title: Knott's Berry Farm

text: In 1968, for the first time, an admission price was required to get into the park, originally set at 25¢. The Calico Log Ride (the original name of the Timber Mountain Log Ride) opened in 1969. The park became a popular destination for conservative college students in the 1960s, especially as conservative organizations like the California Free Enterprise Association, the Libres Foundation, and the Americanism Educational League were based there. According to Assistant Professor Caroline Rolland-Diamond of the Paris West University Nanterre La Défense:


title: Knott's Berry Farm

text: On April 12, 1974, Cordelia Knott died. Walter turned his attention toward political causes, Roaring Twenties rethemed Gypsy Camp in the 1970s with the addition of a nostalgic traditional amusement area, Wheeler Dealer Bumper Cars, and Knott's Bear-y Tales. Then with the northward expansion of a 1920s-era Knott's Airfield themed area featuring the Cloud 9 Dance Hall, Sky Cabin/Sky Jump and Motorcycle Chase steeplechase roller coaster above the electric guided rail Gasoline Alley car ride.


title: Knott's Berry Farm

text: Sky Tower with the illuminated "K" in logo script at the top was built to support two attractions, the Sky Jump (now closed) and the Sky Cabin. The Sky Jump boarded one or two standing riders anticipating the thrill of the drop into baskets beneath a faux parachute canopy. From the top, eight arms supported the vertical cable tracks of wire rope which lifted the baskets. The Sky Cabin ringed the support pole with a single floor of seats that are enclosed behind windows. Its ring revolves slowly as it rises to the top and back offering a pleasantly changing vista. It is very sensitive to weather and passenger motion, such as walking, which is prohibited during the trip. During winds 25+ mph or rain it is closed. When built, Sky Tower was the tallest structure in Orange County (a distinction briefly held by WindSeeker before its relocation to Worlds of Fun in 2012.)


title: Knott's Berry Farm

text: Motorcycle Chase, modernized steeplechase rollercoaster built in 1976 by Arrow Development, featured single motorbike themed vehicles racing side-by-side, each on one of four parallel tracks, launched together. One or two riders straddled each "Indian motorcycle" attraction vehicle. The tubular steel monorail track closely followed dips and bumps in "the road" and tilted to lean riders about the curves. Gasoline Alley, an electric steel-guiderail car ride below, was built together and intimately intertwined, which enhanced ride-to-ride interaction thrill value. Rider safety concerns of the high center of gravity coupled with the method of rider restraints caused it to be rethemed Wacky Soap Box Racers with vehicles themed to look like soap box racers, each seating two riders, strapped in low (nearly straddling the track), surrounded by the close fitting car sides, and the dips and bumps of the track were straightened flat in 1980.


title: Knott's Berry Farm

text: Motorcycle Chase/Wacky Soap Box Racers was removed in 1996 for a dueling loop coaster Windjammer Surf Racers and now Xcelerator, a vertical launch coaster, takes its place.


title: Knott's Berry Farm

text: On December 3, 1981, Walter Knott died, survived by his children who would continue to operate Knott's as a family business for another fourteen years.


title: Knott's Berry Farm

text: In the 1980s, Knott's built the Calico Barn Dance featured Bobbi & Clyde as the house band. It was during the height of the "Urban Cowboy" era. The "Calico Barn Dance" was featured in Knott's TV commercials.


title: Knott's Berry Farm

text: During the 1980s, Knott's met the competition in Southern California theme parks by theming a new land and building two massive attractions:


title: Knott's Berry Farm

text: The Boomerang roller coaster replaced the Corkscrew in 1990 with a lift shuttle train passing to and fro through a cobra roll and a vertical loop for six inversions each trip.


title: Knott's Berry Farm

text: "Mystery Lodge" (1994), inspired by General Motors "Spirit Lodge" pavilion, was a live show augmented with Pepper's ghost and other special effects, which was among the most popular exhibits at Expo 86 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, which was produced by Bob Rogers of BRC Imagination Arts and created with the assistance of the Kwagulth Native reserve in the village of Alert Bay, British Columbia. Mystery Lodge recreates a quiet summer night in Alert Bay, then guests "move inside" the longhouse and listen to the storyteller weave a tale of the importance of family from the smoke of the bonfire.


title: Knott's Berry Farm

text: The Jaguar! was opened June 17, 1995, to add another roller coaster to the mix of Fiesta Village alongside Montezooma's Revenge.


title: Knott's Berry Farm

text: In the late 1990s Cedar Fair acquired the Buena Park Hotel at the corner of Grand Ave. and Crescent. It was then brought up to Radisson standards and branded Radisson Resort Hotel as a franchise. In 2004, the park renamed the Radisson Resort Hotel the Knott's Berry Farm Resort Hotel.


title: Knott's Berry Farm

text: In 1995, the Knott family sold the food specialty business to ConAgra Inc, which later re-sold the brand to The J.M. Smucker Company in 2008.


title: Knott's Berry Farm

text: In 1997, the Knott family sold the amusement park operations to Cedar Fair. Initially, the Knotts were given an opportunity to sell the park to The Walt Disney Company. The park would have been amalgamated into the Disneyland Resort and converted into Disney's America, which had previously failed to be built near Washington, D.C. The Knotts refused to sell the park to Disney out of fear most of what Walter Knott had built would be eliminated.


title: Knott's Berry Farm

text: Since being acquired by Cedar Fair, the park has seen an aggressive shift towards thrill rides, with the construction of a number of large roller coasters and the addition of a record-breaking Shoot-the-Chutes ride named Perilous Plunge. Perilous Plunge had the record of being the tallest and steepest water ride in the world until September 2012 when it was closed and removed. Also, in 2013, Knott's Berry Farm announced that the most popular ride at the park, the Timber Mountain Log Ride, would be closed for a major five-month refurbishment, led by Garner Holt Productions, Inc.


title: Knott's Berry Farm

text: On May 25, 2013, Knott's Berry Farm added three new family rides on the site of former Perilous Plunge, including a wild mouse called Coast Rider, a scrambler flat ride called Pacific Scrambler, and Surfside Gliders. All three were constructed in the Boardwalk section of the park. An old bridge that connected the exit of Coast Rider and the Boardwalk became the entrance to Surfside Gliders and Pacific Scrambler. Following the 2013 season, Knott's Berry Farm removed Windseeker and moved it to Worlds of Fun, where it reopened in 2014. For the 2014 season, the historical Calico Mine Ride underwent a major refurbishment that was completed in six months.


title: Knott's Berry Farm

text: During the fall of 2019, Knott's Berry Farm announced the return of as an interactive 4D dark ride as part of the park's 100th anniversary in 2020. However, the park was indefinitely shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic at the end of its operating day on March 13, 2020. Knott's Bear-y Tales and other planned changes to the park were postponed to 2021. In June 2020, Knott's Marketplace reopened with health guidelines in place. The following month, the park introduced "Taste of Calico", an outdoor food festival on weekends located in the Calico Ghost Town section of the park. The event evolved over the season, becoming "Taste of Knott's" when it expanded into Fiesta Village and the Boardwalk, "Taste of Fall-o-ween" during the fall season, and "Taste of Merry Farm" for the Christmas holiday season. Amusement Today recognized the "Taste Of" events in its annual Golden Ticket Awards, awarding the park under the category "Industry Leader: Amusement/Theme Park" for its innovative approach.


title: Knott's Berry Farm

text: Knott's Berry Farm returned to normal operation on May 6, 2021, which also included the debut of the delayed Knott's Bear-y Tales attraction originally planned for 2020.


title: Knott's Berry Farm

text: The park's annual "Knott's Scary Farm" has drawn crowds since 1973. The idea for this event was presented at one of the regularly scheduled round table meetings for managers by Patricia Pawson. The actual event was created by Bill Hollingshead, Gary Salisbury, Martha Boyd and Gene Witham, along with other members of the Knott's Berry Farm Entertainment Department as documented in the DVD "Season of Screams." Initially fake corpses and other static figures were rented from a Hollywood prop house, but Bud Hurlbut, the creator/concessionaire of the Mine Ride, Log Ride and other rides at Knott's, decided that this wasn't enough. He dressed up in a gorilla suit and started scaring guests on the Mine Ride. Halloween Haunt was an instant hit, and by the next year, the event sold out nightly. During this special ticketed event, the entire park (or major portions of it) re-themes itself into a "haunted house" style attraction in the form of mazes and "scare zones" in the evening. Over a thousand specially employed monsters are also scattered—often hidden out of view—throughout the park at this time. Some of the characters have become well-known, such as the Green Witch, which was portrayed by Charlene Parker from 1983 to 2017, the longest of any performer. Several attractions are decorated for the event including the Timber Mountain Log Ride and Calico Mine Train and there are 13 mazes of various themes. Elvira (actress Cassandra Peterson) was introduced into the Halloween Event in 1982 and was prominently featured in many Halloween Haunt events until 2001. According to postings on her My Space page, Cassandra was released from her contract by the park's new owners due to their wanting a more family friendly appeal. She returned for one night in 2012 for the 40th anniversary of the event then again featured in her own nightly show from 2014 to 2017. During the month of October, Knott's Scary Farm generates half the revenue for Knott's Berry Farm's fiscal year.


title: Knott's Berry Farm

text: "Season of Screams" is a DVD produced by an independent company which traces the beginnings of Halloween Haunt and the story behind how it all got started back in 1973. Season of Screams also highlights recent Halloween Haunts.


title: Knott's Berry Farm

text: "Winter Coaster Solace" is an event that takes place in the first or second weekend of March every year when roller coaster enthusiasts can come before the park opens and stay after the park closes to ride the rides and eat at the Chicken Dinner Restaurant. It is intended to provide "solace" to visitors from other parts of the country where theme parks and roller coasters are seasonal, not year-round operations like the Southern California parks. Knott's Berry Farm also used to give attendees behind the scenes tours of the rides.


title: Knott's Berry Farm

text: A Christmas event known as "Knott's Merry Farm" also happens annually. Previous Merry Farm events have included manufactured snow, handcrafts exhibits, and a visit with Santa Claus. This event was originally created by Gary Salisbury in the Fall of 1985.


title: Knott's Berry Farm

text: Praise (festival) has been a Christian themed celebration presented for many years as a mix-in special event of music and comedy on New Year's Eve.


title: Knott's Berry Farm

text: A boysenberry festival is held at Knott's that has food and drink prepared in a variety of ways with boysenberries. There are also special shows and music for the multi-week event.


title: Knott's Berry Farm

text: Craftsmen in Ghost Town demonstrate the arts of the blacksmith, woodcarver, glass-blower, sign cutter, and spinner. Demonstrations of narrow gauge railroading and farm equipment hobbyists accompany additional merchant stalls of cottage-craft fairs seasonally at discounted admission which is restricted to Ghost Town only.


title: Knott's Berry Farm

text: Western Trails Museum, relocated between the candy store and the General Store to accommodate Calico River Rapids (former Bigfoot Rapids), still features historical western artifacts large and small, from a hand powered horse-drawn fire engine to miniature replica of a borax hauling "Twenty Mule Team" and utensils necessary to survive the prairie and wilderness.


title: Knott's Berry Farm

text: The Ghost Town area has a few other notable attractions. The Bird Cage Theatre only hosts two seasonal entertainments—during "Knott's Merry Farm," two small productions of "Marley's Wings" and "A Christmas Carol," and a Halloween Haunt thrill show. The Calico Stage, a large open-air stage in Calico Square, hosts a variety of shows and acts, big and small, from those of elementary school students, Gallagher, a local band, and the summer-spectacular All Wheels Extreme stunt show featuring youthful performers demonstrating aerial tricks with acrobatics, trampolines, and riding ramps with skates, scooters, skateboards, and freestyle bikes to popular music. Calico Saloon recreates the revelry of music, singing and dancing, with Cameo Kate hosting a variety of acts. Jersey Lily, Judge Roy Bean's combination courthouse/saloon, offers certified comical "genuine illegal hitchin'" alongside pickles, candy, and sports/soft drinks.


title: Knott's Berry Farm

text: Many parts of Ghost Town are forever lost to progress. The conversion of the Silver Dollar Saloon to a shooting gallery, Hunters Paradise shooting gallery to Panda Express and the original Berry Stand, moved several times with its last location now occupied by the Silver Bullet station.


title: Knott's Berry Farm

text: What is left of Ghost Town today was based on Calico ghost town and other real ghost towns in the Western United States. Walter Knott inherited his uncle's silver mill and land, then bought more of the actual Calico ghost town in 1951 and developed it. In 1966, he donated that property to the corporate-municipal County of San Bernardino which then made the town of Calico, California into a public historic park, for which it charged an entrance/parking fee. See 'History – Ghost Town – Calico' section above. The park formerly featured a 5th area called the Wild Water Wilderness. Formerly known as Wild Water Wilderness, now part of Ghost Town, that features two major rides: the Pony Express, a horse themed family roller coaster installed in 2008 and Calico River Rapids which opened in 2019. Nearby Pony Express is Rapids Trader, a small merchandise stand. It is also home to Mystery Lodge, a multimedia show based on an Expo 86 pavilion featuring a Native American storyteller.


title: Knott's Berry Farm

text: Fiesta Village was built in 1969 with a Mexican theme. It was built to pay tribute to California´s Spanish and Mexican heritage. It was the second area constructed after the completion of Ghost Town. Stores like Casa California, restaurants like Pancho's Tacos, La Papa Loca, and La Victoria Cantina, games like Shoot If Yucan, and the themed rides like La Revolución, Jaguar!, and MonteZOOMa: The Forbidden Fortress, along with the former attraction Tampico Tumbler, all contribute to the Mexican and Aztec theme of the area. In 2013 colorful string lights were added for the summer season.


title: Knott's Berry Farm

text: Boardwalk Games include physical challenges such as a rock wall, soccer, basketball and a rope ladder crawl. A variety of traditional pitch three balls and win a prize type games, such as squirt gun into clowns mouth, knock off milk bottles, pitch a quarter onto a plate are pitched by hawkers along the Boardwalk Games midway. In September 2012, "Perilous Plunge" closed for an expansion of the Boardwalk. "Perilous Plunge" was noticeably known as one of Knott's major thrill rides. The boardwalk reopened after a year transformation with two flat rides and a new family roller coaster taking the place of "Perilous Plunge". The Boomerang roller coaster also got repainted with a new vibrant green and yellow color scheme which was later removed in 2017 in order to make way for Hangtime. The southern portion of the boardwalk contains the family interactive dark ride: . The world's largest Johnny Rockets restaurant franchise is located at Knott's Boardwalk, featuring over of indoor dining space for more than 260 guests. Also located in The Boardwalk is the Walter Knott Theatre, a roughly 2,000-seat theatre that hosts seasonal offerings, notably the ice-skating show "Merry Christmas Snoopy!". It was renamed in 2020 from the Charles M. Schulz Theater to the Walter Knott Theater, as part of a refurbishment to the exterior for the parks 100th anniversary, which also included new LED signage to theater's marquee.


title: Knott's Berry Farm

text: Camp Snoopy is home to the park's family and children's rides, with many of the rides and attractions being built specifically for children and guests who cannot ride the park's more aggressive attractions. Its theme is Charles M. Schulz' "Peanuts" comic strip characters. Snoopy has been the mascot of Knott's Berry Farm since 1983, and the characters can now be seen at all of Cedar Fair's parks, except Gilroy Gardens, which is managed by Cedar Fair and owned by the city of Gilroy. The 14 rides include a mini roller coaster called the Timberline Twister, a Zamperla Rockin' Tug called Rapid River Run, and a steel spinning roller coaster called Sierra Sidewinder. For guests who cannot ride the park's more aggressive and thrilling rides, Camp Snoopy contains a good number of rides for guests of all ages including infants, children, and seniors. With the exception of Sierra Sidewinder and Timberline Twister, the rides are relatively tame.


title: Knott's Berry Farm

text: Knott's Berry Farm also built the Mall of America's indoor theme park, which itself was originally called Camp Snoopy. (In fact, Charles M. Schulz hailed from St. Paul.) However, today the park is no longer affiliated with Knott's or Cedar Fair, and is now called Nickelodeon Universe.


title: Knott's Berry Farm

text: On November 22, 2013, Knott's Berry Farm announced major improvements in the area of Camp Snoopy. Camp Snoopy received a makeover for its 30th anniversary. In summer 2014, Knott's Berry Farm opened up new rides in Camp Snoopy.


title: Knott's Berry Farm

text: The narrow gauge Grand Sierra Railroad takes guest on a four-minute train ride through the reflection lake. The ride was made shorter with the construction of Silver Bullet. As part of the 30th Anniversary makeover, the train ride received a series of Peanuts vignettes made by Garner Holt Productions) along the track and narration by the character Linus.


title: Knott's Berry Farm

text: Knott's has portrait artists, as well as face painters and caricature artists in two different locations in Camp Snoopy operated by Kaman's Art Shoppes. Portrait artists have a long history at Knott's, dating back to 1951. Claude Bell, who created the concrete characters on the benches at Knott's, operated the portrait concession from 1951 to 1986. Bell also sculpted the minuteman statue on display at Independence Hall.


title: Knott's Berry Farm

text: Located next to the "Bottle House" in Ghost Town, Indian Trails is a small area sandwiched between Camp Snoopy, Ghost Town, and Fiesta Village, showcasing Native American art, crafts, and dance.


title: Knott's Berry Farm

text: Many of the original attractions are outside the gates of the current-day theme park along Grand Ave. at the California Marketplace, mostly things which would no longer be considered interesting to today's audience, or things which were merely there for decoration. Near the restrooms behind Berry Place are the waterfall overshooting the water wheel and historic gristmill grindstone, a replica of George Washington's Mount Vernon estate fireplace hearth, and what remains of the visible beehive. Some attractions still exist, but have been incorporated into backstage areas, such as the Rock Garden, now an employee smoking area. Other attractions have been removed, such as the historic volcano, and the cross-section of giant sequoia with age rings denoting historic events such as Christopher Columbus visiting America.


title: Knott's Berry Farm

text: The east side of the property, divided by Beach Blvd., features the main parking lot, Knott's Soak City a seasonal water park that requires separate admission, the picnic grounds rental areas, complementary admission to Independence Hall and gift shop, and the Church of Reflections which was moved outside the theme park in 2004 and held non-denominational Sunday services until 2010. A tunnel and pedestrian underpass beneath Beach Blvd. connects the main parking lot to the shops, restaurants and theme park.


title: Knott's Berry Farm

text: For Halloween Haunt in 2016, Knott's Berry Farm introduced "FearVR: 5150", a virtual reality attraction that was met with controversy from the mental health community regarding its perceived negative portrayal of mental illness. The ten-minute-long attraction immersed guests inside of a chaotic hospital haunted by a supernatural central character named Katie and zombie-like patients. The initial controversy came from the attraction's name, with 5150 referring to Welfare and Institutions Code section 5150, the California law that allows a law enforcement officer or clinician to involuntarily commit a person suspected of having a mental illness and determined "a danger to themselves or others". It also referenced the fact that guests experiencing the attraction had their arms strapped to a chair as part of the experience. The backlash was focused on Cedar Fair's use of painful experiences suffered by those dealing with mental illness and to have it "transmogrified into spooky entertainment". In response, Cedar Fair removed "5150" from the name, and after continued opposition, permanently closed the attraction on September 28, 2016, six days after its debut. A petition was signed by more than 2,000 people hoping Cedar Fair would bring it back, with the petition's organizer stating that Cedar Fair should not be "forced to shut down an attraction based on the words of people who had not even experienced the attraction".


title: Knott's Berry Farm

text: Knott's Soak City is a water park. It opened on June 17, 2000, as Soak City U.S.A. It requires separate admission from Knott's Berry Farm. In addition to the water park across the street from the main theme park, Cedar Fair also formerly owned two other Knott's Soak City Parks, in Palm Springs and Chula Vista.


title: Knott's Berry Farm

text: For much of the park's early history, Knott's Berry Farm had a unique arrangement with the Orange County Sheriff's Department where the park's security officers were sworn special deputies vested with full police powers. The Security Department, however, did not answer to the county sheriff, but rather to the park's Chief of Security (who for many years was Steve Knott, the grandson of Walter Knott). Knott's Berry Farm maintained a completely private police force, vested with full police powers, and overseen by park management.


title: Knott's Berry Farm

text: Before the City of Buena Park was incorporated, Knott's Berry Farm's Security Department even provided police services to the nearby unincorporated area that would eventually become known as Buena Park, including writing traffic tickets. Then, in the early days of the incorporated City of Buena Park, Knott's Berry Farm Security provided vital mutual aid assistance to the Buena Park Police Department (formerly Buena Park Public Safety) during emergencies since Knott's Berry Farm's 34 sworn Special Deputies outnumbered, and were better equipped than the city's four-man Department of Public Safety.


title: Knott's Berry Farm

text: The Orange County Sheriff Department discontinued this arrangement in the late 1980s but Knott's still maintains its own private (albeit unsworn) security force, and its "Station-K" public safety radio designation.


title: Knott's Berry Farm

text: Fast Lane is a limited-access line queue system offered for an additional charge at Cedar Fair amusement parks. Visitors can purchase a wristband that allows them to bypass standard lines in favor of shorter ones at many of the parks' most popular attractions.


title: Knott's Berry Farm

text: The J.M. Smucker Company continues to sell the jam and preserves made famous by the Knott family; however, other products, such as the syrups, have been discontinued due to low demand.


title: Knott's Berry Farm

text: In November 2013, Knott's Berry Farm began selling their "Berry Market" brand of preserves at the park. The Berry Market brand is all-natural. They are unable to use "Knott's" on the label, since Smucker's owns the rights to the name.


title: Knott's Berry Farm

text: Knott's Berry Farm can easily be accessed by public transportation. Service is available by the Los Angeles Metro, the Orange County Transportation Authority, and Anaheim Resort Transit. Bus routes serving the park include Metro Express Line 460 which provides direct express service between Downtown Los Angeles and Disneyland OCTA bus routes 29, 38 and 529 and Anaheim Resort Transit route 18.


title: Father of All Bombs

text: Aviation Thermobaric Bomb of Increased Power (ATBIP; , АВБПМ), nicknamed "Father of All Bombs" (FOAB; ), is a Russian-designed, bomber-delivered thermobaric weapon.


title: Father of All Bombs

text: The bomb is reportedly similar to the US military's GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast which is often unofficially called "Mother of All Bombs" derived from its official military acronym "MOAB". This weapon would therefore be the most powerful conventional (non-nuclear) weapon in the world. However, the veracity of Russia's claims concerning the weapon's size and power have been questioned by US defense analysts.


title: Father of All Bombs

text: "FOAB" was successfully field-tested in the late evening of 11 September 2007. The new weapon is to replace several smaller types of nuclear bombs in the Russian arsenal.


title: Father of All Bombs

text: The thermobaric device yields the equivalent of 44 tons of TNT using about seven tons of a new type of high explosive. Because of this, the bomb's blast and pressure wave have a similar effect to a small tactical nuclear weapon. The bomb works by detonating in mid-air. Most damage is inflicted by a supersonic shockwave and extremely high temperatures. Thermobaric weapons differ from conventional explosive weapons in that they generate a longer, more sustained blast wave with greater temperatures. In doing so, they produce more damage over a larger area than a conventional weapon of similar mass.


title: Father of All Bombs

text: On 8 September 2017, unconfirmed reports of the Russian Defense Ministry announced it had tested the FOAB in combat for the first time in Syria as a part of its military campaign in the region.


title: Father of All Bombs

text: According to General Aleksandr Rukshin, the Russian Deputy Chief of Staff, the new bomb was smaller than the MOAB but much deadlier because the temperature at the centre of the blast is twice as high. He claimed the bomb's capabilities are comparable to nuclear weapons, but unlike nuclear weaponry known for its radioactive fallout, use of the weapon does not damage or pollute the environment beyond the blast radius.


title: Father of All Bombs

text: In comparison, the MOAB produces the equivalent of 11 tons of TNT from 8 tons of high explosive. The blast radius of the FOAB is 300 meters, almost double that of the MOAB, and the temperature produced is twice as high.


title: Father of All Bombs

text: Some defense analysts question both the yield of the bomb and whether it could be deployed by a Tupolev Tu-160 bomber. A report by "Wired" says photos and the video of the event suggest that it is designed to be deployed from the rear of a slow moving cargo plane, and they note that the bomb-test video released by the Russians never shows both the bomb and the bomber in the same camera shot. There are also questions on what type of explosives it used. They quoted Tom Burky, a senior research scientist at Battelle, saying "It's not even clear what kind of weapon the Russians tested." He questions if it was what some experts call a fuel-air explosive or if it was a thermobaric weapon. "Fuel-air and thermobaric bombs differ in usefulness". Burky says that the weapon depicted in the video appears to be a fuel-air explosive, based on its shape.


title: Father of All Bombs

text: German military analyst Sascha Lange speaking at "Deutsche Welle" pointed out multiple discrepancies of the released video and expressed his skepticism.


title: Father of All Bombs

text: John Pike, an analyst at the think tank GlobalSecurity, says he believes the weapon is roughly as powerful as the Russians claim. What he does not necessarily believe is that the weapon is new. He says the Russians have possessed a range of thermobaric weapons for at least four decades.


title: Father of All Bombs

text: Robert Hewson, an editor for Jane's Information Group, told the BBC it was likely that FOAB indeed represented the world's biggest non-nuclear bomb. "You can argue about the numbers and how you scale this but the Russians have a long and proven history of developing weapons in the thermobaric class", he says. UPI claimed the device "would enormously boost Russia's conventional military capabilities".


title: Acetazolamide

text: Acetazolamide, sold under the trade name Diamox among others, is a medication used to treat glaucoma, epilepsy, altitude sickness, periodic paralysis, idiopathic intracranial hypertension (raised brain pressure of unclear cause), urine alkalinization, and heart failure. It may be used long term for the treatment of open angle glaucoma and short term for acute angle closure glaucoma until surgery can be carried out. It is taken by mouth or injection into a vein. Acetazolamide is a first generation carbonic anhydrase inhibitor and it decreases the ocular fluid and osmolality in the eye to decrease intraocular pressure.


title: Acetazolamide

text: Common side effects include numbness, ringing in the ears, loss of appetite, vomiting, and sleepiness. It is not recommended in those with significant kidney problems, liver problems, or who are allergic to sulfonamides. Acetazolamide is in the diuretic and carbonic anhydrase inhibitor families of medication. It works by decreasing the formation of hydrogen ions and bicarbonate from carbon dioxide and water.


title: Acetazolamide

text: Acetazolamide came into medical use in 1952. It is on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines. Acetazolamide is available as a generic medication.


title: Acetazolamide

text: It is used in the treatment of glaucoma, drug-induced edema, heart failure-induced edema, epilepsy and in reducing intraocular pressure after surgery. It has also been used in the treatment of altitude sickness, Ménière's disease, increased intracranial pressure and neuromuscular disorders.


title: Acetazolamide

text: In epilepsy, the main use of acetazolamide is in menstrual-related epilepsy and as an add on to other treatments in refractory epilepsy. Though various websites on the internet report that acetazolamide can be used to treat dural ectasia in individuals with Marfan Syndrome, the only supporting evidence for this assertion exists from a small study of 14 patients which was not peer-reviewed or submitted for publication. Several published cases of intracranial hypotension related to Marfan syndrome would warrant caution in using acetazolamide in these patients unless there is a clear indication, as it could lower intracranial pressure further. A 2012 review and meta-analysis found that there was "limited supporting evidence" but that acetazolamide "may be considered" for the treatment of central (as opposed to obstructive) sleep apnea.


title: Acetazolamide

text: It has also been used to prevent methotrexate-induced kidney damage by alkalinizing the urine, hence speeding up methotrexate excretion by increasing its solubility in urine. There is some evidence to support its use to prevent hemiplegic migraine.


title: Acetazolamide

text: Acetazolamide is used in the treatment of open-angle glaucoma. The carbonic anhydrase inhibitor is able to decrease ocular fluid and osmolality of the fluid in the humor of the eye and decrease intraocular pressure in the eye. The medication comes in the form of an oral tablet used for this indication.


title: Acetazolamide

text: Acetazolamide is also used for the treatment of acute mountain sickness. In the prevention or treatment of mountain sickness, acetazolamide inhibits the ability of the kidneys to reabsorb bicarbonate, the conjugate base of carbonic acid. Increasing the amount of bicarbonate excreted in the urine leads to acidification of the blood. Because the body senses CO concentration indirectly via blood pH (increase in CO causes a decrease in pH), acidifying the blood through decreased renal reabsorption of bicarbonate is sensed as an increase in CO. This, in turn, causes the body to increase minute ventilation (the amount of air breathed per minute) in order to "breathe off" CO, which in turn increases the amount of oxygen in the blood. Acetazolamide is not an immediate cure for acute mountain sickness; rather, it speeds up (or, when taking before traveling, forces the body to early start) part of the acclimatization process which in turn helps to relieve symptoms. Acetazolamide is still effective if started early in the course of mountain sickness. As prevention, it is started one day before travel to altitude and continued for the first 2 days at altitude.


title: Acetazolamide

text: Acetazolamide is pregnancy category B3 in Australia, which means that studies in rats, mice and rabbits in which acetazolamide was given intravenously or orally caused an increased risk of fetal malformations, including defects of the limbs. Despite this, there is insufficient evidence from studies in humans to either support or discount this evidence.


title: Acetazolamide

text: Limited data are available on the effects of nursing mothers taking acetazolamide. Therapeutic doses create low levels in breast milk and are not expected to cause problems in infants.


title: Acetazolamide

text: Common adverse effects of acetazolamide include the following: paraesthesia, fatigue, drowsiness, depression, decreased libido, bitter or metallic taste, nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, diarrhea, black stool, polyuria, kidney stones, metabolic acidosis and electrolyte changes (hypokalemia, hyponatremia). Whereas less common adverse effects include Stevens–Johnson syndrome, anaphylaxis and blood dyscrasias.


title: Acetazolamide

text: Acetazolamide is a carbonic anhydrase inhibitor, hence causing the accumulation of carbonic acid. Carbonic anhydrase is an enzyme found in red blood cells and many other tissues that catalyses the following reaction:


title: Acetazolamide

text: The mechanism of diuresis involves the proximal tubule of the kidney. The enzyme carbonic anhydrase is found here, allowing the reabsorption of bicarbonate, sodium, and chloride. By inhibiting this enzyme, these ions are excreted, along with excess water, lowering blood pressure, intracranial pressure, and intraocular pressure. A general side effect of carbonic anhydrase inhibitors is loss of potassium due to this function. By excreting bicarbonate, the blood becomes acidic, causing compensatory hyperventilation with deep respiration (Kussmaul breathing), increasing levels of oxygen and decreasing levels of carbon dioxide in the blood.


title: Acetazolamide

text: Bicarbonate (HCO) has a pK of 10.3 with carbonate (CO), far further from physiologic pH (7.35–7.45), and so it is more likely to accept a proton than to donate one, but it is also far less likely for it to do either, thus bicarbonate will be the major species at physiological pH.


title: Acetazolamide

text: Under normal conditions in the proximal convoluted tubule of the kidney, most of the carbonic acid (HCO) produced intracellularly by the action of carbonic anhydrase quickly dissociates in the cell to bicarbonate (HCO) and an H ion (a proton), as previously mentioned. The bicarbonate (HCO) exits at the basal portion of the cell via sodium (Na) symport and chloride (Cl) antiport and re-enters circulation, where it may accept a proton if blood pH decreases, thus acting as a weak, basic buffer. The remaining H left over from the intracellular production of carbonic acid (HCO) exits the apical (urinary lumen) portion of the cell by Na antiport, acidifying the urine. There, it may join with another bicarbonate (HCO) that dissociated from its H in the lumen of the urinary space only after exiting the proximal convoluted kidney cells/glomerulus as carbonic acid (HCO) because bicarbonate (HCO) itself can not diffuse across the cell membrane in its polar state. This will replenish carbonic acid (HCO) so that it then may be reabsorbed into the cell as itself or CO and HO (produced via a luminal carbonic anhydrase). As a result of this whole process, there is a greater net balance of H in the urinary lumen than bicarbonate (HCO), and so this space is more acidic than physiologic pH. Thus, there is an increased likelihood that any bicarbonate (HCO) that was left over in the lumen diffuses back into the cell as carbonic acid, CO, or HO.


title: Acetazolamide

text: In short, under normal conditions, the net effect of carbonic anhydrase in the urinary lumen and cells of the proximal convoluted tubule is to acidify the urine and transport bicarbonate (HCO) into the body. Another effect is excretion of Cl as it is needed to maintain electroneutrality in the lumen, as well as the reabsorption of Na into the body.


title: Acetazolamide

text: Thus, by disrupting this process with acetazolamide, urinary Na and bicarbonate (HCO) are increased, and urinary H and Cl are decreased. Inversely, serum Na and bicarbonate (HCO) are decreased, and serum H and Cl are increased. HO generally follows sodium, and so this is how the clinical diuretic effect is achieved, which reduces blood volume and thus preload on the heart to improve contractility and reduce blood pressure, or achieve other desired clinical effects of reduced blood volume such as reducing edema or intracranial pressure.


title: Acetazolamide

text: An early description of this compound (as 2-acetylamino-1,3,4-thiadiazole-5-sulfonamide) and its synthesis has been patented.


title: Acetazolamide

text: Smaller clinical trials have also shown promising results in the treatment of normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH).


title: Casio

text: Casio was established as Kashio Seisakujo in April 1946 by Tadao Kashio ( 1917–1993), an engineer specializing in fabrication technology. Kashio's first major product was the yubiwa pipe, a finger ring that would hold a cigarette, allowing the wearer to smoke the cigarette down to its nub while also leaving the wearer's hands free. Japan was impoverished immediately following World War II, so cigarettes were valuable, and the invention was a success.


title: Casio

text: After seeing the electric calculators at the first Business Show in Ginza, Tokyo in 1949, Kashio and his younger brothers (Toshio, Kazuo, and Yukio) used their profits from the yubiwa pipe to develop their calculators. Most of the calculators at that time worked using gears and could be operated by hand using a crank or using a motor (see adding machine).


title: Casio

text: Toshio possessed some knowledge of electronics and set out to make a calculator using solenoids. After dozens of prototypes were tested, the desk-sized calculator was finished in 1954 and was Japan's first electro-mechanical calculator. One of the central and more important innovations of the calculator was its adoption of the 10-key number pad; at that time other calculators were using a "full keypad", which meant that each place in the number (1s, 10s, 100s, etc ...) had nine keys. Another distinguishing innovation was the use of a single display window instead of the three display windows (one for each argument and one for the answer) used in other calculators.


title: Casio

text: Casio Computer Co., Ltd. was formed in June 1957. That year, Casio released the Model 14-A, sold for 485,000 yen, the world's first all-electric compact calculator, which was based on relay technology.


title: Casio

text: In the 1980s, Casio's budget electronic instruments and its line of affordable home electronic musical keyboard instruments became popular. The company also became well known for the wide variety and innovation of its wristwatches. It was one of the earliest manufacturers of quartz watches, both digital and analog. It also began selling calculator watches during this time. Casio also introduced one of the first watches that could display the time in many different time zones of the world and with features like recording temperature, atmospheric-pressure and altitude. In the later years, Casio's wristwatches were fitted with receivers to synchronise with radio towers around the world and Global Positioning System for timekeeping accuracy.


title: Casio

text: A number of notable digital camera innovations have also been made by Casio, including the QV-10, the first consumer digital camera with a liquid-crystal display (LCD) on the back (developed by a team led by Hiroyuki Suetaka in 1995), the first consumer three-megapixel camera, the first true ultra-compact model, and the first digital camera to incorporate ceramic lens technology, using Lumicera.


title: Casio

text: In July 2019, the company's UK arm, Casio Electronics Co. Ltd, was fined £3.7 million after admitting resale price maintenance (a form of price-fixing) on their line of digital keyboards and digital pianos between 2013 and 2018, in breach of the United Kingdom's Competition Act 1998.


title: Casio

text: Casio's products include watches, calculators, electronic keyboards and other digital products such as digital cameras (Exilim series), film cameras, cash registers, laptops and sub-notebook computers, mobile phones, PDAs (E-Data Bank), electronic dictionaries, digital diaries (early PDAs), electronic games, computer printers, clocks, and portable televisions.


title: Casio

text: In the 1970s and 80s, Casio was best known for its electronic (including scientific) calculators, electronic musical instruments and affordable digital watches incorporating innovative technology. Today, Casio is most commonly known for making durable and reliable electronic products. The G-Shock range of shock-resistant watches is also very popular, with the original 1983 G-Shock DW-5000C being highly sought-after by collectors. The scientific calculators made by Casio especially the CLASSWIZ series of calculators are known for being affordable while incorporating a host of functions as compared to their competitors.


title: Casio

text: Casio also makes products for local markets, including "Prayer Compass" watch series designed to help Muslims pray on time and in the right direction.


title: Stacy's Mom

text: "Stacy's Mom" is a song by American rock band Fountains of Wayne. It is the third track on their third studio album, "Welcome Interstate Managers", and was released to radio as the album's first single on May 19, 2003, through S-Curve Records and Virgin Records. "Stacy's Mom" was written by bassist Adam Schlesinger and vocalist Chris Collingwood, both of whom produced the song alongside Mike Denneen. Its subject matter was inspired by a friend of Schlesinger's when he was young who was attracted to Schlesinger's grandmother. It is a power pop song with which the group hoped to emulate the sound of American rock band the Cars.


title: Stacy's Mom

text: "Stacy's Mom" reached number 21 on the US "Billboard" Hot 100, becoming the band's highest-charting hit in the United States. Additionally, the song peaked within the top 10 in Ireland and the top 20 in the United Kingdom and Australia. The single was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America for sales of over 500,000 copies, and it was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocals. The song was accompanied with a music video in which model Rachel Hunter plays the titular role. "Stacy's Mom" was the only mainstream hit by Fountains of Wayne.


title: Stacy's Mom

text: Authorship of "Stacy's Mom" is credited to Chris Collingwood and Adam Schlesinger; in practice, the two songwriters wrote independently, and agreed to credit both writers on all Fountains of Wayne songs regardless of the actual author. In interviews, Schlesinger took responsibility for the song.


title: Stacy's Mom

text: Stylistically it is power pop and pop-punk. Part of the song's inspiration was a friend with whom Schlesinger had grown up who thought Schlesinger's grandmother was attractive. "One of my best friends, when we were maybe 11 or 12, came to me and announced that he thought my grandmother was hot. And I said, 'Hey, you're stepping over the line,' but at that point in life, I wouldn't put it past anyone," he recalled. He hoped to strike a balance "between humor and personality" with the song. In writing the song, he was hoping to take influence from new wave and power pop music: "I was thinking a little bit about 'Mrs. Robinson' and sonically I was thinking about the Cars, a Rick Springfield sort of thing." He acknowledged that stylistically, the song "owes a debt" to the Cars' "Just What I Needed"; its opening guitar riff is similar. Cars frontman Ric Ocasek thought that the intro was a sample from "Just What I Needed" but the band says they performed it in the studio and just "got it right."


title: Stacy's Mom

text: "Stacy's Mom" debuted on the "Billboard" Hot 100 the week of October 11, 2003, at number 59, making this their first song to appear on that chart. It entered the top 40 the week after by moving 21 spots to number 38 and moved nine spots to number 31 on the week of October 25, 2003. It peaked at number 21 the week of November 21, 2003, and stayed there for two weeks. It stayed on the chart for 17 weeks.


title: Stacy's Mom

text: It was one of the first songs to reach the No. 1 spot on the "Most Downloaded Songs" list of the iTunes Music Store. It reached No. 11 in the UK Singles Chart. It was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Vocal Pop Performance at the 2004 awards. The single's sales were last estimated at 888,000, according to Nielsen SoundScan, in 2011.


title: Stacy's Mom

text: Richard Harrington of "The Washington Post" dubbed it "nicely naughty." Ben Greenman, writing for "The New Yorker", considered it the "second-catchiest song ever written about a girlfriend's parent," after "Mrs. Robinson". The song ranks No. 350 on "Blender"'s "500 Greatest Songs Since You Were Born" and No. 88 on VH1's "100 Greatest Songs of the '00s".


title: Stacy's Mom

text: The music video, directed by Chris Applebaum, features several comedic scenes illustrating the boy's attempts to get closer to Stacy's mother (Rachel Hunter). Its premise is around Stacy (Gianna Distenca), whose best friend and love interest (Shane Haboucha) is attracted to her mother, mentioning times she caught his attention: by the pool, receiving a massage on the lawn and during an imaginary strip tease in the dining room. It features several sexual innuendos such as wet dreams and adolescent gratification. By the end of the video, Stacy walks in on her unnamed friend in the bathroom while watching Stacy's mother in the backyard pool. It closes on the door with an "Ocupado" sign hanging from the doorknob and Stacy laughing, possibly flattered by the event believing the friend in question reciprocated her romantic and sexual interests.


title: Stacy's Mom

text: "We looked at a lot of treatments and some directors were trying to be kind of arty and subtle with it, but Chris Applebaum went completely for the jugular," said Schlesinger. Model Rachel Hunter plays the title role, which she accepted because she was a fan of the band and the song. The group had previously hoped to get Paulina Porizkova (Ocasek's then-wife) for the role. The clip was shot in Los Angeles in late May 2003. "It was 7 a.m., and there was Rachel Hunter doing a striptease on the kitchen counter," remembered Schlesinger. The video was first sent to television in July 2003.


title: Stacy's Mom

text: Fountains of Wayne had asked Ocasek to be in the video for the song. Schlesinger explains that while Ocasek claimed that he "politely declined", he actually just never responded to the request. There are several references to the Cars in the video: a license plate reads "I ♥ RIC", a reference to Ocasek; one of the boys in the opening scene has dark hair, sunglasses, and clothes such that he looks like an adolescent version of Ocasek; the trademark Elliot Easton "bouncing" (at approximately 1:15 into the video) and hairdo as he plays his guitar for the Cars; and the re-creation of a scene from the movie "Fast Times at Ridgemont High", which featured the Cars' "Moving in Stereo". Further links to the Cars and new wave music are given by the magazine "Nu Wave" that is featured in the video, the Roland Juno-6 keyboard (a synthesizer of the 1980s), and the record sleeve showing 'Stacy's Mom' in a car. The video reached No. 1 on both MTV's "TRL" and VH1's "VSpot Top 20 Countdown".


title: Stacy's Mom

text: In 2011, pop punk band Bowling for Soup released a cover version of "Stacy's Mom" as a B-side to their single "I've Never Done Anything Like This".


title: Stacy's Mom

text: The cover version came about because the original Fountains of Wayne song was often misattributed to Bowling for Soup. The song was misidentified as a Bowling for Soup song on YouTube and other video sites. In multiple interviews, Bowling for Soup bandleader Jaret Reddick has said that he regularly encountered fans at their concerts who mistakenly thought "Stacy's Mom" was a Bowling for Soup song. In 2011, they recorded and released a cover version of the song. Reddick said that by finally releasing their own version of the song, "I’ve basically just taken care of a large part of the population that's been wrong for years, and I've made them right." Alluding to the mistaken identity issue, the cover art for the song release reads: "Finally you can say this is your favorite song by BFS and not look like an idiot!"


title: Stacy's Mom

text: The song was included on the setlist for "" as a guest act, and was included as DLC for "Rock Band 4". It also appeared in the 4th episode of the television series "Psych", "". The song was parodied on "The Howard Stern Show" to mock Wack Pack character Hanzi (Imran Kahn). It has also been performed by "Postmodern Jukebox" ft. Casey Abrams. It has appeared in "Me Him Her" and "Art School Confidential".


title: Stacy's Mom

text: A cover of the song by the Northeastern University pep band has become an unofficial theme song for the Northeastern Huskies men's ice hockey team, and has frequent performances at the annual Beanpot. At each game, the pep band plays the song during a stoppage of play with the fan sections continuing to sing through the chorus without accompaniment once gameplay begins again.


title: Yokohama F. Marinos

text: Having won the J-League title four times and finishing second twice, they are one of the most successful J-League clubs. The team is based in Yokohama and was founded as the company team of Nissan Motor. The club was formed by the merger of Yokohama Marinos and Yokohama Flügels in 1999. The current name is intended to reflect both Marinos and Flügels. The team name "Marinos" means "sailors" in Spanish. Yokohama F. Marinos is the longest serving team in the top flight of Japanese football, having played at the top level since 1982, also making them, along with Kashima Antlers, one of only two teams to have competed in Japan's top flight of football every year since its inception.


title: Yokohama F. Marinos

text: In 1972, Japan started as Nissan Motor Football Club, based in Yokohama, and went from football to Division 2 Football League Division 2 Football League 1976. Take civil measures, build friendly relationship with schools secondary schools and local universities and start junior teams.


title: Yokohama F. Marinos

text: And under coach Shu Kamo, the team won Japan Soccer League in 1988 and 1989, as well as the JSL Cup in 198,1989 and 1990 and the Emperor's Cup in 1983,1985,1988,1989 and 1991, winning all three major tournaments in Japan at that time, known as the Triple Crown with legends such as Takashi Mizunuma, Kazushi Kimura and Masami Ihara.


title: Yokohama F. Marinos

text: At the end of the 1991-92 season, in which the team had consolidated internationally with the victory of the 1991-1992 AFC Asian Cup, Nissan Motors obtained registration in the newly formed J-League to acquire professional club status and change the name to Yokohama Marinos, a reference to Yokohama's status as a major port city. In their first seasons as a professional team, Yokohama Marinos confirmed the results of previous years by winning Emperor's Cup 1992 and for the second consecutive year the AFC Asian Cup and obtaining their first national title in 1995 with prominence the legend Mr.Marinos Masami Ihara. and matches between Yokohama Marinos and Verdy Kawasaki were known as the National Derby.


title: Yokohama F. Marinos

text: In 1999, the club was renamed Yokohama F Marinos after the technical and financial merger with Yokohama Flügels that declared bankruptcy and since then an F has been added to the name to represent the Flügels half of the club. Because of that, many Flügels fans have rejected the new team. Flügels fans felt that their team was dissolved into the F Marinos, rather than being merged with. As a result, they refused to follow F. Marinos and instead created Yokohama FC, the new city-wide rival of F. Marinos, with the help of public donations and an affiliation with IMG, a talent agency company.


title: Yokohama F. Marinos

text: In 2000 Marinos was runner-up in the J-League and Shunsuke Nakamura was named the best player of the season.


title: Yokohama F. Marinos

text: In 2003 and 2004 Marinos was a two-time J-League champion with the stars of the team being South Koreans Ahn Jung-hwan, Yoo sang-chul and Japanese players Daisuke Oku, Tatsuhiko Kubo and Yuji Nakazawa was the best player of the year 2004. The coach was the Japanese Takeshi Okada and he was named the best coach of the Japanese League in the years 2003 and 2004.


title: Yokohama F. Marinos

text: And from 2005 to 2008 with Hayuma Tanaka, Hideo Oshima, Daisuke Sakata and Koji Yamase, Marinos didn't achieve anything, the most they reached was the 2008 Emperor's Cup semi-final.


title: Yokohama F. Marinos

text: In August 4, 2011, a year after leaving the club, former Marinos player Naoki Matsuda collapsed during training with Matsumoto Yamaga FC due to cardiac arrest and died at the age of 34. As a result, his former number 3 has been retired.


title: Yokohama F. Marinos

text: And after two semi-final defeats in 2011 and 2012 and Marinos won the 2013 Emperor's Cup on New Year's Day 2014, the first after 21 years and in 2013, they were runner-up in the J-League.


title: Yokohama F. Marinos

text: On 20 May 2014, it was announced that the City Football Group, a Manchester City company, had invested in a minority stake in Yokohama F. Marinos, creating a partnership with the football club and the automaker Nissan.


title: Yokohama F. Marinos

text: And after consecutive defeats, such as a loss in the 2017 Emperor's Cup Final and in the 2018 J.League Cup Final, the team managed to get a good shape thanks to the direction of the Australian coach Ange Postecoglou, which ended 15 years of drought by winning the 2019 J1 League title, with emphasis on the participation of Teruhito Nakagawa being the best player of the season and top scorer with 15 goals together with Marcos Júnior.


title: Yokohama F. Marinos

text: In 2020, Marinos made it out of the group stage for the first time since the AFC Champions League switched to the current format.


title: Yokohama F. Marinos

text: The team's home stadiums are Nissan Stadium, otherwise known as International Stadium Yokohama, and Mitsuzawa Stadium. The team trained at Marinos Town located in the area of Minato Mirai, but moved to Kozukue Field located next to the home ground in 2016.


title: Yokohama F. Marinos

text: The club's official theme song is "We Are F. Marinos" by Japanese duo Yuzu. The song was first released in 2005, with the song being used at games up to today, sometimes having mascot Marinos-kun dance to the song on a pedestal on the running track of Nissan Stadium.


title: Yokohama F. Marinos

text: This list includes players that were called-up to their national teams while playing at Yokohama F. Marinos, either to participate in official or friendly competitions, friendly matches or in training camps.


title: Yokohama F. Marinos

text: The list includes players who were called-up to their national teams while playing at Yokohama F. Marinos, to represent their country in the FIFA World Cup .


title: Yokohama F. Marinos

text: In the manga series – "Captain Tsubasa", one of the characters was Yokohama Marinos midfielder Mamoru Izawa.


title: Yokohama F. Marinos

text: The base category of Yokohama F. Marinos started in 1986, before the opening of the J-League, and it is divided into 3 categories U-12, U-15 and U-18 and these are some of the best players formed at the base of Marinos, Shunsuke Nakamura, Manabu Saito, Jungo Fujimoto, Mike Havenaar, Hiroki Iikura, Takashi Amano, Hiroyuki Taniguchi, Tetsuya Enomoto, Yuzo Kurihara, Hayuma Tanaka, Yuki Kaneko, Daisuke Sakata, Naohiro Ishikawa, Rikizo Matsuhashi, Eitaro Matsuda, Kota Yamada, Keita Endo, Ryo Takano, Takuya Kida, Andrew Kumagai, Yuji Ono, Jun Amano, Sho Matsumoto, Jin Hanato, Kota Mizunuma, Takashi Kanai, Masakazu Tashiro, Yota Akimoto etc. ...


title: Nicky Jam

text: Nick Rivera Caminero (born March 17, 1981), known professionally as Nicky Jam, is an American singer and actor. He is best known for hits such as "X", "Travesuras", "En la Cama", "Te Busco", "El Perdón", "Hasta el Amanecer", and "El Amante"; the latter three are from his 2017 album "Fénix". He has frequently collaborated with other Latin artists such as Daddy Yankee, J Balvin, Ozuna, Plan B and Anuel AA. While his early music exemplified traditional fast-paced reggaeton, his newer compositions place more emphasis on sung vocals and romantic lyrics.


title: Nicky Jam

text: Born in Lawrence, Massachusetts to a Dominican mother and a Puerto Rican father, his family moved to Puerto Rico when he was ten years old. He began recording music at age fourteen with his first EP "...Distinto a los demás" (1995), and eventually caught the attention of Daddy Yankee. The two formed the group Los Cangris, which was active from the late 1990s to 2004. The pair split acrimoniously and Nicky Jam's career quickly took a sharp decline, followed by a period of legal struggles and substance abuse.


title: Nicky Jam

text: He then moved to Medellín, Colombia, where he rejuvenated his career and developed a more melodic style of music, which proved to be popular through the release of the singles "Voy a Beber" and "Travesuras" in 2014. His success was furthered by the 2015 single "El Perdón" and his 2017 album "Fénix". He released the album "Íntimo" in 2019, which was a critical and commercial success. Nicky Jam has also acted in the films "" (2017) and "Bad Boys for Life" (2020), and starred in and executive produced the Netflix biographical series "" (2018).


title: Nicky Jam

text: Nick Rivera Caminero was born on March 17, 1981, in Lawrence, Massachusetts to a Dominican mother and Puerto Rican father. Having been born on Saint Patrick's Day, he enjoyed attending parades for the holiday as a little boy. While in Massachusetts, he developed an affinity for hip-hop, specifically East Coast acts Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch and LL Cool J. When Nicky Jam was ten years old, his family moved to the Río Hondo suburb of San Juan, Puerto Rico, in an attempt to reconnect with the family's Puerto Rican roots. However, in an interview with "Billboard", Nicky Jam explained that his father had become embroiled in a drug-related case and escaped bail, necessitating the move to Puerto Rico.


title: Nicky Jam

text: Nicky Jam initially experienced culture shock upon moving to Puerto Rico, having never spoken Spanish before arriving to the island. Despite the difficult start, he quickly made friends in his neighborhood and after spending time in the streets as a middle schooler, became inspired to pursue a musical career. He also used Caribbean hip-hop and reggaeton as a way to help him polish his Spanish-language skills. He originally went by the moniker "Nick MC", but changed it to Nicky Jam after a neighborhood homeless man gave him the unsolicited comment, "You ain't Nick MC, you're Nicky Jam".


title: Nicky Jam

text: While working at the Pueblo Xtra discount grocery store at age eleven, he passed time by rapping about the items he was bagging, which impressed a customer who invited him to record with a local indie label. He subsequently signed a contract without reading it and received no advance money for his recordings. He recorded and released his first EP "...Distinto a los demás" in 1995 at age fourteen. He endured a difficult breakup with his girlfriend shortly after the album's release and the emotional pain of the experience led him to try cocaine for the first time at age fifteen. Nicky Jam reflected on the experience by saying: "[I thought], 'why am I going to take care of myself? My dad didn't handle his drug problems. My mom did drugs too, so why not me?' I mean, I had drugs all around me, and the foundation of everything is your home. It's your family."


title: Nicky Jam

text: Despite his drug use, he managed to gain popularity in Puerto Rico as a hip-hop artist, and eventually met his idol, Daddy Yankee. Nicky Jam recalled that Daddy Yankee was familiar with his work, explaining, "He looked at me and said, 'I know who you are. You're that little kid that sings rap in a little Mickey Mouse voice. I like your style.'" The two artists then formed a duo called Los Cangris. The duo achieved success in Puerto Rico through hit singles such as "En la Cama", "Donde Estan Las Gatas", and "Guayando". While in the group, he went on to release the solo albums "Haciendo escante" (2001) and "Vida escante" (2004).


title: Nicky Jam

text: However, Nicky Jam struggled to adjust to his new lifestyle and began using drugs and alcohol to an extent that concerned his musical partner. Having used cocaine on and off since age fifteen, he later began using percocet. Daddy Yankee began to criticize Nicky Jam's behavior and alluded to his bandmate in songs, including the lyric "your courage depends on a pill" from the 2004 song "Santifica Tus Escapularios". This led an incensed Nicky Jam to release a diss track in response that same year. Nicky Jam quickly regretted releasing the song, explaining, "That wasn't a good choice, because he came with [2004 "Billboard" Hot 100 hit] 'Gasolina.' [I] looked stupid. He went his way, I went my way -- and obviously my way didn't go very well."


title: Nicky Jam

text: Los Cangris separated in 2004 after a falling out between the two musicians. After the breakup of Los Cangris, Nicky Jam struggled personally and professionally, calling himself the "embarrassment of the Latin Caribbean music industry". Deeply depressed, Nicky Jam gained a significant amount of weight, eventually reaching 300 pounds (136 kg). He also experienced legal troubles, including a police chase in his car that was in the process of being repossessed. He took a job in a hotel, performing lounge music for tourists. Despite viewing this period to be his "lowest point", the artist developed his singing voice during this time, learning to incorporate sung vocals into his music as opposed to strictly rapping.


title: Nicky Jam

text: In 2007, Nicky Jam moved to Medellín, Colombia in an attempt to stop using drugs and focus on music. The musician was well received by the people in Medellín, and the singer reflected, "They made me feel like I was a legend. The boost they gave me made me want to be a better person. I started eating OK, I stopped drugs, I stopped alcohol. People came to love me because I was loving myself." In 2010, Nicky Jam suffered a nearly fatal overdose that served as the impetus for him to quit using drugs completely. He lost 100 pounds (45 kg) and tattooed a significant portion of his body, including the entirety of his neck—which he considered a symbol of his recovery. Artistically, he drew influence from the romanticism of Colombian music, in particular the genre of vallenato. He also amended his friendship with Daddy Yankee after encountering him on a flight, where the two apologized to each other, and began touring together at the end of 2014.


title: Nicky Jam

text: His songs "Voy a Beber" and "Travesuras" reinvigorated his career and led to his signing with Sony U.S. Latin. "Travesuras" was Nicky Jam's first song to reach the top ten on the "Billboard" Hot Latin Songs chart. Spanish singer Enrique Iglesias contacted Nicky Jam to collaborate on the 2015 song "El Perdón", which later won Nicky Jam his first Latin Grammy for Best Urban Performance. Nicky Jam was surprised when he received the phone call from Iglesias and initially hung up on him, believing the call to be a prank. The song peaked at number 56 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and spent 30 weeks on top of the Hot Latin Songs chart.


title: Nicky Jam

text: His increased popularity during this time led Nicky Jam to reunite in 2015 with his mother who had been deported to the Dominican Republic; he had not seen her for more than twenty years. He recalled, "Most of my life, I was trying to be famous, do music to see if my mom could listen to me and see me...when [the reunion] happened, it was like a movie moment. My bodyguard was like, 'There's this woman outside. She's fighting with everybody saying she's your mom and she wants to see you'...and automatically, I knew it was her because I remembered her voice." Nicky Jam was presented with the Warrior Spirit award at the 2015 Premios Tu Mundo for his "musical resilience". The following year, he recorded a remix of the 1992 song "De Pies a Cabeza" with Mexican rock band Maná, a collaboration Nicky Jam described as a "blessing". In 2016, his song "Hasta el Amanecer" became his first song to reach one billion views on YouTube. The song won the "Billboard" Music Award for Top Latin Song at the 2017 "Billboard" Music Awards. It also won the Urban Song of the Year and was nominated for Single of the Year at the 29th Lo Nuestro Awards.


title: Nicky Jam

text: On January 20, 2017, he released the album "Fénix". The album cover consists of a mural painted in Medellín of Nicky Jam with the Spanish word for "Phoenix" (stylized ). This mural was painted by fans without Nicky Jam's knowledge, and upon discovering the existence of the mural, Nicky Jam was so moved that he proclaimed on Instagram that he would make the mural the cover of his next album. "Fénix", a symbol of the artist's career rebirth, debuted at the top of the "Billboard" Top Latin Albums chart. The album reached the top of the "Billboard" Latin Rhythm Albums chart on February 11, 2017, and stayed on the chart for a total of 142 weeks. The record was nominated for a Latin Grammy Award for Album of the Year at the 18th Annual Latin Grammy Awards, losing to "Salsa Big Band" by Rubén Blades with Roberto Delgado & Orquesta.


title: Nicky Jam

text: "Fénix" featured collaborations from Sean Paul, El Alfa, J Balvin, and Kid Ink and included Nicky Jam's first English-language songs "Without You" and "I Can't Forget You". With the album, he hoped to maintain an organic reggaeton sound, feeling that genre had evolved into an overly "futuristic" sound in Puerto Rico. The previously released singles "El Perdón" and "Hasta el Amanecer" were included on the album in addition to the new singles "El Amante" and "Si Tú la Ves", the latter featuring Wisin of reggaeton duo Wisin & Yandel. The songs "El Amante" peaked at number two on the "Billboard" Hot Latin Songs chart, while "Si Tú la Ves" peaked at number 18 on the same chart. "El Amante" also reached number two on the "Billboard" Hot 100. Tony M. Centeno of "Vibe" praised the album by writing, "Despite the high demand for commercial, electronic club records, Jam manages to keep his integrity, remaining loyal to the lane he established for himself nearly 20 years ago." Nicky Jam made his acting debut in 2017 in "", the third release in the "XXX" action film series, acting alongside Vin Diesel.


title: Nicky Jam

text: His collaboration with J Balvin, "X", peaked at number 41 on the "Billboard" Hot 100. The music video for "X" drew comparisons to Sean Paul's "I'm Still in Love with You" and Drake's "Hotline Bling". The video debuted at the number one spot on YouTube's global music chart and amassed more than 200 million views in two weeks. Nicky Jam performed the song with J Balvin on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" while Jimmy Fallon danced onstage with the two singers. Reacting to the success of the song, Nicky Jam divulged, "I knew our music was going to be big, but I didn't think it was going to be the way it is now." Nicky Jam collaborated with Will Smith, Diplo and Era Istrefi for the official 2018 FIFA World Cup anthem, "Live It Up". The song received mixed reviews, as critics derided the song's "generic message". Nicky Jam starred in the Netflix biographical series "", which explored the artist's struggles with drug addiction and his rise to fame and premiered in November 2018.


title: Nicky Jam

text: In October 2019, Nicky Jam previewed the release of his documentary, "Behind Nicky Jam's Íntimo", which was produced through Apple Music. He released the album "Íntimo" on November 1, 2019. It contained the singles "X", "Atrevete" featuring Sech, and "Whine Up" featuring Anuel AA. "Billboard" called the album "17 songs of pure reggaeton magic". In November 2019, he renewed his contract with Sony Music Latin. He collaborated with Daddy Yankee on the song "Muévelo" which samples Jamaican dancehall artist Ini Kamoze's 1994 hit, "Here Comes the Hotstepper". The video, filmed in Miami, serves as an homage to the period in the 1990s in which reggaeton was criminalized in Puerto Rico. The song appeared on the soundtrack for the film "Bad Boys for Life". Nicky Jam played villan Zway-Lo in the film, which was released on January 17, 2020. In March 2020, Nicky Jam was honored with the annual Career Achievement Award at the Premios Tu Música Urbano 2020 hosted by Telemundo. Nicky Jam appeared on Bad Bunny's surprise album "Las que no iban a salir", released in May 2020.


title: Nicky Jam

text: In August 2021, Jam announced that his first official post-pandemic tour will kick off in early 2022. The 'Infinity' Tour will visit major cities across the U.S. and Canada, starting Feb. 3, 2022, at Boston’s Agganis Arena.


title: Nicky Jam

text: Nicky Jam's music has been classified as Latin trap and reggaeton. Veronica Villafañe of "Forbes" wrote that Nicky Jam is considered "one of the architects of the Latino urban music movement". His music has been noted for both eliciting a party atmosphere and embracing overt sentimentality. His career began in the mid-1990s, when reggaeton was in its beginning stages in Puerto Rico. While his early releases exemplified the sound of old-school reggaeton that drew massive popularity in Puerto Rico, Eduardo Cepeda of "Remezcla" wrote that Nicky Jam's "sound has shifted from hard-hitting dembow...to more velvety rhythms and romantic lyrics". His lyrics have also been described by "Billboard" as "catchy and flirtatious".


title: Nicky Jam

text: His earliest musical influence was Michael Jackson's "Thriller" video; he recalls that "I knew automatically when I saw Michael Jackson do 'Thriller' as a little kid that I wanted people to fall in love with my music." The artist's first exposure to Caribbean music occurred upon seeing family members dancing to reggae at a house party hosted by his parents. Upon his relocation to Medellín, Nicky Jam adopted a more melodic, romantic approach to his music, inspired by Colombian genres such as vallenato. He has also expressed admiration for American soul singer Al Green, who he says inspired him to discuss romantic themes in his music. Other artists who have influenced Nicky Jam include Prince, Jay-Z, Jenni Rivera and Shakira. Jay-Z's "The Blueprint" (2001) "gave [him] an idea of how to do [his] albums in the Spanish market and give [his] fans that kind of vibe". He became a fan of Mexican rock band Maná in 1992 during the beginning stage of his career and describes the members of the group as his "idols".


title: Nicky Jam

text: Nicky Jam has four children, born in 2002, 2002, 2005, and 2012. He married his girlfriend of two years, Angélica Cruz, in a private Catholic ceremony in Medellín in February 2017. J Balvin and Vin Diesel attended the wedding, which featured performances by reggaeton group Gente de Zona and salsa singer Jerry Rivera. In August 2018, the couple filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences. That same month, he purchased a house in the Palm Island area of Miami Beach for US$3.4 million. On Valentine's Day 2020, Nicky Jam became engaged to model Cydney Moreau. The couple met on the set of his music video for "Atrévete", an encounter which the singer described as "love at first sight". After posting a photo alone on Valentine's Day 2021, Nicky Jam confirmed that he and Moreau are no longer together. In an interview with "Vibe", he stated that he has attention-deficit disorder. He dated Livia Rici, Nati Torres, and Paulina Cruz.


title: Travancore

text: The Kingdom of Travancore (), also known as the Kingdom of Thiruvithamkoor, was an Indian kingdom from c. 1729 until 1949. It was ruled by the Travancore Royal Family from Padmanabhapuram, and later Thiruvananthapuram. At its zenith, the kingdom covered most of the south of modern-day Kerala (Idukki, Kottayam, Alappuzha, Pathanamthitta, Kollam, and Thiruvananthapuram districts, and some portions of Ernakulam district), and the southernmost part of modern-day Tamil Nadu (Kanyakumari district and some parts of Tenkasi district) with the Thachudaya Kaimal's enclave of Irinjalakuda Koodalmanikyam temple in the neighbouring Kingdom of Cochin. However Tangasseri area of Kollam city and Anchuthengu near Attingal in Thiruvananthapuram district, were British colonies and were part of the Malabar District until 30 June 1927, and Tirunelveli district from 1 July 1927 onwards. Travancore merged with the erstwhile princely state of Cochin to form Travancore-Cochin in 1950. The five Tamil-majority Taluks of Vilavancode, Kalkulam, Thovalai, Agastheeswaram, and Sengottai were transferred from Travancore-Cochin to Madras State in 1956. The Malayalam-speaking regions of Travancore-Cochin merged with the Malabar District (excluding the Laccadive and Minicoy Islands) and the Kasaragod taluk of the South Canara district in Madras State to form the modern Malayalam-state of Kerala on 1 November 1956, according to the States Reorganisation Act, 1956 passed by the Government of India.


title: Travancore

text: The official flag of the state was red with a dextrally-coiled silver conch shell ("Turbinella pyrum") at its center. The coat of arms had two elephants standing to the left and right with the conch shell ("Turibinella pyrum") in the center. The ribbon is white with black Devanagari script. Travancore was bounded by the princely state of the Kingdom of Cochin and the Coimbatore district of Madras Presidency to the north, Madurai and Tirunelveli districts of Pandya Nadu region in Madras Presidency to the east, the Indian Ocean to the south, and the Arabian Sea to the west. As of the 1911 Census of India, Travancore was divided into five: Padmanabhapuram, Trivandrum, Quilon, Kottayam, and Devikulam, of which the first and last were predominantly Tamil-speaking areas.


title: Travancore

text: King Marthanda Varma inherited the small feudal state of Venad in 1723 and built it into Travancore, one of the most powerful kingdoms in southern India. Marthanda Varma led the Travancore forces during the Travancore-Dutch War of 1739–46, which culminated in the Battle of Colachel. The defeat of the Dutch by Travancore is considered the earliest example of an organised power from Asia overcoming European military technology and tactics. Marthanda Varma went on to conquer most of the petty principalities of the native rulers. Travancore became the most dominant state in Kerala by defeating the powerful Zamorin of Kozhikode in the battle of Purakkad in 1755.


title: Travancore

text: In the early 19th century, the kingdom became a princely state of the British Empire. The Travancore Government took many progressive steps on the socio-economic front and during the reign of Maharajah Sri Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma, Travancore became a prosperous modern princely state in British India, with reputed achievements in education, political administration, public work, and social reforms. In 1903–1904, the total revenue of the state was Rs. 1,02,01,900.


title: Travancore

text: The kingdom takes its name from Thiruvithamcode in the present-day Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu.


title: Travancore

text: The region had many small independent kingdoms. Later, at the peak of the Chera-Chola-Pandya, this region became part of the Chera Kingdom (except for the Ay kingdom, which always remained independent). When the region was part of the Chera empire, it was still known as "Thiruvazhumkode". It was contracted to "Thiruvankode", and anglicised by the English to "Travancore".


title: Travancore

text: In the course of time, the Ay kingdom, part of the Chera empire, which ruled the Thiruvazhumkode area, became independent, and the land was called "Aayi Desam" or "Aayi Rajyam", meaning 'Aayi territory'. The Aayis controlled the land from the present-day Kollam district in the north, through the Thiruvananthapuram district, all of Kerala, to the Kanyakumari district. There were two capitals, the major one at Kollam ("Venad Swaroopam" or "Desinganadu") and a subsidiary one at Thrippapur ("Thrippapur Swaroopam" or "Nanjinad"). The kingdom was thus also called Venad. Kings of Venad had, built residential palaces in Thiruvithamcode and Kalkulam. Thiruvithamcode became the capital of the Thrippapur Swaroopam, and the country was referred to as "Thiruvithamcode" by Europeans even after the capital had been moved in 1601 to Padmanabhapuram, near Kalkulam.


title: Travancore

text: The Chera empire had dissolved by around 1100 and thereafter the territory comprised numerous small kingdoms until the time of Marthanda Varma who, as king of Venad from 1729, employed brutal methods to unify them. During his reign, Thiruvithamcode or Travancore became the official name.


title: Travancore

text: The Kingdom of Travancore was located at the extreme southern tip of the Indian subcontinent. Geographically, Travancore was divided into three climatically distinct regions: the eastern highlands (rugged and cool mountainous terrain), the central midlands (rolling hills), and the western lowlands (coastal plains).


title: Travancore

text: The ancient political and cultural history of central and southern Travancore was almost entirely independent from that of the rest of Kerala. The Chera dynasty governed the Malabar Coast between Alappuzha in the south and Kasaragod in the north. This included Palakkad Gap, Coimbatore, Salem, and the Kolli Hills. The region around Coimbatore was ruled by the Cheras during the Sangam period between roughly the first and the fourth centuries CE and served as the eastern entrance to the Palakkad Gap, the principal trade route between the Malabar Coast and Tamil Nadu. However the southern region of present-day Kerala state (The coastal belt between Thiruvananthapuram and Alappuzha) was under the Ay dynasty, which was more related to the Pandya dynasty of Madurai than the Cheras.


title: Travancore

text: Present-day Thiruvananthapuram city and district, and Kanyakumari district, were ruled by the Ay dynasty in ancient and medieval times, Tamil-speaking rulers based in the southernmost part of the Indian subcontinent. Ay kingdom experienced attacks and conquests by Cholas and Pandya dynasty at times. Later it became part of Venad in the late Middle Ages, which eventually expanded into the princely state of Travancore in 18th century CE. The Tamil-Dravidian architecture of Padmanabhaswamy temple make it distinct and different from the architectural style of the temples in northern and central Kerala.


title: Travancore

text: Modern-day southern Kerala (Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, etc.) were long ruled by Tamil dynasties such as the Ay kingdom and the Pandya dynasty, and Chola dynasty, until the 16th-17th century CE. The official language of Venad, based at Kollam, was also Tamil. The place names, the dialects of Malayalam spoken, and the customs of southern Kerala still reveal a close relationship with a Tamil heritage. Malayalam became more prevalent when Venad became Travancore by annexing the territories up to the present-day Ernakulam district.


title: Travancore

text: The former state of Venad at the tip of the Indian subcontinent, traditionally ruled by rajas known as the Venattadis. Until the end of the 11th century AD, it was a small principality in the Ay Kingdom. The Ays were the earliest ruling dynasty in southern Kerala, who, at their zenith, ruled over a region from Nagercoil in the south to Trivandrum in the north. Their capital during the first Sangam age was in Aykudi and later, towards the end of the eighth century AD, at Quilon (Kollam). Though a series of attacks by the resurgent Pandyas between the seventh and eighth centuries caused the decline of the Ays, the dynasty was powerful until the beginning of the tenth century. Sulaiman al-Tajir, a Persian merchant who visited Kerala during the reign of Sthanu Ravi Varma (9th century CE), records that there was extensive trade between Kerala and China at that time, based at the port of Kollam.


title: Travancore

text: When the Ay diminished, Venad became the southernmost principality of the Second Chera Kingdom. An invasion of the Cholas into Venad caused the destruction of Kollam in 1096. However, the Chera capital, Mahodayapuram, also fell in the subsequent Chola attack, which compelled the Chera king, Rama Varma Kulasekara, to shift his capital to Kollam. Thus, Rama Varma Kulasekara, the last emperor of the Chera dynasty, was probably the founder of the Venad royal house, and the title of the Chera kings, "Kulasekara", was thenceforth kept by the rulers of Venad. Thus the end of the Second Chera dynasty in the 12th century marks the independence of Venad.


title: Travancore

text: In the second half of the 12th century, two branches of the Ay dynasty, the Thrippappur and Chirava, merged in the Venad family, which set up the tradition of designating the ruler of Venad as Chirava Moopan and the heir-apparent as "Thrippappur Moopan". While the Chrirava Moopan had his residence at Kollam, the Thrippappur Moopan resided at his palace in Thrippappur, nine miles north of Thiruvananthapuram, and was vested with authority over the temples of Venad kingdom, especially the Sri Padmanabhaswamy temple.


title: Travancore

text: In the early 18th century CE, the Travancore royal family adopted some members from the royal family of Kolathunadu based at Kannur, and Parappanad in present-day Malappuram district. The history of Travancore began with Marthanda Varma, who inherited the kingdom of Venad (Thrippappur), and expanded it into Travancore during his reign (1729–1758). After defeating a union of feudal lords and establishing internal peace, he expanded the kingdom of Venad through a series of military campaigns from Kanyakumari in the south to the borders of Kochi in the north during his 29-year rule. This rule also included Travancore-Dutch War (1739–1753) between Travancore and the Dutch East India Company, which had been allied to some of these kingdoms.


title: Travancore

text: In 1741, Travancore won the Battle of Colachel against the Dutch East India Company, resulting in the complete eclipse of Dutch power in the region. In this battle, the Dutch Captain, Eustachius De Lannoy, was captured. He later defected to Travancore.


title: Travancore

text: De Lannoy was appointed captain of His Highness' bodyguard and later Senior Admiral ("Valiya kappittan") and modernised the Travancore army by introducing firearms and artillery. From 1741 to 1758, De Lannoy remained in command of the Travancore forces and was involved in annexation of small principalities.


title: Travancore

text: Travancore became the most dominant state in the Kerala region by defeating the powerful Zamorin of Kozhikode in the battle of Purakkad in 1755. Ramayyan Dalawa, the prime m inister (1737–1756) of Marthanda Varma, also played an important role in this consolidation and expansion.


title: Travancore

text: On 3 January 1750, (5 Makaram, 925 Kollavarsham), Marthanda Varma virtually "dedicated" Travancore to his tutelary deity Padmanabha, one of the aspects of the Hindu God Vishnu with a lotus issuing from his navel on which Brahma sits. From then on the rulers of Travancore ruled as the "servants of Padmanabha" (the Padmnabha-dasar).


title: Travancore

text: At the Battle of Ambalapuzha, Marthanda Varma defeated the union of the kings who had been deposed and the king of the Cochin kingdom.


title: Travancore

text: Marthanda Varma's successor Karthika Thirunal Rama Varma (1758–1798), who was popularly known as Dharma Raja, shifted the capital in 1795 from Padmanabhapuram to Thiruvananthapuram. Dharma Raja's period is considered a Golden Age in the history of Travancore. He not only retained the territorial gains of his predecessor, but also improved and encouraged social development. He was greatly assisted by a very efficient administrator, Raja Kesavadas, the Diwan of Travancore.


title: Travancore

text: Travancore often allied with the English East India Company in military conflicts. During Dharma Raja's reign, Tipu Sultan, the de facto ruler of Mysore and the son of Hyder Ali, attacked Travancore in 1789 as a part of the Mysore invasion of Kerala. Dharma Raja had earlier refused to hand over the Hindu political refugees from the Mysore occupation of Malabar who had been given asylum in Travancore. The Mysore army entered the Cochin kingdom from Coimbatore in November 1789 and reached Trichur in December. On 28 December 1789 Tipu Sultan attacked the Nedunkotta (Northern Lines) from the north, causing the Battle of Nedumkotta (1789), and the defeat of Mysore army.


title: Travancore

text: On Dharma Raja's death in 1798, Balarama Varma (1798–1810), the weakest ruler of the dynasty, took over at the age of sixteen. A treaty brought Travancore under Subsidiary alliance with the East India Company in 1795.


title: Travancore

text: The Prime Ministers (Dalawas or Dewans) started to take control of the kingdom beginning with Velu Thampi Dalawa (Velayudhan Chempakaraman Thampi) (1799–1809) who was appointed as the "divan" following the dismissal of Jayanthan Sankaran Nampoothiri (1798–1799). Initially, Velayudhan Chempakaraman Thampi and the English East India Company got along very well. When a section of the Travancore army mutinied in 1805 against Velu Thampi Dalawa, he sought refuge with the British Resident Colonel (later General) Colin Macaulay and later used English East India Company troops to crush the mutiny. Velu Thampi also played a key role in negotiating a new treaty between Travancore and the English East India Company. However, the demands of the East India Company for the payment of compensation for their involvement in the Travancore-Mysore War (1791) on behalf of Travancore, led to tension between the Diwan and Colonel Macaulay. Velu Thampi and the diwan of Cochin kingdom, Paliath Achan Govindan Menon, who was unhappy with Macaulay for granting asylum to his enemy Kunhi Krishna Menon, declared "war" on the East India Company.


title: Travancore

text: The East India Company army defeated Paliath Achan's army in Cochin on 27 February 1809. Paliath Achan surrendered to the East India Company and was exiled to Madras and later to Benaras. The Company defeated forces under Velu Thampi Dalawa at battles near Nagercoil and Kollam, and inflicted heavy casualties on the rebels, many of whom then deserted and went back home. The Maharajah of Travancore, who hitherto had not openly taken any part in the rebellion, now allied with the British and appointed one of Thampi's enemies as his prime minister. The allied East India Company army and the Travancore soldiers camped in Pappanamcode, just outside Trivandrum. Velu Thampi Dalawa now organised a guerrilla struggle against the company, but committed suicide to avoid capture by the Travancore army. After the mutiny of 1805 against Velu Thampi Dalawa, most of the Nair army battalions of Travancore were disbanded, and after Velu Thampi Dalawa's uprising, almost all of the remaining Travancore forces were also disbanded, with the East India Company undertaking to serve the Rajah in cases of external and internal aggression.


title: Travancore

text: The Rajahs of Travancore had been conditionally promoted to Kshatriyahood with periodic performance of 16 mahādānams (great gifts in charity) such as Hiranya-garbhā, Hiranya-Kāmadhenu, and Hiranyāswaratā in which each of which thousands of Brahmins had been given costly gifts apart from each getting a minimum of 1 "kazhanch" (78.65 gm) of gold. In 1848 the Marquess of Dalhousie, then Governor-General of India, was apprised that the depressed condition of the finances in Travancore was due to the mahādanams by the rulers. Lord Dalhousie instructed Lord Harris, Governor of the Madras Presidency, to warn the then King of Travancore, Martanda Varma (Uttram Tirunal 1847–60), that if he did not put a stop to this practice, the Madras Presidency would take over his state's administration. This led to the cessation of the practice of mahādanams.


title: Travancore

text: All Travancore kings including Sree Moolam Thirunal conducted the "Hiranyagarbham" and "Tulapurushadaanam" ceremonies. Maharaja Chithira Thirunal was the only King of Travancore not to have conducted these rituals as he considered them extremely costly.


title: Travancore

text: In Travancore, the caste system was more rigorously enforced than in many other parts of India up to the mid-1800s. The hierarchical caste order was deeply entrenched in the social system and was supported by the government, which transformed this caste-based social system into a religious institution. In such a context, the belief in Ayyavazhi, apart from being a religious system, served also as a reform movement in uplifting the downtrodden of society, both socially and religiously. The rituals of Ayyavazhi constituted a social discourse. Its beliefs, mode of worship, and religious organisation seem to have enabled the Ayyavazhi group to negotiate, cope with, and resist the imposition of authority. The hard tone of Vaikundar towards this was perceived as a revolution against the government. So King Swathi Thirunal Rama Varma initially imprisoned Vaikundar in the Singarathoppu jail, where the jailor Appaguru ended up as a disciple of Vaikundar. Vaikundar was later set at liberty by the King.


title: Travancore

text: After the death of Sree Moolam Thirunal in 1924, Sethu Lakshmi Bayi became regent (1924–1931), as the heir apparent, Sree Chithira Thirunal was then a minor, 12 years old.


title: Travancore

text: In 1935, Travancore joined the Indian State Forces Scheme and a Travancore unit was named 1st Travancore Nair Infantry, Travancore State Forces. The unit was reorganised as an Indian State Infantry Battalion by Lieutenant Colonel H S Steward, who was appointed commandant of the Travancore State Forces.


title: Travancore

text: The last ruling king of Travancore, Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma, reigned from 1931 to 1949. "His reign marked revolutionary progress in the fields of education, defence, economy and society as a whole." He made the famous Temple Entry Proclamation on 12 November 1936, which opened all the Kshetrams (Hindu temples in Kerala) in Travancore to all Hindus, a privilege until then reserved to upper-caste Hindus. This act won him praise from across India, most notably from Mahatma Gandhi. The first public transport system (Thiruvananthapuram–Mavelikkara) and telecommunication system (Thiruvananthapuram Palace–Mavelikkara Palace) were launched during his reign. He also started the industrialisation of the state, enhancing the role of the public sector. He introduced heavy industry in the state and established giant public sector undertakings. As many as twenty industries were established, mostly for utilizing the local raw materials such as rubber, ceramics, and minerals. A majority of the premier industries in Kerala even today, were established by Sree Chithira Thirunal. He patronized musicians, artists, dancers, and Vedic scholars. Sree Chithira Thirunal appointed, for the first time, an "Art Advisor" to the Government, Dr. G. H. Cousins. He also established a new form of University Training Corps, viz. "Labour Corps", preceding the N.C.C, in the educational institutions. The expenses of the university were to be met fully by the government. Sree Chithira Thirunal also built a beautiful palace named "Kowdiar Palace", finished in 1934, which was previously an old "Naluektu", given by Sree Moolam Thirunal to his mother Sethu Parvathi Bayi in 1915.


title: Travancore

text: However, his prime minister, Sir C. P. Ramaswami Iyer, was unpopular among the communists of Travancore. The tension between the Communists and Iyer led to minor riots. In one such riot in Punnapra-Vayalar in 1946, the Communist rioters established their own government in the area. This was put down by the Travancore Army and Navy. The prime minister issued a statement in June 1947 that Travancore would remain an independent country instead of joining the Indian Union; subsequently, an attempt was made on his life, following which he resigned and left for Madras, to be succeeded by Sri P.G.N. Unnithan. According to witnesses such as K.Aiyappan Pillai, constitutional adviser to the Maharaja and historians like A. Sreedhara Menon, the rioters and mob-attacks had no bearing on the decision of the Maharaja. After several rounds of discussion and negotiation between Sree Chithira Thirunal and V.P. Menon, the king agreed that the Kingdom should accede to the Indian Union on 12 August 1947. On 1 July 1949 the Kingdom of Travancore was merged with the Kingdom of Cochin and the short-lived state of Travancore-Kochi was formed.


title: Travancore

text: On 11 July 1991, Sree Chithira Thirunal suffered a stroke and was admitted to a hospital, where he died on 20 July. He had ruled Travancore for 67 years and at his death was one of the few surviving rulers of a first-class princely state in the old British Raj. He was also the last surviving Knight Grand Commander of both the Order of the Star of India and of the Order of the Indian Empire. He was succeeded as "head" of the Royal House as well as the "Titular Maharajah" of Travancore by his brother, Uthradom Thirunal Marthanda Varma. The Government of India issued a stamp on 6 Nov 1991, commemorating the reforms that marked his reign in Travancore.


title: Travancore

text: The State of Kerala came into existence on 1 November 1956, with a governor appointed by the president of India as the head of state instead of a king. The king was stripped of all his political powers and the right to receive privy purses, according to the twenty-sixth amendment of the Indian constitution act of 31 July 1971. He died on 20 July 1991.


title: Travancore

text: Tamils lived in large numbers in the Thovalai, Agastheeswaram, Sengottai, Eraniel, Vilavancode, Kalkulam, Devikulam, Neyyattinkara, Thiruvananthapuram South and Thiruvananthapuram North taluks of erstwhile Travancore State. In the Tamil regions, Malayalam was the official language and there were only a few Tamil schools. So the Tamils met many hardships. The Travancore state government continued rejecting the requests of Tamils. During that period the Travancore State Congress favoured the idea of uniting all the Malayalam speaking regions and forming a "Unified Kerala". In protest against this idea, many Tamil leaders vacated the party. Tamils gathered together at Nagercoil on 16 December 1945 under the leadership of Sam Nathaniel and formed the new political party All Travancore Tamilian Congress. That party pushed for the merger of Tamil regions in Travancore with Tamil Nadu. During the election campaign, clashes occurred between the Tamil Nadar community and the Malayali Nair community in Kalkulam – Vilavancode taluks. The police force suppressed the agitating Nadars. In February 1948 police opened fire and two Tamil-speaking Nadars were killed.


title: Travancore

text: In the working committee meeting of Tamilian congress at Eraviputhur on 30 June 1946, the name of the political party was changed to Travancore Tamil Nadu Congress (T.T.N.C). T.T.N.C was popular among the Tamils living in Thovalai and Agateeswaram taluks. Ma. Po. Sivagnanam (Ma.Po.Si) was the only leader from Tamil Nadu who acted in favour of T.T.N.C. After the independence of India, State Assembly elections were announced in Travancore. As a consequence, T.T.N.C improved its popularity among Tamils. A popular and leading advocate from Vilavancode, A. Nesamony organised a meeting of his supporters at Allan Memorial Hall, Nagercoil on 8 September 1947. In that meeting it was declared that they must achieve their objective through their political organisation, the T.T.N.C. And T.T.N.C started gaining strength and momentum in Kalkulam – Vilavancode Taluks.


title: Travancore

text: T.T.N.C won in 14 constituencies in the election to the State Legislative Assembly. Mr. A. Nesamony was elected as the legislative leader of the party. Then under his leadership, the awakened Tamil population was prepared to undergo any sacrifice to achieve their goal.