title: Randall Emmett

text: In 1995, Emmett began his Hollywood career as a personal assistant to Mark Wahlberg. Later he met George Furla, with whom he co-founded Emmett/Furla Films in 1998. In 2013, the company was joined by Dubai-based film financier Oasis Ventures Entertainment to become Emmet Furla Oasis Films (EFO).


title: Randall Emmett

text: On June 29, 2022, the "LA Times" released an article accusing Emmett of offering women movie roles in exchange for sex. The article also claimed that Emmett paid a woman a $200,000 settlement for inappropriate contact, and knocked his ex-fiance to the ground after she attempted to grab his phone.


title: Randall Emmett

text: Emmett has been playing poker since 2012. He has won four tournaments which include two victories in $10,000 buy-in high roller tournaments at Aria Resort and Casino. He has one World Series of Poker cash in 2019 and two cashes on the World Poker Tour. As of February 2021, his live tournament winnings exceed $590,000.


title: Randall Emmett

text: Emmett has made regular TV poker appearances on PokerGO shows including World Series of Poker coverage, "Poker After Dark", and "Friday Night Poker".


title: Randall Emmett

text: In 2009, Emmett married actress Ambyr Childers, with whom he has two daughters. Emmett filed for separation from Childers in April 2015, but dismissed the petition the following year. Childers filed for divorce in January 2017. It was finalized in December 2017.


title: Randall Emmett

text: Emmett was engaged to Lauren "Lala Kent" Burningham from "Vanderpump Rules". On March 15, 2021, their daughter was born. The couple split in November 2021.


title: Stephanie Grisham

text: Stephanie Ann Grisham (née Sommerville; born July 23, 1976) is an American former White House official who served as the 32nd White House press secretary and as White House communications director from July 2019 to April 2020. She served as Chief of Staff and Press Secretary for the first lady of the United States, Melania Trump from 2020 to 2021, and previously as her Press Secretary from 2017 to 2019.


title: Stephanie Grisham

text: Grisham was a press aide to Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, and then a member of the presidential transition team. She was the first White House Press Secretary to hold no press conferences, instead opting for interviews on conservative news outlets. Grisham assumed the role of chief of staff to the first lady on April 7, 2020.


title: Stephanie Grisham

text: She resigned on January 6, 2021, following the 2021 storming of the United States Capitol. In September 2021, she announced the publication of her book about her time working in the Trump administration, "I'll Take Your Questions Now".


title: Stephanie Grisham

text: Stephanie Ann Sommerville was born in Colorado to Robert Leo Sommerville and Elizabeth Ann Calkins. Her parents divorced, and her mother remarried, first to Dave Allen, with whom she had another daughter, and then to Roger Schroder. Grisham came from a farming family. She moved with her mother to East Wenatchee, Washington, where she graduated from Eastmont High School in 1994. Her mother has since moved to Nebraska, where she is known as Ann Schroder.


title: Stephanie Grisham

text: Grisham began voting in Arizona as a registered Democrat in 1997. Grisham attended Colorado Mesa University, but did not earn a degree.


title: Stephanie Grisham

text: Grisham was the spokeswoman for AAA Arizona in 2007, but was fired within a year after being accused of falsifying expense reports. Grisham was fired from a subsequent job at ad agency Mindspace over plagiarism charges, copying AAA material verbatim into her client's web page.


title: Stephanie Grisham

text: From 2008 to 2010, Grisham worked as a spokeswoman for the Arizona Charter Schools Association. There she met Tom Horne, Arizona's superintendent of public schools. From about 2011 to 2014, Grisham served as spokeswoman for Tom Horne after he was elected Arizona attorney general. She witnessed the 2014 execution of Joseph Wood and controversially claimed that the two-hour ordeal had been "quite peaceful," contrary to several reports that Wood had "gasped and snorted" throughout his execution.


title: Stephanie Grisham

text: After Republican Mark Brnovich defeated Horne in the 2014 GOP primary, Grisham worked as a spokesperson for the Arizona House of Representatives Republican caucus. She revoked the "Arizona Capitol Times"'s press credentials hours after their reporting that the House speaker, David Gowan, had traveled at state taxpayers' expense during his campaign for Congress. Reporters refused to comply, and Gowan rescinded the order.


title: Stephanie Grisham

text: In 2012, Grisham also worked for Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential campaign. In September 2015, Grisham worked as a press coordinator for Pope Francis's visit to Philadelphia as an independent contractor.


title: Stephanie Grisham

text: Circa August 2015, Grisham started working as a press aide to Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. She helped arrange his campaign stops in Phoenix and around the state and region throughout the primary, a role that quickly expanded to include his rallies around the U.S. Grisham was on state payroll until May 2016, when she took an unpaid leave from the Arizona House of Representatives to work on Trump's campaign.


title: Stephanie Grisham

text: After his victory, Grisham was named a special adviser for operations and served on Trump's transition team. Arizona House speaker David Gowan paid her $19,000 in state salary over an 8-week period while she was serving as a member of the Trump transition team.


title: Stephanie Grisham

text: After Trump's January 2017 inauguration, Grisham was named deputy press secretary for Sean Spicer in the West Wing of the White House.


title: Stephanie Grisham

text: In March 2017, First Lady Melania Trump moved her over to the East Wing. A former White House colleague said that the president regretted losing Grisham to the first lady's office because of Grisham's loyalty and skill at handling the press while acting as his traveling press secretary. During that time, she built relationships with many reporters at events. Despite losing Grisham as part of his own staff, President Trump said he was satisfied that the first lady would "be in good hands". Grisham was described by several sources who had worked with her previously as being "highly competent" and "self-aware"; some suggested that she enjoyed "trolling the press".


title: Stephanie Grisham

text: The United States Office of Special Counsel stated that Grisham violated the Hatch Act of 1939 following a complaint by Senator Tom Carper. Grisham was accused of using her official Twitter account on July 11, 2018, to tweet out Trump's campaign slogan. Violation of the act is not a crime, but a workplace guideline, and the agency responded by sending Grisham a warning letter.


title: Stephanie Grisham

text: In July 2019, Grisham replaced Sarah Sanders as White House press secretary and White House communications director. Grisham's appointment was announced by Melania Trump via Twitter on June 25, 2019. The June 28, 2019 "Annual Report to Congress on White House Office Personnel" listed Grisham as "Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications for the First Lady", with an annual salary of $183,000.


title: Stephanie Grisham

text: On September 5, 2019, the "Washington Examiner" published an opinion piece written by Grisham and her deputy Hogan Gidley entitled, "The "Washington Post"s lost summer". The authors asserted the "Post" had not reported on several Trump accomplishments that the paper actually did report. In one instance, the piece linked to a "Post" story entitled "Trump becomes first sitting president to set foot into North Korea" as the authors asserted the paper had not reported the event.


title: Stephanie Grisham

text: On September 23, 2019, when asked by the hosts of "Fox & Friends" if the White House planned to resume its daily press briefing, Grisham said "not right now... I mean, ultimately, if the president decides that it's something we should do, we can do that, but right now he's doing just fine. And to be honest, the briefings have become a lot of theater. And I think that a lot of reporters were doing it to get famous. I mean, yeah, they're writing books now. I mean, they're all getting famous off of this presidency. And so, I think it's great what we're doing now."


title: Stephanie Grisham

text: On October 24, 2019, while again appearing on "Fox & Friends", Grisham defended Trump's description of "Never Trump Republicans" as "human scum". When asked if Trump should apologize, Grisham said "No, no, he shouldn't. The people who are against him and who have been against him and working against his [agenda] since the day they took office are just that. It is horrible that people are working against a president who is delivering results for this country and has been since day one. And, the fact that people continue to try to negate anything he's been trying to do and take away from the good work he's doing on behalf of the American people, they deserve strong language like that."


title: Stephanie Grisham

text: On October 26, 2019, in response to criticism of President Trump by his former chief of staff Gen. John F. Kelly (Ret.) Grisham stated: "I worked with John Kelly, and he was totally unequipped to handle the genius of our President."


title: Stephanie Grisham

text: On November 13, 2019, during the testimony of William B. Taylor Jr., Grisham commented that the impeachment inquiry against Donald Trump was a "sham hearing" that is "not only boring, it is a colossal waste of taxpayer time & money."


title: Stephanie Grisham

text: That same month, Grisham claimed that Obama administration officials had left "you will fail" notes for the incoming Trump administration officials. Numerous Obama administration officials rejected the claim. Grisham ultimately retracted her assertion.


title: Stephanie Grisham

text: In December 2019, Grisham defended President Trump's implication that former congressman John Dingell was in hell. She described Trump as a "counter-puncher" who was "under attack".


title: Stephanie Grisham

text: On April 7, 2020, it was announced that Grisham left her role as White House Press Secretary and returned to the East Wing to serve as Melania Trump's chief of staff, effective that same day.


title: Stephanie Grisham

text: On the evening of January 6, 2021, Grisham resigned from her position as Melania Trump's Chief of Staff following the 2021 storming of the United States Capitol.


title: Stephanie Grisham

text: Grisham extended to more than a year a period during which there were no formal press briefings, such that there were none during her whole tenure as press secretary. However, she appeared on Fox News, Fox Business Network, One America News Network, and the Sinclair Broadcast Group on many occasions during the same period.


title: Stephanie Grisham

text: "Anderson Cooper 360°" devoted two prime-time segments in one week to question whether taxpayers should pay her $183,000 salary, and to accuse her of hypocrisy. "Miss Grisham has gone from 'we are human beings' to 'they are human scum.' ... It's actually really kind of sad". Her "unintentionally ironic and deeply hypocritical" social media statements and infrequent televised interviews "appear meant to defend the president but actually point out the president's own failings". Margaret Sullivan has commented in "The Washington Post" that Grisham "may hold the title but she's not doing the job".


title: Stephanie Grisham

text: Authors Don Winslow and Stephen King pledged to donate $100,000 each to charity if Grisham held a one-hour briefing answering questions from the White House press corps. Also, 13 former White House and military press secretaries from three administrations before Trump published a letter calling for the restoration of press briefings. However, the press briefings never restarted during her tenure.


title: Stephanie Grisham

text: As Stephanie Ann Sommerville, she married Danny Don Marries in Nevada on April 7, 1997. They met at Mesa State College in Grand Junction, Colorado. Her husband joined KOLD-TV as a news anchor in Tucson, Arizona, on the day after their son's first birthday. They divorced in 2004.


title: Stephanie Grisham

text: Grisham has been romantically linked to former Trump White House aide Max Miller. "Politico" reported that the relationship ended in 2020 when Miller pushed Grisham up against a wall and slapped her in the face after she accused him of infidelity. Miller has denied the report.


title: Stephanie Grisham

text: On January 9, 2013, Grisham was pulled over for speeding in Gilbert, Arizona. The officer observed Grisham's signs of intoxication, and she failed a field sobriety test. Grisham denied consuming any alcohol, but said she had taken a Xanax 90 minutes earlier and a Zoloft the prior night. A blood test revealed Grisham's blood alcohol content to be .105 percent, which is above the .08 legal limit in Arizona. She also was found to be driving on a suspended license since August 2012 for failure to answer a traffic citation. In August 2014, Grisham accepted a plea bargain agreement that reduced the charge to misdemeanor reckless driving, plus two years of probation. She returned to court twice for failure to pay the $779 in fines and failure to complete a Mothers Against Drunk Driving program.


title: Stephanie Grisham

text: Shortly after midnight, December 5, 2015, Grisham was arrested again in Phoenix, Arizona, for driving without her headlights and suspicion of driving under the influence; thus violating her probation. Grisham failed to appear at her court hearing on January 19, 2016, whereupon the judge issued a warrant for her arrest. Afterwards, Grisham pleaded guilty. In July 2016, she was ordered into a treatment program and to pay nearly $1,600 in court costs and fines.


title: Gas chromatography

text: Gas chromatography (GC) is a common type of chromatography used in analytical chemistry for separating and analyzing compounds that can be vaporized without decomposition. Typical uses of GC include testing the purity of a particular substance, or separating the different components of a mixture. In preparative chromatography, GC can be used to prepare pure compounds from a mixture.


title: Gas chromatography

text: Gas chromatography is also sometimes known as vapor-phase chromatography (VPC), or gas–liquid partition chromatography (GLPC). These alternative names, as well as their respective abbreviations, are frequently used in scientific literature.


title: Gas chromatography

text: Gas chromatography is the process of separating compounds in a mixture by injecting a gaseous or liquid sample into a mobile phase, typically called the carrier gas, and passing the gas through a stationary phase. The mobile phase is usually an inert gas or an unreactive gas such as helium, argon, nitrogen or hydrogen. The stationary phase is a microscopic layer of viscous liquid on a surface of solid particles on an inert solid support inside a piece of glass or metal tubing called a column. The surface of the solid particles may also act as the stationary phase in some columns. The glass or metal column through which the gas phase passes is located in an oven where the temperature of the gas can be controlled and the eluent coming off the column is monitored by a computerized detector.


title: Gas chromatography

text: A gas chromatograph is made of a narrow tube, known as the "column", through which the vaporized sample passes, carried along by a continuous flow of inert or nonreactive gas. Components of the sample pass through the column at different rates, depending on their chemical and physical properties and the resulting interactions with the column lining or filling, called the "stationary phase". The column is typically enclosed within a temperature controlled oven. As the chemicals exit the end of the column, they are detected and identified electronically.


title: Gas chromatography

text: Chromatography dates to 1903 in the work of the Russian scientist, Mikhail Semenovich Tswett, who separated plant pigments via liquid column chromatography.


title: Gas chromatography

text: The invention of gas chromatography is generally attributed to Anthony T. James and Archer J.P. Martin. Their gas chromatograph used partition chromatography as the separating principle, rather than adsorption chromatography. The popularity of gas chromatography quickly rose after the development of the flame ionization detector.


title: Gas chromatography

text: Martin and another one of their colleagues, Richard Synge, with whom he shared the 1952 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, had noted in an earlier paper that chromatography might also be used to separate gases. Synge pursued other work while Martin continued his work with James.


title: Gas chromatography

text: German physical chemist Erika Cremer in 1947 together with Austrian graduate student Fritz Prior developed what could be considered the first gas chromatograph that consisted of a carrier gas, a column packed with silica gel, and a thermal conductivity detector. They exhibited the chromatograph at ACHEMA in Frankfurt, but nobody was interested in it.


title: Gas chromatography

text: N.C. Turner with the Burrell Corporation introduced in 1943 a massive instrument that used a charcoal column and mercury vapors. Stig Claesson of Uppsala University published in 1946 his work on a charcoal column that also used mercury.


title: Gas chromatography

text: Gerhard Hesse, while a professor at the University of Marburg/Lahn decided to test the prevailing opinion among German chemists that molecules could not be separated in a moving gas stream. He set up a simple glass column filled with starch and successfully separated bromine and iodine using nitrogen as the carrier gas. He then built a system that flowed an inert gas through a glass condenser packed with silica gel and collected the eluted fractions.


title: Gas chromatography

text: Courtenay S.G Phillips of Oxford University investigated separation in a charcoal column using a thermal conductivity detector. He consulted with Claesson and decided to use displacement as his separating principle. After learning about the results of James and Martin, he switched to partition chromatography.


title: Gas chromatography

text: Early gas chromatography used packed columns, made of block 1-5m long, 1-5mm diameter, and filled with particles. The resolution of packed columns was improved by the invention of capillary column, in which the stationary phase is coated on the inner wall of the capillary.


title: Gas chromatography

text: The autosampler provides the means to introduce a sample automatically into the inlets. Manual insertion of the sample is possible but is no longer common. Automatic insertion provides better reproducibility and time-optimization.Different kinds of autosamplers exist. Autosamplers can be classified in relation to sample capacity (auto-injectors vs. autosamplers, where auto-injectors can work a small number of samples), to robotic technologies (XYZ robot vs. rotating robot – the most common), or to analysis:


title: Gas chromatography

text: The column inlet (or injector) provides the means to introduce a sample into a continuous flow of carrier gas. The inlet is a piece of hardware attached to the column head.


title: Gas chromatography

text: The choice of carrier gas (mobile phase) is important. Hydrogen has a range of flow rates that are comparable to helium in efficiency. However, helium may be more efficient and provide the best separation if flow rates are optimized. Helium is non-flammable and works with a greater number of detectors and older instruments. Therefore, helium is the most common carrier gas used. However, the price of helium has gone up considerably over recent years, causing an increasing number of chromatographers to switch to hydrogen gas. Historical use, rather than rational consideration, may contribute to the continued preferential use of helium.


title: Gas chromatography

text: Commonly used detectors are the flame ionization detector (FID) and the thermal conductivity detector (TCD). While TCDs are beneficial in that they are non-destructive, its low detection limit for most analytes inhibits widespread use. FIDs are sensitive primarily to hydrocarbons, and are more sensitive to them than TCD. FIDs cannot detect water or carbon dioxide which make them ideal for environmental organic analyte analysis. FID is two to three times more sensitive to analyte detection than TCD.


title: Gas chromatography

text: The TCD relies on the thermal conductivity of matter passing around a thin wire of tungsten-rhenium with a current traveling through it. In this set up helium or nitrogen serve as the carrier gas because of their relatively high thermal conductivity which keep the filament cool and maintain uniform resistivity and electrical efficiency of the filament. When analyte molecules elute from the column, mixed with carrier gas, the thermal conductivity decreases while there is an increase in filament temperature and resistivity resulting in fluctuations in voltage ultimately causing a detector response. Detector sensitivity is proportional to filament current while it is inversely proportional to the immediate environmental temperature of that detector as well as flow rate of the carrier gas.


title: Gas chromatography

text: In a flame ionization detector (FID), electrodes are placed adjacent to a flame fueled by hydrogen / air near the exit of the column, and when carbon containing compounds exit the column they are pyrolyzed by the flame. This detector works only for organic / hydrocarbon containing compounds due to the ability of the carbons to form cations and electrons upon pyrolysis which generates a current between the electrodes. The increase in current is translated and appears as a peak in a chromatogram. FIDs have low detection limits (a few picograms per second) but they are unable to generate ions from carbonyl containing carbons. FID compatible carrier gasses include helium, hydrogen, nitrogen, and argon.


title: Gas chromatography

text: In FID, sometimes the stream is modified before entering the detector. A methanizer converts carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide into methane so that it can be detected. A different technology is the polyarc, by Activated Research Inc, that converts all compounds to methane.


title: Gas chromatography

text: Alkali flame detector (AFD) or alkali flame ionization detector (AFID) has high sensitivity to nitrogen and phosphorus, similar to NPD. However, the alkaline metal ions are supplied with the hydrogen gas, rather than a bead above the flame. For this reason AFD does not suffer the "fatigue" of the NPD, but provides a constant sensitivity over long period of time. In addition, when alkali ions are not added to the flame, AFD operates like a standard FID. A catalytic combustion detector (CCD) measures combustible hydrocarbons and hydrogen. Discharge ionization detector (DID) uses a high-voltage electric discharge to produce ions.


title: Gas chromatography

text: Flame photometric detector (FPD) uses a photomultiplier tube to detect spectral lines of the compounds as they are burned in a flame. Compounds eluting off the column are carried into a hydrogen fueled flame which excites specific elements in the molecules, and the excited elements (P,S, Halogens, Some Metals) emit light of specific characteristic wavelengths. The emitted light is filtered and detected by a photomultiplier tube. In particular, phosphorus emission is around 510–536 nm and sulfur emission is at 394 nm. With an atomic emission detector (AED), a sample eluting from a column enters a chamber which is energized by microwaves that induce a plasma. The plasma causes the analyte sample to decompose and certain elements generate an atomic emission spectra. The atomic emission spectra is diffracted by a diffraction grating and detected by a series of photomultiplier tubes or photo diodes.


title: Gas chromatography

text: Electron capture detector (ECD) uses a radioactive beta particle (electron) source to measure the degree of electron capture. ECD are used for the detection of molecules containing electronegative / withdrawing elements and functional groups like halogens, carbonyl, nitriles, nitro groups, and organometalics. In this type of detector either nitrogen or 5% methane in argon is used as the mobile phase carrier gas. The carrier gas passes between two electrodes placed at the end of the column, and adjacent to the cathode (negative electrode) resides a radioactive foil such as 63Ni. The radioactive foil emits a beta particle (electron) which collides with and ionizes the carrier gas to generate more ions resulting in a current. When analyte molecules with electronegative / withdrawing elements or functional groups electrons are captured which results in a decrease in current generating a detector response.


title: Gas chromatography

text: Nitrogen–phosphorus detector (NPD), a form of thermionic detector where nitrogen and phosphorus alter the work function on a specially coated bead and a resulting current is measured.


title: Gas chromatography

text: Dry electrolytic conductivity detector (DELCD) uses an air phase and high temperature (v. Coulsen) to measure chlorinated compounds.


title: Gas chromatography

text: Mass spectrometer (MS), also called GC-MS; highly effective and sensitive, even in a small quantity of sample. This detector can be used to identify the analytes in chromatograms by their mass spectrum. Some GC-MS are connected to an NMR spectrometer which acts as a backup detector. This combination is known as GC-MS-NMR. Some GC-MS-NMR are connected to an infrared spectrophotometer which acts as a backup detector. This combination is known as GC-MS-NMR-IR. It must, however, be stressed this is very rare as most analyses needed can be concluded via purely GC-MS.


title: Gas chromatography

text: Vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) represents the most recent development in gas chromatography detectors. Most chemical species absorb and have unique gas phase absorption cross sections in the approximately 120–240 nm VUV wavelength range monitored. Where absorption cross sections are known for analytes, the VUV detector is capable of absolute determination (without calibration) of the number of molecules present in the flow cell in the absence of chemical interferences.


title: Gas chromatography

text: Olfactometric detector, also called GC-O, uses a human assessor to analyse the odour activity of compounds. With an odour port or a sniffing port, the quality of the odour, the intensity of the odour and the duration of the odour activity of a compound can be assessed.


title: Gas chromatography

text: Other detectors include the Hall electrolytic conductivity detector (ElCD), helium ionization detector (HID), infrared detector (IRD), photo-ionization detector (PID), pulsed discharge ionization detector (PDD), and thermionic ionization detector (TID).


title: Gas chromatography

text: The method is the collection of conditions in which the GC operates for a given analysis. Method development is the process of determining what conditions are adequate and/or ideal for the analysis required.


title: Gas chromatography

text: Conditions which can be varied to accommodate a required analysis include inlet temperature, detector temperature, column temperature and temperature program, carrier gas and carrier gas flow rates, the column's stationary phase, diameter and length, inlet type and flow rates, sample size and injection technique. Depending on the detector(s) (see below) installed on the GC, there may be a number of detector conditions that can also be varied. Some GCs also include valves which can change the route of sample and carrier flow. The timing of the opening and closing of these valves can be important to method development.


title: Gas chromatography

text: Typical carrier gases include helium, nitrogen, argon, and hydrogen. Which gas to use is usually determined by the detector being used, for example, a DID requires helium as the carrier gas. When analyzing gas samples the carrier is also selected based on the sample's matrix, for example, when analyzing a mixture in argon, an argon carrier is preferred because the argon in the sample does not show up on the chromatogram. Safety and availability can also influence carrier selection.


title: Gas chromatography

text: The purity of the carrier gas is also frequently determined by the detector, though the level of sensitivity needed can also play a significant role. Typically, purities of 99.995% or higher are used. The most common purity grades required by modern instruments for the majority of sensitivities are 5.0 grades, or 99.999% pure meaning that there is a total of 10 ppm of impurities in the carrier gas that could affect the results. The highest purity grades in common use are 6.0 grades, but the need for detection at very low levels in some forensic and environmental applications has driven the need for carrier gases at 7.0 grade purity and these are now commercially available. Trade names for typical purities include "Zero Grade," "Ultra-High Purity (UHP) Grade," "4.5 Grade" and "5.0 Grade."


title: Gas chromatography

text: The carrier gas linear velocity affects the analysis in the same way that temperature does (see above). The higher the linear velocity the faster the analysis, but the lower the separation between analytes. Selecting the linear velocity is therefore the same compromise between the level of separation and length of analysis as selecting the column temperature. The linear velocity will be implemented by means of the carrier gas flow rate, with regards to the inner diameter of the column.


title: Gas chromatography

text: With GCs made before the 1990s, carrier flow rate was controlled indirectly by controlling the carrier inlet pressure, or "column head pressure." The actual flow rate was measured at the outlet of the column or the detector with an electronic flow meter, or a bubble flow meter, and could be an involved, time consuming, and frustrating process. It was not possible to vary the pressure setting during the run, and thus the flow was essentially constant during the analysis. The relation between flow rate and inlet pressure is calculated with Poiseuille's equation for compressible fluids.


title: Gas chromatography

text: Many modern GCs, however, electronically measure the flow rate, and electronically control the carrier gas pressure to set the flow rate. Consequently, carrier pressures and flow rates can be adjusted during the run, creating pressure/flow programs similar to temperature programs.


title: Gas chromatography

text: The polarity of the solute is crucial for the choice of stationary compound, which in an optimal case would have a similar polarity as the solute. Common stationary phases in open tubular columns are cyanopropylphenyl dimethyl polysiloxane, carbowax polyethyleneglycol, biscyanopropyl cyanopropylphenyl polysiloxane and diphenyl dimethyl polysiloxane. For packed columns more options are available.


title: Gas chromatography

text: The choice of inlet type and injection technique depends on if the sample is in liquid, gas, adsorbed, or solid form, and on whether a solvent matrix is present that has to be vaporized. Dissolved samples can be introduced directly onto the column via a COC injector, if the conditions are well known; if a solvent matrix has to be vaporized and partially removed, a S/SL injector is used (most common injection technique); gaseous samples (e.g., air cylinders) are usually injected using a gas switching valve system; adsorbed samples (e.g., on adsorbent tubes) are introduced using either an external (on-line or off-line) desorption apparatus such as a purge-and-trap system, or are desorbed in the injector (SPME applications).


title: Gas chromatography

text: The real chromatographic analysis starts with the introduction of the sample onto the column. The development of capillary gas chromatography resulted in many practical problems with the injection technique. The technique of on-column injection, often used with packed columns, is usually not possible with capillary columns. In the injection system in the capillary gas chromatograph the amount injected should not overload the column and


title: Gas chromatography

text: the width of the injected plug should be small compared to the spreading due to the chromatographic process. Failure to comply with this latter requirement will reduce the separation capability of the column. As a general rule, the volume injected, V, and the volume of the detector cell, V, should be about 1/10 of the volume occupied by the portion of sample containing the molecules of interest (analytes) when they exit the column.


title: Gas chromatography

text: Some general requirements which a good injection technique should fulfill are that it should be possible to obtain the column's optimum separation efficiency, it should allow accurate and reproducible injections of small amounts of representative samples, it should induce no change in sample composition, it should not exhibit discrimination based on differences in boiling point, polarity, concentration or thermal/catalytic stability, and it should be applicable for trace analysis as well as for undiluted samples.


title: Gas chromatography

text: However, there are a number of problems inherent in the use of syringes for injection. Even the best syringes claim an accuracy of only 3%, and in unskilled hands, errors are much larger. The needle may cut small pieces of rubber from the septum as it injects sample through it. These can block the needle and prevent the syringe filling the next time it is used. It may not be obvious that this has happened. A fraction of the sample may get trapped in the rubber, to be released during subsequent injections. This can give rise to ghost peaks in the chromatogram. There may be selective loss of the more volatile components of the sample by evaporation from the tip of the needle.


title: Gas chromatography

text: The choice of column depends on the sample and the active measured. The main chemical attribute regarded when choosing a column is the polarity of the mixture, but functional groups can play a large part in column selection. The polarity of the sample must closely match the polarity of the column stationary phase to increase resolution and separation while reducing run time. The separation and run time also depends on the film thickness (of the stationary phase), the column diameter and the column length.


title: Gas chromatography

text: The column(s) in a GC are contained in an oven, the temperature of which is precisely controlled electronically. (When discussing the "temperature of the column," an analyst is technically referring to the temperature of the column oven. The distinction, however, is not important and will not subsequently be made in this article.)


title: Gas chromatography

text: The rate at which a sample passes through the column is directly proportional to the temperature of the column. The higher the column temperature, the faster the sample moves through the column. However, the faster a sample moves through the column, the less it interacts with the stationary phase, and the less the analytes are separated.


title: Gas chromatography

text: In general, the column temperature is selected to compromise between the length of the analysis and the level of separation.


title: Gas chromatography

text: A method which holds the column at the same temperature for the entire analysis is called "isothermal." Most methods, however, increase the column temperature during the analysis, the initial temperature, rate of temperature increase (the temperature "ramp"), and final temperature are called the temperature program.


title: Gas chromatography

text: A temperature program allows analytes that elute early in the analysis to separate adequately, while shortening the time it takes for late-eluting analytes to pass through the column.


title: Gas chromatography

text: Generally, chromatographic data is presented as a graph of detector response (y-axis) against retention time (x-axis), which is called a chromatogram. This provides a spectrum of peaks for a sample representing the analytes present in a sample eluting from the column at different times. Retention time can be used to identify analytes if the method conditions are constant. Also, the pattern of peaks will be constant for a sample under constant conditions and can identify complex mixtures of analytes. However, in most modern applications, the GC is connected to a mass spectrometer or similar detector that is capable of identifying the analytes represented by the peaks.


title: Gas chromatography

text: The area under a peak is proportional to the amount of analyte present in the chromatogram. By calculating the area of the peak using the mathematical function of integration, the concentration of an analyte in the original sample can be determined. Concentration can be calculated using a calibration curve created by finding the response for a series of concentrations of analyte, or by determining the relative response factor of an analyte. The relative response factor is the expected ratio of an analyte to an internal standard (or external standard) and is calculated by finding the response of a known amount of analyte and a constant amount of internal standard (a chemical added to the sample at a constant concentration, with a distinct retention time to the analyte).


title: Gas chromatography

text: In most modern GC-MS systems, computer software is used to draw and integrate peaks, and match MS spectra to library spectra.


title: Gas chromatography

text: In general, substances that vaporize below 300 °C (and therefore are stable up to that temperature) can be measured quantitatively. The samples are also required to be salt-free; they should not contain ions. Very minute amounts of a substance can be measured, but it is often required that the sample must be measured in comparison to a sample containing the pure, suspected substance known as a reference standard.


title: Gas chromatography

text: Various temperature programs can be used to make the readings more meaningful; for example to differentiate between substances that behave similarly during the GC process.


title: Gas chromatography

text: Professionals working with GC analyze the content of a chemical product, for example in assuring the quality of products in the chemical industry; or measuring chemicals in soil, air or water, such as soil gases. GC is very accurate if used properly and can measure picomoles of a substance in a 1 ml liquid sample, or parts-per-billion concentrations in gaseous samples.


title: Gas chromatography

text: In practical courses at colleges, students sometimes get acquainted to the GC by studying the contents of Lavender oil or measuring the ethylene that is secreted by "Nicotiana benthamiana" plants after artificially injuring their leaves. These GC analyse hydrocarbons (C2-C40+). In a typical experiment, a packed column is used to separate the light gases, which are then detected with a TCD. The hydrocarbons are separated using a capillary column and detected with a FID. A complication with light gas analyses that include H is that He, which is the most common and most sensitive inert carrier (sensitivity is proportional to molecular mass) has an almost identical thermal conductivity to hydrogen (it is the difference in thermal conductivity between two separate filaments in a Wheatstone Bridge type arrangement that shows when a component has been eluted). For this reason, dual TCD instruments used with a separate channel for hydrogen that uses nitrogen as a carrier are common. Argon is often used when analysing gas phase chemistry reactions such as F-T synthesis so that a single carrier gas can be used rather than two separate ones. The sensitivity is reduced, but this is a trade off for simplicity in the gas supply.


title: Gas chromatography

text: Gas chromatography is used extensively in forensic science. Disciplines as diverse as solid drug dose (pre-consumption form) identification and quantification, arson investigation, paint chip analysis, and toxicology cases, employ GC to identify and quantify various biological specimens and crime-scene evidence.


title: Unified combatant command

text: A unified combatant command (CCMD), also referred to as a combatant command, is a joint military command of the United States Department of Defense that is composed of units from two or more service branches of the United States Armed Forces, and conducts broad and continuing missions. There are currently 11 unified combatant commands and each is established as the highest echelon of military commands, in order to provide effective command and control of all U.S. military forces, regardless of branch of service, during peace or during war time. Unified combatant commands are organized either on a geographical basis (known as an "area of responsibility", AOR) or on a functional basis, e.g. special operations, force projection, transport, and cybersecurity. Currently, seven combatant commands are designated as geographical, and four are designated as functional. Unified combatant commands are "joint" commands and have specific badges denoting their affiliation.


title: Unified combatant command

text: The Unified Command Plan (UCP) establishes the missions, command responsibilities, and geographic areas of responsibility of the combatant commands. Each time the Unified Command Plan is updated, the organization of the combatant commands is reviewed for military efficiency and efficacy, as well as alignment with national policy.


title: Unified combatant command

text: Each unified combatant command is led by a combatant commander (CCDR), who is a four-star general or admiral. The combatant commanders are entrusted with a specific type of nontransferable operational command authority over assigned forces, regardless of branch of service. The chain of command for operational purposes (per the Goldwater–Nichols Act) goes from the president of the United States through the secretary of defense to the combatant commanders.


title: Unified combatant command

text: Currently, four geographic combatant commands have their headquarters located outside their geographic area of responsibility.


title: Unified combatant command

text: The current system of unified commands in the U.S. military emerged during World War II with the establishment of geographic theaters of operation composed of forces from multiple service branches that reported to a single commander who was supported by a joint staff. A unified command structure also existed to coordinate British and U.S. military forces operating under the Combined Chiefs of Staff, which was composed of the British Chiefs of Staff Committee and the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff.


title: Unified combatant command

text: In the European Theater, Allied military forces fell under the command of the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF). After SHAEF was dissolved at the end of the war, the American forces were unified under a single command, the US Forces, European Theater (USFET), commanded by General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower. A truly unified command for the Pacific War proved more difficult to organize as neither General of the Army Douglas MacArthur nor Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz was willing to be subordinate to the other, for reasons of interservice rivalry.


title: Unified combatant command

text: The Joint Chiefs of Staff continued to advocate in favor of establishing permanent unified commands, and President Harry S. Truman approved the first plan on 14 December 1946. Known as the "Outline Command Plan," it would become the first in a series of Unified Command Plans. The original "Outline Command Plan" of 1946 established seven unified commands: Far East Command, Pacific Command, Alaskan Command, Northeast Command, the U.S. Atlantic Fleet, Caribbean Command, and European Command. However, on 5 August 1947, the CNO recommended instead that CINCLANTFLT be established as a fully unified commander under the broader title of Commander in Chief, Atlantic (CINCLANT). The Army and Air Force objected, and CINCLANTFLT was activated as a unified command on 1 November 1947. A few days later, the CNO renewed his suggestion for the establishment of a unified Atlantic Command. This time his colleagues withdrew their objections, and on 1 December 1947, the U.S. Atlantic Command (LANTCOM) was created under the Commander in Chief, Atlantic (CINCLANT).


title: Unified combatant command

text: Under the original plan, each of the unified commands operated with one of the service chiefs (the Chief of Staff of the Army or Air Force, or the Chief of Naval Operations) serving as an executive agent representing the Joint Chiefs of Staff. This arrangement was formalized on 21 April 1948 as part of a policy paper titled the "Function of the Armed Forces and the Joint Chiefs of Staff" (informally known as the "Key West Agreement"). The responsibilities of the unified commands were further expanded on 7 September 1948 when the commanders' authority was extended to include the coordination of the administrative and logistical functions in addition to their combat responsibilities.


title: Unified combatant command

text: Far East Command and U.S. Northeast Command were disestablished under the Unified Command Plan of 1956–1957.


title: Unified combatant command

text: A 1958 "reorganization in National Command Authority relations with the joint commands" with a "direct channel" to unified commands such as Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD) was effected after President Dwight Eisenhower expressed concern about nuclear command and control. CONAD itself was disestablished in 1975.


title: Unified combatant command

text: Although not part of the original plan, the Joint Chiefs of Staff also created specified commands that had broad and continuing missions but were composed of forces from only one service. Examples include the U.S. Naval Forces, Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean and the U.S. Air Force's Strategic Air Command. Like the unified commands, the specified commands reported directly to the JCS instead of their respective service chiefs. These commands have not existed since the Strategic Air Command was disestablished in 1992. The relevant section of federal law, however, remains unchanged, and the President retains the power to establish a new specified command.


title: Unified combatant command

text: The Goldwater–Nichols Defense Reorganization Act of 1986 clarified and codified responsibilities that commanders-in-chief (CINCs) undertook, and which were first given legal status in 1947. After that act, CINCs reported directly to the United States Secretary of Defense, and through him to the President of the United States.


title: Unified combatant command

text: The U.S. Atlantic Command became the Joint Forces Command in the 1990s after the Soviet threat to the North Atlantic had disappeared and the need rose for an integrating and experimentation command for forces in the continental United States. Joint Forces Command was disbanded on 3 August 2011 and its components placed under the Joint Staff and other combatant commands.


title: Unified combatant command

text: On 24 October 2002, Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld announced that in accordance with Title 10 of the US Code (USC), the title of "Commander-in-Chief" would thereafter be reserved for the President, consistent with the terms of Article II of the United States Constitution. Thereafter, the military CINCs would be known as "combatant commanders", as heads of the unified combatant commands.


title: Unified combatant command

text: A sixth geographical unified command, United States Africa Command (USAFRICOM), was approved and established in 2007 for Africa. It operated under U.S. European Command as a sub-unified command during its first year, and transitioned to independent Unified Command Status in October 2008. In 2009, it focused on synchronizing hundreds of activities inherited from three regional commands that previously coordinated U.S. military relations in Africa.


title: Unified combatant command

text: President Donald Trump announced on 18 August 2017 that the United States Cyber Command (USCYBERCOM) would be elevated to the status of a unified combatant command from a sub-unified command. It was also announced that the separation of the command from the NSA would be considered. USCYBERCOM was elevated on 4 May 2018.


title: Unified combatant command

text: Vice President Mike Pence announced on 18 December 2018 that President Donald Trump had issued a memorandum ordering the stand-up of a United States Space Command (USSPACECOM). A previous unified combantant command for unified space operations was decommissioned in 2002. The new USSPACECOM will include "(1) all the general responsibilities of a Unified Combatant Command; (2) the space-related responsibilities previously assigned to the Commander, United States Strategic Command; and (3) the responsibilities of Joint Force Provider and Joint Force Trainer for Space Operations Forces". USSPACECOM was re-established on 29 August 2019.


title: Unified combatant command

text: Each combatant command (CCMD) is headed by a four-star general or admiral (the CCDR) recommended by the Secretary of Defense, nominated for appointment by the President of the United States, confirmed by the Senate and commissioned, at the President's order, by the Secretary of Defense. The Goldwater–Nichols Act and its subsequent implementation legislation also resulted in specific Joint Professional Military Education (JPME) requirements for officers before they could attain flag or general officer rank thereby preparing them for duty in Joint assignments such as UCC staff or Joint Chiefs of Staff assignments, which are strictly controlled tour length rotations of duty. However, in the decades following enactment of Goldwater–Nichols, these JPME requirements have yet to come to overall fruition. This is particularly true in the case of senior naval officers, where sea duty / shore duty rotations and the culture of the naval service has often discounted PME and JPME as a measure of professional development for success. Although slowly changing, the JPME requirement still continues to be frequently waived in the case of senior admirals nominated for these positions.


title: Unified combatant command

text: The operational chain of command runs from the President to the Secretary of Defense to the combatant commanders of the combatant commands. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff may transmit communications to the Commanders of the combatant commands from the President and Secretary of Defense and advises both on potential courses of action, but the Chairman does not exercise military command over any combatant forces. Under Goldwater–Nichols, the service chiefs (also four stars in rank) are charged with the responsibility of the "strategic direction, unified operation of combatant commands, and the integration of all land, naval, and air forces in an efficient "unified combatant command" force. Furthermore, the Secretaries of the Military Departments (i.e. Secretary of the Army, Secretary of the Navy, and the Secretary of the Air Force) are legally responsible to "organize, train and equip" combatant forces and, as directed by the Secretary of Defense, assign their forces for use by the combatant commands. The Secretaries of the Military Departments thus exercise administrative control (ADCON) rather than operational control (OPCON—the prerogative of the combatant commander) over their forces.


title: Unified combatant command

text: A sub-unified command, or, subordinate unified command, may be established by combatant commanders when authorized to do so by the Secretary of Defense or the president. They are created to conduct a portion of the mission or tasking of their parent geographic or functional command. Sub-unified commands may be either functional or geographic, and the commanders of sub-unified commands exercise authority similar to that of combatant commanders.


title: Unified combatant command

text: Examples of current and former sub-unified commands are the Alaskan Command (ALCOM) under USNORTHCOM, the United States Forces Korea (USFK) under USINDOPACOM, and United States Forces—Afghanistan (USFOR-A) under USCENTCOM.


title: Audrina Patridge

text: Audrina Cathleen Patridge is an American television personality, model and actress. In 2006, she rose to prominence after being cast in the reality television series "The Hills", which chronicled the personal and professional lives of Patridge and friends Lauren Conrad, Heidi Montag and Whitney Port. During its production, she was cast in positions with Quixote Studios and Epic Records.


title: Audrina Patridge

text: Later that year, Patridge competed on the 11th season of the American version of "Dancing with the Stars", and finished in seventh place. In 2011, she was commissioned her own television series, "Audrina", which documented the lives of her immediate family and her. Patridge entered the film industry with roles in the horror film "Sorority Row" (2009) and direct-to-DVD film, "" (2011), and was a supporting character in "Honey 2" (2011}. In 2014 and 2015, Patridge hosted NBC's late-night travel show "1st Look".


title: Audrina Patridge

text: Audrina Cathleen Patridge was born in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of Lynn (née Clelland) and Mark Patridge. She is of English, German, Belgian, Italian and Polish descent, and has three younger siblings: Casey; Mark Jr.; and Samantha. Patridge grew up in Yorba Linda, California.


title: Audrina Patridge

text: In 2005, MTV developed the reality television series "The Hills" as the spin-off of "". It originally chronicled the lives of Lauren Conrad, who appeared on its predecessor, her housemate Heidi Montag, and friends Whitney Port and Patridge. During production of the first season, producers cast her in a position with Quixote Studios. The following season, Patridge was cast with Epic Records. Later in the season, Montag ended her friendship with Patridge, though the women later reconciled. After Montag moved in with Spencer Pratt, Patridge and Lo Bosworth later became roommates with Conrad. During the third season, Patridge resumed an on-again/off-again relationship with boyfriend Justin Brescia, whom Bosworth jokingly nicknamed "Justin Bobby". Their turbulent relationship carried through each subsequent season.


title: Audrina Patridge

text: On May 28, 2009, she confirmed during an interview on "On Air with Ryan Seacrest" that she was leaving "The Hills" to star in her own reality program documenting her life outside "The Hills". Her final episode of the series was supposed to be on December 1, 2009. However, she later signed on for the series's sixth (and final) season while her new series, produced by Mark Burnett, set to air on MTV in mid-2010, was put on hold due to "The Hills".


title: Audrina Patridge

text: Patridge launched her Hollywood career appearing on the reality show "The Hills" and then landed a minor role in "". The movie was released straight-to-DVD on April 21, 2009. Patridge has made appearances on "Mad TV" and "Do Not Disturb".


title: Audrina Patridge

text: In March 2008, nude photos of Patridge were published online. "They were taken when I was just out of high school and beginning to model," Patridge has explained. "I was naïve, overly trusting of people, and inexperienced."


title: Audrina Patridge

text: In August 2008, she was cast as Megan in "Sorority Row"; production was carried out from October 2008 to early 2009, and the film was released on September 11, 2009. In August 2008, Patridge purchased a house in Los Angeles' Hollywood Dell neighborhood. On February 22, 2009, Patridge's home was burgled by two members of the Bling Ring. She appeared in an ad for PETA, encouraging people to adopt rather than buy pets.


title: Audrina Patridge

text: Patridge appeared in Carl's Jr. commercials during 2009, 2010, and 2012. She refuted rumors that she would play the part based on her former "Hills" co-star Lauren Conrad in the film version of "L.A. Candy" based on the book by Conrad.


title: Audrina Patridge

text: During a live press conference on August 31, 2010, Patridge was confirmed to be a contestant on the eleventh season of ABC's "Dancing with the Stars". Her professional partner was Tony Dovolani. Her first dance was the Cha-Cha-Cha and her second was the Quickstep. They were the sixth couple to be eliminated, finishing in seventh place.


title: Audrina Patridge

text: In October 2010, Patridge announced that she would star in "Audrina", an upcoming VH1 reality series following her life after "The Hills". The series premiered on April 17, 2011, with disappointing ratings, and it was canceled after only one season. She had a cameo role in the 2011 film "Take Me Home Tonight".


title: Audrina Patridge

text: In January 2011, she signed on to star in the YOBI.tv "Dream Maker" webseries. Following the end of her career in reality TV, Patridge continued to pursue acting, and was cast in a part in "Scary Movie 5"; however her scenes were cut from the finished film due to the scene being too risqué for the PG-13 movie.


title: Audrina Patridge

text: At the 2018 MTV Video Music Awards, MTV announced a reboot of "The Hills" entitled "", slated to premiere in 2019. Patridge was announced as part of the cast of the new series.


title: Audrina Patridge

text: Patridge was dating Corey Bohan, a motorcycle rider and professional BMX dirt bike rider, since 2008, and on November 20, 2015, Bohan proposed after getting her parents' permission and she accepted. Patridge gave birth to daughter Kirra Max on June 24, 2016. The couple married on November 5, 2016. On September 20, 2017, Patridge filed for divorce from Bohan and filed a restraining order against him. On December 20, 2018, the divorce was finalized.


title: Fountains of Wayne

text: Fountains of Wayne was an American rock band that formed in New York City in 1995. The band included founding members Chris Collingwood, Adam Schlesinger, Jody Porter, and Brian Young. They released five albums from 1996 to 2011 before effectively disbanding in 2013.


title: Fountains of Wayne

text: Schlesinger died of complications from COVID-19 on April 1, 2020, and the surviving members of Fountains of Wayne reunited to perform an online one-shot concert as a tribute to Schlesinger on April 22, 2020.


title: Fountains of Wayne

text: After Montclair-based Adam Schlesinger and Sellersville-based Chris Collingwood first met as freshmen at Williams College (where Adam joined Williams' premiere a cappella group, the Octet), they played music in various bands and eventually went their separate ways, with Collingwood forming the Mercy Buckets in Boston and Schlesinger forming Ivy in New York City. In the mid-1990s, they came together to form Fountains of Wayne, named after a lawn ornament store in Wayne, New Jersey that closed in 2009. At first Collingwood hated the name but eventually warmed to it. Previous band names included Woolly Mammoth, Are You My Mother? and Three Men Who When Standing Side by Side Have a Wingspan of Over Twelve Feet. The band cut a demo and signed with Atlantic Records, then recruited guitarist Jody Porter and still-active Posies drummer Brian Young after recording their debut album. Young got in touch with a friend who worked at Fountains of Wayne's label to see if there were any job openings, and when he auditioned for the band, they asked him to play the beat of "Swingtown" by Steve Miller Band.


title: Fountains of Wayne

text: Though Collingwood and Schlesinger shared cowriter credit for all original Fountains of Wayne material, for most of their career together, they wrote their songs separately. In 2005 Collingwood said, "We decided early on, it’s better to not have arguments that some bands have where someone might say, ‘I wrote 15% of that song,’ and try to figure out those numbers. It just seems ridiculous." Schlesinger added, "We just agreed many years ago that if we were to have a band we’d just split the songwriting to avoid having a conversation every time we tried to finish a song. But we really haven’t collaborated as writers in years. And that’s kind of intentional too because we didn’t want it to turn into a thing where people would say, 'Adam’s songs are like this…' We wanted the band to have an identity more than we wanted each of us to have an identity in the band."


title: Fountains of Wayne

text: In 1996, the band released its self-titled debut, which spawned the singles "Radiation Vibe" and "Sink to the Bottom", and the band toured the world extensively behind its debut album, playing alongside bands including The Smashing Pumpkins, Sloan, and The Lemonheads. That same year, Schlesinger wrote the Academy Award-nominated, RIAA gold-certified title song for the film "That Thing You Do!".


title: Fountains of Wayne

text: In 1999, the band released "Utopia Parkway", an album named after a road in Queens, New York. The album was a concept record that dealt with life in modern suburbia. "Utopia Parkway" was received well by critics, garnering many favorable reviews, and was album of the week in "People" magazine. The group once again toured extensively behind the album, but frustrations grew between the band and the label. The band was later dropped by Atlantic in late 1999.


title: Fountains of Wayne

text: The band was inactive for a period of time. Collingwood, in particular, had a difficult time coping with the band being dropped by their label. In 2004 he said, "When we got dropped from Atlantic, it's my fault that it took so long, because I wasn’t sure I wanted to keep doing it. At the end of four years of the hardest work I’d ever done in my life, more traveling and being away from my wife the whole time, I had nothing to show for it. I got back home and I had nothing. I was broke, I was demoralized, I was exhausted. I think I just needed a year to recharge my batteries."


title: Fountains of Wayne

text: Schlesinger cowrote many of the songs for the "Josie and the Pussycats" film and soundtrack, produced albums for Verve Pipe, David Mead, and They Might Be Giants, and released a third record with his other band, Ivy. Collingwood formed and fronted a Northampton, Massachusetts-based pop-country band called Gay Potatoes, and played a string of solo shows in the Boston and Los Angeles areas. Guitarist Jody Porter worked with his band, The Astrojet, alongside famed producer Gordon Raphael and keyboardist David Zhang in New York City. Percussionist Brian Young moved to Los Angeles and did session work for various artists such as producer Steve Fisk, Ivy, Heather Duby, and Greg Dulli.


title: Fountains of Wayne

text: The band reunited to record a cover of The Kinks' "Better Things" for the tribute album, "This Is Where I Belong: Songs of Ray Davies and the Kinks", in 2001, and began to discuss plans for a new album. In 2003, the band released "Welcome Interstate Managers", a successful album that spawned the hit single "Stacy's Mom", which Adam Schlesinger says was a tribute to The Cars. Initially the single stalled at commercial alternative radio in the US, but MTV President Judy McGrath championed the single's music video, a "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" homage featuring Rachel Hunter. Ultimately Stacy's Mom was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America and was nominated for Best Vocal Pop Performance at the 2004 Grammys. Another song off the album, "All Kinds of Time", was used for NFL commercial promotions during the 2005 season.


title: Fountains of Wayne

text: In 2005, the band released "Out-of-State Plates", a collection of B-sides and two new songs, which was supported by the single "Maureen" and a limited US tour that included some acoustic-only sets, a set on PBS "Soundstage", and an appearance in the American Songbook concert series at Lincoln Center. Also included on the album is a 1999 cover of the Britney Spears hit, "...Baby One More Time".


title: Fountains of Wayne

text: In 2006, while on tour in Tokyo, Collingwood had a mental breakdown in which he hadn't slept for four days, experienced hallucinations for two days and didn't believe that he was in Tokyo to play in front of 25,000. The show was cancelled and Collingwood was taken to an emergency department, followed by recovery in a mental hospital after returning to the US.


title: Fountains of Wayne

text: In 2007, the band released "Traffic and Weather", an album which included the song "I-95", which "Rolling Stone" named #54 of the year's top 100 songs. Collingwood had less involvement during the making of the album due to his struggles with depression and alcoholism, only managing to contribute three songs.


title: Fountains of Wayne

text: In 2008, Porter released his debut solo album "Close to the Sun", a collection of songs he had written and recorded over a period of years in between Fountains of Wayne albums and tours.


title: Fountains of Wayne

text: In 2009, the band released "No Better Place: Live In Chicago", a live concert DVD which included newly recorded acoustic songs. Also that year, they played a short run of full-band acoustic shows where they showcased songs from their forthcoming album.


title: Fountains of Wayne

text: In 2010, Fountains of Wayne commenced work on their fifth album, which was influenced by the recent acoustic tours they had done. According to Porter, "It’s a little bit more introspective and not as loud of a record as the last two. I think that came from the fact that we started last year doing acoustic-based tours because we didn’t have a record out. We wanted to get back out on tour and did it stripped-down. Overall it’s not as brash or guitar-heavy."


title: Fountains of Wayne

text: In 2011, the band released "Sky Full of Holes", an album put out in Japan by Warner Music Japan (with two bonus tracks), Europe by Lojinx, and the U.S. by Yep Roc Records. The now-sober Collingwood once again became more involved, but this turned out to be the hardest album for them to make. According to Collingwood in 2013, "The most recent record was definitely the hardest that we've ever done. I think I'm partly to blame for that. I checked out on the previous record, so when I came back in, I had to assert myself. Every single thing about that record was a fight. It was not this blissful reconciliation that led to the release; it was a brutal thing right up to the end. We'll see what happens if we end up making another record."


title: Fountains of Wayne

text: The band toured "Sky Full of Holes" into 2012. After about a one-year layoff, they played a number of U.S. dates in September and October of 2013, on a tour with Soul Asylum and Evan Dando. They also issued one final new track in 2013, "Trucks", written and produced by Sandra Boynton for Boynton's kid-friendly various artists album "Frog Trouble". The final Fountains of Wayne show took place in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on October 19, 2013.


title: Fountains of Wayne

text: The band never issued an official announcement that they had broken up, but by 2016 all the members were speaking of Fountains of Wayne in the past tense. Neither Schlesinger nor Collingwood had ruled out a future reunion, but both saw the possibility as remote. "I try never to say never," Collingwood said, "but it’s staggering to think of everything that would have to happen for me to want to repeat that experience."


title: Fountains of Wayne

text: In 2016, Collingwood released what was essentially a solo album that was issued under the group name Look Park. At the time of the album release, he elaborated on Fountains Of Wayne's demise by saying, "When we were recording the record before the last Fountains of Wayne record, which was called "Traffic and Weather", I didn't really have a whole lot to contribute to that album. I was out to lunch a little bit, mentally, and just drinking too much. And I think that the fact that I sort of removed myself from the process at that point made it really easier for Adam to take over. And when I was ready to actually make another album, you know, several years later after I'd sort of cleaned up my act, it was very difficult. It was very, very hard to get back into the position where we were equals."


title: Fountains of Wayne

text: Porter and Young joined Schlesinger in 2016 on The Monkees' album "Good Times!" and again in 2018 on the group's "Christmas Party". Schlesinger produced and wrote songs for both albums.


title: Fountains of Wayne

text: Schlesinger and Collingwood, meanwhile, remained distant. "I don’t even know where Adam lives now," Collingwood told an interviewer in 2019.


title: Fountains of Wayne

text: The surviving members of Fountains of Wayne performed together for the first time since 2013 on April 22, 2020, as part of a charity livestream event to raise funding for the New Jersey Pandemic Relief Fund. The performance was a tribute to Schlesinger, and featured Sharon Van Etten taking his place on bass guitar.


title: Piggly Wiggly

text: Piggly Wiggly is an American supermarket chain operating in the American Southern and Midwestern regions run by Piggly Wiggly, LLC, an affiliate of C&S Wholesale Grocers. Its first outlet opened in 1916 in Memphis, Tennessee, and is notable for having been the first true self-service grocery store, and the originator of various familiar supermarket features such as checkout stands, individual item price marking and shopping carts. The current company headquarters is in Keene, New Hampshire. A total of 499 independently owned Piggly Wiggly stores currently operate across 18 states, primarily in smaller cities and towns.


title: Piggly Wiggly

text: Piggly Wiggly was the first self-service grocery store. It was founded on September 6, 1916 (although it did not open until five days later due to delays in construction), at 79 Jefferson Avenue in Memphis, Tennessee, by Clarence Saunders. A replica of the original store has been constructed in the Memphis Pink Palace Museum and Planetarium, a mansion that Saunders built as his private residence, which was later sold to the city.


title: Piggly Wiggly

text: At the time of its founding, grocery stores did not allow customers to gather their goods. Instead, a customer would give a list of items to a clerk, who would then collect them throughout the store. This created greater costs and higher prices. Piggly Wiggly introduced the innovation of allowing customers to go through the store, gathering their goods, thus cutting costs and lowering prices. Losses due to easier shoplifting were more than offset by profits from increased impulse purchasing. Others were initially experimenting with this format, which came to be known as a "groceteria", reminding people of cafeterias, another relatively new, self-service idea.


title: Piggly Wiggly

text: Piggly Wiggly Corporation secured the self-service format and issued franchises to hundreds of grocery retailers to operate its stores. The concept of the "self-serving store" was patented by Saunders in 1917. Customers at Piggly Wiggly entered the store through a turnstile and walked through four aisles to view the 605 items sold in packages and organized into departments. The customers selected merchandise as they continued through the maze to the cashier. Instantly, packaging and brand recognition became important to companies and consumers alike.


title: Piggly Wiggly

text: The success of Piggly Wiggly was phenomenal, and other independent and chain grocery stores changed to self-service in the 1920s and 1930s. At its peak in 1932 (see Clarence Saunders), the company operated 2,660 stores and posted annual sales in excess of $180 million. In November 1922, Saunders attempted a squeeze on the substantial short interest in the stock, running the share price up from 40 to 120 and profiting by millions on paper. The Stock Exchange Governors responded by deciding that a corner had been established in Piggly Wiggly and removed the stock from the Board, eventually forcing Saunders to turn over his assets to the banks that had financed his leveraged position. Saunders reputedly lost $9 million in the attempted corner.


title: Piggly Wiggly

text: Following these events, the company was divided into strategic units and sold to regional grocery chains, including Kroger, Safeway, National Tea, and Colonial. In 1935, all 179 Canadian Piggly Wiggly were also sold to Canada Safeway, which merged with Sobeys in 2013.


title: Piggly Wiggly

text: After losing control of Piggly Wiggly, Saunders had no further association with the company. However, he remained interested in automated shopping, with which he experimented initially with the Keedoozle store until he died in 1953.


title: Piggly Wiggly

text: According to John Brooks, Piggly Wiggly's "greatly changed corporate structure...flourished into the 1960s," and hundreds of stores "operated under a franchise agreement with the Piggly Wiggly Corporation, of Jacksonville, Florida.


title: Piggly Wiggly

text: According to the Piggly Wiggly web site, Saunders was "reluctant" to explain the origin of the company's name. There are two theories: One story says that, while riding a train, he looked out his window and saw several little pigs struggling to get under a fence, which prompted him to think of the rhyme. Someone once asked him why he had chosen such an unusual name for his organization, to which he replied, "So people will ask that very question."


title: Piggly Wiggly

text: Piggly Wiggly was acquired by the wholesale grocer Malone & Hyde in 1982. Malone & Hyde was acquired by Fleming Companies in 1988. Fleming filed for bankruptcy in 2003, and C&S Wholesale Grocers acquired most of the business, including Piggly Wiggly. C&S acquired regional warehouses Piggly Wiggly Carolina in 2013 and Piggly Wiggly Midwest in 2021.


title: Piggly Wiggly

text: There are more than 600 independently owned and operated stores in 17 states. The company headquarters is located in Keene, New Hampshire.


title: Piggly Wiggly

text: Some of the stores in Alabama have formed Piggly Wiggly Alabama Distributing Company, a retailers' cooperative to manage distribution while using the Piggly Wiggly name. Piggly Wiggly stores are found predominantly in medium to smaller cities and remain a fixture in many rural communities. In many of the larger cities and more metropolitan areas within the company's territory (especially in the faster-growing regions), competitive national grocery chains have built larger supermarkets with greater variety and selection than Piggly Wiggly, targeting a more upscale clientele. In response, Piggly Wiggly was among the first to develop a loyalty card discount membership program similar to many other national merchants.


title: H. L. Mencken

text: Henry Louis Mencken (September 12, 1880 – January 29, 1956) was an American journalist, essayist, satirist, cultural critic, and scholar of American English. He commented widely on the social scene, literature, music, prominent politicians, and contemporary movements. His satirical reporting on the Scopes Trial, which he dubbed the "Monkey Trial", also gained him attention.


title: H. L. Mencken

text: As a scholar, Mencken is known for "The American Language", a multi-volume study of how the English language is spoken in the United States. As an admirer of the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, he was an outspoken opponent of organized religion, theism, and representative democracy, the last of which he viewed as a system in which inferior men dominated their superiors. Mencken was a supporter of scientific progress and was critical of osteopathy and chiropractic. He was also an open critic of economics.


title: H. L. Mencken

text: Mencken opposed the American entry into World War I and World War II. Some of the opinions in his private diary entries have been described by some researchers as racist and anti-Semitic, although this characterization has been disputed. Larry S. Gibson argued that Mencken's views on race changed significantly between his early and later writings, and that it was more accurate to describe Mencken as elitist rather than racist. He seemed to show a genuine enthusiasm for militarism but never in its American form. "War is a good thing", he wrote, "because it is honest, it admits the central fact of human nature... A nation too long at peace becomes a sort of gigantic old maid".


title: H. L. Mencken

text: His longtime home in the Union Square neighborhood of West Baltimore was turned into a city museum, the H. L. Mencken House. His papers were distributed among various city and university libraries, with the largest collection held in the Mencken Room at the central branch of Baltimore's Enoch Pratt Free Library.


title: H. L. Mencken

text: Mencken was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on September 12, 1880. He was the son of Anna Margaret (Abhau) and August Mencken Sr., a cigar factory owner. He was of German ancestry and spoke German in his childhood. When Henry was three, his family moved into a new home at 1524 Hollins Street facing Union Square park in the Union Square neighborhood of old West Baltimore. Apart from five years of married life, Mencken was to live in that house for the rest of his life.


title: H. L. Mencken

text: In his bestselling memoir "Happy Days", he described his childhood in Baltimore as "placid, secure, uneventful and happy".


title: H. L. Mencken

text: When he was nine years old, he read Mark Twain's "Huckleberry Finn", which he later described as "the most stupendous event in my life". He became determined to become a writer and read voraciously. In one winter while in high school he read William Makepeace Thackeray and then "proceeded backward to Addison, Steele, Pope, Swift, Johnson and the other magnificos of the Eighteenth century". He read the entire canon of Shakespeare and became an ardent fan of Rudyard Kipling and Thomas Huxley. As a boy, Mencken also had practical interests, photography and chemistry in particular, and eventually had a home chemistry laboratory in which he performed experiments of his own design,


title: H. L. Mencken

text: He began his primary education in the mid-1880s at Professor Knapp's School on the east side of Holliday Street between East Lexington and Fayette Streets, next to the Holliday Street Theatre and across from the newly constructed Baltimore City Hall. The site today is the War Memorial and City Hall Plaza laid out in 1926 in memory of World War I dead. At 15, in June 1896, he graduated as valedictorian from the Baltimore Polytechnic Institute, at the time a males-only mathematics, technical and science-oriented public high school.


title: H. L. Mencken

text: He worked for three years in his father's cigar factory. He disliked the work, especially the sales aspect of it, and resolved to leave, with or without his father's blessing. In early 1898 he took a writing class at the Cosmopolitan University, a free correspondence school. This was to be the entirety of Mencken's formal post-secondary education in journalism, or in any other subject. Upon his father's death a few days after Christmas in the same year, the business passed to his uncle, and Mencken was free to pursue his career in journalism. He applied in February 1899 to the "Morning Herald" newspaper (which became the "Baltimore Morning Herald" in 1900) and was hired part-time, but still kept his position at the factory for a few months. In June he was hired as a full-time reporter.


title: H. L. Mencken

text: Mencken served as a reporter at the "Herald" for six years. Less than two-and-a-half years after the Great Baltimore Fire, the paper was purchased in June 1906 by Charles H. Grasty, the owner and editor of "The News" since 1892, and competing owner and publisher Gen. Felix Agnus, of the town's oldest (since 1773) and largest daily, "The Baltimore American." They proceeded to divide the staff, assets and resources of "The Herald" between them. Mencken then moved to "The Baltimore Sun", where he worked for Charles H. Grasty. He continued to contribute to "The Sun," "The Evening Sun" (founded 1910) and "The Sunday Sun" full-time until 1948, when he stopped writing after suffering a stroke.


title: H. L. Mencken

text: Mencken began writing the editorials and opinion pieces that made his name at "The Sun." On the side, he wrote short stories, a novel, and even poetry, which he later revealed. In 1908, he became a literary critic for "The Smart Set" magazine, and in 1924 he and George Jean Nathan founded and edited "The American Mercury", published by Alfred A. Knopf. It soon developed a national circulation and became highly influential on college campuses across America. In 1933, Mencken resigned as editor.


title: H. L. Mencken

text: In 1930, Mencken married Sara Haardt, a German-American professor of English at Goucher College in Baltimore and an author eighteen years his junior. Haardt had led an unsuccessful effort in Alabama to ratify the 19th Amendment. The two met in 1923, after Mencken delivered a lecture at Goucher; a seven-year courtship ensued. The marriage made national headlines, and many were surprised that Mencken, who once called marriage "the end of hope" and who was well known for mocking relations between the sexes, had gone to the altar. "The Holy Spirit informed and inspired me", Mencken said. "Like all other infidels, I am superstitious and always follow hunches: this one seemed to be a superb one." Even more startling, he was marrying an Alabama native, despite his having written scathing essays about the American South. Haardt was in poor health from tuberculosis throughout their marriage and died in 1935 of meningitis, leaving Mencken grief-stricken. He had always championed her writing and, after her death, had a collection of her short stories published under the title "Southern Album".


title: H. L. Mencken

text: During the Great Depression, Mencken did not support the New Deal, which cost him popularity, as did his strong reservations regarding U.S. participation in World War II, and his overt contempt for President Franklin D. Roosevelt. He ceased writing for "The Baltimore Sun" for several years, focusing on his memoirs and other projects as editor while he served as an adviser for the paper that had been his home for nearly his entire career. In 1948, he briefly returned to the political scene to cover the presidential election in which President Harry S. Truman faced Republican Thomas Dewey and Henry A. Wallace of the Progressive Party. His later work consisted of humorous, anecdotal, and nostalgic essays that were first published in "The New Yorker" and then collected in the books "Happy Days", "Newspaper Days", and "Heathen Days".


title: H. L. Mencken

text: On November 23, 1948, Mencken suffered a stroke, which left him aware and fully conscious but nearly unable to read or write and able to speak only with difficulty. After his stroke, Mencken enjoyed listening to classical music and, after some recovery of his ability to speak, talking with friends, but he sometimes referred to himself in the past tense, as if he were already dead. During the last year of his life, his friend and biographer William Manchester read to him daily.


title: H. L. Mencken

text: Though it does not appear on his tombstone, Mencken, during his "Smart Set" days, wrote a joking epitaph for himself:


title: H. L. Mencken

text: Mencken was preoccupied with his legacy and kept his papers, letters, newspaper clippings, columns, and even grade school report cards. After his death, those materials were made available to scholars in stages in 1971, 1981, and 1991 and include hundreds of thousands of letters sent and received. The only omissions were strictly personal letters received from women.


title: H. L. Mencken

text: In his capacity as editor, Mencken became close friends with the leading literary figures of his time, including Theodore Dreiser, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Joseph Hergesheimer, Anita Loos, Ben Hecht, Sinclair Lewis, James Branch Cabell, and Alfred Knopf, as well as a mentor to several young reporters, including Alistair Cooke. He also championed artists whose works he considered worthy. For example, he asserted that books such as "Caught Short! A Saga of Wailing Wall Street" (1929), by Eddie Cantor (ghostwritten by David Freedman) did more to pull America out of the Great Depression than all government measures combined. He also mentored John Fante. Thomas Hart Benton illustrated an edition of Mencken's book "Europe After 8:15".


title: H. L. Mencken

text: Mencken also published many works under various pseudonyms, including Owen Hatteras, John H Brownell, William Drayham, WLD Bell, and Charles Angoff. As a ghostwriter for the physician Leonard K. Hirshberg, he wrote a series of articles and, in 1910, most of a book about the care of babies.


title: H. L. Mencken

text: Mencken admired the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (he was the first writer to provide a scholarly analysis in English of Nietzsche's views and writings) and Joseph Conrad. His humor and satire owed much to Ambrose Bierce and Mark Twain. He did much to defend Dreiser despite freely admitting his faults, including stating forthrightly that Dreiser often wrote badly and was gullible. Mencken expressed his appreciation for William Graham Sumner in a 1941 collection of Sumner's essays and regretted never having known Sumner personally. In contrast, Mencken was scathing in his criticism of the German philosopher Hans Vaihinger, whom Mencken described as "an extremely dull author" and whose famous book "Philosophy of 'As If"' he dismissed as an unimportant "foot-note to all existing systems".


title: H. L. Mencken

text: Mencken recommended for publication philosopher and author Ayn Rand's first novel, "We the Living" and called it "a really excellent piece of work". Shortly afterward, Rand addressed him in correspondence as "the greatest representative of a philosophy" to which she wanted to dedicate her life, "individualism" and later listed him as her favorite columnist.


title: H. L. Mencken

text: For Mencken, "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" was the finest work of American literature. He particularly relished Mark Twain's depiction of a succession of gullible and ignorant townspeople, "boobs", as Mencken referred to them, who are repeatedly gulled by a pair of colorful con men: the deliberately pathetic "Duke" and "Dauphin", with whom Huck and Jim travel down the Mississippi River. For Mencken, the depiction epitomizes the hilarious dark side of America, where democracy, as defined by Mencken, is "the worship of jackals by jackasses".


title: H. L. Mencken

text: Such turns of phrase evoked the erudite cynicism and rapier sharpness of language displayed by Ambrose Bierce in his darkly-satiric "The Devil's Dictionary". A noted curmudgeon, democratic in subjects attacked, Mencken savaged politics, hypocrisy, and social convention. A master of English, he was given to bombast and once disdained the lowly hot dog bun's descent into "the soggy rolls prevailing today, of ground acorns, plaster of Paris, flecks of bath sponge and atmospheric air all compact".


title: H. L. Mencken

text: Defining Puritanism as "the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy", Mencken believed that the U.S. had not cast aside the Puritans' influence. He opined that American culture, unlike its European counterparts, had not attained intellectual freedom, and judged literature by moral orthodoxy and not by artistic merit. His most outspoken essay was "Puritanism as a Literary Force" from his 1917 collection of essays "A Book of Prefaces":


title: H. L. Mencken

text: As a nationally-syndicated columnist and book author, he commented widely on the social scene, literature, music, prominent politicians and contemporary movements, such as the temperance movement. Mencken was a keen cheerleader of scientific progress but was skeptical of economic theories and strongly opposed to osteopathic/chiropractic medicine. He also debunked the idea of objective news reporting since "truth is a commodity that the masses of undifferentiated men cannot be induced to buy" and added a humorous description of how "Homo Boobus", like "higher mammalia", is moved by "whatever gratifies his prevailing yearnings".


title: H. L. Mencken

text: As a frank admirer of Nietzsche, Mencken was a detractor of representative democracy, which he believed was a system in which inferior men dominated their superiors. Like Nietzsche, he also lambasted religious belief and the very concept of God, as Mencken was an unflinching atheist, particularly Christian fundamentalism, Christian Science and creationism, and against the "Booboisie", his word for the ignorant middle classes. In the summer of 1925, he attended the famous Scopes "Monkey Trial" in Dayton, Tennessee, and wrote scathing columns for the "Baltimore Sun" (widely syndicated) and "American Mercury" mocking the anti-evolution fundamentalists (especially William Jennings Bryan). The play "Inherit the Wind" is a fictionalized version of the trial, and as noted above the cynical reporter E.K. Hornbeck is based on Mencken. In 1926, he deliberately had himself arrested for selling an issue of "The American Mercury", which was banned in Boston by the Comstock laws. Mencken heaped scorn not only on the public officials he disliked but also on the state of American elective politics itself.


title: H. L. Mencken

text: In the summer of 1926, Mencken followed with great interest the Los Angeles grand jury inquiry into the famous Canadian-American evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson. She was accused of faking her reported kidnapping and the case attracted national attention. There was every expectation that Mencken would continue his previous pattern of anti-fundamentalist articles, this time with a searing critique of McPherson. Unexpectedly, he came to her defense by identifying various local religious and civic groups that were using the case as an opportunity to pursue their respective ideological agendas against the embattled Pentecostal minister. He spent several weeks in Hollywood, California, and wrote many scathing and satirical columns on the movie industry and Southern California culture. After all charges had been dropped against McPherson, Mencken revisited the case in 1930 with a sarcastic and observant article. He wrote that since many of that town's residents had acquired their ideas "of the true, the good and the beautiful" from the movies and newspapers, "Los Angeles will remember the testimony against her long after it forgets the testimony that cleared her".


title: H. L. Mencken

text: In 1931, the Arkansas legislature passed a motion to pray for Mencken's soul after he had called the state the "apex of moronia".


title: H. L. Mencken

text: In the mid-1930s, Mencken feared Roosevelt and his New Deal liberalism as a powerful force. Mencken, says Charles A. Fecher, was "deeply conservative, resentful of change, looking back upon the 'happy days' of a bygone time, wanted no part of the world that the New Deal promised to bring in".


title: H. L. Mencken

text: In addition to his identification of races with castes, Mencken had views about the superior individual within communities. He believed that every community produced a few people of clear superiority. He considered groupings on a par with hierarchies, which led to a kind of natural elitism and natural aristocracy. "Superior" individuals, in Mencken's view, were those wrongly oppressed and disdained by their own communities but nevertheless distinguished by their will and personal achievement, not by race or birth.


title: H. L. Mencken

text: In 1989, per his instructions, Alfred A. Knopf published Mencken's "secret diary" as "The Diary of H. L. Mencken". According to an Associated Press story, Mencken's views shocked even the "sympathetic scholar who edited it", Charles A. Fecher of Baltimore. A club in Baltimore, the Maryland Club, had one Jewish member. When that member died, Mencken said, "There is no other Jew in Baltimore who seems suitable." The diary also quoted him as saying of blacks, in September 1943, that "it is impossible to talk anything resembling discretion or judgment to a colored woman. They are all essentially child-like, and even hard experience does not teach them anything".


title: H. L. Mencken

text: In a review of "The Skeptic: A Life of H. L. Mencken", by Terry Teachout, journalist Christopher Hitchens described Mencken as a German nationalist, "an antihumanist as much as an atheist", who was "prone to the hyperbole and sensationalism he distrusted in others". Hitchens also criticized Mencken for writing a scathing critique of Franklin Roosevelt but nothing equally negative of Adolf Hitler.


title: H. L. Mencken

text: Larry S. Gibson argued that Mencken's views on race changed significantly between his early and later writings, attributing some of the changes in Mencken's views to his personal experiences of being treated as an outsider due to his German heritage during World War I. Gibson speculated that much of Mencken's language was intended to lure in readers by suggesting a shared negative view of other races, and then writing about their positive aspects. Describing Mencken as elitist rather than racist, he says Mencken ultimately believed that humans consisted of a small group of those of superior intelligence and a mass of inferior people, regardless of race.


title: H. L. Mencken

text: Mencken countered the arguments for Anglo-Saxon superiority prevalent in his time in a 1923 essay entitled "The Anglo-Saxon", which argued that if there was such a thing as a pure "Anglo-Saxon" race, it was defined by its inferiority and cowardice: "The normal American of the 'pure-blooded' majority goes to rest every night with an uneasy feeling that there is a burglar under the bed and he gets up every morning with a sickening fear that his underwear has been stolen."


title: H. L. Mencken

text: Chaz Bufe, an admirer of Mencken, wrote that Mencken's various anti-Semitic statements should be understood in the context that Mencken made bombastic and over-the-top denunciations of almost any national, religious, and ethnic group. That said, Bufe still wrote that some of Mencken's statements were "odious", such as his claim in his 1918 introduction to Nietzsche's "The Anti-Christ" that "The case against the Jews is long and damning; it would justify ten thousand times as many pogroms as now go on in the world".


title: H. L. Mencken

text: As Germany gradually conquered Europe, Mencken attacked Roosevelt for refusing to admit Jewish refugees into the United States and called for their wholesale admission:


title: H. L. Mencken

text: This sentiment is fairly consistent with Mencken's distaste for common notions and the philosophical outlook he unabashedly set down throughout his life as a writer (drawing on Friedrich Nietzsche and Herbert Spencer, among others).


title: H. L. Mencken

text: Mencken wrote as follows about the difficulties of good men reaching national office when such campaigns must necessarily be conducted remotely:The larger the mob, the harder the test. In small areas, before small electorates, a first-rate man occasionally fights his way through, carrying even the mob with him by force of his personality. But when the field is nationwide, and the fight must be waged chiefly at second and third hand, and the force of personality cannot so readily make itself felt, then all the odds are on the man who is, intrinsically, the most devious and mediocre—the man who can most easily adeptly disperse the notion that his mind is a virtual vacuum.


title: H. L. Mencken

text: The Presidency tends, year by year, to go to such men. As democracy is perfected, the office represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.


title: H. L. Mencken

text: Mencken defended the evolutionary views of Charles Darwin but spoke unfavorably of many prominent physicists and had little regard for pure mathematics. Regarding theoretical physics, he said to longtime editor Charles Angoff, "Imagine measuring infinity! That's a laugh."


title: H. L. Mencken

text: In response, Angoff said: "Well, without mathematics there wouldn't be any engineering, no chemistry, no physics." Mencken responded: "That's true, but it's reasonable mathematics. Addition, subtraction, multiplication, fractions, division, that's what real mathematics is. The rest is baloney. Astrology. Religion. All of our sciences still suffer from their former attachment to religion, and that is why there is so much metaphysics and astrology, the two are the same, in science."


title: H. L. Mencken

text: Elsewhere, he dismissed higher mathematics and probability theory as "nonsense", after he read Angoff's article for Charles S. Peirce in the "American Mercury": "So you believe in that garbage, too—theories of knowledge, infinity, laws of probability. I can make no sense of it, and I don't believe you can either, and I don't think your god Peirce knew what he was talking about."


title: H. L. Mencken

text: Mencken repeated these opinions in articles for the "American Mercury". He said mathematics is a fiction, compared with individual facts that make up science. In a review for Hans Vaihinger's "The Philosophy of "As If"," he said:


title: H. L. Mencken

text: Mencken repeatedly identified mathematics with metaphysics and theology. According to Mencken, mathematics is necessarily infected with metaphysics. Mathematicians tend to engage in metaphysical speculation. In a review of Alfred North Whitehead's "The Aims of Education," Mencken remarked that, although he agreed with Whitehead's thesis and admired his writing style, "Now and then he falls into mathematical jargon and pollutes his discourse with equations", and "[T]here are moments when he seems to be following some of his mathematical colleagues into the gaudy metaphysics which now entertains them". For Mencken, theology was characterized by the fact that it uses correct reasoning from false premises. Mencken uses the term "theology" more generally to refer to the use of logic in science or any field of knowledge. In a review of Arthur Eddington's "The Nature of the Physical World" and Joseph Needham's "Man a Machine", Mencken ridiculed the use of reasoning to establish any fact in science. Theologians happen to be masters of "logic" and yet are mental defectives: