title: Belgaum

text: When India became independent in 1947, Belgaum and its district were part of Bombay State. In 1956, the Indian states were reorganised along linguistic lines by the States Reorganisation Act and Belgaum including 10 taluks of Bombay State were transferred to Mysore State, which was renamed Karnataka in 1973.


title: Belgaum

text: In 2006, the Government of Karnataka announced that Belgaum would be made the state's second capital, and that the city would be a permanent venue for the annual 15-day winter session of the state legislature.


title: Belgaum

text: On 1 November 2014, the city's name was changed from Belgaum to Belagavi by the Karnataka government, with approval of the central government of India along with 12 other cities. Belgaum is known as Belgaon (IPA: ]) in Maharashtra and amongst Marathi people.


title: Belgaum

text: Belgaum is located at . It has an average elevation of . The city is in the northwestern parts of Karnataka and lies at the border of two states, Maharashtra and Goa on the western ghats ( from the Goa state border). It is one of the oldest towns in the state, lying from Bangalore, from Mumbai, from Hyderabad, and from Mysore. The district comprises 1278 villages with an area of and a population of around 4.8 million according to the census of 2011. Belgaum district is the biggest district of Karnataka. Situated near the foothills of the Sahyadri mountain range (Western Ghats) at an altitude of about , from the Arabian Sea with the Markandeya river flowing nearby, Belgaum exhibits swift and kaleidoscopic changes in topography, vegetation and climate.


title: Belgaum

text: Belgaum has a tropical savanna climate (Köppen climate classification "Aw"). It is known for its pleasant year-round climate. Belgaum is at its coldest in winter (lowest temperature in Karnataka is usually recorded in Belgaum) and it experiences almost continuous monsoon rains from June through September. Belgaum sometimes receives hail storms during April.


title: Belgaum

text: According to the 1881 census, 64.39% of the population of Belgaum were Kannada speakers and 26.04% spoke Marathi.


title: Belgaum

text: As per the 2011 India census, the population of Belgaum city is 490,045. Males constitute 246,537 of the population and females 243,508. Belgaum has an average literacy rate of 88.92%: 93.78% for males and 85.84% for females. 10.71% percent of the population is under 6 years of age.


title: Belgaum

text: Kannada (37.46%) and Marathi (32.91%) are the predominant languages. Urdu is spoken by 19.82%, while Konkani (2.64%), Hindi (2.42%) and Telugu (1.92%) are also spoken.


title: Belgaum

text: In 2006, the Government of Karnataka decided to hold one week sessions of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly every year during the winter season at the Suvarna Vidhana Soudha administrative building, constructed and inaugurated in Belgaum in 2012.


title: Belgaum

text: The Belgaum border dispute is a dispute involving the Indian states of Karnataka and Maharashtra. Belgaum, currently a part of Karnataka and earlier the erstwhile Bombay Presidency, is claimed by Maharashtra on linguistic grounds. In 1956, the States Reorganization Act incorporated the Belgaum district including the 10 taluks in the Mysore state, which became Karnataka in 1973. Though according to the 1881 census, 64.39% of the population of Belgaum were Kannada speakers and 26.04% spoke Marathi.


title: Belgaum

text: In 1948, the Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti, a Belgaum based regional organisation fighting for the merger, was formed. On 17 January 1956, Marathi activists against the inclusion were shot by the police forces of Mysore state. Since then, 17 January is observed as the 'martyr's day' by Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti.


title: Belgaum

text: On 11 November 2005, Karnataka Rakshna Vedike (KRV) activists daubed Belgaum Mayor Vijay More's face with black paint (and later surrendered to the police) in the wake of Belgaum City Corporation (BCC) passing a resolution to include the district of Belgaum into Maharashtra, a neighbouring state. Upon his return to Belgaum, Vijay More was served with several show-cause notices by the Government of Karnataka and later dissolved the council.


title: Belgaum

text: Following this incident, in the following year's election, Prashanta Budavi, wife of KRV (Karnataka Rakshana Vedike) City President Shantinath Budavi was appointed as mayor of the Belgaum City Corporation. Maharashtra has asked to bring 865 disputed villages including Belgaum under centre's rule until Supreme court's final verdict. N.D. Patil, head of legal-committee appointed by Maharashtra government said that Karnataka is intensifying the problem. He added that Marathi people of border region are not able to live with honour and dignity under Karnataka's rule pointing out to the 'unconstitutional' dissolution of Belgaum city corporation and manhandling of Belgaum mayor by Kannada activists at Bangalore.


title: Belgaum

text: In 2019, Deputy CM of Maharashtra Ajit Pawar called for the incorporation of Belgaum along with Karwar and Nipani area in Maharashtra citing it was of dream of Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray, a statement reiterated by CM Uddhav Thackeray in January 2021. Thackeray went on to term the region as 'Karnataka-occupied areas'. The case regarding the dispute is pending before the Supreme Court for many years.


title: Belgaum

text: The city's humble industrial growth begin when an entrepreneur named Babu Rao Pusalkar set up a small unit in city over a century ago and that transformed Belagavi city into foundry and hydraulics base.


title: Belgaum

text: Belgaum is an important source of vegetables, fruits, meat, poultry, fish, mining production, and wood (due to heavy rainfall, rivers and the abundance of water). Trading in North Karnataka is mainly with Goa and Maharashtra along with major cities like Pune, Bangalore and Mangalore. Rich deposits of Bauxite are found in Belgaum district and have led to the creation of the Indian aluminium-producing company Hindalco Industries of the Aditya Birla Group. Uranium deposits have been found at Deshnur, a small village near Bailhongal town.


title: Belgaum

text: A Special Economic Zone (India's first Private Aerospace SEZ ) is being set up along the Pune-Bangalore National Highway (NH-4) to cater to the precision engineering requirements of the global aerospace, automotive and industrial verticals.


title: Belgaum

text: Belgaum's salubrious climate, proximity to the coast and strategic position near Portuguese Goa commended it to the British as a suitable location for an army training centre and cantonment, which it continues to be today for the Indian Armed Forces, along with an air force station of the Indian Air Force. The British had a sizeable infantry post here, having realised the military importance of its geographical location.


title: Belgaum

text: Development of a rail network for movement of resources and later troops was one of the means employed by both the East India Company and the British to exert control over India. Belgaum houses the Maratha Light Infantry Regimental Centre (MLIRC). It also houses the Commando Training Wing which is a part of the Junior Leaders Wing (formerly known as Infantry School,Belgaum). This establishment is affiliated to The Infantry School, Mhow. Herein, Infantry Officers and Soldiers are trained in endurance, escape and evasion, guerrilla and commando warfare techniques and to live off the land. The commando course at Belgaum is mandatory for all Infantry Officers. Officers of Other branches of the military and even some foreign officers undertake the course, upon being nominated to do so. In between the Military Hospital and the Junior Leaders Wing lies the Belgaum Military School, established in 1945 spread over an area of . The School provides quality education to sons of wards of Servicemen and Ex Servicemen of the Armed Forces. Several of them go on to join the National Defence Academy.


title: Belgaum

text: The Indo-Tibetan Border Police, ITBP, is building a full-fledged recreation and training centre in Belgaum at Halbhavi. Belgaum provides an excellent climate for recreation and ITBP will have large family bases in Belgaum for its soldiers after high altitude stressful duty.


title: Belgaum

text: The Central Reserve Police Force Institute of elite central paramilitary forces is setting up a national-level training institution (for jungle warfare) at Khanapur in Belgaum. The establishment, called the CoBRA School of Jungle Warfare is already operational.


title: Belgaum

text: the cuisine of Belgaum is derived from the food cultures of three regions Karnataka, Konkan and Maharashtra. Typical breakfast items include poori-bhaji, idli-dosa, upma, sheera, sabudana khichadi and sabuvada. Chapatis, rice, phulka, jowar rotti, thalipeeth, jhunka and vegetables are taken in lunch. Non-vegetarian items such as various seafoods are cooked in Goan, Maharashtrian and North Kannadi style. Belgaum is noted for a specific kind of biryani, the "Belagavi Biryani", which uses "Belagavi Basmati Rice" for its preparation.


title: Belgaum

text: Belgaum is known for "kunda", a sweet made from milk. A special sweet called "mandige" in Kannada and in Marathi as "maande", is a prerequisite for weddings.


title: Belgaum

text: Belgaum is connected by road via national highways 4 (connecting Maharashtra (now part of the Golden Quadrilateral), Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu) and 4A (connecting Karnataka and Goa). North Western Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NWKRTC) run buses to all corners of Karnataka and to neighbouring states. There are many prominent private bus companies providing services to all major destinations in Karnataka and surrounding states. KSRTC services almost all villages in Karnataka. 92% villages are served by KSRTC (6,743 out of 7,298 Villages) and 44% in other areas. KSRTC operates 6463 schedules in a day covering an effective distance of 2374,000 km with a total fleet of 7599 buses. It transports, on an average, 2457,000 passengers per day.


title: Belgaum

text: The North Western Karnataka Road Transport Corporation was established on 1 November 1997, under provision of the Road Transport Corporation Act 1950, on the auspicious day of Karnataka Rajyotsava upon bifurcation from Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation to provide adequate, efficient, economic and properly coordinated transport services to the commuters of North Western part of Karnataka. The Corporation jurisdiction covers the districts of Belgaum, Dharwad, Karwar, Bagalkot, Gadag & Haveri.


title: Belgaum

text: NWKRTC operates its services to all villages, which have motorable roads in its jurisdiction, and also covers intra- and inter- state transport operations.


title: Belgaum

text: The Government of Goa operates KADAMBA bus service from Goa to Belgaum city and some other parts of the Belgaum District.


title: Belgaum

text: The Government of Maharashtra also operates MSRTC buses from various parts of Maharashtra to Belgaum City and some other parts of the Belgaum District.


title: Belgaum

text: The city is served by Belgaum Airport at Sambra, which is the oldest airport in North Karnataka and lies from the city on State Highway 20. Belgaum airport is included in UDAN 3 scheme. Alliance Air, Spice Jet, Star Air, IndiGo and TruJet have flights to Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mysore, Kadapa, Tirupati, Surat, Ahmedabad, Indore, Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Kolhapur, Nashik and Chennai. Flight connectivity to Jodhpur will be soon started by Star Air in the future days.


title: Belgaum

text: Belgaum railway station is on the Indian Railways grid, being part of the South Western railways, and is well connected by rail to major destinations.


title: Belgaum

text: Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU), named after Bharat Ratna Sir M Visweshwariah, is located in Machhe in Belgaum. It has more than 208 affiliated colleges. Over 67,000 students graduate from VTU every year.


title: Belgaum

text: Rani Channamma University was established in 2010 by upgrading the post-graduate centre of Karnatak University, Dharwad.


title: Belgaum

text: Before the Rani Channamma University came into being in 2010, Karnatak University KRCPG Centre of Karnatak University, Dharwad was functioning at Belgaum. The Karnatak University PG Centre was established at Belgaum in the year 1982, to provide an opportunity to develop access to the students for higher education hailing from North Karnataka Region. In 1994 the PG centre was shifted to the present campus of 172 acres of land at Bhutramanahatti adjacent to the Pune-Bangalore National Highway – 4 NH 4, about 18 km from Belgaum. Karnatak University PG Centre has been declared as Rani Channamma University in the month of July 2010 with the jurisdiction of Belgaum, Vijaypur, and Bagalkot districts.


title: Belgaum

text: Newspapers include "Vijaya Karnataka", "Vijay Vani", "Kannada Prabha", "Samyukta Karnataka", "Prajavani", and "Kannadamma" in Kannada; "The Times of India" and "Deccan Herald" in "English", and "Tarun Bharat","Sakaal", "Pudhari" in Marathi.


title: Minestrone

text: Minestrone (; ) is a thick soup of Italian origin made with vegetables, often with the addition of pasta or rice, sometimes both. Common ingredients include beans, onions, celery, carrots, leaf vegetables, stock, parmesan cheese and tomatoes.


title: Minestrone

text: There is no set recipe for minestrone, since it can usually be made out of whatever vegetables are at one's disposal. It can be vegetarian, contain meat, or contain an animal bone-based stock (such as chicken stock). Food author Angelo Pellegrini claimed that the base of minestrone is bean broth, and that borlotti beans (also called Roman beans) "are the beans to use for genuine minestrone".


title: Minestrone

text: Some of the earliest origins of minestrone soup pre-date the expansion of the Latin tribes of Rome into what became the Roman Kingdom (later Roman Republic and Empire), when the local diet was "vegetarian by necessity" and consisted mostly of vegetables, such as onions, lentils, cabbage, garlic, broad beans, mushrooms, carrots, asparagus, and turnips.


title: Minestrone

text: During this time, the main dish of a meal would have been "pulte", a simple but filling porridge of spelt flour cooked in salt water, to which whatever vegetables that were available would have been added.


title: Minestrone

text: It was not until the 2nd century BCE, when Rome had conquered Italy and monopolized the commercial and road networks, that a huge diversity of products flooded the capital and began to change their diet, and by association, the diet of Italy, most notably with the more frequent inclusion of meats, including as a stock for soups.


title: Minestrone

text: Spelt flour was also removed from soups, as bread had been introduced into the Roman diet by the Greeks, and "pulte" became a meal largely for the poor.


title: Minestrone

text: The ancient Romans recognized the health benefits of a simple or "frugal" diet (from the Latin "fruges", the common name given to cereals, vegetables and legumes) and thick vegetable soups and vegetables remained a staple.


title: Minestrone

text: Marcus Apicius's ancient cookbook "De Re Coquinaria" described "polus", a Roman soup dating back to 30 CE made up of farro, chickpeas, and fava beans, with onions, garlic, lard, and greens thrown in.


title: Minestrone

text: As eating habits and ingredients changed in Italy, so did minestrone. Apicius updates the "pultes" and "pulticulae" with fancy trimmings such as cooked brains and wine.


title: Minestrone

text: The tradition of not losing rural roots continues today, and minestrone is now known in Italy as belonging to the style of cooking called "cucina povera" (literally "poor kitchen"), meaning dishes that have rustic, rural roots, as opposed to "cucina nobile", or the cooking style of the aristocracy and nobles.


title: Minestrone

text: The word "minestrone", meaning a thick vegetable soup, is attested in English from 1871. It is from Italian "minestrone", the augmentative form of "minestra", "soup", or more literally, "that which is served", from "minestrare", "to serve" and cognate with "administer" as in "to administer a remedy".


title: Minestrone

text: Because of its unique origins and the absence of a fixed recipe, minestrone varies widely across Italy depending on traditional cooking times, ingredients, and season. Minestrone ranges from a thick and dense texture with very boiled-down vegetables, to a more brothy soup with large quantities of diced and lightly cooked vegetables; it may also include meats.


title: Minestrone

text: In modern Italian there are three words corresponding to the English word "soup": "zuppa", which is used in the sense of tomato soup, or fish soup; "minestra", which is used in the sense of a more substantial soup such as a vegetable soup, and also for "dry" soups, namely pasta dishes; and "minestrone", which means a very substantial or large soup or stew, though the meaning has now come to be associated with this particular dish.


title: Minestrone

text: "Minestrone alla Genovese" is a variant typical of Liguria, which contains greater use of herbs, including pesto.


title: Minestrone

text: "Minestra" is a variant from Malta, which prominently features "kunserva" (a thick tomato paste), potatoes, kohlrabi, cauliflower, and sometimes spaghetti.


title: Minestrone

text: "Imbakbaka" or "Mbakbaka", is a type of stew in Libya made with pasta, chickpeas, Bzar spice, and meat. It originated through colonization from the Italian Empire.


title: Flying boat

text: A flying boat is a type of fixed-winged seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in that a flying boat's fuselage is purpose-designed for floatation and contains a hull, while floatplanes rely on fuselage-mounted floats for buoyancy. Though the fuselage provides buoyancy, flying boats may also utilize under-wing floats or wing-like projections (called sponsons) extending from the fuselage for additional stability. Flying boats often lack landing gear which would allow them to land on the ground, though many modern designs are convertible amphibious aircraft which may switch between landing gear and flotation mode for water or ground takeoff and landing.


title: Flying boat

text: Ascending into common use during the First World War, flying boats rapidly grew in both scale and capability during the interwar period, during which time numerous operators found commercial success with the type. Flying boats were some of the largest aircraft of the first half of the 20th century, exceeded in size only by bombers developed during the Second World War. Their advantage lay in using water instead of expensive land-based runways, making them the basis for international airlines in the interwar period. They were also commonly used as maritime patrol aircraft and air-sea rescue, particularly during times of conflict. Flying boats such as the PBY Catalina and Short Sunderland played key roles in both the Pacific Theater and the Atlantic of the Second World War.


title: Flying boat

text: The popularity of flying boats gradually trailed off during the Cold War era, partially because of the difficulty in maintaining operations in inclement weather when sea states may easily prevent taking off and landing while land based aircraft are unaffected, and investments in airports during the conflict that eased the introduction of larger, and more efficient, land-based airliners. Despite being largely overshadowed, limited use of the type continued with some operators, such as in the case of the Shin Meiwa US-1A and the Martin JRM Mars. In the 21st century, flying boats maintain a few niche uses, such as dropping water on forest fires, air transport around archipelagos, and access to undeveloped areas. Many modern seaplane variants, whether float or flying boat types, are convertible amphibious aircraft where either landing gear or flotation modes may be used to land and take off.


title: Flying boat

text: The Frenchman Alphonse Pénaud filed the first patent for a flying machine with a boat hull and retractable landing gear in 1876, but Austrian Wilhelm Kress is credited with building the first seaplane "Drachenflieger" in 1898, although its two 30 hp Daimler engines were inadequate for take-off and it later sank when one of its two floats collapsed.


title: Flying boat

text: On 6 June 1905, Gabriel Voisin took off and landed on the River Seine with a towed kite glider on floats. The first of his unpowered flights was 150 yards. He later built a powered floatplane in partnership with Louis Blériot, but the machine was unsuccessful.


title: Flying boat

text: Other pioneers also attempted to attach floats to aircraft in Britain, Australia, France and the USA.


title: Flying boat

text: On 28 March 1910, Frenchman Henri Fabre flew the first successful powered floatplane, the Gnome Omega–powered "hydravion", a trimaran floatplane. Fabre's first successful take off and landing by a powered floatplane inspired other aviators and he designed floats for several other flyers. The first hydro-aeroplane competition was held in Monaco in March 1912, featuring aircraft using floats from Fabre, Curtiss, Tellier and Farman. This led to the first scheduled seaplane passenger services at Aix-les-Bains, using a five-seat Sanchez-Besa from 1 August 1912. The French Navy ordered its first floatplane in 1912.


title: Flying boat

text: In 1911–12, François Denhaut constructed the first flying boat, with a fuselage forming a hull, using various designs to give hydrodynamic lift at take-off. Its first successful flight was on 13 April 1912. Throughout 1910 and 1911 American pioneering aviator Glenn Curtiss developed his floatplane into the successful Curtiss Model D land-plane, which used a larger central float and sponsons. Combining floats with wheels, he made the first amphibian flights in February 1911 and was awarded the first Collier Trophy for US flight achievement. From 1912 his experiments resulted in the 1913 Model E and Model F, which he called "flying-boats".


title: Flying boat

text: In February 1911, the United States Navy took delivery of the Curtiss Model E, and soon tested landings on and take-offs from ships using the Curtiss Model D.


title: Flying boat

text: In Britain, Captain Edward Wakefield and Oscar Gnosspelius began to explore the feasibility of flight from water in 1908. They decided to make use of Windermere in the Lake District, England's largest lake. The latter's first attempts to fly attracted large crowds, though the aircraft failed to take off and required a re-design of the floats incorporating features of Borwick's successful speed-boat hulls. Meanwhile, Wakefield ordered a floatplane similar to the design of the 1910 Fabre Hydravion. By November 1911, both Gnosspelius and Wakefield had aircraft capable of flight from water and awaited suitable weather conditions. Gnosspelius's flight was short-lived as the aircraft crashed into the lake. Wakefield's pilot however, taking advantage of a light northerly wind, successfully took off and flew at a height of 50 feet to Ferry Nab, where he made a wide turn and returned for a perfect landing on the lake's surface.


title: Flying boat

text: In 1913, the "Daily Mail" newspaper put up a £10,000 prize for the first non-stop aerial crossing of the Atlantic which was soon "enhanced by a further sum" from the Women's Aerial League of Great Britain. American businessman Rodman Wanamaker became determined that the prize should go to an American aircraft and commissioned the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company to design and build an aircraft capable of making the flight. Curtiss' development of the "Flying Fish" flying boat in 1913 brought him into contact with John Cyril Porte, a retired Royal Navy lieutenant, aircraft designer and test pilot who was to become an influential British aviation pioneer. Recognising that many of the early accidents were attributable to a poor understanding of handling while in contact with the water, the pair's efforts went into developing practical hull designs to make the transatlantic crossing possible.


title: Flying boat

text: At the same time the British boat building firm J. Samuel White of Cowes on the Isle of Wight set up a new aircraft division and produced a flying boat in the United Kingdom. This was displayed at the London Air Show at Olympia in 1913. In that same year, a collaboration between the S. E. Saunders boatyard of East Cowes and the Sopwith Aviation Company produced the "Bat Boat", an aircraft with a consuta laminated hull that could operate from land or on water, which today we call an amphibious aircraft. The "Bat Boat" completed several landings on sea and on land and was duly awarded the Mortimer Singer Prize. It was the first all-British aeroplane capable of making six return flights over five miles within five hours.


title: Flying boat

text: In the U.S. Wanamaker's commission built on Glen Curtiss' previous development and experience with the Model F for the U.S. Navy which rapidly resulted in the "America", designed under Porte's supervision following his study and rearrangement of the flight plan; the aircraft was a conventional biplane design with two-bay, unstaggered wings of unequal span with two pusher inline engines mounted side-by-side above the fuselage in the interplane gap. Wingtip pontoons were attached directly below the lower wings near their tips. The design (later developed into the Model H), resembled Curtiss' earlier flying boats, but was built considerably larger so it could carry enough fuel to cover . The three crew members were accommodated in a fully enclosed cabin.


title: Flying boat

text: Trials of the "America" began on 23 June 1914 with Porte also as Chief Test Pilot; testing soon revealed serious shortcomings in the design; it was under-powered, so the engines were replaced with more powerful engines mounted in a tractor configuration. There was also a tendency for the nose of the aircraft to try to submerge as engine power increased while taxiing on water. This phenomenon had not been encountered before, since Curtiss' earlier designs had not used such powerful engines nor large fuel/cargo loads and so were relatively more buoyant. In order to counteract this effect, Curtiss fitted fins to the sides of the bow to add hydrodynamic lift, but soon replaced these with sponsons, a type of underwater pontoon mounted in pairs on either side of a hull. These sponsons (or their engineering equivalents) and the flared, notched hull would remain a prominent feature of flying boat hull design in the decades to follow. With the problem resolved, preparations for the crossing resumed. While the craft was found to handle "heavily" on takeoff, and required rather longer take-off distances than expected, the full moon on 5 August 1914 was selected for the trans-Atlantic flight; Porte was to pilot the "America" with George Hallett as co-pilot and mechanic.


title: Flying boat

text: Curtiss and Porte's plans were interrupted by the outbreak of the First World War. Porte sailed for England on 4 August 1914 and rejoined the Navy, as a member of the Royal Naval Air Service. Appointed Squadron Commander of Royal Navy Air Station Hendon, he soon convinced the Admiralty of the potential of flying boats and was put in charge of the naval air station at Felixstowe in 1915. Porte persuaded the Admiralty to commandeer (and later, purchase) the "America" and a sister craft from Curtiss. This was followed by an order for 12 more similar aircraft, one Model H-2 and the remaining as Model H-4's. Four examples of the latter were assembled in the UK by Saunders. All of these were similar to the design of the "America" and, indeed, were all referred to as "America"s in Royal Navy service. The engines, however, were changed from the under-powered 160 hp Curtiss engines to 250 hp Rolls-Royce Falcon engines. The initial batch was followed by an order for 50 more (totalling 64 "Americas" overall during the war). Porte also acquired permission to modify and experiment with the Curtiss aircraft.


title: Flying boat

text: The Curtiss H-4s were soon found to have a number of problems; they were underpowered, their hulls were too weak for sustained operations and they had poor handling characteristics when afloat or taking off. One flying boat pilot, Major Theodore Douglas Hallam, wrote that they were "comic machines, weighing well under two tons; with two comic engines giving, when they functioned, 180 horsepower; and comic control, being nose heavy with engines on and tail heavy in a glide."


title: Flying boat

text: At Felixstowe, Porte made advances in flying boat design and developed a practical hull design with the distinctive "Felixstowe notch". Porte's first design to be implemented in Felixstowe was the Felixstowe Porte Baby, a large, three-engined biplane flying-boat, powered by one central pusher and two outboard tractor Rolls-Royce Eagle engines.


title: Flying boat

text: Porte modified an H-4 with a new hull whose improved hydrodynamic qualities made taxiing, take-off and landing much more practical, and called it the Felixstowe F.1.


title: Flying boat

text: Porte's innovation of the "Felixstowe notch" enabled the craft to overcome suction from the water more quickly and break free for flight much more easily. This made operating the craft far safer and more reliable, although similar devices had been in use in France since 1911. The "notch" breakthrough would soon after evolve into a "step", with the rear section of the lower hull sharply recessed above the forward lower hull section, and that characteristic became a feature of both flying boat hulls and floatplane floats. The resulting aircraft would be large enough to carry sufficient fuel to fly long distances and could berth alongside ships to take on more fuel.


title: Flying boat

text: Porte then designed a similar hull for the larger Curtiss H-12 flying boat which, while larger and more capable than the H-4s, shared failings of a weak hull and poor water handling. The combination of the new Porte-designed hull, this time fitted with two steps, with the wings of the H-12 and a new tail, and powered by two Rolls-Royce Eagle engines, was named the Felixstowe F.2 and first flew in July 1916, proving greatly superior to the Curtiss on which it was based. It was used as the basis for all future designs. It entered production as the Felixstowe F.2A, being used as a patrol aircraft, with about 100 being completed by the end of World War I. Another seventy were built, and these were followed by two F.2c, which were built at Felixstowe.


title: Flying boat

text: The Felixstowe F.5 was intended to combine the good qualities of the F.2 and F.3, with the prototype first flying in May 1918. The prototype showed superior qualities to its predecessors but, to ease production, the production version was modified to make extensive use of components from the F.3, which resulted in lower performance than the F.2A or F.3.


title: Flying boat

text: The Felixstowe flying boats were extensively employed by the Royal Navy for coastal patrols, including searching for German U-boats. In 1918 they were towed on lighters towards the northern German ports to extend their range; on 4 June 1918 this resulted in three F.2As engaging with ten German seaplanes, shooting down two confirmed and four probables at no loss. As a result of this action, British flying boats were dazzle-painted to aid identification in combat.


title: Flying boat

text: The Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company independently developed its designs into the small Model "F", the larger Model "K" (several of which were sold to the Russian Naval Air Service), and the Model "C" for the U.S. Navy. Curtiss among others also built the Felixstowe F.5 as the Curtiss F5L, based on the final Porte hull designs and powered by American Liberty engines.


title: Flying boat

text: Meanwhile, the pioneering flying boat designs of François Denhaut had been steadily developed by the Franco-British Aviation Company into a range of practical craft. Smaller than the Felixstowes, several thousand FBAs served with almost all of the Allied forces as reconnaissance craft, patrolling the North Sea, Atlantic and Mediterranean oceans.


title: Flying boat

text: In Italy, several flying boats were developed, starting with the L series, and progressing with the M series. The Macchi M.5 in particular was extremely manoeuvrable and agile and matched the land-based aircraft it had to fight. 244 were built in total. Towards the end of the First World War, the aircraft were flown by the Italian Navy Aviation, the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps airmen. Ensign Charles Hammann won the first Medal of Honor awarded to a United States naval aviator in an M.5.


title: Flying boat

text: The Aeromarine Plane and Motor Company modified the Felixstowe F.5 into Aeromarine 75 airliner flying boats which with Aeromarine West Indies Airways flew Air Mail to Florida, Bahamas, and Cuba along with being passenger carriers.


title: Flying boat

text: The German aircraft manufacturing company Hansa-Brandenburg built flying boats starting with the model Hansa-Brandenburg GW in 1916. The Austro-Hungarian firm, Lohner-Werke began building flying boats, starting with the Lohner E in 1914 and the later (1915) Lohner L which was copied widely.


title: Flying boat

text: In September 1919, British company Supermarine started operating the first flying boat service in the world, from Woolston to Le Havre in France, but it was short-lived.


title: Flying boat

text: A Curtiss NC-4 became the first aircraft to fly across the Atlantic Ocean in 1919, crossing via the Azores. Of the four that made the attempt, only one completed the flight. Before the development of highly reliable aircraft, the ability to land on water was a desirable safety feature for transoceanic travel.


title: Flying boat

text: In 1923, the first successful commercial flying boat service was introduced with flights to and from the Channel Islands. The British aviation industry was experiencing rapid growth. The Government decided that nationalization was necessary and ordered five aviation companies to merge to form the state-owned Imperial Airways of London (IAL). IAL became the international flag-carrying British airline, providing flying boat passenger and mail transport links between Britain and South Africa using aircraft such as the Short S.8 Calcutta.


title: Flying boat

text: During the 1920s, the Royal Air Force (RAF) Far East flight performed a series of "showing the flag" long-distance formation flights using the newly developed Supermarine Southampton. Perhaps the most notable of these flights was a expedition conducted during 1927 and 1928; it was carried out by four Southamptons of the Far East Flight, setting out from Felixstowe via the Mediterranean and India to Singapore. Both the RAF and Supermarine acquired considerable acclaim from these flights, as well as proving that flying boats had evolved to become reliable means of long-distance transport.


title: Flying boat

text: In the 1930s, flying boats made it possible to have regular air transport between the U.S. and Europe, opening up new air travel routes to South America, Africa, and Asia. Foynes, Ireland and Botwood, Newfoundland and Labrador were the termini for many early transatlantic flights. In areas where there were no airfields for land-based aircraft, flying boats could stop at small island, river, lake or coastal stations to refuel and resupply. The Pan Am Boeing 314 Clipper planes brought exotic destinations like the Far East within reach of air travelers and came to represent the romance of flight.


title: Flying boat

text: By 1931, mail from Australia was reaching Britain in just 16 days – less than half the time taken by sea. In that year, government tenders on both sides of the world invited applications to run new passenger and mail services between the ends of the British Empire, and Qantas and IAL were successful with a joint bid. A company under combined ownership was then formed, Qantas Empire Airways. The new ten-day service between Rose Bay, New South Wales (near Sydney) and Southampton was such a success with letter-writers that before long the volume of mail was exceeding aircraft storage space.


title: Flying boat

text: A better solution to the problem was sought by the British government during the early 1930s, who released a specification calling for a new large aircraft capable of carrying up to 24 passengers in spacious comfort along with adequate room for airmail or freight while simultaneously being capable of a cruising speed of 170 MPH and a range of at least 700 miles; the capacity for an extended range of 2,000 miles to serve the North Atlantic route was also stipulated. Originally intended for use by IAL, partner Qantas agreed to the initiative and undertook to purchase six of the new Short S23 "C" class or "Empire" flying boats as well. Being ordered from aviation manufacturer Short Brothers, the Empire was reportedly hailed as being "one of the world's boldest experiments in aviation", while early sceptics referred to the order less favourably as being a 'gamble'. IAL were so impressed by the Empire that it placed a follow-on order for another 11; when combined with the original order for 28 flying boats, this was the largest single order to have ever been placed for a British civil aircraft at that time.


title: Flying boat

text: Delivering the mail as quickly as possible generated a lot of competition and some innovative designs. One variant of the Short Empire flying boats was the strange-looking "Maia and Mercury". It was a four-engined floatplane "Mercury" (the winged messenger) fixed on top of "Maia", a heavily modified Short Empire flying boat. The larger Maia took off, carrying the smaller Mercury loaded to a weight greater than it could take off with. This allowed the Mercury to carry sufficient fuel for a direct trans-Atlantic flight with the mail. Unfortunately this was of limited usefulness, and the Mercury had to be returned from America by ship. The Mercury did set a number of distance records before in-flight refuelling was adopted.


title: Flying boat

text: Sir Alan Cobham devised a method of in-flight refuelling in the 1930s. In the air, the Short Empire could be loaded with more fuel than it could take off with. Short Empire flying boats serving the trans-Atlantic crossing were refueled over Foynes; with the extra fuel load, they could make a direct trans-Atlantic flight. A Handley Page H.P.54 Harrow was used as the fuel tanker.


title: Flying boat

text: The German Dornier Do X flying boat was noticeably different from its UK and U.S.-built counterparts. It had wing-like protrusions from the fuselage, called sponsons, to stabilize it on the water without the need for wing-mounted outboard floats. This feature was pioneered by Claudius Dornier during the First World War on his Dornier Rs. I giant flying boat, and perfected on the Dornier Wal in 1924. The enormous Do X was powered by 12 engines and once carried 170 persons as a publicity stunt. It flew to America in 1930–31, crossing the Atlantic via an indirect route over 9 months. It was the largest flying boat of its time, but was severely underpowered and was limited by a very low operational ceiling. Only three were built, with a variety of different engines installed, in an attempt to overcome the lack of power. Two of these were sold to Italy.


title: Flying boat

text: The Dornier Wal was "easily the greatest commercial success in the history of marine aviation". Over 250 were built in Italy, Spain, Japan, The Netherlands and Germany. Numerous airlines operated the Dornier Wal on scheduled passenger and mail services. Wals were used by explorers, for a number of pioneering flights, and by the military in many countries. Though having first flown in 1922, from 1934 to 1938 Wals operated the over-water sectors of the Deutsche Luft Hansa South Atlantic Airmail service.


title: Flying boat

text: The military value of flying boats was well-recognized, and every country bordering on water operated them in a military capacity at the outbreak of the Second World War. Flying boats such as the PBM Mariner patrol bomber, PBY Catalina, Short Sunderland, and Grumman Goose were procured in large numbers. The Sunderland, which was developed in parallel to the civilian Empire flying boat, was one of the most powerful and widely used flying boats throughout the conflict, while Catalinas were one of the most produced ASW of the war, with over 2,661 being produced in the US alone.


title: Flying boat

text: Flying boats were commonly utilized to conduct various tasks from anti-submarine patrol to air-sea rescue and gunfire spotting for battleships. They would recover downed airmen and operate as scout aircraft over the vast distances of the Pacific Theater and the Atlantic, locating in enemy vessels and sinking numerous submarines. In May 1941, the German battleship "Bismarck" was discovered by a PBY Catalina flying out of Castle Archdale Flying boat base, Lower Lough Erne, Northern Ireland. A flight of Catalinas spotted the Japanese fleet approaching Midway Island, beginning the Battle of Midway.


title: Flying boat

text: On 3 April 1940, a single Sunderland operating off Norway was attacked by six German Junkers Ju 88C fighters; during the engagement, it shot one down, damaged another until it retreated and drove off the rest. The Germans reputedly nicknamed the Sunderland the "Fliegendes Stachelschwein" ("Flying Porcupine") due to its defensive firepower. Sunderlands in the Mediterranean theatre proved themselves on multiple high-profile occasions, flying many evacuation missions during the German seizure of Crete, each carrying as many as 82 passengers. One Sunderland flew the reconnaissance mission to observe the Italian fleet at anchor in Taranto before the famous Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm's torpedo attack on 11 November 1940.


title: Flying boat

text: The largest flying boat of the war was the Blohm & Voss BV 238, which was also the heaviest plane to fly during the Second World War and the largest aircraft built and flown by any of the Axis Powers. Only the first prototype ever flew, commencing flight trials in April 1944. Months later, it was strafed and partially sunk while moored on Lake Schaal, to the east of Hamburg; it never returned to flight, instead being intentionally sunk in deep water after the end of the conflict.


title: Flying boat

text: The Imperial Japanese Navy operated what has been often described as the best flying boat of the conflict, the Kawanishi H8K. Its design was based upon its immediate predecessor, the Kawanishi H6K, but was a considerably larger and longer-ranged aircraft designed at the request of the Navy just prior to the outbreak of war. On the night of 4 March 1942, two H8Ks conducted the second raid on Pearl Harbor, refuelling en route by submarine at French Frigate Shoals in order to achieve the necessary range; poor visibility caused this attack on Pearl Harbor to fail to accomplish any significant damage. An improved H8K2 variant of the type, featuring extremely heavy defensive armament, was also introduced.


title: Flying boat

text: In November 1939, IAL was restructured into three separate companies: British European Airways, British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC), and British South American Airways (which merged with BOAC in 1949), with the change being made official on 1 April 1940. BOAC continued to operate flying boat services from the (slightly) safer confines of Poole Harbour during wartime, returning to Southampton in 1947. When Italy entered the war in June 1940, the Mediterranean was closed to allied planes and BOAC and Qantas operated the Horseshoe Route between Durban and Sydney using Short Empire flying boats.


title: Flying boat

text: The Martin Company produced the prototype XPB2M Mars based on their PBM Mariner patrol bomber, with flight tests between 1941 and 1943. The Mars was converted by the Navy into a transport aircraft designated the XPB2M-1R. Satisfied with the performance, 20 of the modified JRM-1 Mars were ordered. The first of the five production Mars flying boats entered service ferrying cargo to Hawaii and the Pacific Islands on 23 January 1944. Following the end of the conflict, the Navy opted to scaled back their order, buying only the five aircraft. The five Mars were completed, and the last delivered in 1947.


title: Flying boat

text: After the end of the Second World War, the use of flying boats rapidly declined for several reasons. The ability to land on water became less of an advantage owing to the considerable increase in the number and length of land based runways during the conflict. Furthermore the commercial competitiveness of flying boats diminished, as their design compromised aerodynamic efficiency and speed in order to accommodate waterborne takeoff and landing. New land-based airliners such as the Lockheed Constellation and Douglas DC-4 were developed with comparable reliability, speed, and long-range. The new landplanes were relatively easy to fly, and did not require the extensive pilot training programs mandated for seaplane operations. One of the 314's most experienced pilots said, "We were indeed glad to change to DC-4s, and I argued daily for eliminating all flying boats. The landplanes were much safer. No one in the operations department... had any idea of the hazards of flying boat operations. The main problem now was lack of the very high level of experience and competence required of seaplane pilots".


title: Flying boat

text: The Hughes H-4 Hercules, in development in the U.S. during the war, was even larger than the BV 238 but it did not fly until 1947. The "Spruce Goose", as the 180-ton H-4 was nicknamed, was the largest flying boat ever to fly. Carried out during Senate hearings into Hughes use of government funds on its construction, the short hop of about a mile at 70 ft above the water by the "Flying Lumberyard" was claimed by Hughes as the H-4's vindication. Cutbacks in expenditure after the war and the disappearance of its intended mission as a transatlantic transport left the H-4 with no purpose. Despite never flying again, a full-time crew of 300 workers maintained the H-4 in a flightworthy condition in a climate-controlled hangar up until Hughes' death in 1976.


title: Flying boat

text: In early 1944, the British Air Ministry issued a contract for the production of a small jet-powered flying boat, the Saunders-Roe SR.A/1, that was intended for use as an air defence aircraft optimised for use in the Pacific theatre. By adopting jet propulsion for the flying boat, it was possible to design it with a hull, rather than making it a floatplane, and thus eliminating the performance handicaps typically imposed upon floatplanes. It was projected to be capable of attaining speeds of up to 520 mph at 40,000 ft. Due to the SR.A/1's perceived value in the war against Imperial Japan, measures taken at an early stage of development towards immediate quantity production. However, due to the end of the conflict, pressure for the SR.A/1 quickly dissipated.


title: Flying boat

text: On 16 July 1947, the SR.A/1 prototype performed its maiden flight, quickly proving its soundness in terms of its performance and handling. However, officials judged that such an aircraft was unnecessary, and that the aircraft carrier had demonstrated a far more effective way to project airpower over the oceans. During late 1950, shortly after the outbreak of the Korean War, interest in the SR.A/1 programme was briefly resurrected amongst British and American officials, with whom data had been shared in the project. However, the flying boat fighter was found to be obsolete in comparison to increasingly capable land-based fighters, leading to a second and final cancellation.


title: Flying boat

text: During the Berlin Airlift (which lasted from June 1948 until August 1949) ten Sunderlands and two Hythes were used to transport goods from Finkenwerder on the Elbe near Hamburg to isolated Berlin, landing on the Havelsee beside RAF Gatow until it iced over. The Sunderlands were particularly used for transporting salt, as their airframes were already protected against corrosion from seawater. Transporting salt in standard aircraft risked rapid and severe structural corrosion in the event of a spillage. In addition, three Aquila Airways flying boats were used during the airlift.


title: Flying boat

text: Bucking the trend, in 1948 Aquila Airways was founded to serve destinations that were still inaccessible to land-based aircraft. This company operated Short S.25 and Short S.45 flying boats out of Southampton on routes to Madeira, Las Palmas, Lisbon, Jersey, Majorca, Marseille, Capri, Genoa, Montreux and Santa Margherita. From 1950 to 1957, Aquila also operated a service from Southampton to Edinburgh and Glasgow. The flying boats of Aquila Airways were also chartered for one-off trips, usually to deploy troops where scheduled services did not exist or where there were political considerations. The longest charter, in 1952, was from Southampton to the Falkland Islands. In 1953, the flying boats were chartered for troop deployment trips to Freetown and Lagos and there was a special trip from Hull to Helsinki to relocate a ship's crew. The airline ceased operations on 30 September 1958.


title: Flying boat

text: On 22 August 1952, the Saunders-Roe Princess, one of the largest and luxurious flying boats ever developed, performed its maiden flight. While flight testing of the innovative and ambitious flying boat went relatively smoothly, determining that the Princess was indeed capable of achieving its envisioned performance figures, only one prototype of the type would ever fly. Despite the granting of a certificate of airworthiness and representing the pinnacle of flying boat development of the era, no customers were willing to place firm orders for the Princess. This is despite reports that several would-be operators, including Aquila Airways and Aero Spacelines, had attempted to purchase examples.


title: Flying boat

text: In 1951, BOAC performed an in-depth reevaluation of its standing requirements, and determined that the airline had no present need for the Princess, or any new large flying boat. The airline had already chosen to terminate its existing flying boat services during the previous year. Up until 1974, Ansett Australia operated a flying boat service from Rose Bay to Lord Howe Island using Short Sandringhams.


title: Flying boat

text: The US Navy continued to operate flying boats (notably the Martin P5M Marlin) until the late 1960s. During the 1950s, the US Navy had encouraged the development of a jet-powered flying boat bomber, the Martin P6M Seamaster; however, its development was protracted by unfavourable handling characteristics above Mach 0.8, including rapid changes in directional trim, severe buffeting, and wing drop, which made it unfeasible for service until these tendencies were rectified. Following the US Navy's withdrawal of support, Martin tried unsuccessfully to market the SeaMaster to the civilian market, rebranding it as the "SeaMistress", but the initiative picked up no takers.


title: Flying boat

text: During the 1950s, the Japanese aircraft manufacturer ShinMeiwa Industries conducted internal design studies into developing flying boats that would exhibit greater levels of seaworthiness than their predecessors. Over the following decade, the company developed the Shin Meiwa US-1A, a new generation flying boat, to meet Japan's requirement for a maritime patrol aircraft capable of ASW operations. The initial model, designated "PS-1", was quickly followed by a dedicated search-and-rescue (SAR) variant, the "US-1", although this was technically an amphibian rather than a flying boat through its modified designs. Shin Meiwa developed further flying boat concepts around this period, including the "Shin Meiwa MS" (Medium Seaplane) a 300-passenger long-range flying boat with its own beaching gear; and the gargantuan "Shin Meiwa GS" (Giant Seaplane) with a capacity of 1200 passengers seated on three decks.


title: Flying boat

text: The shape of the Short Empire, a British flying boat of the 1930s was a harbinger of the shape of 20th century aircraft yet to come. Today, however, true flying boats have largely been replaced by floatplanes or amphibious aircraft with wheels. The Beriev Be-200 twin-jet amphibious aircraft is used for fighting forest fires. There are also several experimental/kit amphibians such as the Volmer Sportsman, Quikkit Glass Goose, Airmax Sea Max, Aeroprakt A-24, and Seawind 300C.


title: Flying boat

text: The ShinMaywa US-2 is a large STOL amphibious aircraft designed for air-sea rescue work, derived from the earlier US-1. The first example was delivered to the Japan Maritime Self Defense Force in 2009; the service has replaced its US-1 fleet with the US-2. A civilian-orientated fire-fighting variant of the US-2 has also been designed and promoted to prospective customers.


title: Flying boat

text: The Canadair CL-415, an improved model of the Canadair CL-215, remains in production during the twenty-first century. The type has been primarily used for forest fire suppression, but has also seen use in other capacities, such as a maritime patrol aircraft.


title: Flying boat

text: The German company Dornier Seawings, an off-shoot of the original Dornier company, has repeatedly announced plans to launch production of its SeaStar composite flying boat. In February 2016, Dornier launched the improved CD2 SeaStar.


title: Flying boat

text: During the 2010s, the state-owned company Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) launched a program to develop a massive new amphibian, the AVIC AG600. On 24 December 2017, it made its maiden flight from Zhuhai Jinwan Airport. Target markets for the AVIC AG600 includes export sales, with countries such as New Zealand and Malaysia having expressed interest.


title: Flying boat

text: The Progressive Aerodyne Searey is an amphibious aircraft in the light-sport class, available as a kit built experimental or factory built aircraft


title: Dan Friedkin

text: Thomas Dan Friedkin (born 1965) is an American billionaire businessman, heir and film director. He is the owner and CEO of The Friedkin Group and its subsidiary Gulf States Toyota, which was founded by his father, Thomas H. Friedkin. He is also the owner and president of the football club A.S. Roma. As of August 2021, his estimated net worth is US$4.4 billion.


title: Dan Friedkin

text: Dan Friedkin was born in San Diego, California, the son of Thomas H. Friedkin. He has a bachelor's degree from Georgetown University, and a master's from Rice University.


title: Dan Friedkin

text: After Dan's father Tom turned 65, he turned over responsibility for running the holding firm and its 3,000 employees to son Dan, but remained chairman and was content to dispense advice.


title: Dan Friedkin

text: Since 2013, Friedkin has served as chairman of Auberge Resorts Collection, a portfolio of luxury resorts, hotels and vacation properties in the U.S., Mexico, Costa Rica, Europe, Caribbean, and Fiji.


title: Dan Friedkin

text: In 2017, Friedkin co-formed 30WEST, providing capital and guidance to creative projects and companies. In 2018, Friedkin and 30WEST acquired majority ownership in NEON, a theatrical marketing and distribution company that distributed the Academy Award-winning film "Parasite".


title: Dan Friedkin

text: In December 2019, Friedkin started negotiations to purchase the Italian football club A.S. Roma, and on August 6, 2020, signed the preliminary contract to agree to pay $591 million to James Pallotta, the main shareholder of Roma.


title: Dan Friedkin

text: Friedkin is the co-founder and principal at Imperative Entertainment, a studio specializing in the development, production and financing of original and branded entertainment across all platforms focusing on film, television and documentaries. Imperative Entertainment films include "The Square" (Palme d'Or at the 2017 Festival de Cannes), "All the Money in the World" and "The Mule". Imperative Entertainment is also producing the 2021 film "Killers of the Flower Moon", which will star Leonardo DiCaprio. Friedkin was also the director of the 2019 film "The Last Vermeer". In addition, Friedkin has been recognized for his work in the film "Dunkirk" with a Taurus Stunt Award for Best Specialty Stunt. Friedkin piloted an authentic Spitfire through an aerial dogfight, landing on the beach at Dunkirk.


title: Dan Friedkin

text: Friedkin is the founder and chairman of the Air Force Heritage Flight Foundation and "one of nine civilian Heritage Flight pilots qualified to fly in formation with US. Air Force single-ship demonstration teams". Friedkin flies a variety of high-performance vintage military aircraft, performing in aerobatic air shows across North America and Europe with the U.S. Air Force and the Horsemen P-51 Flight Team.


title: Dan Friedkin

text: An avid golfer, Friedkin built the Congaree golf course in South Carolina that was designed by Tom Fazio. Congaree has a philanthropic model of providing educational and vocational opportunities for underserved youth with a passion for golf.


title: Dan Friedkin

text: He is also the owner of Diamond Creek Golf Club in North Carolina which he purchased from Wayne Huizenga in 2012. Diamond Creek Golf Club is ranked as one of America's 100 Greatest Golf Courses by Golf Digest.


title: Dan Friedkin

text: Friedkin is heavily involved in conservation efforts through the Friedkin Conservation Fund, which works to protect millions of acres of endangered wildlife areas and stimulate community development in East Africa. FCF also conducts research and monitoring in order to make effective wildlife management decisions and promote long-term sustainability of wildlife and their wilderness.


title: Dan Friedkin

text: Friedkin is also the Chairman-Emeritus of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission, which manages and conserves the natural and cultural resources of Texas.


title: Dan Friedkin

text: In 2014, Friedkin and Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation, along with other conservation organizations, made the largest conservation investment in Texas history when they purchased the 17,351-acre Powderhorn Ranch to preserve one of the largest remaining tracts of unspoiled coastal prairie in Texas.


title: Dan Friedkin

text: In August 2019, Friedkin was voted chair of Project Recover, a collaborative effort to enlist 21st century science and technology in a quest to find and repatriate Americans missing in action since World War II.


title: Willy and the Poor Boys

text: Willy and the Poor Boys is the fourth studio album by American rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival, released by Fantasy Records in November 1969. It was the last of three studio albums the band released that year, arriving just three months after "Green River".


title: Willy and the Poor Boys

text: The album features the songs "Down on the Corner", from which the album got its name, and "Fortunate Son", which is a well-known protest song. Creedence also released its own version of "Cotton Fields" on this album, which reached the #1 position in Mexico.


title: Willy and the Poor Boys

text: The album was planned to be formed around a concept introduced in "Down on the Corner", with Creedence taking on the identity of an old-time jug band called "Willy and The Poor Boys". However, this was dropped rather quickly, except for the cover, where the band remains in character.


title: Willy and the Poor Boys

text: By the fall of 1969, Creedence Clearwater Revival was one of the hottest rock bands in the world, having scored three consecutive #2 singles and the #1 album "Green River". In addition, the group had performed at the landmark Woodstock Festival in August and made several high-profile television appearances, including "The Ed Sullivan Show". Bandleader and songwriter John Fogerty had assumed control of the band after several years of futility, but, despite their growing success, the other members – bassist Stu Cook, drummer Doug Clifford and guitarist Tom Fogerty, John's older brother – began to chafe under Fogerty's demanding, autocratic leadership. The band's output in 1969 alone – three full-length albums – was staggering considering that they were touring nonstop throughout. "That was a bit of overkill and I never did understand that," Clifford stated to Jeb Wright of "Goldmine" in 2013, "Fogerty told us that if we were ever off the charts, then we would be forgotten... To make it worse, it might sound funny, but we had double-sided hits, and that was kind of a curse, as we were burning through material twice as fast. If we'd spread it out, we would not have had to put out three albums in one year." The fiercely competitive Fogerty remained unapologetic, insisting to "Guitar World"'s Harold Steinblatt in 1998, "Everyone advised me against putting out great B-sides. They'd tell me I was wasting potential hits. And I looked at them and said, 'Baloney. Look at the Beatles. Look at Elvis. It's the quickest way to show them all that good music."


title: Willy and the Poor Boys

text: In August, CCR released its third LP, "Green River". Shortly after, it began recording songs for its next LP, "Willy and the Poor Boys". Two months later the band released its eighth single, "Down on the Corner" b/w "Fortunate Son". The single's A-side reached #3 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and its B-side made it to #14. "Down on the Corner" chronicles the tale of the fictional band Willy and the Poor Boys, and how they play on street corners to cheer people up and ask for nickels. The song makes reference to a washboard, a kazoo, a Kalamazoo Guitar, and a gut bass. In a 1969 appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show", the boys performed the song as Willy and the Poor Boys. Stu Cook played a gut bass, Doug Clifford the washboard, and Tom Fogerty the Kalamazoo, which mimicked the appearance of the band as they appear on the album cover.


title: Willy and the Poor Boys

text: "Down on the Corner" b/w "Fortunate Son" peaked at #3 on December 20, 1969, on the Hot 100. "Fortunate Son" is a counterculture era anti-war anthem, criticizing militant patriotic behavior and those who support the use of military force without having to pay the costs themselves (either financially or by serving in a wartime military). The song, released during the Vietnam War, is not explicit in its criticism of that war in particular, but its attacks on the elite classes (the families that give birth to eponymous "fortunate sons") of the United States and their withdrawal from the costs of nationalistic imperialism are easy to contextualize to that conflict. The song was inspired by the wedding of David Eisenhower, the grandson of United States President Dwight David Eisenhower, to Julie Nixon, the daughter of President Richard Nixon, in 1968. Fogerty told "Rolling Stone":


title: Willy and the Poor Boys

text: In 1993, Fogerty confessed to "Rolling Stone"'s Michael Goldberg, "It was written, of course, during the Nixon era, and well, let's say I was very non-supportive of Mr. Nixon." The song has been widely used to protest military actions and elitism in Western society, particularly in the United States; as an added consequence of its popularity, it has even been used in completely unrelated situations, such as to advertise blue jeans. It attracted criticism when Bruce Springsteen, Dave Grohl, and Zac Brown performed the song together at the November 2014 Concert for Valor in Washington, D.C. Fogerty, a military veteran, defended their song choice.


title: Willy and the Poor Boys

text: Fogerty's revulsion with President Nixon can also be found on the album's closing track, "Effigy." In 2013 the singer-songwriter told David Cavanagh of "Uncut" that the tune was his response to Nixon emerging from the White House one afternoon and sneering at the anti-war demonstrators outside, with Fogerty remembering, "He said, 'Nothing you do here today will have any effect on me. I'm going back inside to watch the football game.


title: Willy and the Poor Boys

text: "Don't Look Now" displays Fogerty's concern for the working poor ("Who will take the coal from the mine? Who will take the salt from the earth?"). As recounted in the VH1 "Legends" episode on the band, Fogerty once stated to "Time" magazine, "I see things through lower class eyes."


title: Willy and the Poor Boys

text: The Chuck Berry-guitar romp "It Came Out of the Sky" tells the tale of a farmer who finds a UFO in his field and unwittingly becomes the most famous man in America. The album also includes two instrumental tracks in "Poorboy Shuffle" and "Side o' the Road", the former of which segues directly into the song "Feelin' Blue."


title: Willy and the Poor Boys

text: The album contains two songs associated with blues and folk legend Lead Belly: "Cotton Fields" and "The Midnight Special". In 2012, Fogerty explained to "Uncut", "Lead Belly was a big influence. I learned about him through Pete Seeger. When you listen to those guys, you're getting down to the root of the tree." In 1982, the band's rendition of "Cotton Fields" made #50 on "Billboard" magazine's Country Singles chart.


title: Willy and the Poor Boys

text: When the band members were finalizing the album, they and photographer Basul Parik went over to the intersection of Peralta St. and Hollis St. in Oakland, California and shot the cover photograph at Duck Kee Market, owned by Ruby Lee.


title: Willy and the Poor Boys

text: "Willy and the Poor Boys" was released in November 1969 as Fantasy 8397, and in 1970 made the Top 50 in six countries, including France, where it reached #1. On December 16, 1970, the Recording Industry Association of America certified the album gold (500,000 units sold). Almost 20 years later, on December 13, 1990, the album was certified platinum (1,000,000 units sold) and 2× platinum (2,000,000 units sold).


title: Willy and the Poor Boys

text: The album was well received, exemplified by the original review in "Rolling Stone", which stated it was the band's "best one yet". In a contemporary review for "The Village Voice", Robert Christgau also believed it was the group's best record and wrote, "Fogerty's subtlety as a political songwriter (have you ever really dug the words of 'Fortunate Son'?) comes as no surprise." He later included it in his "Basic Record Library" of 1950s and 1960s recordings, published in "" (1981).


title: Willy and the Poor Boys

text: In a retrospective review, AllMusic editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine called the album "one of the greatest pure rock & roll albums ever cut". He contrasted "Willy and the Poor Boys" with CCR's previous album, "Green River", saying the songs on this album are softer and more upbeat, except for "Effigy". Erlewine went on to state that "Fortunate Son" is not as dated as most of the other protest songs of the era, though he also felt the song was a little out of place on the album, and compared "Poorboy Shuffle" to songs performed by jug bands. In the "Blender" magazine review of the album, it was called the opposite of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" and psychedelic rock, which the reviewer felt was because of the band's performance at the Woodstock Festival. For his "Rolling Stone" review of the album's 40th anniversary reissue, Barry Walters called it "relaxed" and gave credit to Fogerty for writing a protest song, "Fortunate Son", that has a good beat to it.


title: Willy and the Poor Boys

text: In 2003, the album was ranked number 392 on "Rolling Stone"'s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time; the 2012 edition of the list had it ranked number 309, and the 2020 edition of the list included the album at number 193.


title: Willy and the Poor Boys

text: The album was remastered and reissued on 180-gram vinyl by Analogue Productions in 2006. On June 10, 2008, it was remastered and released by Concord Music Group as a compact disc, with three bonus tracks.


title: Shabana Raza

text: Shabana Raza, also known as Neha Bajpai or simply Neha, is an Indian actress and film producer known for her works in Bollywood.


title: Shabana Raza

text: Shabana Raza made her film debut opposite Bobby Deol in "Kareeb" (1998). Her next release was "Hogi Pyaar Ki Jeet" (1999), where she played the leading lady opposite Ajay Devgn. She went on to act in several more films, including "Fiza" (2000) where she played Hrithik Roshan's love interest, "Rahul" (2001) and "Aatma." After a break, she returned to acting in 2010 under her original name.


title: Shabana Raza

text: Shabana Raza met actor Manoj Bajpayee after the release of her film, "Kareeb", and has been together since then. They married in April 2006. The couple have a daughter, Awa Nayla.


title: Parrotfish

text: Parrotfishes are a group of about 90 fish species regarded as a family (Scaridae), or a subfamily (Scarinae) of the wrasses. With about 95 species, this group's largest species richness is in the Indo-Pacific. They are found in coral reefs, rocky coasts, and seagrass beds, and can play a significant role in bioerosion.


title: Parrotfish

text: Parrotfish are named for their dentition, which is distinct from other fish, including other labrids. Their numerous teeth are arranged in a tightly packed mosaic on the external surface of their jaw bones, forming a parrot-like beak with which they rasp algae from coral and other rocky substrates (which contributes to the process of bioerosion).


title: Parrotfish

text: Maximum sizes vary within the family, with the majority of species reaching in length. However, a few species reach lengths in excess of , and the green humphead parrotfish can reach up to . The smallest species is the bluelip parrotfish ("Cryptotomus roseus"), which has a maximum size of .


title: Parrotfish

text: Some parrotfish species, including the queen parrotfish ("Scarus vetula"), secrete a mucus cocoon, particularly at night. Prior to going to sleep, some species extrude mucus from their mouths, forming a protective cocoon that envelops the fish, presumably hiding its scent from potential predators. This mucus envelope may also act as an early warning system, allowing the parrotfish to flee when it detects predators such as moray eels disturbing the membrane. The skin itself is covered in another mucous substance which may have antioxidant properties helpful in repairing bodily damage, or repelling parasites, in addition to providing protection from UV light.


title: Parrotfish

text: Most parrotfish species are herbivores, feeding mainly on epilithic algae. A wide range of other small organisms are sometimes eaten, including invertebrates (sessile and benthic species, as well as zooplankton), bacteria and detritus. A few mostly larger species such as the green humphead parrotfish ("Bolbometopon muricatum") feed extensively on living coral (polyps). None of these are exclusive corallivores, but polyps can make up as much as half their diet or even more in the green humphead parrotfish. Overall it has been estimated that fewer than one percent of parrotfish bites involve live corals and all except the green humphead parrotfish prefer algae-covered surfaces over live corals. Nevertheless, when they do eat coral polyps, localized coral death can occur. Their feeding activity is important for the production and distribution of coral sands in the reef biome, and can prevent algal overgrowth of the reef structure. The teeth grow continuously, replacing material worn away by feeding. Whether they feed on coral, rock or seagrasses, the substrate is ground up between the pharyngeal teeth. After they digest the edible portions from the rock, they excrete it as sand, helping create small islands and the sandy beaches. The humphead parrotfish can produce of sand each year. Or, on average (as there are so many variables i.e. size/species/location/depth etc.), almost per parrotfish per day.


title: Parrotfish

text: While feeding, parrotfish must be cognizant of predation by one of their main predators, the lemon shark. On Caribbean coral reefs, parrotfish are important consumers of sponges. An indirect effect of parrotfish grazing on sponges is the protection of reef-building corals that would otherwise be overgrown by fast-growing sponge species.


title: Parrotfish

text: Analysis of parrotfish feeding biology describes three functional groups: excavators, scrapers and browsers. Excavators have larger, stronger jaws that can gouge the substrate, leaving visible scars on the surface. Scrapers have less powerful jaws that can but infrequently do leave visible scraping scars on the substrate. Some of these may also feed on sand instead of hard surfaces. Browsers mainly feed on seagrasses and their epiphytes. Mature excavating species include "Bolbometopon muricatum", "Cetoscarus", "Chlorurus" and "Sparisoma viride". These excavating species all feed as scrapers in early juvenile stages, but "Hipposcarus" and "Scarus", which also feed as scrapers in early juvenile stages, retain the scraping feeding mode as adults. Browsing species are found in the genera "Calotomus", "Cryptotomus", "Leptoscarus", "Nicholsina" and "Sparisoma". Feeding modes reflect habitat preferences, with browsers chiefly living in grassy seabed, and excavators and scrapers on coral reefs.


title: Parrotfish

text: Recently, the microphage feeding hypothesis challenged the prevailing paradigm of parrotfish as algal consumers by proposing that:- “"most parrotfishes are microphages that target cyanobacteria and other protein-rich autotrophic microorganisms that live on (epilithic) or within (endolithic) calcareous substrata, are epiphytic on algae or seagrasses, or endosymbiotic within sessile invertebrates.”"


title: Parrotfish

text: The development of parrotfishes is complex and accompanied by a series of changes in sex and colour (polychromatism). Most species are sequential hermaphrodites, starting as females (known as the initial phase) and then changing to males (the terminal phase). In many species, for example the stoplight parrotfish ("Sparisoma viride"), a number of individuals develop directly to males (i.e., they do not start as females). These directly developing males usually most resemble the initial phase, and often display a different mating strategy than the terminal phase males of the same species. A few species such as the Mediterranean parrotfish ("S. cretense") are secondary gonochorists. This means that some females do not change sex (they remain females throughout their lives), the ones that do change from female to male do it while still immature (reproductively functioning females do not change to males) and there are no males with female-like colors (the initial phase males in other parrotfish). The marbled parrotfish ("Leptoscarus vaigiensis") is the only species of parrotfish known not to change sex. In most species, the initial phase is dull red, brown, or grey, while the terminal phase is vividly green or blue with bright pink, orange or yellow patches. In a smaller number of species the phases are similar, and in the Mediterranean parrotfish the adult female is brightly colored, while the adult male is gray. In most species, juveniles have a different color pattern from adults. Juveniles of some tropical species can alter their color temporarily to mimic other species. Where the sexes and ages differ, the remarkably different phases often were first described as separate species. As a consequence early scientists recognized more than 350 parrotfish species, which is almost four times the actual number.


title: Parrotfish

text: Most tropical species form large schools when feeding and these are often grouped by size. Harems of several females presided over by a single male are normal in most species, with the males vigorously defending their position from any challenge.


title: Parrotfish

text: As pelagic spawners, parrotfish release many tiny, buoyant eggs into the water, which become part of the plankton. The eggs float freely, settling into the coral until hatching.


title: Parrotfish

text: The sex change in parrotfishes is accompanied by changes in circulating steroids. Females have high levels of estradiol, moderate levels of T and undetectable levels of the major fish androgen 11-ketotestosterone. During the transition from initial to terminal coloration phases, concentrations of 11-ketotestosterone rise dramatically and estrogen levels decline. If a female is injected with 11-ketotestosterone, it will cause a precocious change in gonadal, gametic and behavioural sex.


title: Parrotfish

text: A commercial fishery exists for some of the larger species, particularly in the Indo-Pacific, but also for a few others like the Mediterranean parrotfish. Protecting parrotfishes is proposed as a way of saving Caribbean coral reefs from being overgrown with seaweed and sponges. Despite their striking colors, their feeding behavior renders them highly unsuitable for most marine aquaria.


title: Parrotfish

text: A new study has discovered that the parrotfish is extremely important for the health of the Great Barrier Reef; it is the only one of thousands of reef fish species that regularly performs the task of scraping and cleaning inshore coral reefs.


title: Parrotfish

text: Traditionally, the parrotfishes have been considered to be a family level taxon, Scaridae. Although phylogenetic and evolutionary analyses of parrotfishes are ongoing, they are now accepted to be a clade in the tribe Cheilini, and are now commonly referred to as scarine labrids (subfamily Scarinae, family Labridae). Some authorities have preferred to maintain the parrotfishes as a family-level taxon, resulting in Labridae not being monophyletic (unless split into several families).


title: Parrotfish

text: Nonetheless, according to the World Register of Marine Species the group is divided into two subfamilies as follows :


title: Parrotfish

text: More recent studies retain the Scaridae as a family but place it alongside the wrasses of the family Labridae and the weed whitings Odacidae in the order Labriformes, part of the Percomorpha. They also do not support the division of the Scaridae into two subfamilies.


title: Residente

text: René Pérez Joglar (born February 23, 1978), known professionally as Residente (often stylized as Resīdɛntə), is a Puerto Rican rapper, singer, and songwriter. He is best known as one of the founders of the alternative rap band Calle 13. Residente released five albums with Calle 13 before announcing his solo career in 2015. Residente released his debut solo album in 2017. He has won four Grammy Awards and 27 Latin Grammy Awards—more than any other Latin artist. Residente has also delved into producing documentaries including "Sin Mapa" (2009) and "Residente" (2017) and has directed some of his own music videos.


title: Residente

text: Born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Residente developed an interest in art, music, and left-wing politics at an early age. He studied art at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, Georgia, returning to Puerto Rico in 2003 to work on music with his step-brother, Visitante, with whom he formed Calle 13. Early in his career, his sarcastic and self-deprecating lyrical style garnered both praise and controversy. The group recorded five critically and commercially successful albums. His album "Residente" was inspired by a genealogical DNA test the artist took to learn about his background, and was recorded in various countries around the world featuring a wide range of international musical styles. He has since released the singles "Sexo" in 2018, "Bellacoso" (with Bad Bunny) in 2019, and "René" in 2020.


title: Residente

text: He has been recognized for his social contributions and serves as the face of campaigns for UNICEF and Amnesty International. He has consistently defended education in Latin America and the rights of indigenous peoples. In 2009 he criticized the governor of Puerto Rico Luis Fortuño for laying off more than 30,000 public employees. In November 2015, Residente received a recognition award in Barcelona at the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates forum due to his commitment to social awareness and for promoting peace.


title: Residente

text: René Pérez Joglar was born in a hospital in Hato Rey, a sector within the San Juan area. His mother, Flor Joglar de García, is an actress who was part of the theatrical company called Teatro del 60 (Theater of the 60s). In her student years, she belonged to Juventud Independentista Universitaria or JIU (Independentist Youth of the university). René's father, Reinaldo Pérez Ramírez, is a labor lawyer, musician and writer. He studied in the Escuela Libre de Música (Free School of Music). When he was 17, together with Louis García, a trombonist and arranger, they founded the band, Latin Tempo. Reinaldo studied Political Science and Law at the University of Puerto Rico with the idea of contributing to the Independence of Puerto Rico. While he was studying Political Science, he became the president of the Juventud Independentista Universitaria (JIU). Immediately after he graduated from the School of Law, he founded a law firm dedicated to representing labor unions. In 1978, he traveled to Cuba as a representative of the youth of Puerto Rico and a member of the Partido Socialista Puertorriqueño or PSP (Puerto Rican Socialist Party). In the 1980s, he traveled to Nicaragua during the Sandinista Revolution to show solidarity with other Puerto Ricans.


title: Residente

text: René grew up in a working middle-class neighborhood in Trujillo Alto with his brothers and mother. He was surrounded by art, music and sports from early life. He taught himself to play the guitar and took saxophone and drum classes. At 12 years old, he was part of the school band as a drummer. Since he was young, his interest for drawing and music was evident, but baseball was always his passion, a sport that he practiced for many years until he finished high school. When he finished school, he had to make the tough decision regarding which path to take and chose the arts. He was admitted to the Escuela de Artes Plásticas (School of Visual Arts) in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where he obtained his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. He earned a scholarship based on his portfolio and transferred to the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), where he finished his master's degree in fine arts.


title: Residente

text: While he was studying in Savannah, René created his alias "Residente Calle 13" to relive some memories from his childhood and during his free time began to write poems and rap songs. When he finished his master's degree, he traveled to Barcelona, Spain, with the dream of working there. After failing to find employment, he decided to take film courses because he also loved this form of art.


title: Residente

text: During the time he lived in Spain, he screened a short film he directed while he was a student in the SCAD called "S=emp2" or "sexo = energía x masa x placer2" (Sex = Energy x Mass x Pleasure2). He presented it in Madrid and won second place in a short film festival of independent films.


title: Residente

text: When he returned to Puerto Rico, he worked on a variety of art projects. He created illustrations and 3D animations for architects. He also worked as a music video editor. During this period, he started to write again, this time from the capital, Old San Juan. René started to feed his writing with the essence of the boricua (Puerto Rican) life and its lingo. He also connected with the La Perla neighborhood since he lived across from it. All this is reflected in his first album later on. Having reached a better understanding of how and what to write about, René approached his brother, Eduardo Cabra, to help him with the music.


title: Residente

text: Although many major labels did not pay attention to his music, René continued his search. It was not until one afternoon when René was without food in his refrigerator that he desperately called his brother, Gabriel, who recommended that he present his music to White Lion Records, an independent music company responsible for the success of Tego Calderón. He wrote the song "Tengo Hambre" ("I'm Hungry") during this period. Elías de León, owner of White Lion Records, and his A&R Director, Karly Rosario, were the first visionaries to see René's great potential.


title: Residente

text: Calle 13 was formed when Residente and his stepbrother Visitante (real name Eduardo José Cabra Martínez) began creating music together in 2004. Before forming the group, Residente obtained a master's degree in art from the Savannah College of Art and Design while Visitante had studied music at the University of Puerto Rico. Residente returned to Puerto Rico in 2003. The step-brothers hosted their music on a website, and began searching for a record label to release their music commercially.


title: Residente

text: After sending demo tapes to White Lion Records, the duo was offered a record deal. Residente chose White Lion due to his admiration for Tego Calderón, another artist on the label. White Lion president Elías de León explained that his cousin and A&R director alerted him to the demo and stated, "These weird guys brought this demo. You've got to listen to it." Residente was working at his day job as a draftsman for an architectural firm when he received the call that Calle 13 had been signed. The group then recorded "Se Vale Tó-Tó" and released it as a single to the Puerto Rican radio station WVOZ (Mix 107), where it became a radio hit on the island. To promote the group locally, Residente directed and edited the video for "Se Vale Tó-Tó" with the help of his cousin, which was filmed on a relatively small budget of US$14,000.


title: Residente

text: The duo gained recognition for their controversial song "Querido FBI", which responded to the killing of Filiberto Ojeda Ríos, a key figure of the Puerto Rican independence movement. Shortly after, the duo collaborated with Julio Voltio on the single "Chulin Culin Chunfly", which reached number eight on the "Billboard" Hot Latin Songs chart, creating more buzz for the group. After the success of "Querido F.B.I." and "Chulin Culin Chunfly", the duo headed to the studio to record its debut album. When creating music for the record, Residente explained, "I didn't care about anything. I had no commitments, I was relaxed." According to Residente, the lack of critical recognition and fame allowed the rapper to express himself freely on the record. When composing songs for the album, Residente began by writing lyrics and Visitante then constructed his beats to complement the lyrical content.


title: Residente

text: In December of the same year, Residente was invited by the Governor of Puerto Rico to join the campaign against Balas al Aire (Bullets in the Air). Residente and his brother, Eduardo Cabra (nicknamed "Visitante") composed "Ley de Gravedad" ("The Law of Gravity"). At the same time, "The New York Times" invited Americans to visit Puerto Rico to have the opportunity to meet "the first intellectual who reached stardom with Reggaeton". His first two songs, along with the song "Suave", made him well known in Latin America.


title: Residente

text: While writing the follow-up to "Calle 13", the duo took a trip to South America to explore areas populated by Latin America's indigenous and African-descended minorities. Residente reflected on the journey, stating, "We saw horrible things, but also things that were incredibly beautiful. Some of the contrasts are really intense."


title: Residente

text: Residente described the group's second album, "Residente o Visitante" album as more introspective and autobiographical than its predecessor. He explained that the group did not feel any pressure to compete with the success of "Calle 13", and felt that the recording of "Residente o Visitante" was a smoother process than the first: "The main difference for us this time around was that we had more opportunities, more tools and more money. We were also on tour at the same time, unlike the first. I spent my time writing during the travels, while my brother would write the music." The album's lead single, "Tango del Pecado", was addressed to the parents of Residente's then-girlfriend, former Miss Universe Denise Quiñones, who did not approve of the couple's relationship. "Tango del Pecado" also created controversy due to the repeated chanting of "Súbele el volumen a la música satánica" (turn up the satanic music). Residente asserted that he did not add the line to create a reaction, saying, "I never do something expecting something. I do things because I like them." "Residente o Visitante" debuted on the U.S. "Billboard" Top Latin Albums chart at number one, displacing Jennifer Lopez's Spanish album "Como Ama una Mujer", and on the "Billboard" 200 at number 52, selling about 12,000 copies in its first week.


title: Residente

text: The group followed with "Los de Atrás Vienen Conmigo" on October 21, 2008. Regarding Residente's performance on the album, Jon Pareles of "The New York Times" referred to the rapper as "a visionary", and opined that "Few hip-hop or urban acts, in any language, match so much ambition to so much fun." The album experimented with genres such as samba, candombe, and electronica. The album won five Latin Grammys at the Latin Grammy Awards of 2009 including "Album of the Year". The group generated controversy when Residente was hosting the 2009 MTV Latin America Awards and attempted to inform the audience about a strike in Puerto Rico in protest of governor Luis Fortuño's cutting of thousands of government jobs, one of which belonged to Residente's mother. During the ceremony, he referred to Fortuño as a "son of a whore", which generated widespread anger towards the group. Reflecting on the incident "I was upset, really upset. But I'm a little more strategic now – I want to speak the truth, but I don't want to diminish the merits of what I'm saying."


title: Residente

text: On May 2, 2009, Calle 13 performed once again at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico José Miguel Agrelot for the release of their third album Los de Atrás Vienen Conmigo. "In the Heights" playwright Lin-Manuel Miranda was invited to make an appearance after Residente had seen his acceptance speech for Best Original Score at the 62nd Tony Awards. Backstage, Flor Joglar de Gracia, mother of Residente and little sister ILE, revealed to Miranda their familial connection to Gilberto Concepción de Gracia, founder of the Puerto Rican Independence Party. Miranda and Residente have since confirmed their family relation through social media.


title: Residente

text: Residente once again became the subject of debate when the duo traveled to Cuba in March 2010, to perform in front of the American embassy in the country. Before the show, a political prisoner had died in a hunger strike in protest of the Cuban government, and Cuban exiles in Miami criticized the group for performing at such a time. Residente defended the performance, noting that it had been inaccurately reported and that "we said things that no artist had said from the stage, like 'here the people are in charge, and the government has to obey.'" These events had a major impact on Residente's lyrical style and the subjects he planned to discuss on the new album: "What's making me more mature is not about my age, it's about what I'm seeing and living. I'm not saying things carelessly anymore. I'm thinking before I say them."


title: Residente

text: With the lyrics on "Entren Los Que Quieran", Residente took a more political approach, inspired by events that transpired after the last album. "Calma Pueblo" discusses various topics including dishonest politicians, lip-synching in live performances, and payola. Residente also references Calle 13's sponsors with the line "Adidas doesn't use me, I use Adidas." Residente has described the lyrics of "Multi Viral" as "more existential" and went on to say: "Suddenly, I've started to be more aware, or worried, about living and dying. I thought, maybe I can do something bigger than politics".


title: Residente

text: Hoping to understand his genetic background, Residente took a DNA test that revealed his roots trace back to 10 different locations around the World, including Armenia, Ghana, China and his homeland Puerto Rico. Such diversity inspired him to produce what would later result in a solo album, a documentary and a book released via Fusion Media Group (Univision Communications) under the same common title "Residente". In April 2015, Residente announced that he was in Siberia working on his debut solo album. Residente released his debut solo album titled "Residente" in 2017. The album received acclaim from the Latin music academy and mainstream critics winning the Latin Grammy for best urban music album and being named Billboard's Best Spanish Language Album of the Year.


title: Residente

text: During an interview with Billboard, Residente criticized modern Spanish language urban music citing it as uninspired, simple, ignorant and redundant. This prompted hip-hop and reggaeton artist Tempo to respond lyrically which led to a highly publicized rap battle. Mainstream Hispanic journalists declared Residente victorious as well as many mainstream audiences and outlets on social media. His song "La Cátedra" is a 12-minute, 1,900 word record diss track, beating the previous Guinness Book of World record-holders, Eminem and MC Harry Shotta.


title: Residente

text: On March 11, 2017, the artist's self-titled documentary, Residente, was released. After receiving the results of his DNA test, the documentary follows Residente on a global journey tracing back his ancestors through different continents and countries. Residente travels to various countries and regions including Siberia, Georgia, Moscow, China, Burkina Faso, Ghana and his home country, Puerto Rico. As he travels through different regions, he collaborates with different local musicians playing indigenous instruments, creating his debut self-titled album, "Residente".


title: Residente

text: In April 2018, Residente released the single "Sexo" in collaboration with American producer Dillon Francis. In the song, Residente theorizes that the main motivation behind all human activity is sex. Residente directed the accompanying music video, which was filmed in Colombia. The upbeat song and colorful video were considered to be a stylistic departure from the more serious, introspective work showcased on his solo album, with "Billboard" explaining that the song "talks about sex in a joyful, all inclusive (the lyrics are intentionally gender-neutral), G-rated manner." In July 2019, Residente released the single "Bellacoso" featuring Puerto Rican artist Bad Bunny. Musically, the song was inspired by Daddy Yankee and the lyrical content was inspired by feminist resistance, with the song advocating for consent and denouncing sexual harassment. The music video, filmed in Puerto Rico, was directed by French cinematographer Gregory Ohrel.


title: Residente

text: Residente released a collaboration with Bad Bunny titled "Afilando los cuchillos" ("Sharpening the Knives"), a political polemic against Puerto Rican governor Ricardo Rosselló. He took part in mass protests against this governor, alongside Bad Bunny and Ricky Martin. In February 2020, Residente released the single "René". The introspective song discusses depression and the killing of a close friend of the rapper by police. The seven-minute music video, directed by Residente, features the artist standing on a baseball field, reflecting on his childhood and career. He described creating the song and video as therapeutic, explaining "It makes me feel like maybe people will know me a little bit more, and knowing that makes me feel better." In May 2020, he released the song and accompanying music video for "Antes Que El Mundo Se Acabe", which features couples from all around the world kissing, including celebrities such as Bad Bunny and girlfriend Gabriela, Lionel Messi and his wife Antonela, and Ricky Martin and his husband Jwan Yosef.


title: Residente

text: On October 15, 2009, Calle 13 won the Premios MTV Latinoamérica for "Best Urban Artist". Pérez hosted the ceremony, and used this exposure to insult Puerto Rican governor Luis Fortuño and comment about a civilian general strike that was organized earlier that day, held to protest the firing of more than 25,000 public employees by Fortuño's administration. Pérez generated much controversy after referring to Fortuño as an "hijo de la gran puta". The phrase is commonly translated as "son of a bitch", although the phrase places emphasis on the mother of the subject being a prostitute, which many found disrespectful to Fortuño's mother. Fortuño responded by saying "This individual disrespected all Puerto Rican women, all Puerto Rican mothers and the people of Puerto Rico in general."


title: Residente

text: Residente has been a strong fighter in favor of Latin American education, joining protest marches in Puerto Rico, Chile, Colombia and the Dominican Republic, among others.


title: Residente

text: In November 2011, during the Latin Grammy Awards, René wore a T-shirt that read "Educación Pública, gratuita para Puerto Rico, Chile, Colombia y República Dominicana" ("Free, public education for Puerto Rico, Chile, Colombia, and the Dominican Republic").


title: Residente

text: Residente married Soledad Fandiño in January 2013 in a private ceremony in Puerto Rico. Their son Milo was born on August 7, 2014 and the couple divorced in 2017.


title: Dana Barron

text: Dana Barron is an American actress who is best known for her role as the original Audrey Griswold in the 1983 film "National Lampoon's Vacation" which she reprised in 2003's "" for NBC television.


title: Dana Barron

text: Barron was born in New York City. Her mother, Joyce McCord, is a stage actress. Her father, Robert Weeks Barron, was a director of commercials and a Congregationalist church pastor; Robert founded The Weist-Barron School of Television, the first commercial and soap opera acting for television school in the world. Barron has a sister named Allison. She is a fifth generation entertainer. Her grandfather was an opera singer, and her mother moved from Alabama to become an actress.


title: Dana Barron

text: Barron's sister, Allison, had been doing TV commercials at a young age, and Barron told her father that she wished to do the same. She began acting at age 10, doing TV commercials as well. By age 11, she was appearing with Christine Baranski in "Hide and Seek" on Broadway. By age 13, her first film was the horror film "He Knows You're Alone", with Tom Hanks, which was also Hanks' first film.