title: Italian Renaissance painting

text: In "Jupiter and Io", 1531–1532, Correggio painted a strong contrast between the luminous figure of Io and the soft but dark clouds filling the sky, which seem to envelop Io’s gleaming body. Correggio was able to execute the diffuse effect of clouds, haze or mist perfectly and together with colour modulation infuses his characters with a distinct sense of weightlessness. He painted flesh in a delicate, voluptuous manner that has never been surpassed and presents a new concept of feminine beauty only rediscovered during the Rococo period. Correggio had many pupils, but none carried on his style but he prefigured many components of Baroque painting.


title: Italian Renaissance painting

text: Andrea del Sarto (1486–1530), a Florentine, drew upon both Michelangelo and Raphael in his work, but went far beyond them in the portrayal of facial expressions and gestures, as evidenced in "Madonna of the Harpies", 1517. His figures show a greater individuality than earlier High Renaissance works while losing none of the nobility. In the 1520s, he remained faithful to the ideals of the High Renaissance, such as in paintings’ compositions and with the faces of his figures usually being calm and often beautiful, showing none of the torment of his Mannerist contemporaries, some of whom were his pupils.


title: Italian Renaissance painting

text: Lorenzo Lotto (1480–1556), one of the most important High Renaissance painters in Venice, also spent time in other areas of Northern Italy as, perhaps due to his greater focus on realist detail and on line than rather than colour compared to the Venetian school, he was not much appreciated in Venice. While he painted a variety of subjects, he was an excellent portrait painter who had a superior ability to see into the soul of his subjects and to portray a depth of feeling in the painting. He usually included other objects in the background or foreground of the portrait to portray the subject's character.


title: Italian Renaissance painting

text: The lives of both Michelangelo and Titian extended well into the second half of the 16th century. Both saw their styles and those of Leonardo, Mantegna, Giovanni Bellini, Antonello da Messina and Raphael adapted by later painters to form a disparate style known as Mannerism, and move steadily towards the great outpouring of imagination and painterly virtuosity of the Baroque period.


title: Italian Renaissance painting

text: The artists who most extended the trends in Titian's large figurative compositions were Tintoretto and Veronese, although Tintoretto is considered by many to be a Mannerist. Rembrandt's knowledge of the works of both Titian and Raphael is apparent in his portraits. The direct influences of Leonardo and Raphael upon their own pupils was to effect generations of artists including Poussin and schools of Classical painters of the 18th and 19th centuries. Antonello da Messina's work had a direct influence on Albrecht Dürer and Martin Schongauer and through the latter's engravings, countless artists. Influence through Schongauer could be found in the German, Dutch and English schools of stained glass makers, extending into the early 20th century.


title: Italian Renaissance painting

text: Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling and later "The Last Judgment" had direct influence on the figurative compositions firstly of Raphael and his pupils and then almost every subsequent 16th-century painter who looked for new and interesting ways to depict the human form. It is possible to trace his style of figurative composition through Andrea del Sarto, Pontormo, Bronzino, Parmigianino, Veronese, to el Greco, Carracci, Caravaggio, Rubens, Poussin and Tiepolo to both the Classical and the Romantic painters of the 19th century such as Jacques-Louis David and Delacroix.


title: Italian Renaissance painting

text: Under the influence of the Italian Renaissance painting, many modern academies of art, such as the Royal Academy, were founded, and it was specifically to collect the works of the Italian Renaissance that some of the world's best known art collections, such as the National Gallery, London, were formed.


title: Forecastle

text: The forecastle ( ; contracted as fo'c'sle or fo'c's'le) is the upper deck of a sailing ship forward of the foremast, or, historically, the forward part of a ship with the sailors' living quarters. Related to the latter meaning is the phrase "" which denotes anything related to ordinary sailors, as opposed to a ship's officers.


title: Forecastle

text: In medieval shipbuilding, a ship of war was usually equipped with a tall, multi-deck castle-like structure in the bow of the ship. It served as a platform for archers to shoot down on enemy ships, or as a defensive stronghold if the ship were boarded. A similar but usually much larger structure, called the aftcastle, was at the aft end of the ship, often stretching all the way from the main mast to the stern.


title: Forecastle

text: Having such tall upper works on the ship was detrimental to sailing performance. As cannons were introduced and gunfire replaced boarding as the primary means of naval combat during the 16th century, the medieval forecastle was no longer needed, and later ships such as the galleon had only a low, one-deck high forecastle. Sailors stationed on the forecastle, or "forecastle men", were responsible for handling the headsails and the anchors. In the Royal Navy of the 17th and 18th centuries, these roles were reserved for older seamen who lacked the agility to go aloft or take other more strenuous duties aboard.


title: Forecastle

text: By the end of the 19th century, a raised forecastle had become a typical feature on warships again, in an attempt to keep forward gun positions from getting unacceptably wet on heavy seas. In addition the forecastle may provide additional crew's quarters as in the past, and may contain essential machinery such as the anchor windlass. A disadvantage of such a design is the structural weakness at the forecastle 'break' (the rear end of the forecastle with the main deck behind and below) relative to a flush deck structure.


title: Forecastle

text: Some sailing ships and many modern non-sail ships have no forecastle as such at all but the name is still used to indicate the foremost part of the upper deck – although often called the "foredeck" – and for any crew's quarters in the bow of the ship, even if below the main deck.


title: Colin Montgomerie

text: Colin Stuart Montgomerie, OBE (born 23 June 1963) is a Scottish professional golfer. He has won a record eight European Tour Order of Merit titles, including a streak of seven consecutively from 1993 to 1999. He has won 31 European Tour events, the most of any British player, placing him fourth on the all-time list of golfers with most European Tour victories.


title: Colin Montgomerie

text: Montgomerie won three consecutive Volvo PGA Championships at Wentworth Club between 1998 and 2000. He has finished runner-up on five occasions in major championships and his career-high world ranking is second. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2013.


title: Colin Montgomerie

text: In June 2013, after turning 50, Montgomerie joined the Champions Tour, where he made his debut in the Constellation Senior Players Championship, one of the five senior major championships. On 25 May 2014, Montgomerie won his first senior major championship at the Senior PGA Championship. He followed this up on 13 July 2014, when he claimed his second senior major at the U.S. Senior Open. On 24 May 2015, Montgomerie defended his Senior PGA Championship title to win his third senior major. However, in 2016 he narrowly missed out on making it three Senior PGA Championships in a row – finishing second and three shots behind winner Rocco Mediate. He won twice on the senior circuit in 2017, winning the inaugural Japan Airlines Championship before claiming his sixth Champions Tour win at the SAS Championship.


title: Colin Montgomerie

text: Although Scottish by birth and ancestry, he was raised in Yorkshire, England, where his father, James Montgomerie, was Managing Director of Fox's Biscuits. He spent a number of years with the Ilkley Golf Club, where he was tutored by the past professional Bill Ferguson. He was educated at both Leeds Grammar School and Strathallan School, Perthshire. During his time in Leeds, he became a supporter of Leeds United. His father later became the secretary of Royal Troon Golf Club, one of Scotland's most famous clubs.


title: Colin Montgomerie

text: Montgomerie became one of the first British golfers to go to a United States college, attending Houston Baptist University, where he played on the golf team and became its top player.


title: Colin Montgomerie

text: He won three important Scottish amateur tournaments – the 1983 Scottish Youths Championship, the 1985 Scottish Stroke Play Championship, and the 1987 Scottish Amateur Championship.


title: Colin Montgomerie

text: He played for Great Britain and Ireland twice in the Eisenhower Trophy (1984 and 1986) and twice in the Walker Cup (1985 and 1987). He was also part of the Scottish team, winning the 1985 European Amateur Team Championship at Halmstad Golf Club, North Course, in Sweden.


title: Colin Montgomerie

text: Before turning pro he considered a career in sports management, utilizing his degree in business management and law; the interview process included a golf outing that convinced the firm he should become a client rather than an employee.


title: Colin Montgomerie

text: Montgomerie turned professional before the 1988 season and was named the Rookie of the Year on the European Tour that year. He quickly developed into one of Europe's top pros, winning his first event at the 1989 Portuguese Open TPC by 11 shots, and his second, beating a world class field, at the 1991 Scandinavian Masters at Royal Drottningholm Golf Club in Sweden. He made his Ryder Cup debut later in 1991.


title: Colin Montgomerie

text: He finished first on the European Tour Order of Merit every year from 1993 to 1999 (a record for most consecutive Orders of Merit), and has 31 victories on the tour, including the 1998, 1999, and 2000 Volvo PGA Championships at Wentworth, England. However, despite many near-misses, Montgomerie was unable to win on the PGA Tour.


title: Colin Montgomerie

text: Montgomerie first reached the top-10 in the Official World Golf Rankings in 1994, and spent 400 weeks in the top-10. His highest ranking was number two. In his prime Montgomerie was considered one of the best drivers of the golf ball in the world and became a very precise iron player, often able to judge the distance he hit the ball exactly from long range.


title: Colin Montgomerie

text: Montgomerie came first in the Volvo Bonus Pool every year from 1993 to 1998. The Volvo Bonus Pool was an extra tranche of prize money awarded at the end of each European Tour season from 1988 to 1998 to the regular members of the tour who had had the best performances over the season.


title: Colin Montgomerie

text: His form fell away gradually in the new millennium, partly due to marriage problems, and his ranking slumped to 82nd in the world, but he came back strongly in 2005, winning a record eighth European Tour Order of Merit and returning to the top ten in the World Rankings. Late in 2005 he became the first man to win 20 million Euros on the European Tour—topping the European Tour's all-time highest earners list. He won for the first time in nearly two years at the Smurfit Kappa European Open in July 2007. In 2008, Montgomerie slipped out of the top 100 players in the world ranking system. A runner-up finish at the 2008 French Open in June boosted him back up the rankings, but his good play was short-lived, and as a result Montgomerie failed to qualify for Nick Faldo's 2008 Ryder Cup team. In March 2009, Montgomerie played in his milestone 500th European Tour event at the Open de Andalucia where he made the cut, but was not in contention during the weekend. He remained the leader in career earnings on the European Tour until 2010, when he was surpassed by Ernie Els.


title: Colin Montgomerie

text: After nearly two years without a top-10 finish, Montgomerie posted a final round of 68 for a share of 7th place in the 2011 BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth. Despite the drop in form, his influence remained strong. In 2012, Montgomerie was named by the Golf Club Managers' Association's Golf Club Management magazine as the seventh most powerful person in British golf. In August 2012, Montgomerie finished tied for 6th at the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles, his highest finish in over four years.


title: Colin Montgomerie

text: Montgomerie is generally considered to be one of the best golfers never to have won a major championship, after finishing in second place on five separate occasions. During what most consider to be his best years in the 1990s Montgomerie had several close shaves. A third place at the 1992 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach Golf Links was the first of these. He was prematurely congratulated by Jack Nicklaus who said "Congratulations on your first U.S. Open victory" to Montgomerie after he finished the 18th hole on Sunday. Tom Kite, who was still on the golf course when Montgomerie finished, wound up winning the championship.


title: Colin Montgomerie

text: At the 1994 U.S. Open, played at Oakmont Country Club, Montgomerie lost in a three-man playoff to Ernie Els (a playoff which also included Loren Roberts). Montgomerie shot 78 to trail the 74s shot by Els and Roberts, with Els winning at the 20th extra hole.


title: Colin Montgomerie

text: At the 1995 PGA Championship, Montgomerie birdied the final three holes of the Riviera Country Club course in the final round, to tie Steve Elkington at 17 under par, which was a record low score in a major championship. On the first sudden-death playoff hole, after being in better position after two shots, Montgomerie missed his putt, while Elkington holed from 35 feet to claim the title.


title: Colin Montgomerie

text: Els defeated Montgomerie at the 1997 U.S. Open, played at Congressional Country Club. Montgomerie opened the tournament with a 65 but shot a 76 in the second round. A bogey on the 71st hole dropped Montgomerie one shot behind Els, who parred the last to win.


title: Colin Montgomerie

text: At the 2006 U.S. Open, played on the West course of the Winged Foot Golf Club, Montgomerie had yet another chance to win his first major championship. He stood in the middle of the 18th fairway in the final round having sunk a 50-foot birdie putt on the 17th green, which put him in the joint lead with Phil Mickelson. While waiting in position on the 18th fairway for the group in front to finish, Montgomerie switched his club from a 6-iron to a 7-iron, assuming adrenaline would kick in. Once the wait was over, he hit the approach shot poorly, ending up short and right of the green, in thick rough. He pitched onto the green, and then three-putted from 30 feet to lose the tournament by one stroke. After the loss, Montgomerie said, "At my age I've got to think positively. I'm 43 next week, and it's nice I can come back to this tournament and do well again, and I look forward to coming back here again next year and trying another U.S. Open disaster." Geoff Ogilvy won the championship.


title: Colin Montgomerie

text: At The Open Championship in 2001 at Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club, Montgomerie started brightly with an opening 65, and still remained ahead after 36 holes, but he fell away over the weekend. He was also in contention with two rounds to play at Muirfield in 2002 and Royal Troon Golf Club in 2004, but failed to capitalise and finished midway down the field. His best finish in the Championship came in 2005 at St Andrews, where he finished second to Tiger Woods, who beat him by five shots.


title: Colin Montgomerie

text: In 2016, Montgomerie came through Open Qualifying at Gailes Links to qualify for his home Open at Royal Troon. He had the honour of hitting the opening tee shot at the tournament and ended up making the cut.


title: Colin Montgomerie

text: Following Sergio García's victory at the 2017 Masters, Montgomerie (with 75 starts) trailed only Jay Haas (87) and Lee Westwood (76) as the player with the most starts without a major title.


title: Colin Montgomerie

text: Despite his disappointments in the majors, Montgomerie is heralded as one of the greatest Ryder Cup players of all time. To date he has been a member of the European team on eight occasions, and has never lost in a singles match. He holds a win-lose-draw record of 20–9–7, thus giving him a total points scored tally of 23.5, only 2 points behind the all-time record held by Sergio García. He has played pivotal roles in several of the matches. He halved the last hole with Scott Hoch to obtain the half-point that won Europe the cup in 1997, and sank the winning putt, in what is considered to be his finest hour in the 2004 staging of the event.


title: Colin Montgomerie

text: Montgomerie was not part of Nick Faldo's 2008 Ryder Cup team, with the wildcards going to Paul Casey and Ian Poulter. Montgomerie captained the Great Britain and Ireland team in the first four stagings of the Seve Trophy, losing in 2000 but winning in 2002, 2003, and 2005.


title: Colin Montgomerie

text: On 28 January 2009, it was announced that Montgomerie would be the captain the European team at the 2010 Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor. On 4 October 2010, Montgomerie led the European team to victory, 14 to 13. On the same day he also announced that he would be stepping down as captain of the European Team. In December 2010, he accepted the BBC Sports Personality Coach of the Year award as captain of the victorious Ryder Cup team.


title: Colin Montgomerie

text: Montgomerie has been the playing captain of the European team in the Royal Trophy, played against a team from Asia. Europe was successful on both those occasions. He has the distinction of being the only person to have been a victorious player and captain in the Ryder Cup, Seve Trophy and Royal Trophy – the three main team golf competitions open to players from Europe.


title: Colin Montgomerie

text: In 2011, Montgomerie was named president of the English junior golf charity, the Golf Foundation, and in 2012 the Scottish first minister, Alex Salmond, named him as an ambassador for the Scottish junior golf programme, clubgolf.


title: Colin Montgomerie

text: In March 2015, Montgomerie accepted the captaincy of "London Scottish Golf Club" in Wimbledon to mark that club's 150th anniversary.


title: Colin Montgomerie

text: At the end of 2004, Montgomerie was named an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the New Year's Honours. He represents the Turnberry resort in Scotland, where there is a Colin Montgomerie Golf Academy.


title: Colin Montgomerie

text: Montgomerie met his first wife Eimear Wilson, from Troon, when he was a good amateur and she was a promotions assistant. She was a 17-year-old law student at Edinburgh University and a spectator at an amateur championship in Nairn, at which Montgomerie destroyed the field. The couple had three children (Olivia, Venetia, and Cameron), and lived in Oxshott, Surrey. In 2002, Eimear gave Montgomerie an ultimatum to choose between golf and marriage, resulting in Montgomerie spending 10 weeks alone before they agreed to try again.


title: Colin Montgomerie

text: In 2006, the couple finally broke up, with Eimear suing for divorce on grounds of "unreasonable behaviour due to his obsession with golf", claiming it left her suffering from anxiety and depression. In 2006, the couple agreed to a clean break divorce settlement of £8 million, in return for Eimear giving up any claim on Colin's future earnings.


title: Colin Montgomerie

text: Since the divorce, he has had various relationships, including Spanish model Ines Sastre, and a divorced neighbour Jo Baldwin, whom he met on the school run. Their split, he suggested, caused his worst run in his professional career.


title: Colin Montgomerie

text: In 2007, Montgomerie announced his engagement to Scottish millionairess Gaynor Knowles. The couple wed on 19 April 2008 at Loch Lomond Golf Club. On 8 July 2010, Montgomerie was granted a super injunction by Mr Justice Eady, which came to light when he attended a press conference at the 2010 PGA Championship in Wisconsin. In March 2017, he and Knowles divorced.


title: FAFSA

text: The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is a form completed by current and prospective college students (undergraduate and graduate) in the United States to determine their eligibility for student financial aid.


title: FAFSA

text: The FAFSA is different than CSS Profile (short for "College Scholarship Service Profile"), which is also required by some colleges (primarily private ones). The CSS is a fee-based product of the College Board (a private non-profit organization) and is used by the colleges to distribute their own institutional funds, rather than federal or state funding.


title: FAFSA

text: Students who are military veterans and active duty service members may apply for financial aid by filing a FAFSA even if they also apply for education and housing benefits offered by the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill and its accompanying Yellow Ribbon program. The amount of military aid a student receives for a college education does not defer eligibility or reduce the amount of student aid that student could receive from the four federal grant programs – Pell, SMART, FSEOG, and TEACH – and many of the state student aid programs.


title: FAFSA

text: Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (SAFRA) of 2010 changed the criteria for suspension of eligibility for drug-related offenses. Previously, students could lose eligibility for either the possession or sale of a controlled substance during the period of enrollment. SAFRA dropped the penalties for possession of a controlled substance but retained the penalties for sale of a controlled substance. SAFRA increases the suspension to two years for a first offense and indefinite for a second offense.


title: FAFSA

text: Most students who are eligible to receive federal aid and complete the FAFSA will receive some form of financial aid regardless of their financial need.


title: FAFSA

text: As of the 2017–2018 academic year, the FAFSA is made available to the public on October 1 every year for the future academic year. The 2016–2017 academic year was the final time the FAFSA was not made available until January 1. The US Department of Education made the FAFSA available earlier to more closely align the timing of the financial aid application process with the typical college application process. Additionally, 2-year old US tax information is used to complete the financial sections of the FAFSA beginning with the 2017–2018 academic year. This change in using "prior-prior tax year" information enables families to use the IRS Data Retrieval Tool in the FAFSA to verify their tax information without a delay from the IRS processing tax information. Some financial aid is provided on a first-come, first-served basis, and students are encouraged to submit a FAFSA as soon as possible.


title: FAFSA

text: According to the U.S. Department of Education's website, students have three options for filling out the form:


title: FAFSA

text: The Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 authorized fee-based FAFSA preparation. By law, fee-based FAFSA preparation services must on initial contact with students inform them of the free option and be transparent about their non-affiliation with the U.S. Department of Education and their fees.


title: FAFSA

text: Applicants complete the FAFSA by providing their demographic and financial information and, in many cases, the demographic and financial information of their parents/guardians. In addition to this demographic and financial information, applicants can list up to ten schools to receive the results of the application once it is processed. Historically, there was some concern that colleges could deny admission, waitlist applicants, or offer less financial aid as a result of the order in which applicants list schools on the application, or FAFSA position. However, the US Department of Education changed the FAFSA for the 2016–2017 academic year to prevent schools from having access to view other schools that may be listed on the application.


title: FAFSA

text: After completing the FAFSA, students are presented with a Student Aid Report (SAR). The SAR provides a student with their potential eligibility for different types of financial aid, their Expected Family Contribution (EFC), and a summary of the data a student provided in the application. An electronic version of the SAR (called an ISIR) is made available to the colleges/universities the student includes on the FAFSA. The ISIR is also sent to state agencies that award need-based aid.


title: FAFSA

text: Students can file an appeal with their college financial aid office in order to seek additional financial aid if their current financial situation is no longer the same as the financial information they provided on FAFSA (i.e. their parent recently lost their job). The exact appeal process can vary from school to school. SwiftStudent, a free service, provides template letters for college students to use when appealing their financial aid.


title: FAFSA

text: Currently, students can only list ten schools on their FAFSA application. If students are applying to more than 10 colleges or universities, there are three options they can choose from that allow them to submit their FAFSA application to additional schools.


title: FAFSA

text: These Illinois programs are offered by ISAC (Illinois Student Assistance Commission) but can also be obtained along with the federal aid programs when filling out the FAFSA.


title: FAFSA

text: FAFSA originally came from the 1965 Higher Education Act (HEA) by President Lyndon Johnson, this established the United States Government as the primary provider of financial aid for students. For years the application was called Financial Aid Form (FAF), which was an optional form used by some—but not all—colleges and universities. When Congress reauthorized the HEA in 1992 they created a standardized federal form for all prospective students seeking aid. The stated goal of FAFSA and other government funded education programs was to create equal opportunities for students seeking higher education. When the HEA was reauthorized again in 2008 lawmakers added a clause that schools must report information about who is receiving financial aid. Subsequent studies revealed continued inequality for students of color, who often had to take out more student loans than more privileged counterparts.


title: FAFSA

text: Recent updates have been made to increase accessibility of financial aid. The original FAFSA form had 108 questions, which was a significant barrier for many low-income families seeking financial aid. The questions were broadly seen as excessively detailed and unnecessarily complicated, with students being required to dedicate several hours to completing their application. The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 shortened the FAFSA from 108 questions to 36, to encourage more eligible students to fill out the form. In addition, students now have the option to link their IRS account with their FAFSA account to make the application simpler to complete accurately. The Consolidated Appropriations Act also opened financial aid eligibility to students that had previously been excluded from the program.


title: Bofors 57 mm Naval Automatic Gun L/70

text: Bofors 57 mm Naval Automatic Gun L/70 ( (57 mm SAK 70)), among other names (see Names), is a series of dual-purpose naval guns designed and produced by the Swedish arms manufacturer AB Bofors (since March 2005 part of BAE Systems AB), designed in the late 1960s as a replacement design for the twin barreled Bofors 57 mm Naval Automatic Gun L/60. The gun is remotely controlled by a fire-control computer but can as a redundancy measure also be operated manually by crew using instrument panels either on or in direct contact with the gun.


title: Bofors 57 mm Naval Automatic Gun L/70

text: While the 57 mm cannon may not seem as powerful as larger naval guns, such as the OTO Melara 76 mm, some of its performances are comparable; given its rate of fire and amount of explosive per shell, the Bofors gun actually achieves a higher amount of "explosive fired per second" than the 76 mm.


title: Bofors 57 mm Naval Automatic Gun L/70

text: Although the Swedish Navy has been the primary user of the gun, it has been exported widely by Bofors Defence for use by the navies of Brunei, Canada, Croatia, Finland, Indonesia, Ireland, Malaysia, Mexico, Montenegro, Singapore, Thailand, and the United States.


title: Bofors 57 mm Naval Automatic Gun L/70

text: The gun is formally known under a variety of names around the globe. Internally at Bofors (now BAE Systems AB) it usually goes under names incorporating the Bofors term 'SAK', an acronym for 'SjöAutomatKanon', meaning "Sea Automatic Cannon" (literal) or "Naval Automatic Gun" (formal). Some examples being: 57 mm SAK 70 (57 mm sjöautomatkanon L/70) and SAK 57 Mk1, SAK 57 Mk2, SAK 57 Mk3, etc. Not to be confused with the Bofors 57 mm Naval Automatic Gun L/60 which has gone under similar names like 57 mm SAK 60 (57 mm sjöautomatkanon L/60). BAE Systems has also stated on their website that the current generation of the weapon, the mark 3, is simply known as the 57Mk3 internally as of 2011.


title: Bofors 57 mm Naval Automatic Gun L/70

text: The Bofors 40 mm L/60 anti air gun (1.6 inch) was one of the most popular naval anti-aircraft guns during World War II, used long after the war in a variety of roles. However, as jet aircraft became more prevalent in the post-war era, it was clear the gun did not have the rate of fire needed to effectively deal with these threats. Flying at speeds close to , a jet aircraft flew through the effective range of the Bofors 40 mm gun in too short a time for the gun to fire enough rounds to ensure a hit.


title: Bofors 57 mm Naval Automatic Gun L/70

text: Bofors' engineers considered two solutions to the problem. One was to greatly increase the firing speed of the 40 while also incorporating any minor changes that would improve its range. This produced the 40 mm L/70, which remains popular to this day. The other was to design a larger weapon with much greater effective range and a larger explosive load that offset a lower firing rate. This eventually resulted in the single-barreled Bofors 57 mm Automatic A.A. Gun L/60 and twin-barreled Bofors 57 mm Naval Automatic Gun L/60 in 1950. The 57 mm L/60 systems were however far from ideal; they had a low rate of fire and were very big and heavy, especially the twin-barrel system. Due to the ever improving performance of jet aircraft, a new and improved base design was needed by the late 1960s. The focus of the new design was to increase velocity, range and firing rate. This design became the 57 mm Naval Automatic Gun L/70.


title: Bofors 57 mm Naval Automatic Gun L/70

text: The baseline version of the new gun, later known as the "Mark 1", used a cartridge with the same case-length as the cartridge on the 57 mm Naval Automatic Gun L/60 ("57 mm x 438 mm") but with a new shape and propellant, giving it an increased velocity of , compared to on the L/60 cartridge. Fire rate was also higher on the L/70 design: 200 rounds per minute, compared to 130 rounds per minute per barrel on the 57 mm L/60-design. The Mark 1 gun mount featured a 40-round magazine and a further 128 rounds were stowed inside the Mark 1 turret. Aiming operation was performed by a new electro-hydraulic system for rapid training and elevation.


title: Bofors 57 mm Naval Automatic Gun L/70

text: The 57 mm L/70 Mark 1 was introduced into the Swedish Navy in 1971 as the "57 mm automatpjäs 7101" ("57 mm apj 7101") on the Norrköping-class missile boat fast attack craft, also known as the Spica-II-class (not to be confused with the Spica-class torpedo boat (Spica-I)). It featured two ammunition hoists. A second variant designated "57 mm apj 7102" was introduced in 1972 on the HMS Jägaren (V150) patrol boat. It was similar to the 7101 but featured only a single ammunition hoist. Besides Sweden, the Mark 1 also saw adoption with Finland, Malaysia, Norway, Indonesia, Singapore and (the former) Yugoslavia.


title: Bofors 57 mm Naval Automatic Gun L/70

text: The "Mark 2" was an improved variant of the gun designed in 1981. It featured a slightly higher rate of fire of 220 rounds per minute, had a lighter weight, and utilized a new servo drive/servomechanism system which compensates for barrel oscillations during firing, increasing the hit probability. According to Bofors, the new servo system allowed the Mark 2 to be both accurate and agile enough for use against sea skimming anti-ship missiles and that it could put more explosives into a surface target within a thirty-second window than any naval gun with a calibre smaller than . The Mark 2 gun is fitted with a 40-round ready-use gun-magazine with four vertical 10-round compartments. There are also cassettes inside the mounting for 80 more ready to use rounds (120 rounds total in the mounting). Ammunition is hoisted manually into the mounting using two manual-hoists which feeds from the ammunition-room below the mounting. Bofors claims that with 120 ready rounds the system can sufficiently engage 1 to 2 surface targets and 4 sea skimming missiles.


title: Bofors 57 mm Naval Automatic Gun L/70

text: To remove weight from the design, the Mark 2 variant omitted the water-cooling used on the Mark 1. This meant a lighter barrel and gun mount. According to Bofors, water-cooling was not needed for the modern missions the Mark 2 was used for. Bofors even recommended that watercooling be removed from older mountings. The Mark 2 gun barrel was also forged from monobloc steel to help with heat-wear from the lack of water-cooling. The Mark 2 mounting originally also had room for a gun operator, however, the compartment was too narrow for practicality and the wind-shield proved to be a source for radar-reflections, and was quickly replaced by a TV-camera.


title: Bofors 57 mm Naval Automatic Gun L/70

text: The 57 mm L/70 Mark 2 was introduced into the Swedish Navy in 1985 as the "57 mm automatpjäs 7103" ("57 mm apj 7103") on the —HSwMS "Stockholm" (sister ship HSwMS "Malmö" was built in 1984 but armed with the older Mk1, subsequently retrofitted with the Mk2 in 2009). An improved version designated "57 mm automatpjäs 7103B" ("57 mm apj 7103B") was introduced in 1990 on the Göteborg-class corvette. Beyond Sweden the Mark 2 also saw adoption by Canada and four other navies. Bofors has manufactured a total of about 25 Bofors 57 mm L/70 Mark 2 guns.


title: Bofors 57 mm Naval Automatic Gun L/70

text: The latest development of the gun is the "Mark 3", designed in 1995 for use on the then planned "Visby"-class corvette. The Mark 3 system has kept the same rate of fire and ammunition capacity as the previous Mark 2 system but has added a ton of features to make it a modern system. Some of the primary changes includes: the ability to use Bofors 3P all-target programmable ammunition, the addition of a small muzzle velocity radar housed in a radome externally above the gun barrel for measuring the muzzle velocity of the departing projectiles for fire-control purposes, usually but not necessarily with the new Bofors 57 mm 3P ammunition, the ability to instantly change ammunition types by the use of a dual-feed system, another 1,000 rounds stowed in the standby rack beneath deck, as well as an improved fire control system. The Mark 3 system can also be operated/fired manually without the FC system using a joystick and video camera (mounted on the gun). The camera is fitted as standard.


title: Bofors 57 mm Naval Automatic Gun L/70

text: For the "Visby"-class corvette Bofors also developed a new optional low radar profile (also known as low radar cross-section, or RCS) stealth mounting (also known as a cupola), which allows the gun to be hidden from radar and plain sight when not in use. The stealth mount/cupola is made of carbon-fibre-reinforced polymer and has a very distinctive angular, low signature.


title: Bofors 57 mm Naval Automatic Gun L/70

text: The Bofors 57 mm SAK L/70 Mk3 was introduced into service with the —fitted on in the year 2000. It has since also been adopted by a variety of nations, such as Finland and the United States. In American service, the United States Navy has designated the Mark 3 as the "Mark 110 Mod 0 57mm gun". According to a BAE Systems press release dated 1 August 2005, the Mark 110 would be manufactured at the BAE Systems facility in Louisville, Kentucky. BAE Systems has been awarded a contract by General Dynamics to provide two additional Mk110 Naval Gun Systems for the Independence variant of the US Navy's (USN's) Littoral Combat Ship (LCS).


title: Bofors 57 mm Naval Automatic Gun L/70

text: Ammunition for the Bofors 57 mm gun is produced by Bofors, Sako Limited in Finland, SME Ordnance in Malaysia and Nammo in Norway.


title: Bofors 57 mm Naval Automatic Gun L/70

text: In 2006, BAE Systems AB began to offer the Bofors 57 mm 3P all-target programmable ammunition, this allows three proximity fuzing modes as well as settings for time, impact, and armor-piercing functions. This increases the flexibility and effectiveness of the gun system, which has further reduced the reaction time of the gun and it is possible to choose ammunition mode at the moment of firing, giving it the ability to switch rapidly between surface targets, air targets, and ground targets.


title: Bofors 57 mm Naval Automatic Gun L/70

text: In April 2015, BAE Systems unveiled a new round for the Mk 110 in the design stage called the "Mk 295 Mod 1 Ordnance for Rapid Kill of Attack Craft (ORKA)", made to achieve one shot kills of surface and air threats. Answering a U.S. Navy requirement for increasing the accuracy and efficiency of naval rounds, the ORKA leverages technology BAE Systems developed for larger 127 mm and 155 mm guided rounds, using a 4-canard actuation systems to guide the round. It is fitted with a multi-mode imaging semi-active seeker that can be guided through laser designation or autonomous targeting by downloading image of the target prior to firing; ORKA retains the 3P multiple fuzing modes.


title: Bofors 57 mm Naval Automatic Gun L/70

text: In December 2015, the U.S. Navy revealed they were working on developing a guided 57 mm round for its Mk 110 guns on the Littoral Combat Ship and other Navy and Coast Guard ships.


title: Bofors 57 mm Naval Automatic Gun L/70

text: On 22 August 2017 L3 Mustang Technology (part of L3Harris Technologies) announced the completion of the Critical Design Review (CDR) phase for the U.S. Navy's MK 332 Mod 0 High-Explosive, 4-Bolt Guided (HE-4G) projectile. The round was developed from the Advanced Low Cost Munitions Ordnance program. It is intended for use on the LCS and the new fast Frigate, and the US Coast Guard's Legend and Heritage class cutters.


title: Voice frequency

text: A voice frequency (VF) or voice band is the range of audio frequencies used for the transmission of speech.


title: Voice frequency

text: In telephony, the usable voice frequency band ranges from approximately 300 to 3400 Hz. It is for this reason that the ultra low frequency band of the electromagnetic spectrum between 300 and 3000 Hz is also referred to as "voice frequency", being the electromagnetic energy that represents acoustic energy at baseband. The bandwidth allocated for a single voice-frequency transmission channel is usually 4 kHz, including guard bands, allowing a sampling rate of 8 kHz to be used as the basis of the pulse-code modulation system used for the digital PSTN. Per the Nyquist–Shannon sampling theorem, the sampling frequency (8 kHz) must be at least twice the highest component of the voice frequency via appropriate filtering prior to sampling at discrete times (4 kHz) for effective reconstruction of the voice signal.


title: Voice frequency

text: The voiced speech of a typical adult male will have a fundamental frequency from 85 to 155 Hz, and that of a typical adult female from 165 to 255 Hz. Thus, the fundamental frequency of most speech falls below the bottom of the voice frequency band as defined. However, enough of the harmonic series will be present for the missing fundamental to create the impression of hearing the fundamental tone.


title: Adolph Caesar

text: Adolph Caesar (December 5, 1933 – March 6, 1986) was an American actor, theatre director, playwright, dancer, and choreographer.


title: Adolph Caesar

text: Known for his signature deep voice, Caesar was a staple of Off-Broadway as a member of the Negro Ensemble Company, and as a voiceover artist for numerous film trailers. He earned widespread acclaim for his performance as a Sgt. Vernon Waters in Charles Fuller's Pulitzer Prize-winning "A Soldier's Play", a role he reprised in the 1984 film adaptation "A Soldier's Story," for which he was nominated for an Academy Award and Golden Globe Award won an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture.


title: Adolph Caesar

text: Caesar was born Harlem, New York City in 1933 as the youngest of three sons born to a Dominican mother and a black indigenous father. At age 12, he contracted laryngitis which led to his notably deep voice.


title: Adolph Caesar

text: After graduating from George Washington High School in 1952, Caesar enlisted in the United States Navy during the Korean War era, serving as a hospital corpsman for five years, achieving the rank of chief petty officer. Upon his discharge from the service, he decided to break into the theater and went on to study drama at New York University, graduating in 1962.


title: Adolph Caesar

text: Caesar made his film debut in 1969 in "Che!", playing Cuban revolutionary Juan Almeida Bosque. A year later, Caesar became an announcer for and then joined the Negro Ensemble Company in 1970 for productions such as "The River Niger", "Square Root of the Soul", and "The Brownsville Raid". Caesar also later worked with the Minnesota Theater Company, Inner City Repertory Company, and the American Shakespeare Theatre. He had a stint on the soap operas "Guiding Light" and "General Hospital" in 1964 and 1969, respectively.


title: Adolph Caesar

text: Thanks to his voice, Caesar found frequent work as a voice-over artist for television and radio commercials, including theatrical previews and radio commercials for many blaxploitation films such as "Cleopatra Jones", "Superfly", "Truck Turner" and "The Spook Who Sat by the Door". For many years, he was the voice of the United Negro College Fund's publicity campaign, reciting the iconic slogan "...because a mind is a terrible thing to waste."


title: Adolph Caesar

text: Later in his career, Caesar also lent his voice to the animated series "Silverhawks", in which he voiced Hotwing, a magician and skilled illusionist.


title: Adolph Caesar

text: In 1980, Caesar appeared in the infamous Bruceploitation mockumentary "Fist of Fear, Touch of Death," playing himself as a fictional television news reporter investigating the death of Bruce Lee.


title: Adolph Caesar

text: Caesar’s most iconic work, however started with his role as Army Sergeant. Vernon C. Waters in Charles Fuller's Pulitzer Prize-winning stage drama, "A Soldier's Play", in which Caesar won Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play and an Obie Award for Outstanding Off-Broadway Achievement. "A Soldier’s Play" is set in Louisiana during World War II, just before the U.S. military was desegregated. Waters is a self-loathing Black man who strives for equality and recognition for African-Americans while displaying a deep, borderline sadistic contempt for "stereotypically black" and Southern-born soldiers, and whose eventual murder by one of his own men kickstarts the story's plot.


title: Adolph Caesar

text: In a 1985 interview with the Los Angeles Times, Caesar stated he drew on his own experiences in crafting the character of Waters. "I’d studied Shakespeare to death. I knew more about Shakespeare than Shakespeare knew about himself. After I did one season at a Shakespearean repertory company, a director said to me, ‘You have a marvelous voice. You know the king’s English well. You speak iambic pentameter. My suggestion is that you go to New York and get a good colored role.' Waters has tried his best, but no matter what you do, they still hate you.“ Caesar subsequently coined the character's signature phrase, "They still hate you".


title: Adolph Caesar

text: Caesar subsequently reprised his role as Waters in Norman Jewison's 1984 film adaptation of Fuller's play, retitled "A Soldier's Story." His performance was similarly acclaimed and earned him numerous accolades, including Academy Award and Golden Globe Award nominations for Best Supporting Actor, and an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture. He also won the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor.


title: Adolph Caesar

text: On the basis of his "Soldier's Story" success, Caesar was cast in Steven Spielberg's "The Color Purple" as Old Mister Johnson, the father of Danny Glover's character. He also appeared on an episode of "The Twilight Zone" and an "ABC Afterschool Special". Caesar's last completed film was "Club Paradise," released posthumously.


title: Adolph Caesar

text: Caesar was working on the Los Angeles set of the 1986 film "Tough Guys" (with Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas) when he suffered a heart attack and died a short time later. His role was recast with Eli Wallach. He was interred in the Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York.


title: Ashleigh Murray

text: Ashleigh Monique Murray (born January 18, 1988) is an American actress and singer. She portrayed Josie McCoy, the lead singer of the band Josie and the Pussycats, on the CW television series "Riverdale". Murray reprised this role in the "Riverdale" spin-off series "Katy Keene", which premiered on The CW in 2020.


title: Ashleigh Murray

text: In 2016, Murray was cast as a series regular in The CW's teen drama "Riverdale", portraying Josie McCoy, "a gorgeous, snooty and ambitious girl who is the lead singer for the popular band Josie and the Pussycats". The show premiered in 2017, and Murray was a cast member until 2019. In February 2019, it was announced that Murray would reprise her role as Josie McCoy as part of the main cast of the "Riverdale" spin-off pilot, "Katy Keene". In May 2019, The CW ordered "Katy Keene" to series.


title: Ashleigh Murray

text: Murray starred, and played the title role, in the Netflix movie "Deidra & Laney Rob a Train" in 2017. The film had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 23, 2017. It was released on March 17, 2017, by Netflix.


title: Ashleigh Murray

text: In 2017, it was announced that Murray had joined the cast of MGM's musical "Valley Girl", a remake of the 1983 film, as Loryn.


title: John Panozzo

text: John Anthony Panozzo (September 20, 1948 – July 16, 1996) was an American drummer best known for his work with rock band Styx.


title: John Panozzo

text: Panozzo grew up in the Roseland neighborhood, the south side of Chicago, Illinois, with his fraternal twin brother, Chuck (born 90 minutes apart). At age 7, the twins took musical lessons from their uncle in which John took an interest in drums and percussion. They attended Catholic school and eventually they were part of a three-piece band in which John played drums and Chuck played guitar. They would play weddings at age 12 and were paid $15 apiece.


title: John Panozzo

text: Then, in 1961, John, Chuck, and their neighbor, Dennis DeYoung, formed a band called The Tradewinds in which John played drums, Chuck played guitar, and Dennis played the accordion and sang. They played local gigs at bars and began gaining popularity as a garage band on the city's South Side. In 1968, Chuck switched to bass and they added guitarists/vocalists James "J.Y." Young and John Curulewski, changing their name to TW4. The band signed to Wooden Nickel Records and changed their name to Styx.


title: John Panozzo

text: Panozzo was active in Styx from 1972 - 1984, when the band went on hiatus. In 1993, Panozzo played drums on two tracks for guitarist/vocalist James Young's solo album "Out on a Day Pass".


title: John Panozzo

text: Years of excessive drinking began to take a toll on his liver. In 1996, as Styx was about to embark on its first tour with the classic line-up since 1983, John fell seriously ill and began battling cirrhosis of the liver, eventually dying of gastrointestinal hemorrhaging and cirrhosis in Chicago on July 16, 1996; he was 47 years old.


title: John Panozzo

text: The band dedicated their 1996 "Return to Paradise" tour to him. Tommy Shaw, who had earlier replaced Curulewski, wrote the song "Dear John" as the band's final tribute to Panozzo.


title: John Panozzo

text: Panozzo used Premier drums during the band's early years then switched to Tama drums by late 1978. He also played Zildjian cymbals.


title: Alcohol measurements

text: The British Reputed Pint and Reputed Quart were used in Great Britain and throughout the Empire from the late 17th century until the early 20th century. Originally there were different standard gallons depending on the type of alcohol. That meant that the Reputed measures varied depending on which standard gallon was used. A Reputed Pint of beer was equal to 285 mL (1/2 an Ale Pint, or equivalent to 10 imperial oz. or 9.63 US oz.) and a Reputed Quart of wine was equal to 730 mL (3/4 of a Wine Quart, or equivalent to 25.69 Imp. oz. or 24.68 US fluid oz.). When the Imperial system was adopted in 1824, the fluid gallon was standardized on the old Ale Gallon (which had 160 fluid ounces). However, Reputed pints and quarts were still used by breweries and merchants, but measurements were now based on the Imperial system. There was still confusion about whether Reputed or Imperial measures was being used by the merchant, so eventually Imperial pints and quarts were made standard in the early 20th century.


title: Alcohol measurements

text: The United States adopted the British Wine Gallon (which had 128 fluid ounces) as standard. The laws concerning the production and sale of alcohol stated that it had to be sold in portions of a gallon for tax purposes. A standard case of bottled beer, wine or liquor had to be equal to two gallons and bottles came in half-dozens and dozens rather than fourths (quarts) and eighths (pints). There would be 24 small bottles (Twelfths of a US gallon) or 12 large bottles (Sixths of a US gallon) per case. The bottles were later increased in size (Tenths and Fifths of a US gallon) to be equivalent to British Reputed Pints and Quarts, allowing them to be interchangeable for export. The American liquor industry later referred to these measures as "Commercial Pints" (Tenths) and "Commercial Quarts" (Fifths).


title: Alcohol measurements

text: The 750 mL Standard wine bottle was chosen because it was the standard French wine bottle once moulded glass bottles were available in the 19th century. Previously there was a roughly 730 mL limit to glass-blown bottles because that was the limit of a glassblower's lungs. The volume was rounded up to 750 mL and then was used as the base size for French wine containers, with all subdivisions and multiples figured from it. The rest of the world followed suit with equivalent customary measurement versions of their own (like the British Reputed Quart).


title: Alcohol measurements

text: Following metrication in 1980, American still wines can also be sold in large multi-liter containers, but only in full liters. They are typically sold in glass demijohns or foil bag-in-box containers holding 4, 5, 7, 8, or 10 Liters.


title: Where the Sidewalk Ends

text: Where the Sidewalk Ends is a 1974 children's poetry collection written and illustrated by Shel Silverstein. It was published by Harper and Row Publishers. The book's poems address many common childhood concerns and also present purely fanciful stories and imagination inspiring images. Based on a 2007 online poll, the National Education Association list the book as one of its "Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children." Controversial because of profanity and subject matter, the book was banned in many libraries and schools.


title: Where the Sidewalk Ends

text: A 30th Anniversary Edition of the book appeared in 2004, and two audio editions (1983 and 2000) are also available.


title: Where the Sidewalk Ends

text: The collection contains a series of poems, including the title poem "Where the Sidewalk Ends", as well as illustrations. The author dedicated this book "For Ursula" and gives thanks to Ursula Nordstrom, Barbara Borack, Kadijah Cooper, Dorothy Hagen, Beri Greenwald, Gloria Bressler, and Bill Cole.


title: Where the Sidewalk Ends

text: In 2004, a special 30th Anniversary Edition was published, which included 12 new poems. The following titles are found only in the 30th Anniversary Edition:


title: Where the Sidewalk Ends

text: The audio edition of the book was originally released as an album in 1983, which won the 1984 Grammy Award for Best Recording For Children. The collection is recited, sung, and shouted by Shel Silverstein himself and produced by Ron Haffkine. Released on Columbia/CBS Records, he also performed it at the 1984 Grammy Awards.


title: Where the Sidewalk Ends

text: Recorded at Bullet Recording, Nashville, Blank Tapes, New York, and in Studio D at Criteria Recording in Miami, Florida.


title: Where the Sidewalk Ends

text: In 2000, the album was re-released on cassette and CD for the 25th anniversary of the book. This collection is copyrighted 1984 and 2000 by Sony Music Entertainment Inc. The collection is again recited, sung, and shouted by Shel Silverstein.


title: Where the Sidewalk Ends

text: The 25th anniversary edition also contains 11 previously unreleased tracks culled from the original master tapes. They are as follows:


title: Alma Cogan

text: Alma Angela Cohen Cogan (19 May 1932 – 26 October 1966) was an English singer of traditional pop in the 1950s and early 1960s. Dubbed the "Girl with the Giggle in Her Voice", she was the highest paid British female entertainer of her era.


title: Alma Cogan

text: She was born on 19 May 1932 in Whitechapel, London, of Russian-Romanian Jewish descent. Her father's family, the Kogins, arrived in Britain from Russia, while her mother's family were refugees from Romania. Cogan's parents, Mark and Fay Cogan, had another daughter, the actress Sandra Caron, who went on to play "Mumsey" in "The Crystal Maze", and one son, Ivor Cogan. Mark's work as a haberdasher entailed frequent moves. One of Cogan's early homes was over his shop in Worthing, Sussex.


title: Alma Cogan

text: Although Jewish, she attended St Joseph's Convent School in Reading. Her father was a singer, but it was Cogan's mother who had showbusiness aspirations for both her daughters (she had named Cogan after silent screen star Alma Taylor). Cogan first performed in public at a charity show at the Palace Theatre in Reading, and at the age of eleven, competed in the "Sussex Queen of Song" contest held at a Brighton hotel, winning a prize of £5.


title: Alma Cogan

text: Aged 14, she was recommended by Vera Lynn for a variety show at the Grand Theatre in Brighton and in July 1947 she appeared there for a week with Max Miller. In November 1947, she appeared in the show "Dick Turpin's Ride to York" at the Grand, Brighton. At 16, she was told by bandleader, Ted Heath, "You've got a good voice, but you're far too young for this business. Come back in five years' time." Heath would later say: "Letting her go was one of the biggest mistakes of my life." She also found work singing at tea dances, while also studying dress design at Worthing Art College, and was soon appearing as a chorus girl in the musical "High Button Shoes" at the London Hippodrome in November 1948 and in a revue called "Sauce Tartare" at the Cambridge Theatre in London in May 1949. She became resident singer at the Cumberland Hotel in London in 1949, where she was spotted by EMI producer Walter Ridley, who became her coach and signed her to HMV.


title: Alma Cogan

text: Cogan's first release was "To Be Worthy of You" / "Would You", recorded on her 20th birthday. This led to her appearing regularly on comedian Dick Bentley's BBC's radio show "Gently Bentley", and then becoming the vocalist for the BBC Radio comedy programme "Take It From Here", replacing Joy Nichols, from 1953 to the end of its run in 1960.


title: Alma Cogan

text: In 1953, whilst in the middle of recording "If I Had a Golden Umbrella", she broke into a giggle; she then played up the effect on later recordings. Soon enough, she was dubbed the "Girl with the giggle in her voice". ("Giggle" has sometimes been quoted as "chuckle".)


title: Alma Cogan

text: Many of her recordings were covers of U.S. hits, especially those recorded by Rosemary Clooney, Teresa Brewer, Georgia Gibbs, Joni James and Dinah Shore. Her voice was often compared with Doris Day's. One of these covers, "Bell Bottom Blues", became her first hit, reaching no. 4 on 3 April 1954. Cogan would appear in the UK Singles Chart eighteen times in the 1950s, with "Dreamboat" reaching no. 1. Other hits from this period include "I Can't Tell a Waltz from a Tango", "Why Do Fools Fall in Love", "Sugartime" and "The Story of My Life". Cogan's first album, "I Love to Sing", was released in 1958.


title: Alma Cogan

text: Cogan was one of the first UK recording artists to appear frequently on television, where her powerful voice could be showcased along with her bubbly personality and dramatic costumes. Her hooped skirts with sequins and figure-hugging tops were reputedly designed by herself and never worn twice. Cliff Richard recalls: "My first impression of her was definitely frocks – I kept thinking, how many can this woman have? Almost every song had a different costume. The skirts seemed to be so wide – I don't know where they hung them up!" Cogan topped the annual "NME" reader's poll as "Outstanding British Female Singer" four times between 1956 and 1960.


title: Alma Cogan

text: The UK musical revolution of the 1960s, symbolised by the rise of the Beatles, suddenly made Cogan unfashionable; in the 1991 BBC documentary "Alma Cogan: The Girl with the Giggle in Her Voice", Lionel Blair said she was perceived as "square". Her highest 1960s chart ranking in the UK was no. 26 with "We Got Love", and most of her successes at this time were abroad, notably in Sweden and Japan. She was especially disappointed that her 1963 cover of the Exciters' US hit "Tell Him" did not return her to the UK charts, according to singer Eddie Grassham. In 1964, Cogan recorded "Tennessee Waltz" in a rock-and-roll ballad style; this version was no. 1 in Sweden for five weeks in the best selling chart "Kvällstoppen" and number 1 for no less than 8 weeks in the Swedish Voting Chart ""Tio i Topp"". Tennessee Waltz also reached the top 20 in Denmark, while a German language rendering reached no. 10 in Germany. She had another number one hit in Sweden in 1965, "The Birds and the Bees". Already the year before, 1963, she had had success in Sweden when her "Tell him" became a hit. It spent seven weeks in the best selling record chart "Kvällstoppen" and peaked at #10. When she in the mid-1960's toured around Sweden with popular local pop bands, whose members were some ten years younger than her, she got the playful nickname "popmormor" (pop-grandmother).


title: Alma Cogan

text: Cogan also wrote some of her own songs. She co-wrote her 1963 record "Just Once More" (under the pseudonym of "Al Western") with her long-time pianist Stan Foster; her 1964 record "It's You" was also a Cogan-Foster collaboration, although this time she was credited under her own name. "Just Once More" peaked at no. 10 in the Swedish Voting Chart "Tio i Topp" in October 1963.


title: Alma Cogan

text: She continued to be a popular figure on the UK showbusiness scene, being offered the part of Nancy in "Oliver!", appearing on the teenage hit-show "Ready Steady Go!", and headlining at the Talk of the Town.


title: Alma Cogan

text: Cogan lived with her widowed mother in Kensington High Street (at 44 Stafford Court) in a lavishly decorated ground-floor flat where she frequently entertained other celebrities. Regular visitors included: Princess Margaret, Noël Coward, Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, Michael Caine, Frankie Vaughan, Bruce Forsyth and Roger Moore.


title: Alma Cogan

text: John Lennon once recalled that, when he was a teenager, he used to mimic her savagely during his time at the Liverpool College of Art. Lennon's wife Cynthia also recalled, "John and I had thought of Alma [as] out of date and unhip." But after Lennon actually met Cogan on the TV pop show "Ready Steady Go!" in 1964, they became close friends, so much so that Cogan's sister Sandra later said that the pair had a serious romance that had to be kept secret because of Alma's family's strict Jewish faith.


title: Alma Cogan

text: Cogan was close to the other Beatles as well, especially Paul McCartney, who first played the melody of "Yesterday" on her piano; he also played tambourine on her recording of "I Knew Right Away".


title: Alma Cogan

text: Cogan tried to update her image by recording some Beatles numbers and a spin-off from "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." ("Love Ya Illya"). But by 1965 record producers were becoming dissatisfied with Cogan's work, and it was clear that her health was failing. Her friend and colleague Anne Shelton attributed this decline to some 'highly experimental' injections she took to lose weight, claiming that Cogan was never well again after that.


title: Alma Cogan

text: Cogan embarked on a series of club dates in the North of England in early 1966, but collapsed after two performances and had to be treated for stomach cancer. She made her final TV appearance in August, on the guest-spot of "International Cabaret". The following month she collapsed while touring Sweden to promote "Hello Baby", recorded exclusively for the Swedish market. She died of ovarian cancer at London's Middlesex Hospital on 26 October, at the age of 34.


title: Alma Cogan

text: In deference to family custom, her death was observed with traditional Jewish rites, with burial at the Jewish Cemetery in Bushey, Hertfordshire.


title: Alma Cogan

text: The novel "Alma Cogan" by Gordon Burn presents an imaginary middle-aged Cogan looking back on life and fame in the 1980s. It claimed to be based on true events and real people, except for her early death, and won the Whitbread Book Award in 1991. Partly adapted from this novel was the BBC Radio 4 series "Stage Mother, Sequinned Daughter" (2002) by Annie Caulfield. Cogan's sister Sandra felt that it misrepresented both Cogan and her mother, and tried unsuccessfully to get it banned. Eventually the Broadcasting Standards Commission ruled that the BBC apologise to Sandra for failing to respect the feelings of the surviving family members.


title: Alma Cogan

text: The romantic comedy "In Love with Alma Cogan" is a film starring Roger Lloyd-Pack. He is an aging manager of an old-fashioned Pier Theatre. It leads to a flashback to his encounter with Alma Cogan, who performed at the theatre in his youth.


title: Alma Cogan

text: A blue plaque commemorating Cogan was installed by the entrance of 44 Stafford Court, her longtime residence, on 4 November 2001.


title: Amy Okuda

text: Amy Okuda is an American actress. She portrayed Julia Sasaki on the Netflix comedy-drama "Atypical" (2017–2021), where she was a series regular during the first two seasons. Okuda is most well-known as Tinkerballa in the popular web series ""The Guild""


title: Amy Okuda

text: Okuda was born in Torrance, California. Her early years focused on basketball, which she played from the age of five. She began dancing in the seventh grade and took up acting a few years later.


title: Amy Okuda

text: She has appeared in television commercials and music videos as a dancer. She has modeled in print ads for Apple laptops and Verizon, has been in commercials for Shoe Carnival and Japanese soft-drink company Suntory, and done voice-over work for AT&T.


title: Amy Okuda

text: In 2007, she landed a role in the TV show "Californication" with David Duchovny. Also in 2007, Okuda got the role of Tinkerballa in "The Guild", her first recurring role. As of the end of season four, she has been in all of the show's episodes, with the exception of a few Season 3 episodes where her character was mentioned but not seen.


title: Amy Okuda

text: In 2010, she appeared in a short educational film about the Spitzer Space Telescope. While flying to Saturn, she observes a giant ring newly discovered in 2009 by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.


title: Amy Okuda

text: In 2011, she appeared in the Break.com original music video "Tonight, I'm Frakking You" which is a science fiction and video game parody of the song "Tonight (I'm Lovin' You)" by Enrique Iglesias. In the video, she appears along with Alessandra Torresani, Kunal Nayyar, and Matthew Brown.


title: Amy Okuda

text: In November 2011, she was cast in a horror-social satire film titled "Chastity Bites". She plays queen bee "mean girl" Ashley Thorne.


title: Amy Okuda

text: In June 2012, she played Samantha in the YouTube channel YOMYOMF's series BFFs. Later that month, Amy played a recurring role in the web series "Away We Happened" on the YouTube channel Wong Fu Productions. The film starred Jen Chae and Victor Kim.


title: Amy Okuda

text: In April 2013, she appeared in the episode "The Bachelor" of "The Middle" (season 4, episode 19) as Sue's Tennis opponent, and on the Tabletop web series.


title: Amy Okuda

text: On March 25, 2014, she appeared in "Brooklyn Nine-Nine"'s season finale "Charges and Specs" (season 1, episode 22) as Sgt. Terry Jeffords' former girlfriend. She reprised the role in two later episodes. 2014 starred in José Manuel Cravioto Horror thriller film "Reversal", along Keith Johnson and Bianca Malinowski.


title: Amy Okuda

text: In 2015, she appeared in Season 2 of Shonda Rhimes' television drama series "How To Get Away With Murder" on ABC. Okuda also appeared as Christine Tanaka in two episodes of the television series adapted from Philip K. Dick's novel The Man in the High Castle.


title: Amy Okuda

text: In 2016, Okuda was cast as Julia Sasaki in the Netflix comedy television series "Atypical", which debuted on August 11, 2017.


title: Can't Take Me Home

text: Can't Take Me Home is the debut studio album by American singer and songwriter Pink. It was released on April 4, 2000, by LaFace Records in the United States. The album produced three singles—"There You Go", "Most Girls", and "You Make Me Sick"—and peaked at number 26 on the US "Billboard" 200. The production on the album includes Kevin "She'kspere" Briggs, Babyface, Kandi Burruss, Terence "Tramp Baby" Abney, Daryl Simmons, and Tricky. Pink shared co-writing credit on seven of the album's tracks. This album was described by AllMusic as "skittering, post-jungle rhythm for the bedrock of these savvy, club-ready dance-pop productions – a sound exploited expertly on TLC's record".


title: Can't Take Me Home

text: "Can't Take Me Home" received mixed to positive reviews from music critics. AllMusic gave the album positive review, giving it four out of five stars. Robert Christgau also gave a positive review, grading it B+. "Entertainment Weekly" gave the album a mixed review, grading it C+. "Jam!" and MTV Asia also gave mixed reviews; the latter gave album the grade five out of ten. "NME" gave a positive review on the album, grading it six out of ten. "Q" also gave a positive review, giving it the same grade as "AllMusic", four out of five stars. "Rolling Stone" gave a mixed review, giving it two and a half out of five stars.


title: Can't Take Me Home

text: "You Make Me Sick" was featured in the 2001 film and the soundtrack for "Save the Last Dance". "Split Personality", which was not released as a single, was featured in the 2001 film "The Princess Diaries".


title: Operation Gideon (2020)

text: Operation Gideon () was an unsuccessful attempt by Venezuelan dissidents and an American private military company, Silvercorp USA, to infiltrate Venezuela by sea and remove Nicolás Maduro from office in Venezuela. The plan involved entering the country by boat into Macuto port from 3 to 4 May 2020 in order to take control of Simón Bolívar International Airport in Maiquetia, capture Maduro and other high-level figures in his government, and expel them from the country. The operation had been infiltrated by officials of the Maduro government early on. Commentators and observers, including Guaidó officials who initially contacted Silvercorp, described the operation as amateurish, underfunded, poorly-planned, having little or no chance of success, and a suicide mission.


title: Operation Gideon (2020)

text: The operation occurred in the broader context of an ongoing international dispute beginning in January 2019 over the identity of the legitimate president of Venezuela; Nicolás Maduro or Juan Guaidó. Throughout 2019, Maduro had maintained control of Venezuela's military agencies and key governmental institutions. The state intelligence agencies, as well as the Associated Press, had prior knowledge of the plot, which was intercepted before the first boat reached land.


title: Operation Gideon (2020)

text: The attack went forward despite its impracticality, with Silvercorp founder Jordan Goudreau possibly motivated by a multi-million dollar reward offered by the United States to arrest or assist with the arrest of Maduro and his high-ranking officials in connection with federal indictments filed in late March 2020 alleging involvement in drug-trafficking activity. The raid involved two fiberglass motorboats owned by Silvercorp which launched from eastern Colombia toward the Caribbean coast of Venezuela north of Caracas. The boats were carrying approximately 60 Venezuelan dissidents and two American former Green Berets employed as mercenaries by Silvercorp. Eight Venezuelan dissidents were killed and seventeen invaders were captured, including the two American security contractors, whose interrogations were broadcast on state television in the hours following the event.


title: Operation Gideon (2020)

text: After the attack, it became public that a formal document setting out the objective of the operation was signed in October 2019 between Silvercorp and Guaidó's Strategy Committee, which Guaidó had formed with the goal of exploring all available options for removing Maduro from power and installing himself as president. Guaidó's Strategy Committee withdrew from the agreement and cut off ties with Silvercorp and Goudreau in November 2019. Juan Guaidó, his Strategy Committee, and officials of the Colombian and United States governments have all denied any role in the actual attack that went forward on 3 May 2020.


title: Operation Gideon (2020)

text: A power struggle concerning who is the legitimate president of Venezuela began in January 2019, when Juan Guaidó, president of the opposition-majority National Assembly, declared that incumbent Nicolás Maduro's 2018 re-election was invalid; that the office of the president of Venezuela was therefore vacant; and that he was assuming office as acting president of the nation. Guaidó was officially recognized as the legitimate president of Venezuela by almost 60 governments internationally, including the governments of the United States and Canada; Colombia, Brazil, and the majority of Latin American countries; and the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Spain, among other European countries. Other nations, including Russia, China, South Africa, Iran, Syria, Cuba, Nicaragua, North Korea and Turkey, continued to recognize Maduro as the legitimate head of state.


title: Operation Gideon (2020)

text: Alcalá was a Major General in the Venezuelan Army until he defected in 2013 and began gathering other defectors in Colombia, stationing them in the La Guajira Peninsula. Alcalá was sanctioned in September 2011 by the United States Department of the Treasury for allegedly helping FARC obtain weapons and smuggle drugs.


title: Operation Gideon (2020)

text: Goudreau served in the Canadian Armed Forces after attending the University of Calgary from 1994 to 1998, where he studied computer science. He later moved to Washington, D.C. and enlisted in the United States Army a few months prior to the September 11 attacks in New York City, eventually reaching the rank of Sergeant first class in the 10th Special Forces Group. He became a naturalized US citizen and retired at the age of 40 due to injuries. In 2018, Goudreau founded Silvercorp USA, with the initial idea being "to embed counter-terror agents in schools disguised as teachers". Goudreau is reported to have provided security at a political rally for Donald Trump in Charlotte, North Carolina in October 2018 based on material on the Silvercorp website and Instagram account. In February 2019, Silvercorp provided security services at Venezuela Aid Live, resulting in Goudreau turning his attention to Venezuela. According to Goudreau's friend and business partner, Drew White, he saw a business opportunity in the Trump administration's intensified efforts to remove Maduro from power. White distanced himself from Silvercorp and Goudreau when Goudreau began discussing launching a military operation in Venezuela.


title: Operation Gideon (2020)

text: Through connections within the private security community, Goudreau was acquainted with Keith Schiller, the longtime director of security for Donald Trump. Schiller brought Goudreau to a March 2019 fundraising event focused on security in Venezuela, which took place at the University Club of Washington, DC. , the director of humanitarian aid for Guaidó's government, was also in attendance.


title: Operation Gideon (2020)

text: After an unsuccessful uprising attempt against Maduro supported by Guaidó on 30 April 2019, some troops who sided with Guaidó subsequently took refuge in Colombia. According to the Associated Press, weeks later, Lester Toledo introduced Goudreau to Major General Clíver Alcalá Cordones at JW Marriott Bogotá, where groups of opposition politicians and dissident soldiers held conferences on strategies for accomplishing the removal of Maduro from power. During the two-day meeting with Toledo and Goudreau, Alcalá disclosed that he had recruited some 300 men currently stationed in training camps on the Guajira Peninsula near Riohacha, Colombia, ready to carry out "a 'mad plan' to push across the western border, take the oil center of Maracaibo and force their way to Caracas, the capital". Goudreau indicated that instead of 300 as Alcalá promised, there were only 60 trainees. Goudreau proposed an alternative approach, suggesting that his company, Silvercorp, could train and equip the soldiers for a rapid strike at a cost of US$1.5 million. Goudreau bragged about having contacts with Trump administration officials, though he did not provide support for his statements.


title: Operation Gideon (2020)

text: In May 2019, Keith Schiller and Goudreau met with Guaidó administration officials in Miami, Florida, where Goudreau promoted the idea of providing security for Guaidó officials. Schiller disassociated himself from Goudreau following the meeting, believing that Goudreau was incapable of providing the services he was offering.


title: Operation Gideon (2020)

text: In June 2019, Alcalá met with the National Intelligence Directorate of Colombia asking for support, saying Goudreau was a former CIA agent. However, the Colombians' CIA contacts in Bogotá reportedly denied that Goudreau had ever been a CIA agent. US officials learned of the militants in Colombia and discussed a plan to organize them to assist victims of the Venezuelan refugee crisis, thus diverting them from illegal activities. When reports emerged that they might be used for an armed operation, one anonymous US official described the notion as "completely insane".


title: Operation Gideon (2020)

text: By 16 June 2019, Goudreau had compiled a list of required equipment, according to former United States Navy SEAL Ephraim Mattos, who met with Alcalá's troops while working in Colombia. The list included "320 M4 assault rifles, an anti-tank rocket launcher, Zodiac boats, US$1 million in cash and state-of-the-art night vision goggles". The trainees reportedly believed they had the backing of the U.S. government.


title: Operation Gideon (2020)

text: In August 2019, Guaidó established a Strategic Committee and named J. J. Rendón as the General Strategist. The Strategic Committee was tasked with exploring possibilities and testing scenarios for the removal of Maduro from office, with methods ranging from increased international condemnation of Maduro to armed action. In August 2019, shortly after the formation of Guaidó's Strategic Committee, Maduro stated there was a "plan ... to get 32 mercenaries into Venezuela to kill me and to kill Venezuelan revolutionary leaders".


title: Operation Gideon (2020)

text: Rendón stated that his orders upon being named as General Strategist were to consider every option, quoting Guaidó as "saying all options were on the table, and under the table". Among the scenarios considered by the group was the removal of Maduro by capturing him and his high-ranking officials and sending them to another country for prosecution. The Committee studied the "universal enemy" doctrine and analyzed the unsuccessful Bay of Pigs Invasion of Cuba in April 1961. The Strategic Committee adopted the position that the Venezuelan Constitution, the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, and other treaties constituted legal justification for taking action to remove Maduro.


title: Operation Gideon (2020)

text: Rendón told "The Washington Post" that the Strategic Committee had contacted numerous groups about ousting Maduro, but they demanded prices from US$500 million to US$1.5 billion. Goudreau then made contact with Rendón on 7 September 2019 at a condominium in Miami, where Goudreau made a sales pitch, proposing the capture of Maduro and his officials and their extraction from Venezuela. Goudreau offered a self-financed plan at a cheaper cost of $212.9 million, backed by future oil sales. According to a source interviewed by the PanAm Post, Goudreau said he needed a signed agreement from the interim government in order to raise funds, but the opposition representatives initially put him off. On 10 October 2019, Goudreau text messaged Rendón saying, "Washington is fully aware of your direct participation in the project and I don't want them to lose faith." Further text messages displayed Maduro's inner circle warehouses filled with US dollars; Goudreau was offered 14% of funds recovered during the operation.


title: Operation Gideon (2020)

text: A 41-page document containing various attachments of the General Services agreement was signed in Washington, D.C., on 16 October 2019, by Jordan Goudreau on behalf of Silvercorp and J. J. Rendón and Sergio Vergara on behalf of the Guaidó administration. Rendón described the agreement as a "trial balloon" and a test of what Goudreau could do that was never officially implemented. The language of the agreement of "Operation Resolution" expressly stipulated that the end objective was to forcibly remove Maduro and to install Guaidó as president of Venezuela. Within a week of signing the agreement, Goudreau reported back to the opposition that he had secured funding for the operation, but provided no proof.


title: Operation Gideon (2020)

text: In the agreement's attachments, rules of engagement (ROE) were drafted that included the protection of Venezuela's cultural sites, unless used for illicit activity, and the targeting of infrastructure and economic objectives. The ROE also designated numerous enemies: Nicolás Maduro, Diosdado Cabello, their supporters, colectivos, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the National Liberation Army (ELN), and Hezbollah. Also included in the agreement's ROE were riot control guidelines, permitting the use of non-lethal weapons such as rubber bullets, tear gas, shields and batons against any person who became "unruly" and attacked operatives. The contract also permitted Silvercorp to detain civilians on reasonable suspicion. The agreement also established a chain of command: Juan Guaidó as commander-in-chief, Sergio Vergara as overall project supervisor, and J. J. Rendón as chief strategy officer. The agreement was signed by Rendón, Vergara, Goudreau, and Manuel J. Retureta, a Cuban-born attorney based in Washington who signed as a witness. It has been reported that Juan Guaidó himself also signed the contract, which he and his allies have denied.


title: Operation Gideon (2020)

text: Rendón told reporters that shortly after signing the agreement, Goudreau began acting suspicious, failing to provide evidence of financial backing, the armed support of 800 men, and demanded immediate payment of the $1.5 million retainer that was due within a five-day period according to the agreement. Rendón transferred Goudreau $50,000 for "expenses" to buy more time, but the relationship between the two quickly deteriorated.


title: Operation Gideon (2020)

text: On 8 November 2019, Goudreau met Rendón at the latter's condominium, where a heated argument took place. A witness to the argument at Rendón's condominium reported that "Jordan came to the apartment very upset, complaining about the alleged breach of the agreement. He demanded payment immediately, or he would screw everything up." Witnesses also reported that Goudreau threatened to join forces with Chavista businessmen if Rendón failed to pay, referring to supporters of the regime currently in power, and warning Rendón that "Whoever pays is in charge." According to Rendón, he and other opposition officials "considered the operation dead" after this encounter in early November.


title: Operation Gideon (2020)

text: In the immediate aftermath of the incident, Goudreau provided a copy of a General Services Agreement purporting to bear the signature of Juan Guaidó himself. Guaidó and his allies have denied that Guaidó signed the document, insisting that Rendón and Vergara signed on Guaidó's behalf. "The Washington Post" described the dispute over who signed the contract, or what parts of the contract, saying: "Goudreau counters that the agreement – supplied in part to The Post by Goudreau, with a more complete version provided by Rendón – bound the opposition to his services and initial fee. A seven-page document provided by Goudreau carries Guaidó's signature, along with those of Rendón and fellow opposition official Sergio Vergara. In the days following the operation, Goudreau disclosed what purported to be a copy of a contract containing Guaidó's signature, whose first and last page were missing, along with a covert recording supposedly depicting Guaidó in a video call on 16 October 2019 with Goudreau. On the recording, Guaidó purportedly says, "We are doing the right thing for our country" and "I'm about to sign." Guaidó and his allies have repeatedly insisted that Guaidó did not sign any contract with Silvercorp and never spoke with Jordan Goudreau directly or in a video or telephone call. In a statement on EVTV following the incident, Guaidó stated "That is not my signature. The dictatorship goes to great lengths to plant evidence." Guaidó's National Assembly described the document supposedly bearing his Guaidó's signature as a "false document as justification to try and kidnap and illegally detain the interim president Juan Guaidó".


title: Operation Gideon (2020)

text: Hernán Alemán, a politician from the opposition party Acción Democrática from Zulia who described Goudreau as "an extraordinary man and friend with extraordinary skills" and "even spent Christmas with Jordan, somewhere in Colombia", indicated in an interview following the event that he did not know about any details surrounding the contract or the discussions that took place in the United States.


title: Operation Gideon (2020)

text: When first asked about his contacts with Silvercorp by the AP, Rendón said that this information was confidential and that he could not confirm or deny signing a contract, even if it existed. Subsequently, Rendón stated that Guaidó had signed a "preliminary" agreement with Silvercorp. Ultimately, Rendón insisted that the document Goudreau produced was never signed by Guaidó and provided previous and subsequent agreements to "The Washington Post" that did not bear Guaidó's signature, saying that Guaidó knew only the rough outlines of an "exploratory plan" but grew suspicious of Goudreau based on the reports of the committee. Rendón said that "We were all having red flags, and the president was not comfortable with this."


title: Operation Gideon (2020)

text: Goudreau and Alcalá reportedly distanced themselves from the Venezuelan opposition due to their perception that the opposition was insincere and hypocritical because of alleged secret negotiations with the Maduro government. Though Alcalá and Goudreau no longer had the support of the opposition government, they resumed their preparations to go forward with the plot. Without aid from the US government or the Guaidó administration, Goudreau and Alcalá did not have the means required for a successful operation.


title: Operation Gideon (2020)

text: By December 2019, Silvercorp had purchased a fiberglass boat in Florida that was equipped with navigational equipment two months later. In January 2020, two other former Green Beret operators, Airan Berry and Luke Denman, arrived in Colombia. According to an article published by the PanAm Post on 26 May 2020, the three Americans traveled to Colombia on a private flight from Opa-Locka, Florida, to Barranquilla, Colombia, on 16 January 2020, arriving at approximately 10:30 a.m. The PanAm Post reported that the passenger list for the flight "included a high-ranking Venezuelan government official, Yacsy Alezandra Álvarez Mirabal, who, according to OpenCorporates, is the director of Lubricantes VENOCO de Centroamérica, a Venezuelan state-owned company attached to PDVSA."


title: Operation Gideon (2020)

text: In March 2020, Goudreau traveled to Jamaica in the Silvercorp-owned fiberglass boat where he met with former special forces friends and discussed Operation Gideon. According to Jack Murphy, self-identified as a former US Ranger, the CIA learned about the plan and warned Silvercorp not to go through with it on numerous occasions. "The Wall Street Journal" reported that the planned operation was "widely known to former Venezuelan soldiers who considered participating, Venezuelan opposition figures, senior Colombian intelligence officials and even the CIA, which monitored their activities in La Guajira, said the people with knowledge of the plans."


title: Operation Gideon (2020)

text: Speaking after the attack, Goudreau stated the operation was forced to rely on "donations from Venezuelan migrants driving for car share service Uber in Colombia" because he was not paid by Guaidó's team. Goudreau reportedly told the AP that "It's almost like crowdfunded the liberating of a country".


title: Operation Gideon (2020)

text: When asked why his troops would land at one of Venezuela's most fortified coastlines, twenty miles from Caracas and next to the country's biggest airport, he cited as inspiration the Battle of Gaugamela, won by Alexander the Great, who had "struck deep into the heart of the enemy".


title: Operation Gideon (2020)

text: In an interview after the operation, Hernán Alemán stated that Rendón never financed the operation and that he and Alcalá undertook the operation with Goudreau without his party's knowledge. According to Alemán, he and Alcalá took it upon themselves to finance the operation. Alemán said that at its peak, the group consisted of four camps occupied by 150 militants.


title: Operation Gideon (2020)

text: In the weeks leading up to the attack, many militants reportedly began to abandon the operation when Goudreau's promises failed to materialize and due to rumors that Maduro had infiltrated the operation.


title: Operation Gideon (2020)

text: Alemán said the operation was compromised and had been infiltrated, saying that after Alcalá's arrest, the operation's control was transferred to other people, there was no contact with the new leaders, and the rest of the mercenaries supposedly still in hiding in Venezuela have said Captain Antonio Sequea was a mole.


title: Operation Gideon (2020)

text: A shipment of weapons and tactical gear was confiscated on 23 March 2020 by Colombian authorities tipped off by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), with former DEA officials initially believing that the equipment was being sent to leftist guerrillas or criminal gangs. The impounded truck was headed for Venezuela carrying 26 semi-automatic rifles, night vision goggles, radios, and 15 combat helmets produced by High-End Defense Solutions, a company owned by Venezuelan Americans.


title: Operation Gideon (2020)

text: On 26 March 2020, the United States accused Maduro of narcoterrorism and through its Narcotics Rewards Program, offered a US$15 million reward for information leading to his arrest, plus an additional US$10 million each for information leading to the arrest of four close Maduro allies: Diosdado Cabello, Maikel Moreno, Tareck El Aissami, Vladimir Padrino López and Cilver Alcalá, one of the alleged leaders of the operation.


title: Operation Gideon (2020)

text: Alcalá assumed responsibility on 26 March for "a military operation against the Maduro dictatorship" that included the shipment of weapons captured in Colombia, stating that the United States, Colombia, and Guaidó officials had signed an agreement to overthrow Maduro. After Alcalá assumed responsibility for the weapons shipment, the Colombian attorney general announced on 28 March that an investigation into Alcalá's role in the shipment had been opened.


title: Operation Gideon (2020)

text: Guaidó denied knowledge of the event while United States Special Representative to Venezuela Elliott Abrams described Alcalá's statement as "despicable and quite dangerous". Abrams later said that Alcalá "was put up to making those terrible charges by the [Maduro] regime". Alcalá was extradited to the United States on drug trafficking charges after voluntarily surrendering on about 27 March. The Venezuelan government said that Alcalá was a US agent and that, after the operation failed, the United States government used narcoterrorism charges as a way to transport him to the United States to prevent him from revealing more secrets.


title: Operation Gideon (2020)

text: In the context of reacting to the intercepted shipment on 26 March, Maduro stated during a press release that Alcalá was hired by the DEA to assassinate him, "but he failed because we made him fail".


title: Operation Gideon (2020)

text: According to Hernán Alemán, who admits to participating in the planning of the operation up until the point Alcalá was extradited to the United States, Sequea took control of the operation and replaced militants. Alemán remarked that Goudreau was unable to exercise command because he was in the United States. Alemán, saying he was basing his statements on mercenaries who stayed behind in the boats, accused Sequea of being a mole and of selling the militants out.


title: Operation Gideon (2020)

text: In November 2021, Alcalá's lawyers lodged a motion to have the US charges dismissed along with a statement that US officials at the highest levels of the CIA, Treasury Justice, the National Security Council and the Drug Enforcement Administration were aware of his efforts to overthrow Maduro. The statement also said J. J. Rendón and two allies of Juan Guaidó were aware of Alcalá's coup plan.


title: Operation Gideon (2020)

text: Maduro's officials had advance knowledge of minute details of Goudreau and Alcalá's plans. "The Washington Post" wrote that Maduro "was well-informed of the effort virtually from its start." Two days after the confiscation of weapons and munitions in Colombia, on 25 March, the Venezuelan Minister of Communication and Information, Jorge Rodríguez gave a televised press conference in which he published details related to the training camps. Rodríguez named Robert Colina Ybarra, whom he identified as a murderer, as the leader of one of the training sites with the support of Colombian President Iván Duque. (Ybarra was later killed during the operation.) Rodríguez went on to mention that there were three American instructors at the training camps. "We know their cover names: agent Jordan, agent Luke, and agent Aaron", Rodríguez announced.


title: Operation Gideon (2020)

text: On 28 March, Diosdado Cabello identified Jordan Goudreau as an adviser for Alcalá during episode 294 of the show , which aired on state-owned Venezolana de Televisión. Cabello also identified by first name the two Americans who were eventually captured during the foiled plot. Cabello referred to the Americans only as "Luke" and "Aaron" [phonetic spelling] as special forces operatives allegedly training dissidents in Colombia for an armed invasion into Venezuela, without specifying their last names. Cabello also exhibited photographs purportedly showing Goudreau, Silvercorp and content from their social media profiles. The program also showed photographs from Instagram depicting Goudreau providing security services during the Venezuela Aid Live concert in Cúcuta and at a Trump rally in Charlotte. The purpose of broadcasting the images was to show that the United States was allegedly behind the international effort to remove Maduro from power and was conspiring with narcotics traffickers, referring to Alcalá. During the program, Cabello thanked "" for the information on Goudreau and the training camps in Colombia. The program also exhibited excerpts from various media organizations discussing the alleged contract between Guaidó and Silvercorp.


title: Operation Gideon (2020)

text: After news of the event broke, Maduro was explicit about the level of insider knowledge his government had, saying in his first public appearance: "We knew everything: what they were talking about, what they ate, what they drank, what they didn't drink, who financed them."


title: Operation Gideon (2020)

text: In the final days of April 2020, Rendón was contacted by Silvercorp's legal advisors demanding a payment of US$1.45 million, with Guaidó's officials reacting to the demands in fear, believing they were being blackmailed for money with the threat of the canceled plans being revealed to the public.


title: Operation Gideon (2020)

text: The Associated Press (AP) published an article on 1 May 2020 about Goudreau, his plan and its history, and his training camps, writing that the plans to attack Venezuela were "far-fetched" and that people who knew him believed he was "in way over his head". The article suggested that the Maduro government may have known of the plan since late-March 2020, but certainly knew by 1 May. Maduro confirmed that he knew of the plan by the evening of 1 May, and said that it had been initially planned for 10 March, but postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. By the time of the attack, many of the mercenaries had abandoned their camps following the arrest of Alcalá, investigations by Colombian authorities, and the growing pandemic. It has been suggested that Goudreau went ahead with the attack despite its poor planning because he was seeking the US$15 million reward that the US government placed on Maduro.


title: Operation Gideon (2020)

text: On 3 May, Diosdado Cabello, president of the National Constituent Assembly and vice-president of the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), released a statement indicating that the government had "received information that there was going to be an attack on Venezuela by sea; some people in boats attempted it, an action which was repelled by our security agencies on the beaches of Macuto, with an unfortunate tally of eight deceased, two detained people who were there; a lot of significant weapons, in addition to vehicles that they had ready to carry out actions directly on institutions and authorities."


title: Operation Gideon (2020)

text: The boats had launched from Colombia at 17:00 the day before in two waves, with many of the soldiers experiencing motion sickness and vomiting while at sea. According to Venezuelan state intelligence, the first boat, which was smaller and faster, arrived at Macuto, and the second boat arrived at Chuao in Aragua state. The Venezuelan military reported that the mercenaries had "war materials" on their boats. The naval attack force was composed of 60 soldiers, including two former United States Army Special Forces members employed as private military contractors for Silvercorp USA.


title: Operation Gideon (2020)

text: An initial fight in the early morning of 3 May involved the first boat and the Venezuelan Navy. Goudreau said that the second boat, yet to arrive at Venezuela, was running low on fuel at this point, but that refueling boats were sent from Aruba to help the incursion force. In the initial fight, eight mercenaries were arrested on the shore. Another six were killed on the beach; this had initially been reported as eight. Goudreau said that he had safe houses along the coast for his men. Videos of the fight, including gunshots, were shared on social media; the Venezuelan government first acknowledged the attack at 07:30, in an announcement from Interior Minister Néstor Reverol. One of the men killed was former Venezuelan army captain Robert "Pantera" Colina.


title: Operation Gideon (2020)

text: Goudreau and former Venezuelan National Guard officer Javier Nieto Quintero released a video in the afternoon taking responsibility, calling the attack "Operation Gideon" and explaining that they intended to launch an army into Venezuela to overthrow Maduro and his allies. Goudreau posted updates to Twitter shortly before and during the operation, saying that in addition to the naval attack, his forces had entered Venezuela by land and were still operating. In reality, Goudreau and Nieto Quintero posted their video from the safety of their homes in Florida. Speaking on national television that day, Reverol said that the Venezuelan military's defensive operation was ongoing, and would be for several days.