlovna of Russia, who was Queen Consort of the Netherlands from 1840 to 1849. The specific epithet "tomentosa" is a Latin word meaning ‘covered in hairs’.


title: Paulownia tomentosa

text: This tree grows tall, with large heart-shaped to five-lobed leaves across, arranged in opposite pairs on the stem. On young growth, the leaves may be in whorls of three and be much bigger than the leaves on more mature growth. The leaves can be mistaken for those of the catalpa.


title: Paulownia tomentosa

text: The very fragrant flowers, large and violet-blue in colour are produced before the leaves in early spring, on panicles long, with a tubular purple corolla long resembling a foxglove flower. The fruit is a dry egg-shaped capsule long, containing numerous tiny seeds. The seeds are winged and disperse by wind and water. Pollarded trees do not produce flowers, as these form only on mature wood.


title: Paulownia tomentosa

text: "Paulownia tomentosa" requires full sun for proper growth. It is tolerant of pollution and can tolerate many soil types. It can also grow from small cracks in pavements and walls. "Paulownia" can survive wildfires because the roots can regenerate new, very fast-growing stems.


title: Paulownia tomentosa

text: In August 2021 the EPPO added "P. tomentosa" to its Alert List, not due to any particular known problem within Europe, but as a step to begin assessing whether it should be regarded as a problematic invader.


title: Paulownia tomentosa

text: "Paulownia tomentosa" is cultivated as an ornamental tree in parks and gardens. It has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.


title: Paulownia tomentosa

text: Because of its tolerance and flexibility, "Paulownia" functions ecologically as a pioneer plant. Its nitrogen-rich leaves provide good fodder and its roots prevent soil erosion. Eventually, "Paulownia" is succeeded by taller trees that shade it and in whose shade it cannot thrive.


title: Paulownia tomentosa

text: The characteristic large size of the young growth is exploited by gardeners: by pollarding the tree and ensuring there is vigorous new growth every year, massive leaves are produced (up to across). These are popular in the modern style of gardening which uses large-foliaged and "architectural" plants.


title: Paulownia tomentosa

text: The soft, lightweight seeds were commonly used as a packing material by Chinese porcelain exporters in the 19th century, before the development of polystyrene packaging. Packing cases would often leak or burst open in transit and scatter the seeds along rail tracks. The magnitude of the numbers of seeds used for packaging, together with seeds deliberately planted for ornament, has allowed the species to be viewed as an invasive species in areas where the climate is suitable for its growth, notably Japan and the eastern United States.


title: Paulownia tomentosa

text: In Japan, where the tree's name of Princess Tree originates, its name stems from the practice of planting seeds of the tree when a couple has a daughter; it is said that by the time the daughter is in her older teens or at the peak of adulthood when she is ready to marry, the tree by this time has also grown to maturity, which is then felled and made into a tansu dresser as a wedding gift.


title: Paulownia tomentosa

text: "P. tomentosa" has been suggested as a plant to use in carbon capture projects, as it is capable of C4 carbon fixation. "P. tomentosa" displays markedly efficient photosynthesis, has large leaves that readily absorb pollutants, and also has value in timber and aesthetics, adding to interest surrounding its use in carbon capture.


title: Badges of the United States Navy

text: Insignias and badges of the United States Navy are military badges issued by the United States Department of the Navy to naval service members who achieve certain qualifications and accomplishments while serving on both active and reserve duty in the United States Navy. Most naval aviation insignia are also permitted for wear on uniforms of the United States Marine Corps.


title: Badges of the United States Navy

text: As described in Chapter 5 of U.S. Navy Uniform Regulations, badges are categorized as "breast insignia" (usually worn immediately above and below ribbons) and "identification badges" (usually worn at breast pocket level). Breast insignia are further divided between "command" and "warfare and other qualification".


title: Badges of the United States Navy

text: Insignia come in the form of metal pin-on devices worn on formal uniforms and embroidered tape strips worn on work uniforms. For the purpose of this article, the general term "insignia" shall be used to describe both, as it is done in Navy Uniform Regulations. The term "badge", although used ambiguously in other military branches and in informal speak to describe any pin, patch, or tab, is exclusive to "identification badges" and authorized "marksmanship awards" according to the language in Navy Uniform Regulations, Chapter 5.


title: Badges of the United States Navy

text: The Command at Sea insignia is for commissioned officers between the ranks of Lieutenant (O-3) and Captain (O-6) who are in or have been in command of a ship or operational fleet air unit. The Command Ashore/Project Manager insignia is for officers who are or have been commanding officer of a naval installation, a shore-based command (to include non-deploying air commands), or in charge of a major program or project (the latter being primarily in the Naval Air Systems Command or Naval Sea Systems Command).


title: Badges of the United States Navy

text: A post tour officer wears the insignia on the left breast 1/4 inch below the top of the pocket/flap. If a warfare or qualification insignia is already occupying that position, it is then worn 1/4 inch below that insignia, or on uniforms with pocket flaps, 1/4 inch below the flap. Women in full dress will wear post tour command insignia 1/4 inch above the left pocket, medals or primary breast insignia. Only one post tour command insignia may be worn.


title: Badges of the United States Navy

text: "Warfare and Other Qualification" insignia are awarded for completing qualifications in various fields within the Navy. They are worn on the left side of the uniform in the primary position (for one insignia), or the primary and secondary position (for two insignia). Only two of this class of breast insignia may be worn at one time.


title: Badges of the United States Navy

text: Warfare and Other Qualification insignia are grouped in the following categories (in alphabetical order):


title: Badges of the United States Navy

text: "Warfare" insignia take precedence over "Other" insignia and are placed in the primary position. If two Warfare insignia are authorized for wear, insignia of the specialty in which currently serving will be worn in the primary position. Personnel with multiple qualifications may wear only two insignia. Since September 2009, personnel with multiple designators within a single community (for example, an aviation officer who has earned both Naval Aviator and Naval Flight Officer qualifications) may wear both insignia, with their current billet's insignia on top.


title: Badges of the United States Navy

text: "Aviation Warfare" insignia (usually called "wings") are breast insignia of the aviation warfare community which are issued to those naval personnel who are trained and qualified to perform duties related to operation and support of naval aircraft.


title: Badges of the United States Navy

text: There are two variants for line officers: Naval Aviator insignia for pilots, and Naval Flight Officer insignia for officers performing weapons systems officer, electronic countermeasures officer, navigator or similar functions. There is also an astronaut version of each of these insignia, known as the Naval Astronaut and Naval Astronaut (NFO), respectively.


title: Badges of the United States Navy

text: The Enlisted Aviation Warfare Specialist (EAWS) insignia is earned by sailors who demonstrate an in-depth knowledge of Naval Aviation. The EAWS designation may be earned by both enlisted Naval Aircrew and non-flying enlisted support personnel in Naval Aviation. EAWS status does not require any sort of actual flight experience or flight status in a flight crew capacity.


title: Badges of the United States Navy

text: In 2009, the United States Navy converted the Naval Aircrew insignia from a qualification to a warfare designator like the Enlisted Aviation Warfare Specialist, Enlisted Submarine Warfare Specialist, and Enlisted Surface Warfare Specialist. The title was changed from Naval Aircrew (NAC) to Naval Aircrew Warfare Specialist (NAWS). Per MILPERSMAN 1220-020.


title: Badges of the United States Navy

text: Naval Aircrew Warfare Specialist (NAWS): Sailors must be qualified aircrew members; possess an eligible Navy enlisted classification of 78XX, 82XX, 8401, or 94XX; and be assigned to flying duty in an eligible billet for their NEC. Candidates must complete a positional qualification for the respective aircraft in which they fly within 18 months of reporting to a permanent duty station. See MilPersMan Article 1220-020. See further down this article for more on Naval Aircrew insignia.


title: Badges of the United States Navy

text: Other insignia for qualification in specialized areas exists for Flight Surgeons, Flight Nurses, Experimental Psychologists/Physiologists, Observers/Flight Meteorologists, and Supply Corps personnel. With the exception of the Naval Aviation Supply Corps insignia, all of the above insignia require the wearer to be, or have been, on some sort of flight status in naval aircraft. Naval Aviation Supply Corps qualification does not require any sort of actual flight experience or flight status in a flight crew capacity.


title: Badges of the United States Navy

text: In December 2009, the first of the new "Professional Aviation Maintenance Officer" (PAMO) warfare designators and insignia were awarded. The PAMO community consists of aerospace maintenance duty officers, aviation maintenance limited duty officers, and aviation maintenance chief warrant officers. Complete eligibility requirements can be found in OPNAVINST. 1412.11. Like the Naval Aviation Supply Corps qualification, the Professional Aircraft Maintenance Officer qualification also does not require any sort of actual flight experience or flight status in a flight crew capacity.


title: Badges of the United States Navy

text: The "Explosive Ordnance Disposal Warfare" (EOD) insignia, also known as the "crab", is awarded to personnel trained to deal with the construction, deployment, disarmament, and disposal of high explosives munitions. This group is part of Navy Special Operations and all are dive qualified as closed circuit divers. It is the only decoration awarded to all four uniformed services of the US Defense Department.


title: Badges of the United States Navy

text: Enlisted EOD technicians wear the insignia as their primary warfare breast insignia. Officers formerly wore it as a secondary insignia under the Special Operations Warfare insignia, but now wear the Basic, Senior, and Master insignia as their primary warfare device.


title: Badges of the United States Navy

text: In 2007, the Special Operations Officer Community was rechristened "Explosive Ordnance Disposal", a change which the Navy felt also needed to be reflected in the EOD Officer warfare device as well. The new officer insignia is identical to the Master EOD warfare device, but is gold in color.


title: Badges of the United States Navy

text: The "Fleet Marine Force" (FMF) insignia can be awarded to Navy personnel assigned to Fleet Marine Force command, a combined command of Navy and Marine Corps. The insignia is earned by both officers and enlisted.


title: Badges of the United States Navy

text: Navy Hospital Corpsmen (or simply "Doc") and Religious Programs Specialists (RP) are good examples of Navy personnel in FMF.


title: Badges of the United States Navy

text: The "Information Warfare" insignia was approved in September 2010 and is authorized for wear by members of the Information Warfare Community who have successfully completed the qualification requirements outlined in OPNAVINST 1412.13 (for officers) and COMNAVCYBERFOR INST 1414.1 (for enlisted members). Upon implementation in September 2010, experienced Information Warfare Officers in the redesignated 18xx designators were afforded the opportunity to qualify for the IDWO Insignia through completion of an online course and the submission of evidence of prior completion of prescribed requirements. All Information Warfare Officers not being awarded the IWO Insignia via this method are required to complete the prescribed Officer PQS. The insignia became available for purchase in October 2010.


title: Badges of the United States Navy

text: The Information Warfare Community includes the following communities: intelligence, information professional, cryptologic warfare (formerly information warfare), oceanography, meteorology, and space cadre additional qualification designators/NECs.


title: Badges of the United States Navy

text: The "Seabee Combat Warfare Specialist" (SCWS) insignia is awarded to personnel assigned to qualifying units of the Naval Construction Force (Seabees) and Amphibious Construction Battalions after demonstrating superior proficiency in naval heritage, naval doctrine, command and control, hazardous material/hazardous waste environmental safety, supply & logistics, communications and communications security, weapons, general military tactics, contingency operations, embarkation, safety, basic first aid, civil engineer support equipment, and chemical, biological, & radiological warfare.


title: Badges of the United States Navy

text: The two insignia variants correspond to the gold officer insignia and silver enlisted insignia. Officers are required to complete all aspects of the enlisted program, plus additional officer specific requirements while overall demonstrating broader and deeper knowledge proficiency commensurate with their increased responsibilities.


title: Badges of the United States Navy

text: Qualifying units include Naval Construction Groups (NCG), Naval Construction Regiments (NCR), Naval Mobile Construction Battalions (NMCB), Underwater Construction Teams (UCT), and Construction Battalion Maintenance Units (CBMU), and personnel assigned to Amphibious Construction Battalions (ACB).


title: Badges of the United States Navy

text: An Engineering Duty Officer (EDO) is a restricted line officer in the United States Navy, involved with the design, acquisition, construction, repair, maintenance, conversion, overhaul, and disposal of ships, submarines, aircraft carriers, and the systems installed aboard (weapons, command and control, communications, computers, etc.). As of August 1, 2016, there are approximately 835 engineering duty officers on active duty in the United States Navy, representing approximately 2 percent of its active-duty commissioned officers (and approximately 400 engineering duty officers in the Navy Reserve).


title: Badges of the United States Navy

text: The "Special Operations Warfare" (SPECOPS) insignia is earned by officers by virtue of training in the Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD), Mine Countermeasures (MCM), Operational Diving and Salvage (ODS), and Expendable Ordnance Management (EOM). Not to be confused with Special Warfare (i.e. SEALs), Special Operations, in Navy parlance, refers to dive qualified EOD technicians.


title: Badges of the United States Navy

text: The insignia shares a similar design to the Surface Warfare insignia, but is considered a different category.


title: Badges of the United States Navy

text: There are two "Special Warfare" insignia issued to Navy personnel serving under Naval Special Warfare Command, a part of USSOCOM: "Special Warfare" and "Special Warfare Combatant-Craft Crewman".


title: Badges of the United States Navy

text: The Special Warfare insignia (aka the "SEAL Trident" or simply "Trident"), is awarded to personnel who completed BUD/S training and qualification, and have been designated as Navy SEALs and assigned to Navy SEAL Teams or SEAL Delivery Vehicle (SDV) Teams. The insignia is the same for both officer and enlisted personnel and is one of only three breast insignia authorized for enlisted personnel that is gold in color.


title: Badges of the United States Navy

text: The Special Warfare Combatant-Craft Crewman (SWCC - pronounced "swick") insignia is awarded to enlisted personnel who complete SWCC training and qualification, and have been designated as United States Navy SWCCs assigned to Special Boat Teams. The SWCC qualification insignia consists of three separate insignias that denote the level of qualification achieved individually by SWCC sailors. The insignias include SWCC Basic, SWCC Senior, and SWCC Master. The SWCC Basic insignia is a 2-1/2 by 1-1/4 inch silver matte metal pin showing a background of a cocked flintlock pistol, a crossed naval enlisted cutlass, and a Mark V Special Operations Craft atop a bow wave. The SWCC Senior insignia incorporates an upright anchor in the background of the SWCC Basic insignia. The SWCC Master insignia incorporates a banner with three gold stars on the upper portion of the anchor from the SWCC Senior insignia.


title: Badges of the United States Navy

text: "Submarine Qualification" insignia (usually known as "dolphins" or "fish") are breast insignia of the submarine warfare community which are issued to those naval personnel after they complete a complex, demanding and extensive program that incorporates learning each system aboard the submarine and completion of certain watchstanding requirements including cross rate watch requirements. This program differs from many of the other "Warfare" programs in that it requires personnel to become proficient in engineering and operational details to such an extent that each person must be able to understand and perform basic operation of each system and equipment aboard the submarine. In addition each person must be able to efficiently perform damage control and emergency control functions in each space on the submarine. The Submarine Qualification insignia for officers and enlisted was first proposed by then-Captain Ernest King on June 13, 1923, with the current design finalized March 1924.


title: Badges of the United States Navy

text: In addition to line officer and enlisted versions, there are insignia for officers working in engineering duty, medical corps, and supply corps.


title: Badges of the United States Navy

text: "Surface Warfare" insignia are breast insignia of the surface warfare community. They are earned by those naval personnel who are trained and qualified to perform duties aboard United States surface warships. The Surface Warfare Officer insignia was first proposed in 1972, and by 1980 a variety of the Surface Warfare insignia had been approved for issuance.


title: Badges of the United States Navy

text: Line officers of the surface warfare community earn the Surface Warfare Officer (SWO) insignia. Enlisted personnel who complete the Enlisted Surface Warfare qualification program earn the Enlisted Surface Warfare Specialist (ESWS) insignia. Other insignia for qualification in specialized areas exist in the Medical Corps, Nurse Corps, Dental Corps, Medical Service Corps, and Supply Corps.


title: Badges of the United States Navy

text: The SWO and ESWS insignia may be earned by United States Coast Guard personnel assigned to Navy commands.


title: Badges of the United States Navy

text: The Enlisted Expeditionary Warfare Specialist Insignia is awarded to enlisted United States Navy personnel, and select United States Coast Guard personnel temporarily assigned to the U.S. Navy, who satisfactorily complete the required qualification course and pass a qualification board hearing. Enlisted members E-5 and above shall obtain the Enlisted Expeditionary Warfare (EXW) Specialist qualification while assigned to a qualifying unit. Enlisted members E-4 and below may voluntarily obtain EXW qualification while assigned to a qualifying unit and who meet eligibility requirements. The qualification was developed to provide a chance for enlisted sailors in the Navy Expeditionary Combat Command (NECC) community (naval personnel serving in a maritime security or maritime combat related role) to earn a warfare qualification. Core qualification skills will include but not be limited to weapons qualification and maintenance, marksmanship, land navigation, field communications, and expeditionary camp deployment. The design of the new pin encompasses the essence of enlisted expeditionary Sailors, presenting the bow and superstructure of a Sea Ark 34' patrol boat from Inshore Boat Units superimposed upon a crossed cutlass and M16A1 rifle. The waves represent the Navy's heritage, the cutlass represents the enlisted force, the M16A1 represents an NECC mission area and the boat, another NECC mission area. The background is the traditional waves of the Enlisted Surface Warfare Specialist Insignia.


title: Badges of the United States Navy

text: The Navy Expeditionary Supply Corps Officer (NESCO) program is designed to recognize significant contributions made by Supply Corps officers while serving in operational expeditionary billets. Navy Expeditionary Supply Corps officer qualification represents a level of expeditionary knowledge that distinguishes an officer of the Supply Corps from his or her peers. The Navy Expeditionary Supply Corps officer qualification program is mandatory for all Supply Corps officers serving in designated billets as determined by Commander, Navy Expeditionary Combat Command (COMNAVEXPDCMBTCOM) and Commander, Naval Special Warfare Command (COMNAVSPECWARCOM).


title: Badges of the United States Navy

text: Commanders and above with other Supply Corps professional qualification (e.g., Naval Aviation Supply Corps officer or Surface Warfare Supply Corps officer) may elect not to participate, but Navy Expeditionary Supply Corps officer qualification is encouraged for these officers.[1]


title: Badges of the United States Navy

text: The Navy Expeditionary Supply Corps Officer (NESCO) insignia is a gold metal pin showing a Supply Corps oak leaf centered, superimposed on a crossed sword and M16A1 rifle, on a background of ocean swells. A metal insignia is available for uniforms requiring miniature medals.


title: Badges of the United States Navy

text: The newest surface warfare qualification insignia to be implemented by the U.S. Navy is the Strategic Sealift Officer Warfare Insignia (SSOWI). The SSOWI is a redesign of the old Navy Reserve Merchant Marine Insignia, also known as the "Golden Chicken" or "Sea Chicken", originally created in 1938. The SSOWI is approved for wear by officers who have successfully completed the qualification requirements outlined in OPNAVINST 1534.1E. The insignia may be worn by:


title: Badges of the United States Navy

text: The SSOWI is gold in color and is , reflecting the background of an eagle from the USS "Constitution"'s stern, crossed naval officer swords, and a U.S. shield with fouled anchor from the U.S. Merchant Marine flag.


title: Badges of the United States Navy

text: The Aircrew insignia is issued to enlisted personnel trained to operate equipment aboard airborne aircraft. It is one of only three gold color breast insignia awarded to qualified enlisted personnel.


title: Badges of the United States Navy

text: Navy aircrew assigned to Navy aircraft place "(NAC)" after their rating to indicate this skill. Navy aircrew qualified to wear the Combat Aircrew insignia place "(CAC)" after their rating. Example: "CTT1(NAC) Jenkins" is Cryptologic Technician Technical First Class Jenkins, who is a qualified Aircrewman.


title: Badges of the United States Navy

text: The Integrated Undersea Surveillance System insignia is awarded to those personnel who have been trained and qualified in naval sonar and undersea surveillance (SOSUS) technology.


title: Badges of the United States Navy

text: The "Officer in Charge/Petty Officer in Charge insignia" is issued to personnel of the small boat community. It is issued to operators of small combatant and non-combatant vessels.


title: Badges of the United States Navy

text: The "Small Craft insignia" is awarded to officers and petty officers commanding small combatant vessels that patrol brown-water (littoral zone) and riverine environments.


title: Badges of the United States Navy

text: The "Craftmaster insignia" is awarded mainly to enlisted personnel commanding vessels, such as Landing Craft Utility, Landing Craft Air Cushioned, YTBs, and various other tugs and barges. It is also awarded to certain staff officers and a few select midshipmen.


title: Badges of the United States Navy

text: The "Parachutists" insignia, also known as "jump wings", is awarded to personnel for training in airborne school. The basic insignia is issued for completion of basic parachutist training. The Naval Parachutist insignia is issued after 10 qualifying jumps. It is used both by the Navy and the Marine Corps.


title: Badges of the United States Navy

text: Enlisted personnel with jump wings place "(PJ)" after their rating to indicate this skill. Free-fall/HALO qualified place "(FPJ)" in their rating. Example: "EOD3(FPJ) Smith" is Explosive Ordnance Disposal 3rd Class Smith, who is Free-fall/HALO-qualified.


title: Badges of the United States Navy

text: The Naval Parachutist insignia is a common secondary insignia among Navy SEALs, SWCC, Navy EOD, and Special Amphibious Reconnaissance Corpsman. It is one of only three gold color breast insignia awarded to qualified enlisted personnel.


title: Badges of the United States Navy

text: The Navy Nuclear Weapons Security Insignia (NWS) is awarded to enlisted sailors assigned to a Strategic Weapons Facility, Personal Reliability Program, supporting missions associated with the Marine Corps Security Force Battalion, or are qualified in their senior post or watch station consistent with their current pay grade and duties assigned. The insignia represents completion of twelve months of fully qualified service to the NWS mission. A gold star mounted at the bottom of the insignia indicates an additional year of qualified service to the NWS mission. A silver star indicates five years of fully qualified service.


title: Badges of the United States Navy

text: The "Submarine Combat Patrol insignia" is a breast insignia worn by Navy personnel who have completed war patrols. Such patrols were conducted during World War II and this insignia has not been awarded since that time.


title: Badges of the United States Navy

text: The "SSBN Deterrent Patrol insignia" or "boomer pin" is a breast insignia worn by Navy personnel of the submarine service who have completed strategic deterrent patrols in nuclear ballistic missile submarines. It is the successor to the Submarine Combat Patrol insignia awarded for submarine patrols during World War II. Upon the completion of their 20th successful patrol, personnel are upgraded from silver to gold.


title: Badges of the United States Navy

text: The "Deep Submergence insignia" is worn by Navy personnel who are qualified in submarines and have completed one year of regular assignment to a manned or unmanned deep submersible.


title: Badges of the United States Navy

text: "Diver insignia" are issued to personnel who are qualified divers and is given in several degrees. The first degree of the diving insignia is Scuba Diver. The remaining insignia are awarded for deep sea dive qualifications and are issued in the degrees of Second Class, First Class, and Master Diver. There also exists a Diving Officer insignia for officers who completed Basic Diving Officer course, and insignia for medical personnel who have qualified as both divers and medical response personnel to medical emergencies underwater.


title: Badges of the United States Navy

text: Enlisted personnel who are dive qualified place "(DV)" after their rating to indicate this skill. Example: "PO2(DV) Jones" is a Petty Officer 2nd Class Jones, who is Diver-qualified.


title: Badges of the United States Navy

text: The Presidential and Vice Presidential Service badges are worn on the right side at a level corresponding to badges worn on the left side on dress uniforms, and center of the right pocket on other uniforms. The badges for Office of the Secretary of Defense and Joint Chiefs of Staff are worn on the left breast pocket, 1/4 inch below medals or secondary breast insignia on dress uniforms, and in the center of left pocket on other uniforms. If a breast insignia in the secondary position forces the badge below the lower seam of the pocket, the secondary insignia must be omitted. (see figure 1)


title: Badges of the United States Navy

text: The Command Senior Enlisted Leader Identification Badge for E-7s and higher (see figure 2) are issued to chiefs holding a command position (e.g. senior enlisted of the entire Navy, of a fleet or task force, of a single ship, etc.). Male incumbents wear it on the left breast pocket, 1/4 inch below medals or secondary breast insignia on dress uniforms, and in the center of left pocket on other uniforms. If a breast insignia in the secondary position forces the badge below the lower seam of the pocket, the secondary insignia must be omitted. Women wear it 1/4 inch above the right pocket, but may opt to wear it as men do. Miniature versions are issued to post tour chiefs.


title: Badges of the United States Navy

text: Recruiting, Recruit Commanders, and Career Counselor badges are worn on the left breast pocket, 1/4 inch below medals or secondary breast insignia on dress uniforms, and in the center of left pocket on other uniforms. The only exception is the U.S. Navy Law Enforcement badges (Naval Security Force, Chief Master-at-Arms, and Naval Corrections), which is worn 1/4 inch above the name tape or name tag of the uniform, above the right breast pocket. The Navy Law Enforcement "Chief Master-at-Arms" and "Naval Corrections" badges are only issued and worn for the duration of the personnel's assigned duties for that position, with the exception of the "Naval Security Force" badge which are issued to rated Master-at-Arms and Security Officers, which are uniquely serialized and issued to the person for the duration of their career. Not permitted for wear on dinner dress uniform (see figures 3 through 6).


title: Badges of the United States Navy

text: Although not worn on Navy uniforms, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) badge is also an identification badge of the U.S. Navy but is used by NCIS Special Agents, which are Naval Excepted Service employees. The badge is worn as an embroidered badge on jackets or displayed as part of a special agent's credentials (see figure 7).


title: Badges of the United States Navy

text: Navy Uniform Regulations also allow CNO-approved Joint/Unified Command identification badges, including:


title: Badges of the United States Navy

text: The U.S. Navy also has Marksmanship Competition Badges that are authorized for wear on Navy service uniforms for those sailors and officers who earn them. These badges are awarded by the Navy to sailors and officers upon receipt of official scores, known as "leg points", earned at an authorized Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP) competition. In addition, sailors can earn and wear the President's Hundred Brassard when finishing in the top 100 competitors of the President's Hundred Match. Also, sailors can earn and wear the U.S. Marine Corps's Annual Rifle Squad Combat Practice Competition Badge when competing as part of a Marine Rifle Squad—this badge is typically awarded to Navy Corpsman assigned to Marine infantry units. The following Marksmanship Competition Badges are currently awarded and authorized by the U.S. Navy (in order of precedence):


title: Badges of the United States Navy

text: Note: The basic design of the Navy's EIC Badge is the same regardless of the level of competition where the badge was earned. To help distinguish one EIC badge from another, the word "NATIONAL" or "FLEET" is embossed above the word "RIFLEMAN" or "PISTOL SHOT"; only the Interservice/Navy EIC Badges will lack any markings above the weapon designation.


title: Khakee

text: Khakee (English translation: The Uniform) is a 2004 Indian Hindi-language neo-noir action thriller film directed by Rajkumar Santoshi and written by Santoshi and Sridhar Raghavan. The story revolves around an Indian police team on a mission to escort an accused terrorist from a small town in Maharashtra to Mumbai. "Khakee" stars an ensemble cast starring Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar, Tusshar Kapoor, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Ajay Devgn. It was theatrically released on 23 January 2004 to a widespread critical acclaim. The critical response was mostly positive, with praise towards the direction, performances, and story. Produced on a budget of , "Khakee" earned a total of at the worldwide box office, becoming one of the year's highest-grossing Bollywood films.


title: Khakee

text: Additional Commissioner of Police, AD.CP Shrikant Naidu assembles a team of five police officers to bring Dr. Iqbal Ansari, a captured ISI agent, responsible for riots, safely from Chandangarh to Mumbai, consisting of DCP Anant Shrivastav, Senior Inspector Shekhar Verma; Sub-Inspector Ashwin Gupte and constables Kamlesh Sawant and Gajanan Mhatre.


title: Khakee

text: It is then shown that Yashwant Aangre is tracking the team for some reasons best known to him. The team proceeds to Chandangarh, and come across school teacher Mahalakshmi, who informs them about suspected terrorists who stayed incognito in her school premises. Soon, along with Ansari and Mahalakshmi, who also wants to go to Mumbai, they leave for Mumbai by road. Angre distracts the team and tries to disable the mission repeatedly but fails.


title: Khakee

text: On route, the van becomes dysfunctional, and the team halts at a secluded bungalow. Anant calls Naidu to apprise him of the events and send a police team. Anant now remembers Aangre, a corrupt and ruthless ex-cop or ex-inspector, who was dismissed and imprisoned after Anant caught him killing five innocent men in a fake encounter during the bank robbery.


title: Khakee

text: The team is soon attacked at the bungalow by Aangre and his men. Shekhar tries to surrender Ansari to Aangre, but Anant objects. At this point, the plot turns when Ansari tells them that the terrorists are there to kill him, not free him. He was a doctor in Chandangarh when journalist Bhaskar Joshi informed him that the communal riots were actually engineered by minister Deodhar, who killed a few social workers who had compiled evidence that would've jailed him. Bhaskar had the file containing the evidence and wanted the post-mortem reports from Ansari, to expose Deodhar but was killed, and when Ansari refused to cooperate with the wrongdoers, corrupt cops framed him as a terrorist.


title: Khakee

text: Aangre and his men enter the house, but Shekhar and Ashwin cause an explosion, and the team manages to escape, but Aangre shoots Ansari. Anant then realizes that Naidu is a corrupt cop in hand with Deodhar and Aangre.


title: Khakee

text: Ansari is taken to the hospital. Anant gives the others the option to leave the mission, but everyone refuses.


title: Khakee

text: The team soon plan to get away on an empty train to Mumbai with the recovering Ansari. Aangre's gang arrive, but the team has taken precautions. Kamlesh drives away from the station in the police van as a decoy. Shekhar takes control of the train, and the team boards it. Kamlesh abandons the van and runs to catch the moving train, but is shot dead by Aangre.


title: Khakee

text: Upon reaching Mumbai, Ansari dies. Deodhar tempts Anant to toe the line, but Anant refuses. The team finds the file through journalist Bhaskar's son. Shekhar and Mahalakshmi go to the General post office and recover the file, but Aangre ambushes them. Shekhar is lured into a stadium where it is revealed that Mahalakshmi is actually Aangre's girlfriend and was planted on the team by Aangre to track their movements. The file is forfeited, Shekhar is killed, but not before he places a call to Anant, letting him know that Mahalakshmi is a double agent.


title: Khakee

text: Anant and Ashwin now attack Naidu and make him spill the beans; they locate Aangre by following Mahalakshmi. In a shootout, Aangre uses Mahalakshmi as a shield, and she dies. Anant chases Aangre and nabs him with a huge police force while Ashwin recovers the file.


title: Khakee

text: With compelling evidence from the file, the court convicts Aangre, Deodhar and Naidu for life, much to the relief of Ansari's family, who is no longer branded a traitor and terrorist, for whom Anant promises to take care of Ansari's son. On route jail, Aangre sees the bolts holding his handcuffs loose. He grabs a rifle and tries to escape, only to realize the rifle is empty. Ashwin shoots Aangre and shows him the screws of the bolts, indicating that this was a setup for an encounter. He then calls headquarters, informing them that Aangre has been fatally wounded while trying to escape from custody "despite warning" while Aangre eventually succumbs to his wounds, as the credits roll.


title: Khakee

text: The film's co-writer Sridhar Raghavan, knew Santoshi, who wanted to make a cop film with Amitabh Bachchan, through Anjum Rajabali. During their meet, Raghavan narrated a script to Santoshi about cops, which he liked. Raghavan said: "We kept that as a base and started working afresh, collaborating, writing, rewriting." They created a character for Bachchan, inspired by "Zanjeer" in the "21st century situation".


title: Khakee

text: "Khakee" was made with an estimated production budget of making it one of the most expensive Hindi films at that point.


title: Khakee

text: Amitabh Bachchan was the first person to be cast in the film. Akshaye Khanna was supposed to play the role of Sub-Inspector Ashwin Gupte, and Ajay Devgn was offered the role of Senior Inspector Shekhar Verma. While Khanna walked out, Devgn was chosen to play the villain, Yashwant Aangre, making it his second film as an antagonist after the 2002 thriller "Deewangee". Later, Tusshar Kapoor was signed for the role of Ashwin Gupte. Lara Dutta was also signed for an item number "Aisa Jadoo". After several actresses rejected, the role of Mahalakshmi, Aishwarya Rai was finalized for the part. Akshay Kumar, who was signed to play Shekhar Verma, worked with Amitabh Bachchan for the third time after "" and "Aankhen".


title: Khakee

text: The film was shot in various parts of Maharashtra, including Mumbai and Nashik. The fictional city of "Nairoli" shown in the film is actually the city of Apta near Panvel. The railway station of Apta was rechristened as Nairoli for the scene featuring the shoot-out at the station. Ram Sampath composed the music for the film, with lyrics by Sameer.


title: Khakee

text: While filming in Nashik, Aishwarya Rai was hit by an out-of-control jeep and was thrown back into some bushes by the side of the road. She and Tusshar Kapoor were rehearsing a scene where the jeep was supposed to come and stop 20 feet away from them. However, the jeep driver lost control and did not brake. She suffered a fracture on her left foot and some bruises.


title: Khakee

text: Since its release, "Khakee" met with critical acclaim, including for the performances of the lead actors.


title: Khakee

text: "The Hindu" daily mentioned; "It's the director's show all the way. "Khakee" is great evidence of what smart writing can do to a film - the duo of Rajkumar Santoshi and Shridhar Raghavan, deserve all the credit for packing the punches the film delivers. A little pace is lost in the second half because of the dialogues, song and dance, but thanks to high production values and charismatic star appeal, you really don't feel the length - 2 hours and 54 minutes. An aging Amitabh Bachchan is the first rate with his trademark delivery. Akshay Kumar provides the comic relief with his 'I'm cool' flirtatious attempts to woo Aishwarya [Rai] and Tusshar [Kapoor] plays the foil to his seniors - a neat essay".


title: Khakee

text: Sukanya Verma from Rediff said; "What I also like about "Khakee" is that every actor, big or small (in terms of footage), good or bad (in terms of character), has that one defining moment on screen. "Khakee" is a smart film. It makes you think. It keeps you at the edge of your seat. It gives you your money's worth. What more do you want. Bollywood Hungama gave the film four stars and explained; "One wouldn't call Khakee the best script [Rajkumar] Santoshi has tackled, but it certainly would rank amongst the best. Another aspect that enhances the film is the dialogues (Rajkumar Santoshi), which will be met with a thunderous applause at various junctures of the film. Santoshi has a knack for extracting wonderful performances from the cast. Amitabh Bachchan delivers one of the best performances of his career. He has some of the toughest scenes in the film. In fact, a lesser actor would've failed to do justice to the role. But Bachchan's expressions, voice and movement bring the character to life. Akshay Kumar is fantastic. Ajay Devgn adds yet another feather in his cap with a performance that could've been essayed only by a master performer. Aishwarya Rai gets a role to prove her talent, and she more than lives up to the expectations. Tusshar may not have many lines to deliver, but his presence and expressions register a strong impact".


title: Khakee

text: Derek Elley from "Variety" magazine stated; "The testosterone's so high you can almost put a match to it in "Khakee", a twist-filled, often very violent drama centered on some cops escorting a terrorist cross-country to Mumbai. Powerhouse casting, and equally powerhouse direction by Rajkumar Santoshi, makes this an above-average example of mainstream Bollywood thrillers, sans any stylistic flourishes. Given its paucity of musical numbers and romance, this one could have a career on ancillary among general action buffs".


title: Khakee

text: "Khakee" had a final worldwide gross of including in India and in abroad. The nett revenue of the film was . It was declared an 'Average' by Box Office India. According to collection, "Khakee" was the 5th highest-grossing Bollywood film of 2004 behind "Veer-Zaara", "Main Hoon Na", "Dhoom" and "Mujhse Shaadi Karogi".


title: Khakee

text: The music is composed by Ram Sampath. Lyrics are penned by Sameer. Rajkumar Santoshi wanted A. R. Rahman to compose the music for the film; but he did not sign the project due to other commitments. Hence Sampath was selected after an audition. According to the Indian trade website Box Office India, with around 10,00,000 units sold, this film's soundtrack album was the year's fourteenth highest-selling.


title: Corynebacterium

text: Corynebacterium () is a genus of Gram-positive bacteria and most are aerobic. They are bacilli (rod-shaped), and in some phases of life they are, more specifically, club-shaped, which inspired the genus name ("coryneform" means "club-shaped").


title: Corynebacterium

text: They are widely distributed in nature in the microbiota of animals (including the human microbiota) and are mostly innocuous, most commonly existing in commensal relationships with their hosts. Some, such as "C. glutamicum", are commercially useful. Others can cause human disease, including, most notably, diphtheria, which is caused by "C. diphtheriae". As with various species of amicrobiota (including their relatives in the genera "Arcanobacterium" and "Trueperella"), they usually are not pathogenic, but can occasionally opportunistically capitalize on atypical access to tissues (via wounds) or weakened host defenses.


title: Corynebacterium

text: The genus "Corynebacterium" was created by Lehmann and Neumann in 1896 as a taxonomic group to contain the bacterial rods responsible for causing diphtheria. The genus was defined based on morphological characteristics. Based on studies of 16S-rRNA, they have been grouped into the subdivision of Gram-positive Eubacteria with high G:C content, with close phylogenetic relationship to "Arthrobacter", "Mycobacterium", "Nocardia", and "Streptomyces".


title: Corynebacterium

text: The term comes from Greek κορύνη, ' 'club, mace, staff, knobby plant bud or shoot' and βακτήριον, ' 'little rod'. The term "diphtheroids" is used to represent corynebacteria that are nonpathogenic; for example, "C. diphtheriae" would be excluded. The term diphtheroid comes from Greek διφθέρα, "" 'prepared hide, leather'.