title: My Girl (film)

text: Later, Vada screams when she discovers she is hemorrhaging. With Harry not around, Shelly explains to Vada that she is experiencing her first period. As Vada accepts this happens only to girls, she is unwilling to see Thomas J., who happens to come by shortly afterward. A couple of days later, Vada and Thomas J. sit under a willow tree, wondering what a first kiss feels like, and they share one. After Vada heads home, Thomas J. returns to the woods to search for Vada's mood ring. Unaware that the beehive he knocked down is still active, he is killed by the bees due to his allergy.


title: My Girl (film)

text: Harry is left to deliver the tragic news to Vada. Following another doctor visit, a devastated Vada stays in her bedroom for a full day. Prior to Thomas J.'s funeral, Shelly suggests that Harry console Vada, but he brushes her off. To this, Shelly emotionally urges him to realize the significance of his daughter's pain. When Vada finally leaves her bedroom and sees Thomas J.'s body in his casket, her grief becomes so strong that she runs away. In tears, she rushes to Mr. Bixler's house, wanting to stay with him but discovering he is engaged.


title: My Girl (film)

text: Vada continues her grieving by the willow tree where she and Thomas J. hung out. When Vada returns home, everyone is relieved, including Shelly, whom Vada begins to accept as her future stepmother. Her grief also manages to mend the rift between her and her father, who assures Vada that her mother's death was not her fault.


title: My Girl (film)

text: Toward the end of summer, Vada and her father see and comfort Mrs. Sennett, who still struggles with her son's death. She returns Vada's mood ring, which Thomas J. had found. On the last day of her writing class, Vada reads a poem in memory of her best friend.


title: My Girl (film)

text: The screenplay, written by Laurice Elehwany, was originally titled "Born Jaundiced", and was purchased by Imagine Entertainment in July 1990. On August 24, 1990, it was reported in "Daily Variety" that the screenplay had been re-titled to "I Am Woman", but was subsequently changed to its final title, "My Girl", in the spring of 1991. Elehwany based the fictional setting of Madison on the small towns in southwestern Pennsylvania where she grew up.


title: My Girl (film)

text: Culkin and Chlumsky were cast in the lead roles of Thomas J. and Vada, respectively, in January 1991. Filming took place in Bartow and Sanford, Florida beginning in February 1991. Exteriors of the Sultenfuss home were supplied by a real Victorian home in Bartow, while the house's interiors were built on a soundstage in Orlando.


title: My Girl (film)

text: When "My Girl" was submitted to the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) in September 1991, it was rated PG-13. Later that month, the film's producers won an appeal to have the film reclassified to a PG rating.


title: My Girl (film)

text: The film holds a 50% score on Rotten Tomatoes based on sixteen reviews. Roger Ebert gave the film 3.5 stars out of 4, writing: "The beauty in this film is in its directness. There are some obligatory scenes. But there are also some very original and touching ones. This is a movie that has its heart in the right place." Owen Gleiberman of "Entertainment Weekly" praised Chlumsky's performance in the film, but conceded that "there’s something discomforting about a movie that takes the experience of an audacious, conflicted child and reduces it to: She needs to Confront Her Feelings. "My Girl" has some sweet, funny moments (the cast is uniformly appealing), yet it unfolds in a landscape of paralyzing, pop-psych banality."


title: My Girl (film)

text: Film critic Caryn James cited the film as being part of a "trend toward stronger, more realistic themes in children's films", specifically its representations of death, specifically that of a young child. David Kehr of the "Chicago Tribune" wrote of the film: "If "My Girl" helps stimulate family discussions of death and loss, it will certainly have done some good in the world. But at the same time, its aesthetic interest is virtually nil... Though "My Girl" seeks to stir large, devastating emotions, Zieff seems afraid to touch on anything too difficult or unpleasant, lest it alienate his audience. The results are curiously gutless and unmoving, as Zieff finds himself stuck with a sentimentality without substance, a poetry without pain." Peter Rainer of the "Los Angeles Times" was similarly critical of the film's "syrupy" elements, concluding: "The mixture of winsomeness and deadpan frights in "My Girl" ought to be weirder and more interesting than it is. After all, a girl who survives a household where bodies are embalmed in the basement is the kind of plucky heroine that movies about kids need right now. Or movies about adults, for that matter."


title: My Girl (film)

text: Janet Maslin of "The New York Times" was critical of the screenplay for being made up of "loose ends bound together only by intimations of mortality and family crisis," summarizing: "It's not hard for the maudlin "My Girl" to make its audience weepy at the sight of America's favorite kid in an open coffin. But it is difficult for this film to mix the sugary unreality of a television show with such a clumsy and manipulative morbid streak." "Variety" noted: "Plenty of shrewd commercial calculation went into concocting the right sugar coating for this story of an 11-year-old girl's painful maturation, but [the] chemistry seems right."


title: My Girl (film)

text: "My Girl" opened at No. 2 with $12,391,783, grossing $59,489,799 domestically, and $62 million internationally for a worldwide total of $121,489,799.


title: My Girl (film)

text: The soundtrack of the film contains several 1960s and 1970s pop hits, in addition to the title song (by The Temptations), including "Wedding Bell Blues" (The 5th Dimension), "If You Don't Know Me by Now" (Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes), "Bad Moon Rising" (Creedence Clearwater Revival), "Good Lovin'" (The Rascals), and "Saturday in the Park" (Chicago). When Vada gets upset, she plugs her ears and sings "Do Wah Diddy Diddy", the Manfred Mann version of which is also included on the soundtrack album. In addition, Vada and Thomas J. play "The Name Game" and sing "Witch Doctor", while Vada has posters of the Broadway musical "Hair", the Carpenters, and Donny Osmond on her bedroom wall.


title: Arabic alphabet

text: The Arabic alphabet (, ' or , '), or Arabic abjad, is the Arabic script as it is codified for writing Arabic. It is written from right to left in a cursive style and includes 28 letters. Most letters have contextual letterforms.


title: Arabic alphabet

text: The Arabic alphabet is considered an abjad, meaning it only uses consonants, but it is now considered an "impure abjad". As with other impure "abjads", such as the Hebrew alphabet, scribes later devised means of indicating vowel sounds by separate vowel diacritics.


title: Arabic alphabet

text: The basic Arabic alphabet contains 28 letters. Adaptations of the Arabic script for other languages added and removed some letters, as for example Persian, Ottoman Turkish, Kurdish, Urdu, Sindhi, Azerbaijani (in Iran), Malay, Pashto, Punjabi, Uyghur, Arwi and Arabi Malayalam, all of which have additional letters as shown below. There are no distinct upper and lower case letter forms.


title: Arabic alphabet

text: Many letters look similar but are distinguished from one another by dots (') above or below their central part ('). These dots are an integral part of a letter, since they distinguish between letters that represent different sounds. For example, the Arabic letters ب (b), ت (t) and ث (th) have the same basic shape, but have one dot below, two dots above and three dots above, respectively. The letter ن (n) also has the same form in initial and medial forms, with one dot above, though it is somewhat different in isolated and final form.


title: Arabic alphabet

text: Both printed and written Arabic are cursive, with most of the letters within a word directly connected to the adjacent letters.


title: Arabic alphabet

text: The original "" order (), used for lettering, derives from the order of the Phoenician alphabet, and is therefore similar to the order of other Phoenician-derived alphabets, such as the Hebrew alphabet. In this order, letters are also used as numbers, Abjad numerals, and possess the same alphanumeric code/cipher as Hebrew gematria and Greek isopsephy.


title: Arabic alphabet

text: The ' () or ' () order, used where lists of names and words are sorted, as in phonebooks, classroom lists, and dictionaries, groups letters by similarity of shape.


title: Arabic alphabet

text: The ' order is not a simple historical continuation of the earlier north Semitic alphabetic order, since it has a position corresponding to the Aramaic letter "samekh/semkat" , yet no letter of the Arabic alphabet historically derives from that letter. Loss of ' was compensated for by the split of "shin" into two independent Arabic letters, ("shīn") and ("sīn") which moved up to take the place of ". The six other letters that do not correspond to any north Semitic letter are placed at the end.


title: Arabic alphabet

text: Modern dictionaries and other reference books do not use the ' order to sort alphabetically; instead, the newer ' order is used wherein letters are partially grouped together by similarity of shape. The " order is never used as numerals.


title: Arabic alphabet

text: Another kind of " order was used widely in the Maghreb until recently when it was replaced by the Mashriqi order.


title: Arabic alphabet

text: The Arabic alphabet is always cursive and letters vary in shape depending on their position within a word. Letters can exhibit up to four distinct forms corresponding to an initial, medial (middle), final, or isolated position (IMFI). While some letters show considerable variations, others remain almost identical across all four positions. Generally, letters in the same word are linked together on both sides by short horizontal lines, but six letters () can only be linked to their preceding letter. For example, (Ararat) has only isolated forms because each letter cannot be connected to its following one. In addition, some letter combinations are written as ligatures (special shapes), notably " , which is the only mandatory ligature (the un-ligated combination is considered difficult to read).


title: Arabic alphabet

text: The following are not individual letters, but rather different contextual variants of some of the Arabic letters.


title: Arabic alphabet

text: The use of ligature in Arabic is common. There is one compulsory ligature, that for ' ل + ' ا, which exists in two forms. All other ligatures, of which there are many, are optional.


title: Arabic alphabet

text: A more complex ligature that combines as many as seven distinct components is commonly used to represent the word ".


title: Arabic alphabet

text: The only ligature within the primary range of Arabic script in Unicode (U+06xx) is ' + '. This is the only one compulsory for fonts and word-processing. Other ranges are for compatibility to older standards and contain other ligatures, which are optional.


title: Arabic alphabet

text: Note: Unicode also has in its Presentation Form B FExx range a code for this ligature. If your browser and font are configured correctly for Arabic, the ligature displayed above should be identical to this one, codice_1 ARABIC LIGATURE LAM WITH ALEF ISOLATED FORM:


title: Arabic alphabet

text: Note: Unicode also has in its Presentation Form B U+FExx range a code for this ligature. If your browser and font are configured correctly for Arabic, the ligature displayed above should be identical to this one:


title: Arabic alphabet

text: Another ligature in the Unicode Presentation Form A range U+FB50 to U+FDxx is the special code for glyph for the ligature " ("God"), codice_4 ARABIC LIGATURE ALLAH ISOLATED FORM:


title: Arabic alphabet

text: This is a work-around for the shortcomings of most text processors, which are incapable of displaying the correct vowel marks for the word ' in Koran. Because Arabic script is used to write other texts rather than Koran only, rendering ' + ' + ' as the previous ligature is considered faulty.


title: Arabic alphabet

text: If one of a number of the fonts (Noto Naskh Arabic, mry_KacstQurn, KacstOne, Nadeem, DejaVu Sans, Harmattan, Scheherazade, Lateef, Iranian Sans, Baghdad, DecoType Naskh) is installed on a computer (Iranian Sans is supported by Wikimedia web-fonts), the word will appear without diacritics.


title: Arabic alphabet

text: An attempt to show them on the faulty fonts without automatically adding the gemination mark and the superscript alif, although may not display as desired on all browsers, is by adding the codice_7 (Zero width joiner) after the first or second ""


title: Arabic alphabet

text: Gemination is the doubling of a consonant. Instead of writing the letter twice, Arabic places a "W"-shaped sign called ', above it. Note that if a vowel occurs between the two consonants the letter will simply be written twice. The diacritic only appears where the consonant at the end of one syllable is identical to the initial consonant of the following syllable. (The generic term for such diacritical signs is ').


title: Arabic alphabet

text: Nunation ( ') is the addition of a final '  to a noun or adjective. The vowel before it indicates grammatical case. In written Arabic nunation is indicated by doubling the vowel diacritic at the end of the word.


title: Arabic alphabet

text: Users of Arabic usually write long vowels but omit short ones, so readers must utilize their knowledge of the language in order to supply the missing vowels. However, in the education system and particularly in classes on Arabic grammar these vowels are used since they are crucial to the grammar. An Arabic sentence can have a completely different meaning by a subtle change of the vowels. This is why in an important text such as the "" the three basic vowel signs (see below) are mandated, like the "ḥarakāt" and all the other diacritics or other types of marks, for example the cantillation signs.


title: Arabic alphabet

text: In the Arabic handwriting of everyday use, in general publications, and on street signs, short vowels are typically not written. On the other hand, copies of the " cannot be endorsed by the religious institutes that review them unless the diacritics are included. Children's books, elementary school texts, and Arabic-language grammars in general will include diacritics to some degree. These are known as "vocalized" texts.


title: Arabic alphabet

text: Short vowels may be written with diacritics placed above or below the consonant that precedes them in the syllable, called '. All Arabic vowels, long and short, follow a consonant; in Arabic, words like "Ali" or "alif", for example, start with a consonant: ', ".


title: Arabic alphabet

text: In the fully vocalized Arabic text found in texts such as Quran, a long ' following a consonant other than a "" is written with a short ' sign (') on the consonant plus an ' after it; long ' is written as a sign for short ' (') plus a ; and long ' as a sign for short ' (') plus a '. Briefly, ' = '; ' = '; and ' = '. Long ' following a ' may be represented by an ' or by a free ' followed by an ' (two consecutive ""s are never allowed in Arabic).


title: Arabic alphabet

text: The table below shows vowels placed above or below a dotted circle replacing a primary consonant letter or a "" sign. For clarity in the table, the primary letters on the left used to mark these long vowels are shown only in their isolated form. Most consonants do connect to the left with ', ' and ' written then with their medial or final form. Additionally, the letter ' in the last row may connect to the letter on its left, and then will use a medial or initial form. Use the table of primary letters to look at their actual glyph and joining types.


title: Arabic alphabet

text: In unvocalized text (one in which the short vowels are not marked), the long vowels are represented by the vowel in question: ', ', or '. Long vowels written in the middle of a word of unvocalized text are treated like consonants with a ' (see below) in a text that has full diacritics. Here also, the table shows long vowel letters only in isolated form for clarity.


title: Arabic alphabet

text: Combinations and are always pronounced ' and ' respectively. The exception is the suffix in verb endings where is silent, resulting in ' or '.


title: Arabic alphabet

text: In addition, when transliterating names and loanwords, Arabic language speakers write out most or all the vowels as long (' with ', ' and ' with ', and ' and ' with '), meaning it approaches a true alphabet.


title: Arabic alphabet

text: A normal text is composed only of a series of consonants plus vowel-lengthening letters; thus, the word "qalb", "heart", is written "qlb", and the word "qalaba" "he turned around", is also written "qlb".


title: Arabic alphabet

text: To write "qalaba" without this ambiguity, we could indicate that the "l" is followed by a short "a" by writing a "fatḥah" above it.


title: Arabic alphabet

text: To write "qalb", we would instead indicate that the "l" is followed by no vowel by marking it with a diacritic called "sukūn" (), like this: .


title: Arabic alphabet

text: This is one step down from full vocalization, where the vowel after the "q" would also be indicated by a "fatḥah": .


title: Arabic alphabet

text: The long "i" sound in some editions of the "Qur’ān" is written with a "kasrah" followed by a diacritic-less "y", and long "u" by a "ḍammah" followed by a bare "w". In others, these "y" and "w" carry a "sukūn". Outside of the "Qur’ān", the latter convention is extremely rare, to the point that "y" with "sukūn" will be unambiguously read as the diphthong , and "w" with "sukūn" will be read .


title: Arabic alphabet

text: For example, the letters "" can be read like English "meel" or "mail", or (theoretically) also like "mayyal" or "mayil". But if a "sukūn" is added on the "y" then the "m" cannot have a "sukūn" (because two letters in a row cannot be "sukūn"ated), cannot have a "ḍammah" (because there is never an "uy" sound in Arabic unless there is another vowel after the "y"), and cannot have a "kasrah" (because "kasrah" before "sukūn"ated "y" is never found outside the "Qur’ān"), so it "must" have a "fatḥah" and the only possible pronunciation is (meaning mile, or even e-mail). By the same token, m-y-t with a "sukūn" over the "y" can be "mayt" but not "mayyit" or "meet", and m-w-t with a "sukūn" on the "w" can only be "mawt", not "moot" ("iw" is impossible when the "w" closes the syllable).


title: Arabic alphabet

text: Vowel marks are always written as if the "i‘rāb" vowels were in fact pronounced, even when they must be skipped in actual pronunciation. So, when writing the name "Aḥmad", it is optional to place a "sukūn" on the "ḥ", but a "sukūn" is forbidden on the "d", because it would carry a "ḍammah" if any other word followed, as in "Aḥmadu zawjī" "Ahmad is my husband".


title: Arabic alphabet

text: Another example: the sentence that in correct literary Arabic must be pronounced "Aḥmadu zawjun shirrīr" "Ahmad is a wicked husband", is usually mispronounced (due to influence from vernacular Arabic varieties) as "Aḥmad zawj shirrīr". Yet, for the purposes of Arabic grammar and orthography, is treated as if it were not mispronounced and as if yet another word followed it, i.e., if adding any vowel marks, they must be added as if the pronunciation were "Aḥmadu zawjun sharrīrun" with a "tanwīn" 'un' at the end. So, it is correct to add an "un" "tanwīn" sign on the final "r", but actually pronouncing it would be a hypercorrection. Also, it is never correct to write a "sukūn" on that "r", even though in actual pronunciation it is (and in correct Arabic MUST be) "sukūn"ed.


title: Arabic alphabet

text: The "sukūn" is also used for transliterating words into the Arabic script. The Persian word ("mâsk", from the English word "mask"), for example, might be written with a "sukūn" above the to signify that there is no vowel sound between that letter and the .


title: Arabic alphabet

text: Some modified letters are used to represent non-native sounds of Modern Standard Arabic. These letters are used in transliterated names, loanwords and dialectal words.


title: Arabic alphabet

text: There are two main kinds of numerals used along with Arabic text; Western Arabic numerals and Eastern Arabic numerals. In most of present-day North Africa, the usual Western Arabic numerals are used. Like Western Arabic numerals, in Eastern Arabic numerals, the units are always right-most, and the highest value left-most. Eastern Arabic numbers are written from left to right.


title: Arabic alphabet

text: In addition, the Arabic alphabet can be used to represent numbers (Abjad numerals). This usage is based on the ' order of the alphabet. ' is 1, ' is 2, ' is 3, and so on until ' = 10, ' = 20, ' = 30, ..., ' = 200, ..., " = 1000. This is sometimes used to produce chronograms.


title: Arabic alphabet

text: The Arabic alphabet can be traced back to the Nabataean alphabet used to write Nabataean. The first known text in the Arabic alphabet is a late 4th-century inscription from ' (50 km east of ') in Jordan, but the first dated one is a trilingual inscription at Zebed in Syria from 512. However, the epigraphic record is extremely sparse, with only five certainly pre-Islamic Arabic inscriptions surviving, though some others may be pre-Islamic. Later, dots were added above and below the letters to differentiate them. (The Aramaic language had fewer phonemes than the Arabic, and some originally distinct Aramaic letters had become indistinguishable in shape, so that in the early writings 15 distinct letter-shapes had to do duty for 29 sounds; cf. the similarly ambiguous Pahlavi alphabet.) The first surviving document that definitely uses these dots is also the first surviving Arabic papyrus (PERF 558), dated April 643, although they did not become obligatory until much later. Important texts were and still are frequently memorized, especially in Qurʾan memorization.


title: Arabic alphabet

text: Later still, vowel marks and the ' were introduced, beginning some time in the latter half of the 7th century, preceding the first invention of Syriac and Hebrew vocalization. Initially, this was done by a system of red dots, said to have been commissioned in the Umayyad era by Abu al-Aswad al-Du'ali a dot above = ', a dot below = ', a dot on the line = ', and doubled dots indicated nunation. However, this was cumbersome and easily confusable with the letter-distinguishing dots, so about 100 years later, the modern system was adopted. The system was finalized around 786 by ".


title: Arabic alphabet

text: Medieval Arabic blockprinting flourished from the 10th century until the 14th. It was devoted only to very small texts, usually for use in amulets.


title: Arabic alphabet

text: In 1514, following Gutenberg's invention of the printing press in 1450, Gregorio de Gregorii, a Venetian, published an entire prayer-book in Arabic script; it was entitled "Kitab Salat al-Sawa'i" and was intended for eastern Christian communities.


title: Arabic alphabet

text: Between 1580 and 1586, type designer Robert Granjon designed Arabic typefaces for Cardinal Ferdinando de' Medici, and the Medici press published many Christian prayer and scholarly Arabic texts in the late 16th century.


title: Arabic alphabet

text: Maronite monks at the Maar Quzhayy Monastery in Mount Lebanon published the first Arabic books to use movable type in the Middle East. The monks transliterated the Arabic language using Syriac script.


title: Arabic alphabet

text: Although Napoleon Bonaparte generally receives credit for introducing the printing press to Egypt during his invasion of that country in 1798, and though he did indeed bring printing presses and Arabic script presses to print the French occupation's official newspaper "Al-Tanbiyyah" ("The Courier"), printing in the Arabic language started several centuries earlier.


title: Arabic alphabet

text: A goldsmith (like Gutenberg) designed and implemented an Arabic-script movable-type printing-press in the Middle East. The Greek Orthodox monk Abd Allah Zakhir set up an Arabic printing press using movable type at the monastery of Saint John at the town of Dhour El Shuwayr in Mount Lebanon, the first homemade press in Lebanon using Arabic script. He personally cut the type molds and did the founding of the typeface. The first book came off his press in 1734; this press continued in use until 1899.


title: Arabic alphabet

text: The Arabic alphabet can be encoded using several character sets, including ISO-8859-6, Windows-1256 and Unicode (see links in Infobox above), latter thanks to the "Arabic segment", entries U+0600 to U+06FF. However, none of the sets indicates the form that each character should take in context. It is left to the rendering engine to select the proper glyph to display for each character.


title: Arabic alphabet

text: Each letter has a position-independent encoding in Unicode, and the rendering software can infer the correct glyph form (initial, medial, final or isolated) from its joining context. That is the current recommendation. However, for compatibility with previous standards, the initial, medial, final and isolated forms can also be encoded separately.


title: Arabic alphabet

text: The basic Arabic range encodes the standard letters and diacritics but does not encode contextual forms (U+0621-U+0652 being directly based on ISO 8859-6). It also includes the most common diacritics and Arabic-Indic digits. U+06D6 to U+06ED encode Qur'anic annotation signs such as "end of "ayah"" ۝ۖ and "start of "rub el hizb"" ۞. The Arabic supplement range encodes letter variants mostly used for writing African (non-Arabic) languages. The Arabic Extended-A range encodes additional Qur'anic annotations and letter variants used for various non-Arabic languages.


title: Arabic alphabet

text: The Arabic Presentation Forms-A range encodes contextual forms and ligatures of letter variants needed for Persian, Urdu, Sindhi and Central Asian languages. The Arabic Presentation Forms-B range encodes spacing forms of Arabic diacritics, and more contextual letter forms. The Arabic Mathematical Alphabetical Symbols block encodes characters used in Arabic mathematical expressions.


title: Arabic alphabet

text: Keyboards designed for different nations have different layouts, so proficiency in one style of keyboard, such as Iraq's, does not transfer to proficiency in another, such as Saudi Arabia's. Differences can include the location of non-alphabetic characters.


title: Arabic alphabet

text: All Arabic keyboards allow typing Roman characters, e.g., for the URL in a web browser. Thus, each Arabic keyboard has both Arabic and Roman characters marked on the keys. Usually, the Roman characters of an Arabic keyboard conform to the QWERTY layout, but in North Africa, where French is the most common language typed using the Roman characters, the Arabic keyboards are AZERTY.


title: Arabic alphabet

text: To encode a particular written form of a character, there are extra code points provided in Unicode which can be used to express the exact written form desired. The range "Arabic presentation forms A" (U+FB50 to U+FDFF) contain ligatures while the range "Arabic presentation forms B" (U+FE70 to U+FEFF) contains the positional variants. These effects are better achieved in Unicode by using the "zero-width joiner" and "zero-width non-joiner", as these presentation forms are deprecated in Unicode and should generally only be used within the internals of text-rendering software; when using Unicode as an intermediate form for conversion between character encodings; or for backwards compatibility with implementations that rely on the hard-coding of glyph forms.


title: Arabic alphabet

text: Finally, the Unicode encoding of Arabic is in "logical order", that is, the characters are entered, and stored in computer memory, in the order that they are written and pronounced without worrying about the direction in which they will be displayed on paper or on the screen. Again, it is left to the rendering engine to present the characters in the correct direction, using Unicode's bi-directional text features. In this regard, if the Arabic words on this page are written left to right, it is an indication that the Unicode rendering engine used to display them is out of date.


title: Arabic alphabet

text: There are competing online tools, e.g. Yamli editor, which allow entry of Arabic letters without having Arabic support installed on a PC, and without knowledge of the layout of the Arabic keyboard.


title: Arabic alphabet

text: The first software program of its kind in the world that identifies Arabic handwriting in real time was developed by researchers at Ben-Gurion University (BGU).


title: Arabic alphabet

text: The prototype enables the user to write Arabic words by hand on an electronic screen, which then analyzes the text and translates it into printed Arabic letters in a thousandth of a second. The error rate is less than three percent, according to Dr. Jihad El-Sana, from BGU's department of computer sciences, who developed the system along with master's degree student Fadi Biadsy.


title: Arabic alphabet

text: "This article contains major sections of text from the very detailed article from the French Wikipedia, which has been partially translated into English. Further translation of that page, and its incorporation into the text here, are welcomed."


title: Spam (food)

text: Spam (stylized as SPAM) is a brand of canned cooked pork made by Hormel Foods Corporation. It was introduced by Hormel in 1937 and gained popularity worldwide after its use during World War II. By 2003, Spam was sold in 41 countries on six continents and trademarked in over 100 countries.


title: Spam (food)

text: Spam's basic ingredients are primarily pork shoulder and ham, with salt, water, modified potato starch (as a binder), sugar, and sodium nitrite (as a preservative). Natural gelatin is formed during cooking in its tins on the production line. Concerns about Spam's nutritional attributes have been raised, in large part due to its high content of fat, sodium, and preservatives.


title: Spam (food)

text: Spam has affected popular culture, including a Monty Python skit, which repeated the name many times, leading to its name being borrowed to describe unsolicited electronic messages, especially email. It is occasionally celebrated in festivals such as Austin's Spamarama.


title: Spam (food)

text: Spam was introduced by Hormel on July 5, 1937. "The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America" states that the product was intended to increase the sale of pork shoulder, a cut which did not sell well.


title: Spam (food)

text: Ken Daigneau, the brother of a company executive, won a $100 prize that year in a competition to name the new item. Hormel states that the meaning of the name "is known by only a small circle of former Hormel Foods executives", but a popular belief is that the name is a contraction of "spiced ham". It has also been speculated to be an acronym for "Shoulder of Pork And Ham".


title: Spam (food)

text: The difficulty of delivering fresh meat to the front during World War II saw Spam become a ubiquitous part of the U.S. soldier's diet. It became variously referred to as "ham that didn't pass its physical", "meatloaf without basic training", and "Special Army Meat". Over of Spam were purchased by the military before the war's end.


title: Spam (food)

text: During World War II and the occupations that followed, Spam was introduced into Guam, Hawaii, Okinawa, the Philippines, and other islands in the Pacific. Immediately absorbed into native diets, it has become a unique part of the history and effects of U.S. influence in the Pacific islands.


title: Spam (food)

text: As a consequence of World War II rationing and the Lend-Lease Act, Spam was sold in the United Kingdom. British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher later referred to it as a "wartime delicacy".


title: Spam (food)

text: In addition to increasing production for the U.K., Hormel expanded Spam output as part of Allied aid to the Soviet Union. In his memoir "Khrushchev Remembers", Nikita Khrushchev declared: "Without Spam we wouldn't have been able to feed our army."


title: Spam (food)

text: Throughout the war, countries ravaged by the conflict and faced with strict food rations came to appreciate Spam.


title: Spam (food)

text: The billionth can of Spam was sold in 1959, the seven billionth can was sold in 2007, and the eight billionth can was sold in 2012.


title: Spam (food)

text: Domestically, Spam's chief advantages were affordability, accessibility, and extended shelf life. Statistics from the 1990s say that 3.8 cans of Spam were consumed every second in the United States, totaling nearly 122 million cans annually. It became part of the diet of almost 30% of American households, perceived differently in various regions of the country. It is also sometimes associated with economic hardship because of its relatively low cost.


title: Spam (food)

text: Spam that is sold in North America, South America, and Australia is produced in Austin, Minnesota (also known as "Spam Town USA") and in Dubuque, Iowa. Austin, Minnesota also had a restaurant with a menu devoted exclusively to Spam, called "Johnny's SPAMarama Menu".


title: Spam (food)

text: Residents of the state of Hawaii have the highest per capita consumption in the United States, bringing in sales of 7 million cans of SPAM per year. Its perception there is very different from on the mainland. Hawaiians sometimes call it "Portagee Steak".


title: Spam (food)

text: A local dish in Hawaii is Spam musubi, where cooked Spam is placed atop rice and wrapped in a band of nori, a form of "nigiri". Varieties of Spam are found in Hawaii and Saipan that are unavailable in other markets, including Honey Spam, Spam with Bacon, and Hot and Spicy Spam.


title: Spam (food)

text: Hawaiian Burger King restaurants began serving Spam in 2007 to compete with the local McDonald's chains (which also serve Spam). In Hawaii, Spam is so popular that it is sometimes referred to as "The Hawaiian Steak". There is even an annual Spam-themed festival on the island of Oahu that takes place every spring, known as the "Waikiki Spam Jam". Local chefs and restaurants compete to create new Spam-themed dishes, which are then sold in a massive street fair on Kalakaua Avenue in Waikiki.


title: Spam (food)

text: In 2017, Hawaii was plagued by a rash of thefts of Spam. Spam had long been a target of thieves in Hawaii, but the magnitude of the thefts ramped up, with incidents in which multiple cases of Spam were stolen at once. Local retailers believe organized crime was involved. This came alongside increases in thefts of some other retail goods, such as corned beef and liquor. The president of the retail merchants of Hawaii attributed the rise in retail thefts to a recent change in criminal law, which raised the threshold at which a theft would lead to felony charges by approximately $400.


title: Spam (food)

text: In Guam, average per capita consumption is 16 tins (cans) per year. It is also found on McDonald's menus there. The "Spam Games" also takes place in Guam, where locals sample and honor the best original, homemade Spam recipes.


title: Spam (food)

text: In the Northern Mariana Islands, lawyers from Hormel have threatened to sue the local press for publishing articles alleging ill-effects of high Spam consumption on the health of the local population.


title: Spam (food)

text: Sandwich de Mezcla is a party staple in Puerto Rico containing Spam, Velveeta, and pimientos (made into a spread) between two slices of sandwich bread.


title: Spam (food)

text: After World War II, Newforge Foods, part of the Fitch Lovell group, was awarded the license to produce the product in the U.K. at its Gateacre factory, Liverpool, where it stayed until production switched to the Danish Crown Group (owners of the Tulip Food Company) in 1998.


title: Spam (food)

text: The United Kingdom has adopted Spam into various recipes. For example, recipes include Spam Yorkshire Breakfast, Spamish Omelette, and Spam Hash. Spam can also be sliced, battered and deep-fried into Spam fritters.


title: Spam (food)

text: In the Philippines, Spam (currently distributed by The Purefoods-Hormel Company Inc.) is a popular food item and seen as a cultural symbol. As a former US colony, Spam reached the islands similar to how it reached Hawaii and Guam: as a result of World War II rationing. Spam is commonly eaten with rice (usually garlic fried rice) and a sunny-side up egg for breakfast. It is prepared and used in a variety of ways, including being fried, carmelized, served alongside condiments, or used in sandwiches. It has also been featured in numerous Filipino fusion cuisine dishes including Spam burgers, Spam spaghetti, Spam nuggets, and others.


title: Spam (food)

text: The popularity of Spam in the Philippines transcends economic class, and Spam gift sets are even used as holiday gifts. There are at least ten different varieties of Spam currently available in the country and an estimated 1.25 million kilos of the meat is sold every year in the Philippines. The popularity among Filipinos has led to the creation of a version with sugar and annatto, Tocino-flavor Spam, made for the overseas Filipino market in the US and Canada. During the rescue efforts after Typhoon Ondoy (Ketsana) in 2009, Hormel Foods donated over 30,000 pounds of Spam to the Philippine National Red Cross.


title: Spam (food)

text: In mainland China, Hormel decided to adopt a different strategy to market Spam (), promoting it as a foreign, premium food product and changing the Spam formula to be meatier in order to accommodate local Chinese tastes. Spam-like canned pork products are also produced by other food companies in China as "Luncheon Meat" ().


title: Spam (food)

text: In Hong Kong after World War II, meat was scarce and expensive, so Spam was an accessible, affordable alternative. The luncheon meat has been incorporated into dishes such as macaroni with fried egg and spam in chicken soup, as well as ramen.


title: Spam (food)

text: In Okinawa, Japan, the product is added into onigiri alongside eggs and used as a staple ingredient in the traditional Okinawan dish "chanpurū", and a Spam burger is sold by local fast food chain Jef. For the 70th anniversary of Spam in 2007, cans with special designs were sold in Japan due to its popularity, primarily in Okinawa.


title: Spam (food)

text: Following the March 2011 earthquake, Spam sales in Japan declined and Hormel shifted its focus to China, although Hormel did pledge to donate $100,000 along with cans of Spam for relief efforts.


title: Spam (food)

text: Spam was widely consumed within South Korea during the Korean War, and its popularity led to the creation of the Spam "kimbap" (rice and vegetable filled seaweed roll) in Korean cuisine. Because of a scarcity of fish and other traditional kimbap products such as kimchi or fermented cabbage, Spam was added to a rice roll with kimchi and cucumber and wrapped in seaweed. Spam was also used by US soldiers in South Korea as a means of trading for items, services or information around their bases.


title: Spam (food)

text: In South Korea, Spam (, licensed from Hormel by CJ CheilJedang) is popular with a majority of the population. , South Korea produced and consumed more Spam than any other country except the United States.


title: Spam (food)

text: Spam is also an original ingredient in "budae jjigae" (부대찌개; literally "army base stew"), a spicy stew with different types of preserved meat or kimchi etc.


title: Spam (food)

text: During World War II, Spam was not only eaten but was also incorporated into many other aspects of the war (grease for guns, cans for scrap metal, etc.); it was so prominent that Uncle Sam was nicknamed "Uncle Spam". Other terms influenced by the product's name include the European invasion fleet, or the "Spam Fleet". Furthermore, the United Service Organizations (USO) toured the "Spam Circuit". In 1943, comedian Suzette Tarri appeared as the harassed waitress character "Mrs Spam" in the British film "Somewhere in Civvies".


title: Spam (food)

text: In the United States in the aftermath of World War II, a troupe of former servicewomen was assembled by Hormel Foods to promote Spam from coast to coast. The group was known as the Hormel Girls and associated the food with being patriotic. In 1948, two years after its formation, the troupe had grown to 60 women with 16 forming an orchestra. The show went on to become a radio program where the main selling point was Spam. The Hormel Girls were disbanded in 1953.


title: Spam (food)

text: Spam has long had a somewhat dubious reputation in the United States and (to a lesser degree) in the United Kingdom as a poverty food. The image of Spam as a low cost meat product gave rise to the Scottish colloquial term "Spam valley" to describe certain affluent housing areas where residents appear to be wealthy but in reality may be living at poverty levels.


title: Spam (food)

text: Spam was featured in an iconic 1970 Monty Python sketch called "Spam". Set in a café which mostly served dishes containing Spam, including "egg and Spam, egg bacon and Spam, Spam egg sausage and Spam, Spam egg Spam Spam bacon and Spam ", the piece also featured a companion song. Because of its use in a line of a song in "Monty Python and the Holy Grail", the title of the musical version of the film became "Spamalot".


title: Spam (food)

text: The 1971 Baby Huey song "Hard Times" includes the lyrics "So many hard times...Eatin' Spam and Oreos and drinkin' Thunderbird baby," in which Spam and the other products are cited as examples of the speaker's destitute existence.


title: Spam (food)

text: By the 1990s, Spam's reputation as a low quality food led to its name being adopted for unsolicited electronic messages, especially spam email.


title: Spam (food)

text: Spam is the subject of the "Weird Al" Yankovic song "Spam", which is a parody of the R.E.M. song "Stand".


title: Spam (food)

text: Other offshoots of Spam in popular culture include a book of haikus about Spam titled "Spam-Ku: Tranquil Reflections on Luncheon Loaf". There is also a mock Church of Spam, and a Spam Cam which is a webcam trained on a can of decaying Spam.


title: Spam (food)

text: Spam is referred to in "Island of the Sequined Love Nun" by Christopher Moore, where SPAM is explained as "Shaped Pork Approximating Man", which was used to explain its popularity amongst Pacific Island Cannibals.


title: Spam (food)

text: The Pumpkin Spice flavour, introduced in September 2019, has gained the attention of the media and public.


title: Spam (food)

text: Spam is celebrated in Austin, Minnesota, home to the Spam Museum. The museum tells the history of the Hormel company, the origin of Spam, and its place in world culture.


title: Spam (food)

text: Austin is also the location of final judging in the national Spam recipe competition. Competing recipes are collected from winning submissions at the top 40 state fairs in the nation. The Spamettes are a quartet from Austin who only sing about Spam in parodies of popular songs. They first performed at the first Spam Jam in 1990 and continue to perform at various events.


title: Spam (food)

text: Hawaii holds an annual Spam Jam in Waikiki during the last week of April. The small town of Shady Cove, Oregon is home to the annual Spam Parade and Festival, with the city allocating US$1,500 for it.


title: Spam (food)

text: Spamarama was a yearly festival from 1978 to 2007 in Austin, Texas which had a peak attendance of 14,000. The themed events included a Spam cook-off (to contrast with Texas chili cook-offs) and the Spamalymplics including a "Spam toss" and a Spamburger (a 12-ounce portion on a bun) eating contest. The event returned in 2019.


title: Spam (food)

text: On August 8, 2021, L & L Hawaiian Barbecue established "National SPAM® Musubi Day" to celebrate the iconic snack from Hawaii. The celebration also happened on August 8, 2022 and has since become an annual celebration.


title: Spam (food)

text: The ingredients of Spam vary according to variety and market; those of variety "Spam Classic" are: pork with ham, salt, water, modified potato starch, sugar, and sodium nitrite.


title: Spam (food)

text: The official Spam website lists numerous different flavors of Spam products. In addition to the variety of flavors, Spam is sold in tins smaller than the twelve-ounce standard size. Spam Singles are also available, which are single sandwich-sized slices of Spam Classic or Lite, sealed in retort pouches.


title: Ted Nugent

text: Theodore Anthony Nugent (; born December 13, 1948) is an American rock musician and activist. He initially gained fame as the lead guitarist and occasional lead vocalist of The Amboy Dukes, a band formed in 1963 that played psychedelic rock and hard rock. After dissolving the band, he embarked on a successful solo career. His first three solo albums, "Ted Nugent" (1975), "Free-for-All" (1976) and "Cat Scratch Fever" (1977), were certified multi-platinum in the United States. His latest album, "Detroit Muscle", was released in 2022.


title: Ted Nugent

text: Nugent is known for his Gibson Byrdland, his bluesy and frenzied guitar playing, and his energetic live shows. Despite possessing a distinctive, wide-ranging singing voice, Nugent recorded and toured with other lead singers during much of his early solo career, including Derek St. Holmes, Charlie Huhn, Brian Howe and Meat Loaf, only taking on full lead vocal duties later on. His biggest hit was 1977's "Cat Scratch Fever", on which he sang the lead vocals. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, he was part of the supergroup Damn Yankees.


title: Ted Nugent

text: In later years, Nugent has drawn attention for his outspoken conservative political views, as well as his vociferous advocacy of hunting and gun ownership rights. He is a board member of the National Rifle Association and a strong supporter of the Republican Party. He has made a number of controversial and threatening statements against advocates of gun control; in one case, the Secret Service investigated him based on comments about President Barack Obama.


title: Ted Nugent

text: Nugent was born the third of four siblings in Redford, Michigan, and raised in Detroit, the son of Marion Dorothy ("née" Johnson) and Warren Henry Nugent. He attended William Fremd High School in Palatine, Illinois, as a freshman in 1963–1964, then transferred to St. Viator High School in Arlington Heights, Illinois. His maternal grandparents were Swedish.


title: Ted Nugent

text: Nugent grew up in a military family; his father was a career army sergeant. Nugent himself never served in the military, although he came of age during the height of the Vietnam War. In two 1977 and 1990 interviews with "High Times" magazine and the "Detroit Free Press", Nugent claimed he deliberately failed his draft physical by eating nothing but junk food for days beforehand and defecating and urinating in his pants.


title: Ted Nugent

text: Nugent denied his defecation story in a 2018 appearance on "The Joe Rogan Experience"; he asserted that he invented the story for his and his band's amusement, as he claimed news sources at the time often published inaccurate information on his band. He also claimed that he was in fact eligible for military service and passed a draft physical in 1969 while he was attending Oakland Community College. Nugent affirmed that his 4-F rating on Wikipedia was "made up". On "The Joe Rogan Experience", Nugent further claimed that he told the excrement story to the "High Times" just to have fun with its "dirtbag" and "hippie" writers in 1977 because he was "hardcore anti-drug"; however, in 1990 he again detailed his experiences "living inside pants caked with his own excrement" for one week to avoid the draft in an extensive 1990 interview with the "Detroit Free Press" after the formation of Damn Yankees. He further stated on "The Joe Rogan Experience" that in 1969 he passed his draft physical "with flying colors".


title: Ted Nugent

text: Nugent's Selective Service classification record (Selective Service No. 11-101-48-1792) shows he initially qualified for and took student deferments. When he was no longer enrolled in community college, he received a draft rating of I-A, until he failed his draft physical on August 28, 1969. After that physical, he was rated 1-Y ("registrant qualified for service only in time of war or national emergency") until that classification was abolished in 1971. He was subsequently reclassified 4-F, indicating ineligibility for military service under established physical, mental, or moral standards. The 1-Y and 4-F classifications were usually reserved for those with significant medical or mental issues.


title: Ted Nugent

text: Nugent told the "Detroit Free Press" in 1990 that if he had gone to South Vietnam, he would probably have either been killed or would have killed "everybody" including "all the hippies in the foxholes" with friendly fire.


title: Ted Nugent

text: The first lineup of the Amboy Dukes played at The Cellar, a teen dance club outside of Chicago in Arlington Heights, Illinois, starting in late 1965, while Nugent was a student at St. Viator High School. The Cellar's "house band" at the time had been the Shadows of Knight, although the Amboy Dukes eventually became a staple until the club's closing.


title: Ted Nugent

text: The Amboy Dukes' second single was "Journey to the Center of the Mind", which featured lyrics written by the Dukes' second guitarist Steve Farmer from the album of the same title whose cover features a diverse array of drug paraphernalia. Nugent, an ardent anti-drug campaigner, has always claimed that he had no idea that this song was about drug use. Early albums "The Amboy Dukes" (1967), "Journey to the Center of the Mind" (1968) and "Migration" (1969)—all recorded on the Mainstream label—sold moderately well. On April 5, 1968, the day after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., Nugent joined other musicians in a tribute to King by having a folk, rock and blues jam session. Joni Mitchell played first, followed by Buddy Guy, Cactus and Jimi Hendrix. Other musicians who participated were BB King and Al Kooper.


title: Ted Nugent

text: After settling down on a ranch in Michigan in 1973, Nugent signed a record deal with Frank Zappa's DiscReet Records label and recorded "Call of the Wild" under the revised band name Ted Nugent and the Amboy Dukes. The following year, "Tooth Fang & Claw" (which contained the song "Great White Buffalo") established a fan base for Nugent and the other Amboy Dukes. Personnel changes at this time nearly wrecked the band. Nugent reunited with the other members of the Amboy Dukes at the 2009 Detroit Music Awards, which took place April 17, 2009. The psychedelic band received a distinguished achievement honor at the event. The Dukes also played together at the ceremony, marking their first public performance in more than 30 years.


title: Ted Nugent

text: Nugent dropped the Amboy Dukes band name for good in 1975 and signed to Epic Records. Retaining only bassist Rob Grange from the previous Amboy Dukes lineup, Nugent added Derek St. Holmes (guitar, vocals) and Clifford Davies (drums). This quartet remained the primary band members for Nugent's 1970s multi-platinum albums: "Ted Nugent" (1975), "Free-for-All" (1976) and "Cat Scratch Fever" (1977). These albums produced the popular radio anthems "Hey Baby", "Stranglehold", "Dog Eat Dog" and "Cat Scratch Fever". Despite most of the songwriting credits being listed as solely Nugent, St. Holmes claims that many were co-written by the whole band and that Nugent took sole credit as a way to avoid paying them royalties.


title: Ted Nugent

text: It was during these three years that Nugent emerged as a guitar hero to hard rock fans, many of whom were unaware of his lengthy apprenticeship with the Amboy Dukes. This band lineup toured extensively, also releasing the multi-platinum live album "Double Live Gonzo!" (1978), until its breakup in 1978 when St. Holmes and Grange departed. St. Holmes was replaced by Charlie Huhn and Grange by multiple bassists, with Nugent eventually settling on Dave Kiswiney for a three-album stretch in the 1980s. Davies left around 1982 after staying on to record "Weekend Warriors" (1978), "State of Shock" (1979) and "Scream Dream" (1980), all three of which charted in the US Top 25, plus the live album "Intensities in 10 Cities" (1981). The "Intensities in 10 Cities" album includes the controversial song "Jailbait".


title: Ted Nugent

text: On July 8, 1979, Ted was on the rock radio program "King Biscuit Flower Hour". This was the original broadcast of Ted's performance of "Live at Hammersmith '79" which had been recorded during the second set of a night at London's Hammersmith Odeon in 1979. An album of this program was released in 1997.


title: Ted Nugent

text: During the period of 19821988, Nugent released four more solo albums (to declining critical favor and commercial performance) and also began assuming a more prominent role as lead vocalist. In 1989, he joined the supergroup Damn Yankees, with Jack Blades (bass/vocals, of Night Ranger), Tommy Shaw (guitar/vocals, of Styx) and Michael Cartellone (drums). "Damn Yankees" (1990) was a hit album, going double platinum in the U.S., thanks to the hit power ballad "High Enough". The second and final Damn Yankees album, "Don't Tread" (1992), reached gold status in the U.S., but was not as well-received as the band's debut and the group dissolved soon after.


title: Ted Nugent

text: Returning to a solo career, Nugent released "Spirit of the Wild" in 1995, his best-reviewed album in quite some time. The album contained the bowhunting anthem "Fred Bear", and also marked the return of Derek St. Holmes to Nugent's studio band. A series of archival releases also came out in the 1990s, keeping Nugent's name in the national consciousness. He also began hosting a radio show in Detroit on WWBR-FM ("102.7 The Bear, Detroit's Rock Animal") and took ownership in several hunting-related businesses. He created TV shows for several networks; "" on Versus, "Ted Nugent Spirit of the Wild" on PBS and The Outdoor Channel, as well as "Surviving Nugent" and "Supergroup-Damnocracy" on VH1. In 2006, Ted Nugent was voted into the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends Hall of Fame.


title: Ted Nugent

text: Ted Nugent appears on David Crowder Band's 2007 release, "Remedy", playing guitar on the song "We Won't Be Quiet". He announced his "Trample the Weak, Hurdle the Dead" tour on April 21, 2010.


title: Ted Nugent

text: On July 4, 2008, at the DTE Energy Music Theater in Clarkston, Michigan, Ted Nugent played his 6,000th concert. Derek St. Holmes (original singer for the Ted Nugent band), Johnny Bee Badanjek (drummer for Mitch Ryder and The Detroit Wheels) and Nugent's guitar teacher from 1958, Joe Podorsek, all jammed on stage with Nugent for various songs.


title: Ted Nugent

text: On March 14, 2011, Nugent released a new song, "I Still Believe", as a free download via his website to subscribers to his newsletter. Nugent says of the song: "America is a target-rich environment for an independent man addicted to logic, truth and The American Way. 'I Still Believe' throttles the animal spirit of rugged individualism in pure MotorCity ultra high-energy rhythm and blues and rock and roll." In April 2011 Nugent announced that former frontman Derek St. Holmes would be joining his band for Nugent's I Still Believe Tour.


title: Ted Nugent

text: Nugent has starred in his own outdoors television show on the Outdoor Channel, named after his popular song "Spirit of the Wild", since 2001. The song was the theme music to the TV series, in which Nugent took viewers on a variety of wild game hunts using his bow. In the series, he taught and advised hunters and "hands-on" conservationists around the world on the different aspects of hunting and politics. In one episode of "Spirit of the Wild", Nugent hits a young deer with a bow. Two game wardens saw the episode, later charging Nugent with 11 misdemeanor violations of California hunting law. Nugent plead guilty to two violations.


title: Ted Nugent

text: In 2003, he was host of the VH1 reality television program "Surviving Nugent," in which city dwellers moved in to Nugent's Michigan ranch. During filming, Nugent injured himself with a chainsaw, requiring 40 stitches and a leg brace.


title: Ted Nugent

text: In 2003, Nugent also guested on the VH1 program "Forever Wild," hosted by Sebastian Bach, former lead vocalist for the band Skid Row. They shot some firearms and walked around Nugent's cabin in the woods. Two years later, in 2005, Nugent hosted a reality-type show, "Wanted: Ted or Alive," on what was then called the OLN, or Outdoor Life Network, before it became the NBC Sports Network of the present day. In "Wanted: Ted or Alive," contestants competed for money as well as for opportunities to go hunting with "Uncle Ted". The contestants had to kill and clean their own food to survive.


title: Ted Nugent

text: In 2006, he appeared on VH1's reality show "SuperGroup," with Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian, Biohazard bassist Evan Seinfeld, ex-Skid Row lead singer Sebastian Bach and John Bonham's son Jason Bonham, who had been the drummer for Bonham, UFO and Foreigner. The name of the supergroup was originally FIST but later was changed to Damnocracy. Bach had lobbied for the name Savage Animal. Captured on film by VH1 was a rare Nugent duet with guitarist Joe Bonamassa at the Sand Dollar Blues Room for a 45-minute blues jam. He starred in another reality show for CMT in August 2009. The show, titled "Runnin' Wild ... From Ted Nugent," featured Nugent instructing competitors in the art of survival; the competitors had to use those skills in challenges in which Nugent himself hunted them down.


title: Ted Nugent

text: In 2008, Nugent was a guest on the episode "Southwest Road Trip Special" of "," where he spoke against obesity and public health care.


title: Ted Nugent

text: In 1986, he guest starred in an episode of the hit television show "Miami Vice" entitled "Definitely Miami". Nugent played a villain. His song "Angry Young Man" was featured in the episode. His song "Little Miss Dangerous" was also featured on a "Miami Vice" episode of the same name, although he did not appear in the episode.


title: Ted Nugent

text: In 2001, Nugent appeared as himself in a third-season episode of "That '70s Show" entitled "Backstage Pass".


title: Ted Nugent

text: Also in 2001, Nugent appeared as himself in the second episode of the short-lived university campus FOX comedy series, "Undeclared". In the episode "Full Bluntal Nugety", Nugent is a guest at the university, there to speak on his favorite topics, mainly hunting and gun control. This is where new student Steven Karp (Jay Baruchel) takes his love interest Lizzie (Carla Gallo) on their first date. Karp tries to heckle Nugent during his speech in an attempt to impress Lizzie, with disastrous results. FOX didn't like the idea of Nugent and his political views appearing on this show, so the episode was re-shot and re-edited as "Oh, So You Have a Boyfriend?" which aired without any Ted Nugent content whatsoever. The complete "Full Bluntal Nugety (Director's Cut)" episode is available in its entirety, in the "Undeclared" DVD box set, including some extra Ted Nugent scenes that had been deleted.


title: Ted Nugent

text: He made a guest appearance on the television series "Aqua Teen Hunger Force", in the episode "Gee Whiz", on Adult Swim. Locals believe to have seen the face of Jesus in a billboard and they mention how it looks like Ted Nugent. Throughout the episode they think it's Jesus' face, but at the end they discover it was in fact Nugent's. He proceeds to shoot a flaming explosive arrow at Carl (mistaking him for a "varmint").


title: Ted Nugent

text: In 2007, Nugent appeared in the music video for Nickelback's song "Rockstar" and in 2008 he played a key role in the Toby Keith film "Beer for My Horses" as the quiet deputy named Skunk.


title: Ted Nugent

text: In 2007, Nugent debated "The Simpsons" producer Sam Simon on "The Howard Stern Show" about the ethics of hunting animals. Coincidentally, Nugent would later lend his voice to an over-the-phone appearance in the season 19 episode of "The Simpsons", "I Don't Wanna Know Why the Caged Bird Sings", where, in a humorous jab at his political stance, inmate Dwight picks up his call for voting no to the fictional Proposition 87, which bans crossbows in public schools. As part of his pre-recorded message, Nugent asks "If we outlaw crossbows in our public schools, who's going to protect our children from charging elk?".


title: Ted Nugent

text: In 2012, Nugent again appeared as himself on "The Simpsons", on the episode "Politically Inept, with Homer Simpson", in which he is nominated as a presidential candidate for the Republican Party.


title: Ted Nugent

text: On July 30, 2008, Nugent was interviewed on "The Alex Jones Show" about his book "Ted, White and Blue: The Nugent Manifesto" (2008).


title: Ted Nugent

text: On April 15, 2009, Nugent appeared onstage with his guitar in San Antonio as part of Glenn Beck's coverage of the Tax Day Tea Party protests on the Fox News Channel. He hosted the show with Beck and played music for the protestors at the Alamo.


title: Ted Nugent

text: He made an appearance in "Guitar Hero World Tour". As part of the "solo guitar career" section, the player engages in a guitar duel with Nugent, after which the song "Stranglehold" is unlocked and Nugent becomes available as a playable character.


title: Ted Nugent

text: On July 9, 2010, Nugent was again interviewed by Jones and criticized the latest policies issued by the Obama administration and the U.S. Supreme Court concerning gun policy. He claimed that rejecting the idea of the right to self-defense being expressed in the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution, which Nugent called "gun control" policies, is most likely to destroy American society. Nugent also claimed similar policies were the cause of the downfall of every society in human history.


title: Ted Nugent

text: Nugent is a fan of the Detroit Red Wings in ice hockey, Detroit Pistons in basketball, Detroit Lions in football and Detroit Tigers in baseball. He wore a Detroit Pistons shirt in the Damn Yankees music video for "Come Again".


title: Ted Nugent

text: Nugent has been married twice and has six children with four women. In the late 1960s, prior to his first marriage, Nugent fathered a boy (Ted Mann) and a girl, both of whom he gave up for adoption in infancy. This did not become well known to the public until 2010. The siblings were adopted separately and had no contact with one another. The son learned the identity of his birth father in 2010, through the daughter's quest to make contact with him and their birth parents. According to a news report, over the years Nugent had discussed the existence of these children with his other children.


title: Ted Nugent

text: He was married to his first wife, Sandra Jezowski, from 1970 to 1979. They had two children, son Toby and daughter Sasha. Jezowski died in a single-car crash in 1982.


title: Ted Nugent

text: His second marriage is to Shemane Deziel, whom he met while a guest on Detroit's WLLZ-FM, where she was a member of the news staff. They married on January 21, 1989. Together they have one child, son Rocco Winchester Nugent.


title: Ted Nugent

text: In 2005, Nugent agreed to pay $3,500 in monthly child support for a son fathered with a woman named Karen Gutowski while he was married to Deziel.


title: Ted Nugent

text: Nugent's song "Jailbait" has sparked backlash in recent years as the lyrics discuss wanting to have sex with a 13-year-old which would constitute statutory rape. Nugent admitted to several affairs with underage girls in a "Behind the Music" episode. He later denied this statement on an episode of "The Joe Rogan Experience", saying he had never been in romantic relationships with underage girls, other than when he was underage himself. Musician Courtney Love claims that she performed oral sex on Nugent when she was 12. On a later occasion she said she was 14.


title: Ted Nugent

text: In 1978, Nugent began a relationship with 17-year-old Hawaii native Pele Massa. The age of sexual consent in Hawaii at the time was 14, however, they could not marry due to the age difference. To get around this, Nugent joined Massa's parents in signing documents to make himself her legal guardian.


title: Ted Nugent

text: Since the 1970s, Nugent has promoted anti-drug and anti-alcohol stances. He has been cited as a key influence in the straight edge movement, a punk rock-associated lifestyle that developed in the early 1980s and discourages drug and alcohol use. Henry Rollins, former vocalist for Black Flag, said that he and friend Ian MacKaye (vocalist for Minor Threat and writer of the song "Straight Edge" that gave the movement its name) were inspired by Nugent during their high school years in the 1970s when he was the only major rock star to publicly eschew drug use: "[We] would read about the Nuge and the thing that really rubbed off on us was the fact that he didn't drink or smoke or do drugs ... [Nugent's performance] was the craziest thing we'd ever seen onstage and here's this guy saying, 'I don't get high.' We thought that was so impressive."


title: Ted Nugent

text: Nugent is a national spokesman for the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program, In 2015, however, he declared his support for the legalization of marijuana for medical use. In 2018, he admitted that he drinks "a little wine".


title: Ted Nugent

text: Nugent suffers from hearing loss. He said in a 2007 interview: "The ear's not too good, especially with background noise, but that's a small price to pay. Believe me the journey was worth it."


title: Ted Nugent

text: On April 19, 2021, Nugent announced on Facebook that he had tested positive for COVID-19, which he referred to as the "Chinese shit". He said, "I thought I was dying ... I literally could hardly crawl out of bed the last few days." Nugent had refused to get the vaccine because "nobody knows what's in it" and had denied that the COVID-19 pandemic was real.


title: Ted Nugent

text: Nugent is a vocal supporter of the Republican Party and various associated conservative causes, particularly gun rights and hunter's rights. He is a supporter of former President Donald Trump and has made a number of statements critical of former President Barack Obama, one of which was perceived as potentially threatening and led to Nugent being investigated by the Secret Service. His views have been considered racist by some.


title: Ted Nugent

text: In an interview in 1990, a few months after the release of Nelson Mandela during the negotiations to end apartheid in South Africa, Nugent stated, "apartheid isn't that cut-and-dry. All men are not created equal." He described black South Africans as "a different breed of man" who "still put bones in their noses, they still walk around naked, they wipe their butts with their hands".


title: Ted Nugent

text: As a reward for entertaining U.S. troops in Iraq in 2004, Nugent visited Saddam Hussein's war room. He commented on Iraq, "Our failure has been not to Nagasaki them."


title: Ted Nugent

text: On July 17, 2008, during the presidential election season and shortly before the Republican presidential nominating convention, Nugent expressed his skepticism about presumptive GOP Presidential nominee John McCain, stating that McCain was "catering to a growing segment of soulless Americans who care less what they can do for their country, but whine louder and louder about what their country must do for them. That is both un-American and pathetic."


title: Ted Nugent

text: At a 2009 West Virginia rally sponsored in part by Massey Energy, Nugent "defended mountaintop removal mining", according to reporters on the scene. "On behalf of the Nugent family, I say, start up the bulldozers and get me some more coal, Massey", Nugent was recorded as saying.


title: Ted Nugent

text: Nugent is an outspoken critic of Islam, which he describes as a "voodoo religion" that "believes in world domination".


title: Ted Nugent

text: During an interview with Piers Morgan, Nugent was asked if he would mind if one of his children came out as gay, saying "Not at all ... I'm repulsed at the concept of man-on-man sex, I think it's against nature. I think it's strange as hell, but if that's what you are, I love you. I'm not going to judge another's morals. I say live and let live. I have friends that are gay."


title: Ted Nugent

text: Nugent clashed in 2014 with Jay Dean, then the mayor of Longview, Texas and an incoming Republican member of the Texas House of Representatives after Dean moved to cancel Nugent's scheduled appearance at the Longview Independence Day concert. Dean said that he finds Nugent's music unsuitable for family-oriented audiences on July 4. Longview hence paid Nugent $16,000, half of the amount he had been promised, to drop him from the concert. Nugent in turn called Dean "racist" and "clueless, dishonest and one of the bad guys."


title: Ted Nugent

text: In 2014, Nugent worked as the treasurer and co-chairman for Sid Miller's campaign for Texas Agriculture Commissioner.


title: Ted Nugent

text: Nugent's conservative views have prompted criticism from fellow musicians such as Paul McCartney, David Crosby, and the band Goldfinger, who have a song titled "Fuck Ted Nugent" on their album "Open Your Eyes".


title: Ted Nugent

text: Nugent is an advocate of the right to bear arms, but while performing he instructs venues to not allow firearms. When interviewed by "Texas Monthly" editor Evan Smith in season 5 of "TexasMonthlyTalks", he said, "I would rather that the [victim of a violent crime] in Massachusetts last month who was taking her daughter to soccer when they were carjacked by a recidivist maggot, who had been in the prison system all his life but was let out again because we feel sorry for him, maybe he had a bad childhood – instead of her being hijacked and murdered, I'd rather she just shot the bastard dead... But in Massachusetts, somebody decided she can't do that. So she's dead. I would rather she was alive and the carjacker was dead."


title: Ted Nugent

text: Nugent currently serves on the board of directors of the National Rifle Association (NRA). In 2016, Nugent posted an image on his Facebook page implying that Jews are behind the push for gun control. Nugent's rant sparked outrage and some called for his NRA resignation.


title: Ted Nugent

text: In March 2018, Nugent criticized the survivors of the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting who became gun control activists, calling them "mushy brained children" and stating that "the evidence is irrefutable: They have no soul."


title: Ted Nugent

text: In June 2018, Nugent said that "evil, dishonesty and scam artists have always been around and that right now they're liberal, they're Democrat, they're RINOs, they're Hollywood, they're fake news, they're media, they're academia and they're half of our government, at least ... There are rabid coyotes running around, you don't wait till you see one to go get your gun, keep your gun handy. And every time you see one, shoot one."


title: Ted Nugent

text: Nugent, an opponent of animal rights, said in a long interview, "I'm stymied to come up with anything funnier than people who think animals have rights. Just stick an arrow through their lungs." In 2000, Bhaskar Sinha was jailed briefly following an incident outside a department store in San Francisco in which he threatened and physically assaulted Nugent, who in turn took Sinha into custody until San Francisco Police arrived and arrested the protester. However, protesters claim that Nugent started the altercation by spitting in the face of one of the protesters when offered an anti-fur flyer. A San Francisco police officer, who stated that he was on the scene, said that he didn't believe Nugent spat on anyone.


title: Ted Nugent

text: Nugent has reportedly received death threats against him and his family from animal rights activists. On the "" episode about People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), Nugent said, "We've got reports and files with law enforcement across America where the animal rights extremists are on record threatening to kill my children on the way to school because we eat pheasant."


title: Ted Nugent

text: In a 1992 radio interview, Nugent referred to Heidi Prescott of the Fund for Animals as a "worthless whore" and a "shallow slut", asking "who needs to club a seal, when you can club Heidi?" He was ordered by a court to pay Prescott $75,000.


title: Ted Nugent

text: Nugent defended Kid Rock, a fellow musician and hunter, when he killed a mountain lion in January 2015, calling the people who targeted Rock "braindead squawkers" and that Rock did good by keeping predator numbers low and helping the deer population, which is vital for hunting. In July 2015, Nugent referred to people outraged over the killing of Cecil the lion as "stupid".


title: Ted Nugent

text: Nugent owns a 340-acre hunting ranch near Jackson, Michigan, called Sunrize Acres. Anti-hunters claim this fenced facility offers "canned" hunts. Nugent has said, "I understand the criticism from those who say canned hunting violates the ethic of fair chase", though he still operates the facility and refers to it as "high fence hunting".


title: Ted Nugent

text: In April 2012, Nugent agreed to a plea deal to plead guilty to transporting an illegally killed American black bear in Alaska. His sentence included two years of probation, a prohibition on hunting and fishing in Alaska and on any U.S. Forest Service lands for one year and a fine of $10,000 and he was required to produce and broadcast at his own expense a 30–60 second Public Service Announcement (PSA) on the responsibilities of hunters. The judge in the case, Michael A. Thompson (Alaska), admitted in court that he himself had never heard of the law in which Nugent was charged. Nugent explained his side of the situation in an interview with Deer & Deer Hunting.


title: Ted Nugent

text: Nugent was a vocal opponent of a proposition to reintroduce gray wolves into Colorado passed in 2020. He urged Colorado citizens to vote against the proposition which had widespread support from environmental groups.


title: Ted Nugent

text: Nugent was particularly critical of former President Barack Obama and his Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, saying they "should be tried for treason & hung", among other comments directed towards them. On Facebook, he shared a video depiction of Clinton being shot by her 2016 Democratic presidential primary opponent, Bernie Sanders, commenting "I got your gun control right here bitch."


title: Ted Nugent

text: At a concert on August 22, 2007, while wielding what appeared to be assault-like rifles, Nugent said in reference of Obama, "suck on my machine gun". In the same gun-wielding rant, Nugent said of Dianne Feinstein, "ride one of these you worthless whore".


title: Ted Nugent

text: In January 2014, Nugent called Obama a "communist-educated, communist-nurtured subhuman mongrel". That February, Nugent endorsed Greg Abbott in the Republican primary election for Texas Governor. Abbott, however, distanced himself from Nugent due to the "subhuman mongrel" comment, saying, "This is not the kind of language I would use or endorse in any way." After being further chastised about it by Senator Rand Paul, Nugent apologized for the comment. However, when asked in April 2017 if he regretted his comments about Obama, he replied "No! I will never apologize for calling out evil people."


title: Ted Nugent

text: On April 17, 2012, while stumping for Obama's opponent Mitt Romney at the 2012 NRA Convention, Nugent said, "If Barack Obama becomes the president in November, again, I will either be dead or in jail by this time next year." Nugent received a visit from the Secret Service for these remarks. Following these comments, commanders at Fort Knox opted not to allow him to perform at a previously scheduled event.


title: Ted Nugent

text: On February 12, 2013, Nugent attended the State of the Union address given by President Obama. He was the guest of U.S. Representative Steve Stockman of Texas's 36th congressional district.


title: Ted Nugent

text: In February 2016, Ted Nugent praised Trump's 2016 Republican Presidential Primary opponent Ted Cruz, stating "My dream would be if Ted Cruz became president tonight. I really admire Ted Cruz, on many levels." Nugent later endorsed Donald Trump and during the last week of the U.S. presidential election campaign performed at a number of Trump rallies in Michigan, including Trump's final campaign rally in Grand Rapids.


title: Ted Nugent

text: On April 19, 2017, Nugent in the company of Kid Rock and Sarah Palin, had a "long-planned" visit at the White House. According to Nugent, the visit lasted four hours and was like "a family reunion." Nugent described it as "a wonderful personal tour of every room" followed by photo sessions and dinner with Trump.


title: Ted Nugent

text: Referring to Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm (in office 2003–2011), during performances he would frequently interject "Jennifer Granholm, kiss my ass" into his songs and shoot an arrow at her likeness. In a 2007 interview, in discussing running for governor of Michigan, he stated that Granholm "is not doing an ugly job, but as the perfect woman, she is scrotumless".


title: Ted Nugent

text: Although Nugent has never run for government office, in the 2000s, he publicly speculated about doing so on several occasions. In May 2005, he announced he was "getting real close to deciding to run" for governor of Michigan in 2006; while in 2007, he talked about running for that office in 2010. During the latter period, he stated, "Michigan was once a great state. Michigan was a state that rewarded the entrepreneur and the most productive, work-ethic families of the state. Now the pimps and the whores and the welfare brats are basically the state's babies." Earlier, Nugent had been rumored to be under consideration by the Illinois Republican Party as its candidate in that state's 2004 Senate race, given his roots in Illinois.


title: Ted Nugent

text: In July 2008, Nugent declared "I was serious when I threatened to run for office in the past if I cannot find a candidate who respects the U.S. Constitution and our sacred Bill of Rights." When asked by "Imagineer" magazine in a 2010 interview about what he would do if elected to political office, he responded: "Slash the living hell out of the waste and corruption and the outrageous army of do-nothing bureaucrats. I would fire every government worker whose job I would deem to be redundant and wasteful. No able-bodied human being would ever get a handout again."


title: Ted Nugent

text: In a July 2013 interview with "The Washington Post", Nugent expressed interest in possibly running for President of the United States as a Republican in the 2016 election. He never sought the office.


title: IPhone 11

text: The iPhone 11 is a smartphone designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. It is the 13th generation of iPhone, succeeding the iPhone XR, and was unveiled on September 10, 2019 alongside the iPhone 11 Pro at the Steve Jobs Theater in Apple Park, Cupertino, by Apple CEO Tim Cook. Preorders began on September 13, 2019, and the phone was officially released on September 20, 2019, one day after the official public release of iOS 13.


title: IPhone 11

text: Despite minimal exterior changes from the preceding iPhone XR, substantial design changes within the phone took place, including the addition of the more powerful Apple A13 Bionic chip as well as an ultra-wide dual-camera system. In October 2020, Apple halted the inclusion of both Apple EarPods and the wall adapter, citing environmental goals.


title: IPhone 11

text: , the iPhone 11 has sold 159.2 million units worldwide, making it the tenth best-selling smartphone of all time.


title: IPhone 11

text: The iPhone 11 as well as the iPhone 12 mini and iPhone 13 Pro with its Max variant were discontinued and removed from Apple's website after the announcement of the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro on September 7, 2022.


title: IPhone 11

text: Details regarding the smartphone were widely leaked before the official release; complete specifications and renderings of the phone were widely publicized. Among the most significant changes were improvements in the cameras and the continuation of the 'notch' design around the frontal camera which dipped down into the screen, a feature started by the phone's predecessor, the iPhone X. The official event invite which was sent out to developers contained a graphic featuring an Apple logo made of layered colored glass, implied to be the new colors for the phone. A patent filed by Apple earlier in the year also hinted at a new camera design.


title: IPhone 11

text: The iPhone 11 was available in six colors: Purple, Yellow, Green, Black, White, and Product (Red). The top of the screen retains the 'notch' design, wherein the TrueDepth camera system and phone speaker are encapsulated in a black, rounded-out rectangle that dips into the screen, similar to its predecessor, the iPhone XR. An elevated area in the top corner on the back of the iPhone acts as a camera housing, containing the microphone, the flashlight, and both of the rear-facing digital cameras. The Apple logo on the back of the phone is centered to be equidistant to all edges and is made of a reflective material.


title: IPhone 11

text: The iPhone 11, along with the iPhone 11 Pro, uses Apple's A13 Bionic processor, which contains a third-generation neural engine. It has three internal storage options: 64 GB, 128 GB, and 256 GB. It also has 4 GB of RAM. The iPhone 11 has an IP68 water- and dust-resistant rating along with dirt and grime, and is water-resistant up to 2 m (6.6 ft) for 30 minutes. However, the manufacturer's warranty does not cover liquid damage to the phone. Also, like previous iPhones, both phones do not have a headphone jack, and initially came with wired EarPods with a Lightning connector, although Apple no longer includes these with any device. The iPhone 11 is the first smartphone with built-in ultra wideband hardware, via its Apple U1 chip.


title: IPhone 11

text: The iPhone 11 has a IPS LCD with a resolution is 1792 × 828 pixels (1.4 megapixels) at a pixel density of 326 PPI with a maximum brightness of 625 nits and a 1400:1 contrast ratio and it is equivalent to the iPhone XR. It supports Dolby Vision, HDR10, True-Tone, and a wide color gamut. As with the iPhone 11 Pro, XR, XS, and X, the display has a notch at the top for the TrueDepth camera system and the speaker. The display has an oleophobic coating, making it fingerprint-resistant. Apple announced in September 2019 that both the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro would show a warning notification if a display were replaced with an unauthorized part. Apple stated that problems with the phone could arise if the wrong parts or procedures were used during the repair process.


title: IPhone 11

text: The iPhone 11 is supplied with a 11.91 Wh (3,110 mAh) battery, a slight increase from the 11.21 Wh (2,942 mAh) found in the iPhone XR. The battery is not user-replaceable.


title: IPhone 11

text: The iPhone 11 includes a dual-lens 12 MP rear camera array. It has one ƒ/2.4 ultra-wide-angle lens with a 120° field of view and 2× optical zoom out, and one ƒ/1.8 wide-angle lens. The iPhone 11 supports 4K video at up to 60 fps and 1080p slow motion at up to 240 fps. The phone also features an audio zoom feature, which focuses audio on the area on which is being zoomed in, similar to the Pro model. Both of the cameras support video, although only the primary lens has OIS. It supports portrait mode with six portrait lighting effects, depth control, and an advanced bokeh effect. The phone also has an automatic night mode allowing the camera to take brighter pictures with reduced noise in low-light environments. Also, a redesigned camera app adds new features such as a scroll wheel for choosing between the different lenses and a feature called "QuickTake", which allows the user to long-press the shutter button to take a video. Apple has also announced a new Deep Fusion feature that takes advantage of AI and machine learning for image processing and was released via iOS 13.2 software update on October 29, 2019.


title: IPhone 11

text: The iPhone 11 was supplied with iOS 13, which includes Siri, Face ID (through the TrueDepth camera), and Apple Pay, and supports Apple Card. It received iOS 14 on September 16, 2020, and supported iOS 15, which was released on September 20, 2021. As of September 12, 2022, the iPhone 11 is now compatible with iOS 16.


title: IPhone 11

text: The iPhone 11 drew generally positive reviews after its launch. Reviews generally praised the phone's performance, battery life, and cameras, while criticizing the display as passable, but aging quickly. Reviewers also criticized the notch as being far too large for 2019. According to Counterpoint Research's Market Pulse, it was the second best-selling and the most popular model globally for 2019, in less than four months of launch.


title: IPhone 11

text: Apple, through an environmental initiative, has removed the EarPods and power adapter from new iPhone boxes starting October 2020, including the iPhone 11. Removing these items is claimed to reduce e-waste and permit a smaller iPhone box, allowing more devices to be transported simultaneously to decrease carbon footprint. However, Apple now includes a USB-C to Lightning cable, incompatible with the existing USB-A power adapters that Apple previously supplied with their devices. Upgraders can still use their existing iPhone power adapters and cables, but users wanting fast charging capabilities will have to purchase a USB-C power adapter separately.


title: Thyroid

text: The thyroid, or thyroid gland, is an endocrine gland in vertebrates. In humans it is in the neck and consists of two connected lobes. The lower two thirds of the lobes are connected by a thin band of tissue called the thyroid isthmus. The thyroid is located at the front of the neck, below the Adam's apple. Microscopically, the functional unit of the thyroid gland is the spherical thyroid follicle, lined with follicular cells (thyrocytes), and occasional parafollicular cells that surround a lumen containing colloid. The thyroid gland secretes three hormones: the two thyroid hormonestriiodothyronine (T) and thyroxine (T)and a peptide hormone, calcitonin. The thyroid hormones influence the metabolic rate and protein synthesis, and in children, growth and development. Calcitonin plays a role in calcium homeostasis. Secretion of the two thyroid hormones is regulated by thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), which is secreted from the anterior pituitary gland. TSH is regulated by thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH), which is produced by the hypothalamus.


title: Thyroid

text: The thyroid gland develops in the floor of the pharynx at the base of the tongue at 3–4 weeks gestation; it then descends in front of the pharyngeal gut, and ultimately over the next few weeks, it migrates to the base of the neck. During migration, the thyroid remains connected to the tongue by a narrow canal, the thyroglossal duct. At the end of the fifth week the thyroglossal duct degenerates, and over the following two weeks the detached thyroid migrates to its final position.


title: Thyroid

text: Euthyroid is the term used to describe a state of normal thyroid function in the body. Thyroid disorders include hyperthyroidism, hypothyroidism, thyroid inflammation (thyroiditis), thyroid enlargement (goitre), thyroid nodules, and thyroid cancer. Hyperthyroidism is characterized by excessive secretion of thyroid hormones: the most common cause is the autoimmune disorder Graves' disease. Hypothyroidism is characterized by a deficient secretion of thyroid hormones: the most common cause is iodine deficiency. In iodine-deficient regions, hypothyroidism secondary to iodine deficiency is the leading cause of preventable intellectual disability in children. In iodine-sufficient regions, the most common cause of hypothyroidism is the autoimmune disorder Hashimoto's thyroiditis.


title: Thyroid

text: The presence of the thyroid and its various diseases have been noted and treated for centuries, although the gland itself has only been described and named since the Renaissance. Knowledge of the thyroid, its biochemistry, and its disorders developed throughout the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Many modern treatments and investigative modalities evolved throughout the mid-twentieth century, including refinement of surgical techniques for thyroid removal (thyroidectomy) for the treatment of goitre; the use of radioactive iodine and thiouracil for the treatment of Graves' disease; and fine needle aspiration for diagnosis of thyroid nodules.


title: Thyroid

text: The thyroid gland is a butterfly-shaped organ composed of two lobes, left and right, connected by a narrow tissue band, called an "isthmus". It weighs 25 grams in adults, with each lobe being about 5 cm long, 3 cm wide, and 2 cm thick and the isthmus about 1.25 cm in height and width. The gland is usually larger in women than in men, and increases in size during pregnancy.


title: Thyroid

text: The thyroid is near the front of the neck, lying against and around the front of the larynx and trachea. The thyroid cartilage and cricoid cartilage lie just above the gland, below the Adam's apple. The isthmus extends from the second to third rings of the trachea, with the uppermost part of the lobes extending to the thyroid cartilage and the lowermost around the fourth to sixth tracheal rings. The infrahyoid muscles lie in front of the gland and the sternocleidomastoid muscle to the side. Behind the outer wings of the thyroid lie the two carotid arteries. The trachea, larynx, lower pharynx and esophagus all lie behind the thyroid. In this region, the recurrent laryngeal nerve and the inferior thyroid artery pass next to or in the ligament. Typically, four parathyroid glands, two on each side, lie on each side between the two layers of the thyroid capsule, at the back of the thyroid lobes.


title: Thyroid

text: The thyroid gland is covered by a thin fibrous capsule, which has an inner and an outer layer. The inner layer extrudes into the gland and forms the septa that divide the thyroid tissue into microscopic lobules. The outer layer is continuous with the pretracheal fascia, attaching the gland to the cricoid and thyroid cartilages via a thickening of the fascia to form the posterior suspensory ligament of thyroid gland, also known as Berry's ligament. This causes the thyroid to move up and down with the movement of these cartilages when swallowing occurs.


title: Thyroid

text: The thyroid is supplied with arterial blood from the superior thyroid artery, a branch of the external carotid artery, and the inferior thyroid artery, a branch of the thyrocervical trunk, and sometimes by an anatomical variant the thyroid ima artery, which has a variable origin. The superior thyroid artery splits into anterior and posterior branches supplying the thyroid, and the inferior thyroid artery splits into superior and inferior branches. The superior and inferior thyroid arteries join behind the outer part of the thyroid lobes. The venous blood is drained via superior and middle thyroid veins, which drain to the internal jugular vein, and via the inferior thyroid veins. The inferior thyroid veins originate in a network of veins and drain into the left and right brachiocephalic veins. Both arteries and veins form a plexus between the two layers of the capsule of the thyroid gland.


title: Thyroid

text: Lymphatic drainage frequently passes the prelaryngeal lymph nodes (located just above the isthmus) and the pretracheal and paratracheal lymph nodes. The gland receives sympathetic nerve supply from the superior, middle and inferior cervical ganglion of the sympathetic trunk. The gland receives parasympathetic nerve supply from the superior laryngeal nerve and the recurrent laryngeal nerve.


title: Thyroid

text: There are many variants in the size and shape of the thyroid gland, and in the position of the embedded parathyroid glands.


title: Thyroid

text: Sometimes there is a third lobe present called the "pyramidal lobe". When present, this lobe often stretches up to the hyoid bone from the thyroid isthmus and may be one to several divided lobes. The presence of this lobe ranges in reported studies from 18.3% to 44.6%. It was shown to more often arise from the left side and occasionally separated. The pyramidal lobe is also known as Lalouette's pyramid. The pyramidal lobe is a remnant of the thyroglossal duct, which usually wastes away during the thyroid gland's descent. Small accessory thyroid glands may in fact occur anywhere along the thyroglossal duct, from the foramen cecum of the tongue to the position of the thyroid in the adult. A small horn at the back of the thyroid lobes, usually close to the recurrent laryngeal nerve and the inferior thyroid artery, is called Zuckerkandl's tubercle.


title: Thyroid

text: Other variants include a levator muscle of thyroid gland, connecting the isthmus to the body of the hyoid bone, and the presence of the small thyroid ima artery.


title: Thyroid

text: At the microscopic level, there are three primary features of the thyroid—thyroid follicles, thyroid follicular cells, and parafollicular cells, first discovered by Geoffery Websterson in 1664.


title: Thyroid

text: Thyroid follicles are small spherical groupings of cells 0.02–0.9mm in diameter that play the main role in thyroid function. They consist of a rim that has a rich blood supply, nerve and lymphatic presence, that surrounds a core of colloid that consists mostly of thyroid hormone precursor proteins called thyroglobulin, an iodinated glycoprotein.


title: Thyroid

text: The core of a follicle is surrounded by a single layer of follicular cells. When stimulated by thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), these secrete the thyroid hormones T and T. They do this by transporting and metabolising the thyroglobulin contained in the colloid. Follicular cells vary in shape from flat to cuboid to columnar, depending on how active they are.


title: Thyroid

text: The "follicular lumen" is the fluid-filled space within a follicle of the thyroid gland. There are hundreds of follicles within the thyroid gland. A follicle is formed by a spherical arrangement of follicular cells. The follicular lumen is filled with "colloid", a concentrated solution of thyroglobulin and is the site of synthesis of the thyroid hormones thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3).


title: Thyroid

text: Scattered among follicular cells and in spaces between the spherical follicles are another type of thyroid cell, parafollicular cells. These cells secrete calcitonin and so are also called C cells.


title: Thyroid

text: In the development of the embryo, at 3–4 weeks gestational age, the thyroid gland appears as an epithelial proliferation in the floor of the pharynx at the base of the tongue between the "tuberculum impar" and the "copula linguae". The copula soon becomes covered over by the hypopharyngeal eminence at a point later indicated by the foramen cecum. The thyroid then descends in front of the pharyngeal gut as a bilobed diverticulum through the thyroglossal duct. Over the next few weeks, it migrates to the base of the neck, passing in front of the hyoid bone. During migration, the thyroid remains connected to the tongue by a narrow canal, the thyroglossal duct. At the end of the fifth week the thyroglossal duct degenerates, and over the following two weeks the detached thyroid migrates to its final position.


title: Thyroid

text: The fetal hypothalamus and pituitary start to secrete thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) and thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH). TSH is first measurable at 11 weeks. By 18–20 weeks, the production of thyroxine (T) reaches a clinically significant and self-sufficient level. Fetal triiodothyronine (T) remains low, less than 15 ng/dL until 30 weeks, and increases to 50 ng/dL at full-term. The fetus needs to be self-sufficient in thyroid hormones in order to guard against neurodevelopmental disorders that would arise from maternal hypothyroidism. The presence of sufficient iodine is essential for healthy neurodevelopment.


title: Thyroid

text: The neuroendocrine parafollicular cells, also known as C cells, responsible for the production of calcitonin, are derived from foregut endoderm. This part of the thyroid then first forms as the ultimopharyngeal body, which begins in the ventral fourth pharyngeal pouch and joins the primordial thyroid gland during its descent to its final location.


title: Thyroid

text: Aberrations in prenatal development can result in various forms of thyroid dysgenesis which can cause congenital hypothyroidism, and if untreated this can lead to cretinism.


title: Thyroid

text: The primary function of the thyroid is the production of the iodine-containing thyroid hormones, triiodothyronine (T) and thyroxine or tetraiodothyronine (T) and the peptide hormone calcitonin. The thyroid hormones are created from iodine and tyrosine. T is so named because it contains three atoms of iodine per molecule and T contains four atoms of iodine per molecule. The thyroid hormones have a wide range of effects on the human body. These include:


title: Thyroid

text: After secretion, only a very small proportion of the thyroid hormones travel freely in the blood. Most are bound to thyroxine-binding globulin (about 70%), transthyretin (10%), and albumin (15%). Only the 0.03% of T and 0.3% of T traveling freely have hormonal activity. In addition, up to 85% of the T in blood is produced following conversion from T by iodothyronine deiodinases in organs around the body.


title: Thyroid

text: Thyroid hormones act by crossing the cell membrane and binding to intracellular nuclear thyroid hormone receptors TR-α, TR-α, TR-β, and TR-β, which bind with hormone response elements and transcription factors to modulate DNA transcription. In addition to these actions on DNA, the thyroid hormones also act within the cell membrane or within cytoplasm via reactions with enzymes, including calcium ATPase, adenylyl cyclase, and glucose transporters.