title: Pontiac V8 engine

text: The beginnings of Pontiac's iconic Ram Air dynasty began during the 1965 model year. The GTO's new hood scoop design, with the inlets centrally located and mounted above the carburetor, provided the opportunity for experimentation. Royal Pontiac developed the prototype of the package on their 1965 GTO drag car and Pontiac picked up the idea and in August 1965 Pontiac offered the new Fresh Air package to dealers consisting of the parts and instructions needed to make the hood scoop functional, including the metal tub to mount to the carburetors and rubber gasket to seal it to the underside of the hood. The Fresh Air package continued into the 1966 model year.


title: Pontiac V8 engine

text: Around January 1966 Pontiac took the next step and began offering as a factory option the XS-code engine. It included a new camshaft with duration increased from 288/302 (No. 068) to 301/313 (No. 744) and a new valve spring package with dampers to positively control valve action. Valve lift stayed at just over 0.400-inch with 1.5:1-ratio rocker arms. The tri-power equipped XS-code 389 was shipped with the Ram Air pan in the trunk, and the dealer had to fit it and cut out the underside of the hood scoop to make it functional. The XS-code 389 was still rated at 360 bhp at 5,200 rpm, same as the more common WS-coded Tri-Power 389, but performance was noticeably improved on acceleration runs. Pontiac engine production records report that 190 XS-code 389 engines were built during the 1966 model year. Whether all were installed in GTOs is unknown.


title: Pontiac V8 engine

text: None of Pontiac's Ram Air engines actually enjoyed any true ram air effect. The inlets were all well within the boundary layer that exists close to the surface, so all of these systems would more accurately be described as "outside air induction" systems, benefiting from the intake of cooler, and thus denser, outside air versus the comparatively hotter and less dense air under the car's hood.


title: Pontiac V8 engine

text: Simply called "Ram Air" by Pontiac it was the first in a series of engines available from Pontiac as regular production line options and officially called Ram Air. Hewing to GM's standing edict limiting engine size to 400 cu in for its midsize and smaller cars, the (underrated), the 400 cubic inch Ram Air V-8 was the most powerful and advanced option available in the 1967 GTO and Firebird. Its cast "670" heads had taller valve spring heights than the standard D-port heads, and the only 14-degree valve angle closed combustion chamber making these heads unique. It featured the "744" 301/313 camshaft, which offered more duration and overlap than the "HO". Along with the HO it also had Pontiac's famous cast-iron "headers", which were much better at reducing backpressure than the regular manifolds. The 670 heads were used until May 1967 when they were upgraded to become the "97" heads, which were then replaced late in the model year by the "997" heads which incorporated the upgrades of the "97" heads.


title: Pontiac V8 engine

text: The 1968 Ram Air II remained at 400 cu. in., again available only in the GTO and Firebird. It was factory rated at 366 hp at 5,400 RPM and 445 lbs.ft. of torque at 3,800 RPM in the GTO, and 340 HORSEPOWER at 5,300 RPM and 430-lb.ft. of torque at 3,600 RPM in the Firebird, with only a small throttle restrictor tab on the Firebird being different. It was the first engine that incorporated Pontiac's round-port head design in a production vehicle, however the intake port was the same as other D-port heads, leaving a head which exhaust port could nearly match the intake at high valve lifts. The Ram Air II also incorporated the first computer-designed camshaft. This camshaft sported a 308-/320-degree duration with lift. This same camshaft was also used in Pontiac's 1969–1970 RA IV production cars. However, the RA II was limited to a 1.50:1 rocker ratio, while the RA IV used a 1.65:1 ratio, which yielded significantly greater total lift and, therefore, superior flow and power.


title: Pontiac V8 engine

text: Often called the "Ram Air III", this engine was officially called the "400 Ram Air" for 1969 and then simply "Ram Air" for the 1970 model year. It would later become known colloquially as the "Ram Air III", though Pontiac never called it by that name. A 400 cubic inch ram air equipped V8, it was an option on the 1969-70 GTO and Firebird Formula. For the 1969 and 1970 model years it was the standard engine in both the Firebird Trans Am and the GTO Judge. It was the same engine as the '67-'68 400 HO but for 1969 and 1970 it included a driver-selectable outside air induction system on the GTO(it was a separate option on Firebird), with the hood vents opened and closed using a knob located under the dash, below and to the right of the steering wheel, its bracket labeled "RAM AIR". It used the "744" camshaft (301-313) in the earlier manual trans versions, later downgraded to the "068" version, and the 288/302 duration cam with automatic transmission. It was rated at (gross) in the GTO version. Like previous generations of Ram Airs, it used Pontiac's special cast-iron "headers". It had 2-bolt main bearing caps in 1969, but went to a block similar to the Ram Air IV's in 1969 that was drilled for 4-bolt main bearing caps (but used a cast crank and cast rods). In 1970 the casting number #9799914 Ram Air 400 4-bolt main block also used the 4-bolt main caps on Ram Air applications.


title: Pontiac V8 engine

text: The Ram Air IV replaced the Ram Air II in 1969. It was called the Ram Air IV due to the planned use of four air inlets. Though production cars only got the two hood air inlets the name was retained. All 1968–69 #9792506 Ram Air 400 blocks have 4-bolt caps. The Ram Air IV used the Ram Air II's camshaft but lift in the Ram Air IV was increased to thanks to the use of 1.65 ratio rocker arms (vs 1.50). The Ram Air IV heads had 1/8" taller intake ports, larger intake port volume with more airflow, yet shared the Ram Air II round exhaust ports. In addition, a shallower spherical-wedge combustion chamber moved the tuliped valve heads .040" closer to the piston at TDC, improving mixture draw considerably during the intake stroke. The Ram Air IV also used a lightweight aluminum intake-manifold that produced a weight savings of . From 1969 though 1970, the Ram Air IV was available in both A-Body (GTO, including Judge) and F-body (Firebird, including Trans Am) form. While production of 1969–70 A-body Ram Air IV cars was low at just 1563 units(759 1969 GTOs including 302 Judges, and 804 1970 GTOs including 397 Judges) 1969 and 1970 model year F-body Ram Air IV cars were even rarer at just 245 total units produced. Only 157 Ram Air IV Firebirds, including 55 Trans Ams, were built for 1969. For 1970 the Trans Am was the only Firebird available with the Ram Air IV, and 88 were produced during the abbreviated 1970 F-body production run. A total of 1,808 Ram Air IV production cars were built over its 2-year production. Pontiac continued using its round-port cylinder-head design for 1971-'72 on the 455 HO. However, compression ratios were cut dramatically, marking the beginning of the end of the muscle car era.


title: Pontiac V8 engine

text: Though never factory-installed in any car, the ultimate engine of the Ram Air line of engines was the tunnel-port Ram Air V. In 1969 Pontiac created four versions of the Ram Air V engine: a short deck version for SCCA Trans-Am racing, a variant for NASCAR, a version for street use in GTOs and Firebirds, as well as a adaptation for drag racing. The cylinder head design is similar to the Ford FE tunnel-port head used in the GT40 and Can-Am series racing. So large are the intake ports that the pushrods run through the center of each port via pressed-in tubes, in addition to streamlined airfoils over the tubes themselves to improve port shape, and increase flow velocity. The 303 had shorter connecting rods, smaller journals and a solid lifter version of the Ram Air IV camshaft. It shared the bore of the 400, but with a stroke for a displacement of . The short deck engine weighed about less than the other variants and had an 8000 rpm redline. Pontiac's SCCA Trans-Am program was promising, with race-ready engines producing to , however the series’ General Competition Rules required the manufacturer to produce no less than 250 vehicles with the 303. Plans were made to produce Firebirds and GTOs with advertised ratings of and respectively but concerns about emissions, the response of the automobile safety lobby, and the warranty implications of a high-revving street engine led to cancellation of the program. T


title: Pontiac V8 engine

text: While the exact total number of Ram Air V engines produced is not positively known, only about 25 engines were produced and about a dozen 428s and 366s. More engines were produced by Pontiac than the other versions - estimates range from 80 to 200 units. Some 400s were dealer installed.


title: Pontiac V8 engine

text: Parts for Ram Air V engines are not readily available. The cylinder heads on the 400 CID version had an intake port volume of , nearly twice the size of a typical standard D-port Pontiac head - and flowed in the area of @ valve lift; in the realm of the NASCAR-dominating Chrysler 426 Hemi.


title: Pontiac V8 engine

text: The 421SD was available in 1961 as a dealer option or over the counter then in 62 and 63 from the factory, and was fitted with a list of internal modifications designed solely to withstand the abuse of drag racing. Cam was a #541596 McKellar No. 10 with 308/320 degrees of duration and with 1.65:1-ratio rocker arms and solid lifters, special #529238 forged-steel connecting rods, forged aluminum bore Mickey Thompson pistons, #542990 forged-steel crankshaft with a stroke and diameter main journals. Dual Carter Carburetor #3433S (front) and #3435S (rear) carburetors with manual chokes and mechanical linkage. Factory heavy-duty high-pressure oil pump and eight-quart sump, four-bolt main bearing caps with Moraine aluminum bearings, and #1110976 dual-point distributor without vacuum advance. Two different cylinder-head castings were used for the 1962 model year, both with a combustion chamber volume of to produce an 11.0:1 compression ratio. Casting No. 540306 featured valves and was carried over from the previous model year, production stopped in March 1962 and then casting No. 544127 with larger valves entered production. Neither casting was equipped with an exhaust crossover.


title: Pontiac V8 engine

text: Available only in the 1973 and 1974 Firebird Formula and Trans Am, the SD-455 consisted of a strengthened cylinder block that included 4-bolt main bearings and additional material in various locations for improved strength. Original plans called for a forged crankshaft, although actual production SD455s received nodular-iron crankshafts with minor enhancements. Forged rods and forged-aluminum pistons were specified, as were unique high-flow cylinder-heads. A camshaft with 301/313 degrees of advertised duration, net valve lift, and 76 degrees of valve overlap was specified for actual production engines in lieu of the significantly more aggressive Ram Air IV-spec camshaft that had originally been planned for the engine (initially rated at with that cam), but ultimately proved incapable of meeting the tightening emissions standards of the era with sufficient margin to satisfy Pontiac emission engineers given expected volume production variations. The very modest cam, combined with a low-compression ratio of 8.4 (advertised) and 7.9:1 actual resulted in SAE NET. The initial press cars that were given to the various enthusiast magazines (e.g. HOT ROD and CAR AND DRIVER) were fitted with the Ram Air IV-spec camshaft and functional hood scoops - a fact that has been confirmed by several Pontiac sources. Some production test cars ran considerably slower and yielded times in the 14.5 second/ range in showroom tune (uncited sources)- results that are quite consistent for a car with a curb weight of and the rated SAE NET figure that some sources suggest was "under-rated." However, in the June 1974 issue of SUPER STOCK AND DRAG ILLUSTRATED, a new 1974 Trans Am with the SD-455 motor ran 14.25 @ . This was a completely stock car on loan from a private owner for the test. Furthermore, this car had an automatic, air conditioning, a 3.08 axle and weighed . This test would tend to lend credence to the CAR AND DRIVER and HOT ROD tests of 1973 Super Duty cars with 3.42 gears, no air, and less weight as being representative of production specimens capable of mid to high 13-second passes at . Pontiac listed the rating at 4000 rpm for a motor that had a 5700 rpm redline on the factory tachometer. Various Pontiac sources have emphatically stated that NO versions of the SD-455 were installed in regular production cars. The SD-455 motor was listed as an option in dealer brochures for the 1973 Grand Am and LeMans GTO(and planned for the Grand Prix as well) although none were produced for sale. Nevertheless, there appears in the October 72 issue of MOTOR TREND, a road test of a 1973 SD-455 Grand Am. 1975 Factory Service Manual lists the SD-455, but the SD-455 did not meet emissions for the 1975 model year and was canceled.


title: Pontiac V8 engine

text: This was a project started with the end goal of building a 427 Hemi. Pontiac asked Mopar (Chrysler, Dodge, Plymouth) for help in designing it and making it work. Surprisingly, Mopar actually agreed and sent over several of the engineers that designed both the 392 and 426 Hemi. The goal of making a Pontiac Hemi succeeded but the engine was never produced.


title: Pontiac V8 engine

text: Most likely prompted by its development of the Pontiac OHC six, the GM division built three different experimental SOHC 421 CID V8 engines in the early 1960s. According to the engineers who worked on the project, the SOHC 421 engines produced around 625 hp and were capable of turning 7,000 rpm.


title: Pontiac V8 engine

text: One version of the engine featured camshafts driven off the front of the engine, another design had the cams driven by gears off the back of the engine. Apparently at least one of these engines survives under the hood of an engineer's personal Pontiac.


title: Love with Flaws

text: Love with Flaws () is a 2019 South Korean television series starring Oh Yeon-seo, Ahn Jae-hyun, Kim Seul-gi, Gu Won, and Heo Jung-min. Produced by AStory, it aired on MBC on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 21:00 (KST) from November 27, 2019, to January 16, 2020.


title: Love with Flaws

text: A romantic comedy story about two imperfect people who fell in love with each other. The female protagonist Joo Seo-yeon, who hates men with pretty faces believing that good looking men are nothing but trouble, basing it on her experiences growing up with her three good looking brothers, the male protagonist Lee Kang-woo, who have misconceptions about her at first, and how the people with flaws get over their prejudice.


title: Fuzhou

text: Fuzhou (; , Fuzhounese: Hokchew, "Hók-ciŭ"), alternately romanized as Foochow, is the capital and one of the largest cities in Fujian province, China. Along with the many counties of Ningde, those of Fuzhou are considered to constitute the Mindong (lit. Eastern Fujian) linguistic and cultural area.


title: Fuzhou

text: Fuzhou lies on the north (left) bank of the estuary of Fujian's largest river, the Min River. All along its northern border lies Ningde, and Ningde's Gutian County lies upriver. Its population was 7,115,370 inhabitants as of the 2010 census, of whom 4,408,076 inhabitants are urban representing around 61.95%, while rural population is at 2,707,294 representing around 38.05%. As of 31 December 2018, the total population was estimated at 7,740,000 whom 4,665,000 lived in the built-up ("or metro") area made of 5 urban districts plus Minhou County.


title: Fuzhou

text: Integrated City Index 2016's total ranking, a study conducted by National Development and Reform Commission.


title: Fuzhou

text: Fuzhou is also a major city for scientific research, appearing in the global top 50 cities as tracked by the Nature Index. The city is home to several major universities, notably Fuzhou University, one of China's key universities and other public universities, including Fujian Normal University and Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University.


title: Fuzhou

text: Fuzhou is also known as "" () in Chinese, meaning "a city of fortune". The "Yuanhe Maps and Records of Prefectures and Counties", a Chinese geographical treatise published in the 9th century, says that Fuzhou's name came from Mount "Futo" a mountain northwest of the city. The mountain's name was then combined with "-zhou", meaning "settlement" or "prefecture", in a manner similar to many other Chinese cities. During the Warring States period, the area of Fuzhou was sometimes referred to as "Ye" (), and Fuzhou was incorporated into China proper during Qin dynasty. The city's name was changed numerous times between the 3rd and 9th centuries before finally settling on Fuzhou in 948. In Chinese, the city is sometimes referred to by the poetic nickname "Rongcheng" (; Foochow Romanized: ), .


title: Fuzhou

text: In older English publications, the name is variously romanized as Foochow, Foo-Chow, Fuchow, Fūtsu, Fuh-Chow, Hock Chew, and Hokchew.


title: Fuzhou

text: The remains of two Neolithic cultures—the Huqiutou Culture (), from around 5000 BC, and the Tanshishan Culture (), from around 3000 BC—have been discovered and excavated in the Fuzhou area. During the Warring States period (c. 475–221 BC), Chinese began referring to the modern Fujian area as Min Yue (), suggesting that the native inhabitants of the area were a branch of the Yue peoples, a diverse population of non-Chinese tribes who once inhabited most of southern China. In 306 BC, the Yue Kingdom (present-day Zhejiang) fell to the state of Chu. Han Dynasty historian Sima Qian wrote that the surviving members of the Yue royal family fled south to what is now Fujian, where they settled alongside the native Yue people, joining Chinese and Yue culture to create Minyue. Their major centre was not at Fuzhou's modern location, but further up the Min watershed near Wuyishan City.


title: Fuzhou

text: The First Emperor of Qin unified ancient China in 221 BC and desired to bring the southern and southeast regions under Chinese rule. The Qin dynasty organized its territory into "Commanderies" ()—roughly equivalent to a province or prefecture—and the Fujian area was organized as Minzhong Commandery (). The area seems to have continued mostly independent of Chinese control for the next century. The Han dynasty followed the short-lived Qin, and Emperor Gaozu of Han declared both Minyue and neighboring Nanyue to be autonomous vassal kingdoms. In 202 BC, Emperor Gaozu enfeoffed a leader named Wuzhu (; Old Chinese: ') as King of Minyue, and a walled city called Ye (; Old Chinese: '; literally: Beautiful) was built. The founding of Ye in 202 BC has become the traditional founding date of the city of Fuzhou.


title: Fuzhou

text: In 110 BC, the armies of Emperor Wu of Han defeated the Minyue kingdom's armies during the Han–Minyue War and annexed its territory and people into China. Many Minyue citizens were forcibly relocated into the Jianghuai area, and the Yue ethnic group was mostly assimilated into the Chinese, causing a sharp decline in Ye's inhabitants. The area was eventually re-organized as a county in 85 BC.


title: Fuzhou

text: During the Three Kingdoms Period, southeast China was nominally under the control of Eastern Wu, and the Fuzhou area had a shipyard for the coastal and Yangtze River fleets. In 282, during the Jin dynasty, two artificial lakes known simply as the East Lake and West Lake were constructed in Ye, as well as a canal system. The core of modern Fuzhou grew around these three water systems, though the East and West Lakes no longer exist. In 308, during the War of the Eight Princes at the end of the Jin dynasty, the first large-scale migration of Chinese immigrants moved to the south and southeast of China began, followed by subsequent waves during later periods of warfare or natural disaster in the Chinese heartland. The administrative and economic center of the Fujian area began to change to the Ye area during the Sui dynasty (581–618).


title: Fuzhou

text: In 725, the city was formally renamed "Fuzhou". Throughout the mid-Tang dynasty, Fuzhou's economic and cultural institutions grew and developed. The later years of the Tang saw a number of political upheavals in the Chinese heartland such as the An Lushan Rebellion and Huang Chao Rebellion, prompting another wave of northerners to immigrate to the modern-day Northern Min and Eastern Min areas. In 879, a large part of the city was captured by the army of Huang Chao during their rebellion against the Tang government. In 893, the warlord brothers Wang Chao and Wang Shenzhi captured Fuzhou in a rebellion against the Tang dynasty, successfully gaining control of the entire Fujian Province and eventually proclaiming their founding of an independent kingdom they called the Min Kingdom in 909. The Wang brothers enticed more immigrants from the north, though their kingdom only survived until 945. In 978, Fuzhou was incorporated into the newly founded Song dynasty, though their control of the mountainous regions was tenuous.


title: Fuzhou

text: Fuzhou prospered during the Tang dynasty. Buddhism was quickly adopted by citizens who quickly built many Buddhist temples in the area.


title: Fuzhou

text: Fuzhou underwent a major dramatic surge in its refined culture and educational institutions throughout the Song Dynasty as Fuzhou produced 10 Fuzhounese zhuangyuan scholars (scholar who is ranked the top first place in the imperial examinations), a large number for a small city in the country during that dynasty.


title: Fuzhou

text: The "Hualin" Temple (, not to be confused with the temple of the same name in Guangzhou), founded in 964, is one of the oldest and surviving wooden structures in China. New city walls were built in 282, 901, 905, and 974, so the city had many layers of walls – more so than the Chinese capital. Emperor Taizong of the Song dynasty ordered the destruction of all the walls in Fuzhou in 978 but new walls were rebuilt later. The latest was built in 1371. During the Southern Song dynasty, Fuzhou became more prosperous; many scholars came to live and work. Among them were Zhu Xi, the most celebrated Chinese philosopher after Confucius, and Xin Qiji, the greatest composer of the ci form of poetry.


title: Fuzhou

text: Marco Polo, an Italian guest of the Emperor Kubilai, transcribed, after the conventions of Italian orthography, the place name as "Fugiu". This was not the local Min pronunciation but that of the mandarin administrative class.


title: Fuzhou

text: Between 1405 and 1433, a fleet of the Ming Imperial navy under Admiral Zheng He sailed from Fuzhou to the Indian Ocean seven times; on three occasions the fleet landed on the east coast of Africa. Before the last sailing, Zheng erected a stele dedicated to the goddess Tian-Fei (Matsu) near the seaport.


title: Fuzhou

text: The Ming government gave a monopoly over Philippine trade to Fuzhou, which at times was shared with Quanzhou.


title: Fuzhou

text: Galeote Pereira, a Portuguese soldier and trader, was taken prisoner during the pirate extermination campaign of 1549 and imprisoned in Fuzhou. Later transferred to a form of internal exile elsewhere in the province, Pereira escaped to Langbaijiao in 1553. The record of his experiences in the Ming Empire, logged by the Jesuits at Goa in 1561, was the first non-clerical account of China to reach the West since Marco Polo.


title: Fuzhou

text: In 1839, Lin Zexu, who himself was a Fuzhou native, was appointed by the Daoguang Emperor to enforce the imperial ban on the opium trade in Canton. His unsuccessful actions, however, precipitated the disastrous First Opium War with Great Britain, and Lin, who had become a scapegoat for China's failure in war, was exiled to the northwestern section of the empire. The Treaty of Nanjing (1842), which put an end to the conflict, made Fuzhou (then known to Westerners as Foochow) one of five Chinese treaty ports, and it became completely open to Western merchants and missionaries.


title: Fuzhou

text: Fuzhou was one of the most important Protestant mission fields in China. On January 2, 1846, the first Protestant missionary, Rev. Stephen Johnson (missionary) from ABCFM, entered the city and soon set up the first missionary station there. ABCFM was followed by the Methodist Episcopal Missionary Society that was led by Revs. M. C. White and J. D. Collins, who reached Fuzhou in early September 1847. The Church Missionary Society also arrived in the city in May 1850. These three Protestant agencies remained in Fuzhou until the communist revolution in China in the 1950s, leaving a rich heritage in Fuzhou's Protestant culture. They supported the creation of hospitals and schools, including the Woolston Memorial Hospital, run by the American-trained Hü King Eng.


title: Fuzhou

text: On August 23, 1884, the Battle of Fuzhou broke out between the French Far East Fleet and the Fujian Fleet of the Qing dynasty. As the result, the Fujian Fleet, one of the four Chinese regional fleets, was destroyed completely in Mawei Harbor.


title: Fuzhou

text: On November 8, 1911, revolutionaries staged an uprising in Fuzhou. After an overnight street battle, the Qing army surrendered.


title: Fuzhou

text: On November 22, 1933, Eugene Chen and the leaders of the National Revolutionary Army's 19th Army set up the short-lived People's Revolutionary Government of Republican China. Blockaded by Chiang Kai-shek and left without support from the nearby Soviet Republic of China, the PRGRC collapsed within two months.


title: Fuzhou

text: With the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War in 1937, hostilities commenced in Fujian Province. Xiamen (Amoy) fell to a Japanese landing force on May 13, 1938. The fall of Amoy instantly threatened the security of Fuzhou. On May 23, Japanese ships bombarded Mei-Hua, Huang-chi and Pei-Chiao while Japanese planes continued to harass Chinese forces. Between May 31 and June 1, Chinese gunboats "Fu-Ning", "Chen-Ning" and "Suming" defending the blockade line in the estuary of the Min River were successively bombed and sunk. Meanwhile, the Chinese ship "Chu-Tai" berthed at Nan-Tai was damaged. The Chinese Navy's Harbor Command School, barracks, shipyard, hospital and marine barracks at Ma-Wei were successively bombed. Fuzhou is recorded as having fallen to Japanese forces in 1938.


title: Fuzhou

text: The extent of Japanese command and control of the city of Fuzhou itself as opposed to the port at Mawei and the Min River Estuary is uncertain. By 1941 (5/7), the city is recorded as having returned to Nationalist control. The British Consulate in Fuzhou is noted as operational from 1941 to 1944 after the United Kingdom Declaration of War on Japan in December 1941. Western visitors to Fuzhou in the period 1941–1944 include the Australian journalist Wilfred Burchett in 1942 and the British scientist Joseph Needham in May 1944. Both visitors record the presence of a British Consul and a Fuzhou Club comprising western businessmen.


title: Fuzhou

text: In "The Man Who Loved China: The Fantastic Story of the Eccentric Scientist Who Unlocked the Mysteries of the Middle Kingdom", author Simon Winchester relates the visit of Dr Needham in 1944. Needham encountered the American government agent (John Caldwell) and the British SIS agent (Murray MacLehose working undercover as the British Vice-Consul in Fuzhou) involved in aid to the Nationalist resistance to Japanese forces in Fujian Province.


title: Fuzhou

text: As part of Operation Ichi-Go (1944), the last large-scale Japanese offensive in China in World War II, Japanese troops intended to isolate Fuzhou and the Fujian Province corridor to Nationalist forces in western China and the wartime capital of Chongqing. One account of Japanese troops re-taking of Fuzhou city itself is narrated by American naval officer, Houghton Freeman. The date is given as October 5, 1944.


title: Fuzhou

text: Fuzhou remained under Japanese control until the surrender of Japan and its armed forces in China in September 1945.


title: Fuzhou

text: Following the restoration of Republic control (1946), the administration divisions of Fuzhou were annexed, and administration level was promoted from county-level to city-level officially.


title: Fuzhou

text: In the 1950s, the city was on the front line of the conflict with the KMT in Taiwan, as hostile KMT aircraft frequently bombed the city. The bombing on 20 January 1955 was the most serious one, killing hundreds of people.


title: Fuzhou

text: Fuzhou was also involved in violent mass chaos during the Cultural revolution. Different groups of Red Guards fought with each other using guns on the streets of the city, and even attacking the People's Liberation Army.


title: Fuzhou

text: Under the reform and opening policy since the late 1970s, Fuzhou has developed rapidly. In 1982, Fuzhou became the first city in China where the stored program control was introduced, which marked a milestone in the history of telecommunications in China. In 1984, Fuzhou was chosen as one of the first branches of Open Coastal Cities by the Central Government.


title: Fuzhou

text: On December 13, 1993, a raging fire swept through a textile factory in Fuzhou and claimed the lives of 60 workers.


title: Fuzhou

text: On October 2, 2005, floodwaters from Typhoon Longwang swept away a military school, killing at least 80 paramilitary officers.


title: Fuzhou

text: Fuzhou is located in the northeast coast of Fujian province, connects jointly northwards with Ningde and Nanping, southwards with Quanzhou and Putian, westwards with Sanming respectively.


title: Fuzhou

text: Fuzhou has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen "Cfa") influenced by the East Asian Monsoon; the summers are long, very hot and humid, and the winters are short, mild and dry. In most years, torrential rain occurs during the monsoon in the second half of May. Fuzhou is also liable to typhoons in late summer and early autumn. The monthly 24-hour average temperature ranges from in January to in July, while the annual mean is . With monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 24 percent in March to 54 percent in July, the city receives 1,607 hours of bright sunshine annually. Extremes since 1951 have ranged from on 25 January 2016 to on 26 July 2003.


title: Fuzhou

text: Snow is very rare, having covered the ground last times in February 1957, December 1975 and December 1991.


title: Fuzhou

text: The administrative divisions of Fuzhou have been changed frequently throughout history. From 1983, the Fuzhou current administrative divisions were formed officially, namely, 5 districts and 8 counties. In 1990 and 1994, Fuqing (Foochow Romanized: ') and Changle (Foochow Romanized: ') counties were promoted to county-level cities; Changle became a district in 2017. Despite these changes, the administrative image of "5 districts and 8 counties" is still held popularly among local residents. Fuzhou's entire area only covers 9.65 percent of Fujian Province.


title: Fuzhou

text: The City of Banyans is distinct from the mainstream inland cultures of central China, and in details vary from other areas of the Chinese coast.


title: Fuzhou

text: Besides Mandarin Chinese, the majority local residents of Fuzhou (Fuzhou people) also speak Fuzhou language (), the prestige form of Eastern Min.


title: Fuzhou

text: Min opera, also known as Fuzhou drama, is one of the major operas in Fujian Province. It enjoys popularity in the Fuzhou area and in neighboring parts of Fujian such as the northeast and northwest areas where the Fuzhou language is spoken, as well as in Taiwan and the Malay Archipelago. It became a fixed opera in the early 20th century. There are more than 1,000 plays of Min opera, most of which originate from folk tales, historical novels, or ancient legends, including such traditional plays as "Making Seal", "The Purple Jade Hairpin" and "Switching Fairy Peach with Litchi".


title: Fuzhou

text: The two traditional mainstream religions practiced in Fuzhou are Mahayana Buddhism and Taoism. Traditionally, many people practice both religions simultaneously. The city is also home to many Buddhist monasteries, Taoist temples and Buddhist monks.


title: Fuzhou

text: Apart from mainstream religions, a number of religious worship sites of various local religions are situated in the streets and lanes of Fuzhou.


title: Fuzhou

text: The origins of local religion can be dated back centuries. These diverse religions incorporated elements such as gods and doctrines from other religions and cultures, such as totem worship and traditional legends. For example, Monkey King, originated to monkey worship among local ancients, gradually came to embody the God of Wealth in Fuzhou after the novel "Journey to the West" was issued in Ming dynasty.


title: Fuzhou

text: As the most popular religion in the Min River Valley, the worship of Lady Linshui is viewed as one of the three most influential local religions in Fujian, the other two being the worship of Mazu and Baosheng Dadi ().


title: Fuzhou

text: Fuzhou cuisine is most notably one of the four traditional cooking styles of Fujian cuisine, which in turn is one of the eight Chinese regional cuisines. Dishes are light but flavorful, with particular emphasis on umami taste, known in Chinese cooking as "xianwei" (), as well as retaining the original flavor of the main ingredients instead of masking them. In Fuzhou cuisine, the taste is light compared to that of some other Chinese cooking styles, and often have a mixed sweet and sour taste. Soup, served as an indispensable dish in meals, is cooked in various ways with local seasonal fresh vegetables and seafood and often added with local cooking wine ().


title: Fuzhou

text: Fuzhou is famous for its street food and snacks. Some notable street food dishes include Fuzhou fish balls (), meat-pastry dumplings (), oyster cake (海蛎饼), rice scroll soup (), guong bian (; a kind of mildly savory pastry), and pork floss (). Many of these street food dishes have a long history and their own local legend; an example would be the oyster cake, according Fuzhou local folklore, in the early Qing dynasty, there was a young man who inherited his father's dim sum business, despite all his hard works, he only managed to earn enough money to feed himself, not enough to raise and feed a family of his own. One night, he dreamt of a silver-haired elderly man, who told him that he has very good fortune, the young man then asked him what he can do to obtain good luck, the elderly man then floated away. That's when the young man notice the setting moon, and after the moon sank under the clouds, rose from the east a golden sun, he was inspired by the dream and invented oyster cake, which is white like the moon before being lowered into hot grease and coming out golden as the morning sun. According to the legend, after the young man made a fortune out of his invention and his oyster cake was imitated by many others, which was passed down till this day. another example of a Fuzhou street food with a long history is rice scroll soup, which became popular in Fuzhou in the early part of the Qing dynasty. As more Fuzhou residents settled overseas, Fuzhou dishes spread to Taiwan, Southeast Asia and the U.S.. For example, one is able to find guong bian and Fuzhou fish balls in Sitiawan in Ipoh, Malaysia while Fuzhou fish balls, meat-pastry dumplings and rice scroll soup can be found in New York's Chinatown.


title: Fuzhou

text: Fuzhou residents also enjoy eating festival foods during traditional Chinese holidays. For example, red and white rice cakes () are served over Chinese New Year, stuffed yuanxiao () during the Lantern Festival, zongzi () during the Dragon Boat Festival, and sweet soy bean powder-covered plain yuanxiao over the winter solstice.


title: Fuzhou

text: Olive juice is also a much sought-after refreshment. Ganlanzhi (橄榄汁) is cloudy and light yellowish-green in color. Olive trees grown on the Canarium album tree in Fuzhou since the Tang Dynasty, it was even approved as a trademark with geographic indication by China in 2010. Not found elsewhere in China, ganlanzhi (橄榄汁) is also a reminder of the many regional differences in China when it comes to food.


title: Fuzhou

text: Bodiless lacquerware (), paper umbrellas and horn combs () are the "Three Treasures" of Fuzhou traditional arts. In addition, bodiless lacquerware, together with cork pictures () and Shoushan stone sculptures () are called "Three Superexcellences" of Fuzhou.


title: Fuzhou

text: "Fuzhou Evening News" (), "Strait Metropolitan Post" and "Southeast Express" () are the three most primary newspapers in the city. "Fuzhou Daily" () is the official newspaper of the Fuzhou Committee of Chinese Communist Party. FZTV, the local municipal television station has four channels. As the capital, the provincial state-owned Fujian Media Group, Fujian Daily Newspaper Group and Straits Publishing & Distributing Group also headquarter here.


title: Fuzhou

text: The city is served by Fuzhou Changle International Airport, which replaces Fuzhou Yixu Airport, the old airfield. The former is its main international airport and an air-hub in southeast China, while the latter was turned into a PLA airbase after 1997.


title: Fuzhou

text: Fuzhou is a railway hub in northern Fujian. The Wenzhou–Fuzhou and Fuzhou–Xiamen Railways form part of the Southeast Coast High-Speed Rail Corridor and can accommodate high-speed trains at speeds of up to .


title: Fuzhou

text: The Hefei–Fuzhou High-Speed Railway links the city to Beijing through its nearby inner land province Jiangxi at speeds up to .


title: Fuzhou

text: The Nanping–Fuzhou Railway and Xiangtang–Putian Railway provide rail access inland. The latter line can carry trains at speeds of . The regional Fuzhou-Mawei Cargo Railway runs from the Fuzhou Railway Station eastward to the port in Mawei District. Fuzhou has two main railway stations, Fuzhou and Fuzhou South. Fuzhou station is often just referred to as Fuzhou station given its central location.


title: Fuzhou

text: Fuzhou Metro is the first rapid transit system in Fujian province, has two metro lines in operation, the first line opened linking the south of the city and the north above the Min River, and five lines under construction.


title: Fuzhou

text: Line 1 links the two railway stations of the city. The Fuzhou railway station is located north of the city center, near the North Second Ring Road. Fuzhou South Railway Station, located in Cangshan district, is a key landmark of the New City development scheme, begun in 2007 and completed in 2010. Line 1 was opened on May 18, 2016.


title: Fuzhou

text: Line 2 runs in the east–west direction of the city, linking the university city and Fuzhou High-Tech Zone in Minhou county, Jinshan Industrial Zone in Cangshan district, and Gushan mountain in Jin'an district. Line 2 was opened on 26 April 2019.


title: Fuzhou

text: A high-speed ferry sails across Taiwan Strait between the port in Pingtan County, the mainland's closest point to Taiwan, to Taipei and Taichung, a trip that takes about 3 hours.


title: Fuzhou

text: In 1867 the Fuzhou seaport was the site of one of China's first major experiments with Western technology, when the Fuzhou Navy Yard was established. A shipyard and an arsenal were built under French guidance and a naval school was opened. A naval academy was also established at the shipyard, and it became a center for the study of European languages and technical sciences. The academy, which offered courses in English, French, engineering, and navigation, produced a generation of Western-trained officers, including the famous scholar-reformer Yan Fu (1854–1921).


title: Fuzhou

text: The yard was established as part of a program to strengthen China in the wake of the country's disastrous defeat in the Second Opium War (1856–1860). Most talented students nonetheless continued to pursue a traditional Confucian education, and by the mid-1870s the government began to lose interest in the shipyard, which had trouble securing funds and declined in importance. Fuzhou remained essentially a commercial center and a port until World War II; it had relatively little industry. The port was occupied by the Japanese during 1940–1945.


title: Fuzhou

text: Since 1949, Fuzhou has grown considerably. Transportation has been improved by the dredging of the Min River for navigation by medium-sized craft upstream to Nanping. In 1956 the railway linking Fuzhou with the interior of the province and with the main Chinese railway system began operation. The port has also been improved; Fuzhou itself is no longer accessible to seagoing ships, but Luoxingta anchorage and the outer harbor at Guantou on the coast of the East China Sea have been modernized and improved. The chief exports are timber, fruits, paper, and foodstuffs.


title: Fuzhou

text: Industry is supplied with power by a grid running from the Gutian hydroelectric scheme in the mountains to the northwest. The city is a center for commercial banking, designer brands and timber-working, engineering, papermaking, printing, and textile industries. A small iron and steel plant was built in 1958. In 1984 Fuzhou was designated one of China's "open" cities in the new open-door policy inviting foreign investments. Handicrafts remain important in the rural areas, and the city is famous for its lacquer and wood products.


title: Fuzhou

text: Fuzhou is undoubtedly the province's political, economic and cultural center as well as an industrial center and seaport on the Min River. In 2008, Fuzhou's GDP amounted to ¥228.4 billion, an increase of 13 percent.


title: Fuzhou

text: Manufactured products include chemicals, silk and cotton textiles, iron and steel, and processed food. Among Fuzhou's exports are fine lacquerware and handcrafted fans and umbrellas. The city's trade is mainly with Chinese coastal ports. Its exports of timber, food products, and paper move through the harbor at Guantou located about downstream.


title: Fuzhou

text: In 2008, exports reached US$13.6 billion, a growth of 10.4 percent while imports amounted to US$6.8 billion. Total retail sales for the same period came to ¥113.4 billion and per capita GDP grew to ¥33,615. During the same period, Fuzhou approved 155 foreign-invested projects. Contracted foreign investment amounted to US$1.489 billion, while utilized foreign investment increased by 43 percent to US$1.002 billion.


title: Fuzhou

text: The Fuzhou Economic & Technological Development Zone was established in January 1985 by the State Council, with a total planning area of and now has built. It is located close to Fuzhou Changle International Airport and Fuzhou Port. Industries encouraged in the zone include electronics assembly and manufacturing, telecommunications equipment, trading and distribution, automobile production/assembly, medical equipment and supplies, shipping/warehousing/logistics, and heavy industry.


title: Fuzhou

text: The Fuzhou Export Processing Zone was founded on June 3, 2005, with the approval of the State Council and enjoys all the preferential policies. It is located inside the Chang'an Investment Zone of the Fuzhou Economic and Technical Development Zone (FETDZ) with a planned land area of .


title: Fuzhou

text: The Fuzhou Free Trade Zone was established in 1992 by the State Council, with a planning area of . Industries encouraged in the free trade zone include electronics assembly and manufacturing, heavy industry, instruments and industrial equipment production, shipping/warehousing/logistics, telecommunications equipment, trading, and distribution.


title: Fuzhou

text: Fuzhou High-tech Development Zone was set up in 1988 and approved by the State Council in March 1991. In 1995, the Fuzhou municipal government decided to build Baiyi Electronic Information City, which covers in the zone, making it the lead electronic industrial zone in Fuzhou. The Administrative Commission of Mawei High-tech Park was set up in the zone in 1999. It covers an area of , and is in the area between Gushan Channel and Mawei Channel, Jiangbin Road and Fuma Road.


title: Fuzhou

text: The Fuzhou Science and Technology Park was established in 1988 and was approved to be a national-level zone by the State Council in 1991. The planned area is and is divided into 3 parts: the Mawei portion, the Cangshan portion, and the Hongshan portion. The main industries are electronics, information technology, and biotechnology. The zone is away from the China National Highway 316 and away from the Fuzhou Changle International Airport.


title: Fuzhou

text: The Fuzhou Taiwan Merchants Development Zone was approved to be established in May 1989 by the State Council. The zone is located in the Fuzhou Economic and Technological Development Zone. The zone is a commercial base for Taiwan-related development. The current area is . The main industries are IT, metallurgy, food processing, and textiles. The zone is away from the 316 National Highway and away from Fuzhou Changle International Airport.


title: Fuzhou

text: Sanfang Qixiang () "Three Lanes and Seven Alleys" is a cluster of ancient residential buildings dating from the late Jin dynasty now features a pedestrian zone with shops along the street. Situated at the centre of the city at Gulou District, it is the most popular touristic destination in the city. Many buildings were revitalized recently to increase tourism.


title: Fuzhou

text: Three Universities above take the leading position in the province, and they are supported by Fujian Government to build High-level University.


title: Ajmer rape case

text: The Ajmer rape case involved the serial rapes and blackmailing of girls by local gang in Ajmer, Rajasthan in 1992. It is one of sexual exploitation scandals. The scandal involved young girls. The news of the scandal broke after a local paper, ‘Dainik Navajyoti’ published some nude images and a story about school students being blackmailed by local gangs.


title: Ajmer rape case

text: The investigation of the case was stalled by police under political pressure as the main accused, Farooq Chishtee, belonging to the Khadims of Ajmer Sharif Dargah, was president of the Ajmer Indian Youth Congress. Eventually, 18 serial offenders were charged in court. 8 were convicted for life and 4 among them were later acquitted in 2001. In 2007, a fast track court in Ajmer convicted Farooq Chishti, but in 2013, Rajasthan High Court released him on time served.


title: Ajmer rape case

text: "The accused were in a position of influence, both socially and financially, and that made it even more difficult to persuade the girls to come forward and depose," says retired Rajasthan D.G.P. Omendra Bhardwaj, who was then posted as the Deputy Inspector General of Police, Ajmer. The Supreme Court noted in this case, "Unfortunately many of the victims who appeared as witnesses turned hostile and one can appreciate the reason why they did not want to depose against the appellants as that would have exposed them as well, and would have adversely affected their future life." The case has been compared to the Rotherham child sexual exploitation scandal.


title: Ajmer rape case

text: The blackmail operation was discovered to be a chain of serial offenders. A specific group of local influential men was targeting young girls. First, Farooq Chistee trapped one of the girls from Sophia Senior Secondary School in Ajmer and took obscene photos of her. Then the accused blackmailed the girl into introducing them to her classmates and friends. Eventually, other girls would be raped, sexually exploited, and have their pictures taken at a farmhouse. The cycle continued so forth. The gang continued to expand its operations and victimize an increasing number of girls. They photographed the girls in compromising positions, using the images to exploit the victims.


title: Ajmer rape case

text: The editor of Navjyoti, Deenbandhu Chaudhary, had admitted that the local law enforcement authorities were aware of the scandal almost since a year before the story broke, but they allowed the local politicians to stall the investigations.


title: Ajmer rape case

text: Chaudhary stated that they finally decided to go ahead with the story because that seemed to be the only way to prod the local administration into action. Finally, the police lodged an FIR against eight of the accused. Further investigations led to 18 men in total being charged and tensions ran high in the town for several days.


title: Ajmer rape case

text: People took to the streets to protest and tension in the community grew. A three-day bandh was imposed and subsequent news of the widespread exploitation and blackmail started coming in. Retired Rajasthan DGP Omendra Bhardwaj, who was the Deputy Inspector General of Police in Ajmer at that time, stated that the social and financial aristocracy of the accused stopped many more victims from coming forward. Another grim realization was that many of the victims, being young and vulnerable, had already committed suicide.


title: Ajmer rape case

text: The case is still far from being closed. Many victims who were supposed to be witnesses turned hostile. The number of victims was believed to be several hundred.


title: Ajmer rape case

text: The Rajasthan police's Special Operations Group (SOG) arrested Saiyed Saleem Chishtee, 42, one of the accused from Khalid Mohalla in Ajmer town on 4 January 2012.


title: Ajmer rape case

text: All of the 19 accused were charged with abduction. The main accused Farooq Chishtee was President of the Ajmer Youth Congress. Nafis Chishtee was the Vice-President of Ajmer Indian National Congress and Anwar Chishtee was the Joint Secretary of Ajmer Indian National Congress. Moijullah (alias Puttan), Ishrat Ali, Anwar Chishtee, and Shamshuddin (alias Meradona) were also sentenced by the court. Absconder Suhail Chishtee hid for 26 years before surrendering. Absconder Salim Chishtee was arrested in 2012. Another main accused, Alamas, is still a fugitive.


title: Ajmer rape case

text: According to the police and women-focused NGOs, it was difficult to build a case against the perpetrators, as most victims were reluctant to come forward. However, the photographs and videos used to blackmail the victims helped identify the accused and build the case against them.


title: Ajmer rape case

text: Thirty victims were identified in the investigations. Out of these, only about a dozen filed cases, and ten later backed out. Only two victims pursued the case. Of the 18 accused who were charged with abduction and gang rape under the Indian Penal Code and Indecent Representation of Women, one has since committed suicide. In 2013, the Rajasthan High Court upheld the decision though it reduced the period of the sentence from life imprisonment to the period already served by him.


title: Ajmer rape case

text: In 2004, the Supreme Court dismissed both appeals filed by the state, as well as the convicts. A bench comprising Justice N. Santosh Hegde and Justice BP Singh said, "Having regard to the facts and circumstances of the case, we are of the view that the ends of justice would be met if the sentence is reduced to ten years rigorous imprisonment."


title: Ajmer rape case

text: After the rape, most victims experienced harassment and threats, with no support from society or their families. According to police investigations, about 6 victims allegedly committed suicide. Ajmer Mahila Samooh, who tried to take up the victim's cause, withdrew after receiving threats. Small-time tabloids were quite a sensation in Ajmer at that time. Many victims were even allegedly blackmailed further by these tabloids and local papers. They had access to the explicit images of the girls, and the owners and publishers sought money from the families of the girls to keep them hidden.


title: Ajmer rape case

text: With every surrendering, sentencing, or any other development in the case (even after 30 years since the incident), the survivors had to return to court, causing them to relive the horror over and over.


title: Ajmer rape case

text: The incident shocked the entire country. People took to the streets to protest and communal tension grew. A three-day bandh was observed and much subsequent news of the widespread exploitation and blackmail started coming in. The police were also criticized for not acting even after having information about the ongoing sexual abuse. It had also stalled the case because the local politicians warned action against the accused would lead to massive community tension.


title: Ajmer rape case

text: Musabbir Hussain, Joint Secretary of the Anjuman Committee which oversees the Ajmer Dargah, told "Indian Express", "It’s a case that nobody in Ajmer wants to talk about because of the nature of the crime. It’s a blot on our city’s history."


title: Hierarchical clustering

text: In data mining and statistics, hierarchical clustering (also called hierarchical cluster analysis or HCA) is a method of cluster analysis that seeks to build a hierarchy of clusters. Strategies for hierarchical clustering generally fall into two categories:


title: Hierarchical clustering

text: In general, the merges and splits are determined in a greedy manner. The results of hierarchical clustering are usually presented in a dendrogram.


title: Hierarchical clustering

text: The standard algorithm for hierarchical agglomerative clustering (HAC) has a time complexity of formula_1 and requires formula_2 memory, which makes it too slow for even medium data sets. However, for some special cases, optimal efficient agglomerative methods (of complexity formula_3) are known: SLINK for single-linkage and CLINK for complete-linkage clustering. With a heap, the runtime of the general case can be reduced to formula_4, an improvement on the aforementioned bound of formula_1, at the cost of further increasing the memory requirements. In many cases, the memory overheads of this approach are too large to make it practically usable.


title: Hierarchical clustering

text: Except for the special case of single-linkage, none of the algorithms (except exhaustive search in formula_6) can be guaranteed to find the optimum solution.


title: Hierarchical clustering

text: Divisive clustering with an exhaustive search is formula_6, but it is common to use faster heuristics to choose splits, such as "k"-means.


title: Hierarchical clustering

text: Hierarchical clustering has the distinct advantage that any valid measure of distance can be used. In fact, the observations themselves are not required: all that is used is a matrix of distances.


title: Hierarchical clustering

text: In order to decide which clusters should be combined (for agglomerative), or where a cluster should be split (for divisive), a measure of dissimilarity between sets of observations is required. In most methods of hierarchical clustering, this is achieved by use of an appropriate distance "d", such as the Euclidean distance, between "single" observations of the data set, and a linkage criterion, which specifies the dissimilarity of "sets" as a function of the pairwise distances of observations in the sets. The choice of metric as well as linkage can have a major impact on the result of the clustering, where the lower level metric determines which objects are most similar, whereas the linkage criterion influences the shape of the clusters. For example, complete-linkage tends to produce more spherical clusters than single-linkage.


title: Hierarchical clustering

text: The linkage criterion determines the distance between sets of observations as a function of the pairwise distances between observations.


title: Hierarchical clustering

text: Some commonly used linkage criteria between two sets of observations "A" and "B" and a distance "d" are:


title: Hierarchical clustering

text: Some of these can only be recomputed recursively (WPGMA, WPGMC), for many a recursive computation with Lance-Williams-equations is more efficient, while for other (Mini-Max, Hausdorff, Medoid) the distances have to be computed with the slower full formula. Other linkage criteria include:


title: Hierarchical clustering

text: For example, suppose this data is to be clustered, and the Euclidean distance is the distance metric.


title: Hierarchical clustering

text: Cutting the tree at a given height will give a partitioning clustering at a selected precision. In this example, cutting after the second row (from the top) of the dendrogram will yield clusters {a} {b c} {d e} {f}. Cutting after the third row will yield clusters {a} {b c} {d e f}, which is a coarser clustering, with a smaller number but larger clusters.


title: Hierarchical clustering

text: This method builds the hierarchy from the individual elements by progressively merging clusters. In our example, we have six elements {a} {b} {c} {d} {e} and {f}. The first step is to determine which elements to merge in a cluster. Usually, we want to take the two closest elements, according to the chosen distance.


title: Hierarchical clustering

text: Optionally, one can also construct a distance matrix at this stage, where the number in the "i"-th row "j"-th column is the distance between the "i"-th and "j"-th elements. Then, as clustering progresses, rows and columns are merged as the clusters are merged and the distances updated. This is a common way to implement this type of clustering, and has the benefit of caching distances between clusters. A simple agglomerative clustering algorithm is described in the single-linkage clustering page; it can easily be adapted to different types of linkage (see below).


title: Hierarchical clustering

text: Suppose we have merged the two closest elements "b" and "c", we now have the following clusters {"a"}, {"b", "c"}, {"d"}, {"e"} and {"f"}, and want to merge them further. To do that, we need to take the distance between {a} and {b c}, and therefore define the distance between two clusters.


title: Hierarchical clustering

text: In case of tied minimum distances, a pair is randomly chosen, thus being able to generate several structurally different dendrograms. Alternatively, all tied pairs may be joined at the same time, generating a unique dendrogram.


title: Hierarchical clustering

text: One can always decide to stop clustering when there is a sufficiently small number of clusters (number criterion). Some linkages may also guarantee that agglomeration occurs at a greater distance between clusters than the previous agglomeration, and then one can stop clustering when the clusters are too far apart to be merged (distance criterion). However, this is not the case of, e.g., the centroid linkage where the so-called reversals (inversions, departures from ultrametricity) may occur.


title: Hierarchical clustering

text: The basic principle of divisive clustering was published as the DIANA (DIvisive ANAlysis Clustering) algorithm. Initially, all data is in the same cluster, and the largest cluster is split until every object is separate.


title: Hierarchical clustering

text: Because there exist formula_13 ways of splitting each cluster, heuristics are needed. DIANA chooses the object with the maximum average dissimilarity and then moves all objects to this cluster that are more similar to the new cluster than to the remainder.


title: Princess Kako of Akishino

text: Princess Kako was born on 29 December 1994 at Imperial Household Agency Hospital in Tokyo Imperial Palace, Chiyoda, Tokyo.


title: Princess Kako of Akishino

text: In April 2001, Princess Kako began Gakushuin Primary School and graduated in March 2007. Princess Kako entered Gakushuin Girls' Senior High School Tokyo in April 2007 and graduated in March 2013.


title: Princess Kako of Akishino

text: From 7 to 21 August 2003, Kako went to Thailand with her parents and sister for the 71st birthday celebration of Queen Sirikit and for conferment of an honorary fellowship from Ubon Ratchathani University, and for joint research on poultry.


title: Princess Kako of Akishino

text: Kako participated in figure skating while in primary school. In 2007, she represented the Meiji-jingu Gaien Figure Skating Club and joined the Spring Cup Figure Skating Competition held by the Japan Skating Federation. Princess Kako ranked top in the Shinjuku division (Female Group B - Primary School Year Six or above).


title: Princess Kako of Akishino

text: In April 2013, she attended the entrance ceremony of Gakushuin University and began her life as an undergraduate student. In August 2014, she quit the Department of Education, the Faculty of Letters, Gakushuin University and passed the entrance examination to the International Christian University (ICU), her older sister's alma mater. On 2 April 2015, the Princess attended the entrance ceremony of the university in Tokyo.


title: Princess Kako of Akishino

text: In 2017, as part of the ICU's study abroad programme, Princess Kako travelled to the United Kingdom to study at the University of Leeds. She studied performing arts and psychology as part of the programme. She completed her studies in June 2018.


title: Princess Kako of Akishino

text: In September 2019, she embarked on her first official solo overseas visit and went to Austria and Hungary, where she met with the heads of state of those countries. In May 2021, she began working part-time for the Japanese Federation of the Deaf.


title: Madusa

text: Debrah Ann Miceli (born February 9, 1964), better known as Madusa, is an Italian-born American monster truck driver and former professional wrestler. As of 2015, she has been the commissioner of Japanese promotion World Wonder Ring Stardom. In professional wrestling Miceli is also known by the ring name Alundra Blayze, which she used while in the WWF/WWE. Outside of the WWF, she wrestled under her professional name of Madusa, which was shortened from "Made in the USA". Her early career was spent in the American Wrestling Association, where she once held the AWA World Women's Championship. In 1988, she was the first woman to be awarded "Pro Wrestling Illustrated's" Rookie of the Year. The following year, she signed a contract with All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling, making her the first foreign wrestler to do so.


title: Madusa

text: She later joined World Championship Wrestling (WCW), where she was a member of The Dangerous Alliance, a group of wrestlers managed by Paul E. Dangerously. In 1993, she joined the rival World Wrestling Federation (WWF) under the name Alundra Blayze. In the WWF, she feuded with Bull Nakano and Bertha Faye, while holding the WWF Women's Championship three times. Two years after joining the WWF, Miceli returned to WCW, showing up on an episode of "Monday Nitro" to throw the WWF Women's Championship belt into a trash can; she was blacklisted by the WWF for the next 20 years as a result. In her second WCW run, Miceli feuded with Bull Nakano and Oklahoma, and became the first woman to hold the WCW World Cruiserweight Championship. After training wrestlers such as Torrie Wilson, Stacy Keibler, and Nora Greenwald (Molly Holly) at the WCW Power Plant, she left the company in 2001. On March 28, 2015, she was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2015, under the Alundra Blayze moniker.


title: Madusa

text: Miceli competes in the world of monster trucks. She drives a truck named Madusa, and won the 2004 co-championship at the Monster Jam World Finals for freestyle in the first-ever three-way tie. The following year, she was the only female competitor in the Super Bowl of Motorsports, and she won the Racing Championship in the Monster Jam World Finals.


title: Madusa

text: Miceli was born in Milan, Italy, but raised in several foster homes in Minneapolis. Before entering professional wrestling, she participated in both gymnastics and track, and at age 14, she worked at an Arby's fast-food restaurant. During the beginning of her wrestling career, she also worked as a part-time nurse.


title: Madusa

text: In 1984, Miceli trained with Eddie Sharkey in Minneapolis and began working on the independent circuit for $5 a match. In 1986, she started wrestling in the American Wrestling Association (AWA) feuding with Sherri Martel as Madusa Miceli. After Martel left the AWA, she replaced her as "Mr. Magnificent" Kevin Kelly's manager, who often teamed with Nick Kiniski as "The Perfect Tag Team". In a tournament final, she won the AWA World Women's Championship over Candi Devine on December 27, 1987. At that time Madusa also began managing the AWA World Heavyweight Champion Curt Hennig. She later lost the title to Wendi Richter on November 26, 1988. Hennig and Madusa joined the Diamond Exchange, a stable led by Diamond Dallas Page that included Badd Company. With Badd Company she faced the team of the Top Guns (Ricky Rice and Derrick Dukes) and Wendi Richter at the only AWA pay-per-view SuperClash III. Both Badd Company's Tag-Team Title and Wendi Richter's AWA World Women's Championship were on the line, but since Richter pinned Miceli, Badd Company remained the champions. In 1988, Miceli was also the first woman to be awarded "Pro Wrestling Illustrated"'s Rookie of the Year.


title: Madusa

text: Miceli wrestled a six-week tour for All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling at the beginning of 1989, where she won the IWA Women's title from Chigusa Nagayo before dropping it back to her the very next day. She then began training in Japan, learning the Japanese wrestling style, as well as Muay Thai, kickboxing, and boxing. She eventually signed a three-year deal with All Japan, which made her the first non-Japanese wrestler to do so. In addition, she worked for the TWA, feuding with Luna Vachon, whom she faced in a Hair vs Hair Mixed Tag Team match in September 1991. Miceli and her partner Eddie Gilbert defeated Vachon and Cactus Jack, which resulted in Vachon having her head shaved.


title: Madusa

text: She then went to WCW and helped Paul E. Dangerously form his Dangerous Alliance. She acted primarily as Alliance member Rick Rude's valet. On October 25, Dangerously kicked her out of the Dangerous Alliance at Halloween Havoc. She, however, defeated him by count-out on November 18, 1992 at "Clash of the Champions XXI".


title: Madusa

text: In 1993, the WWF reinstated its Women's Championship, a title that had been vacant since 1990, and Miceli was brought in by the company to revive the women's division. She debuted under the ring name Alundra Blayze, because WWF owner Vince McMahon did not want to pay Miceli to use the name Madusa, which she had trademarked. She wrestled in a six-woman tournament to crown a new Women's Champion, and in the finals, she pinned Heidi Lee Morgan on December 13 to win the title.


title: Madusa

text: After the tournament, Miceli asked WWF management to bring in new women for her to wrestle. In mid-1994, Bull Nakano joined the WWF roster and began feuding with Blayze. Blayze defeated Nakano at SummerSlam, but lost the belt to her on November 20, 1994 in Japan at the Big Egg Wrestling Universe event. Five months later on April 3, 1995, Blayze regained the title from Nakano on an edition of "Monday Night Raw". As part of the storyline, immediately following the win, she was attacked by Bertha Faye, who broke her nose. According to Rhonda Sing (Faye), the storyline was written so Miceli could take time off to get breast implants and a nose job. She returned to the ring in August 1995, losing the Women's Championship to Faye at SummerSlam on August 27. Two months later, she won the title a third time, defeating Faye on October 23. In December, due to financial troubles the WWF was having at the time she was released from her contract and was stripped of the title following her jump to rival company World Championship Wrestling, and the WWF Women's Championship remained vacant until 1998. Miceli was blacklisted by the WWF for the next 20 years, owing to her participation in a controversial incident upon returning to WCW during which she dropped the WWF Women's championship belt into a trash can.


title: Madusa

text: In December 1995, Miceli signed with WCW, and as part of a storyline by booker Eric Bischoff, showed up on "WCW Monday Nitro" on December 18, where she threw the WWF Women's belt into a trash can. She later admitted that she regretted the action and would not have done it had Bischoff not coerced her. Miceli immediately began using the Madusa name again. Upon her debut she attacked Sherri Martel during her wedding to Col. Robert Parker. She had a match the following Monday on Nitro against Sherri Martel which she lost. After that, the company brought in Bull Nakano to feud with her; they battled in a match at Hog Wild in August 1996. Due to pre-match stipulations, Madusa was allowed to destroy Nakano's motorcycle after the match.


title: Madusa

text: The company then decided to establish the WCW Women's Championship, but Madusa lost to Akira Hokuto in the finals of the tournament to crown the first champion on December 29 at Starrcade. On June 15, Hokuto retained the title against Madusa at The Great American Bash in a Title vs. Career match. The latter then took a nearly two-year hiatus from the company.


title: Madusa

text: Madusa returned to WCW in April 1999 as part of Randy Savage's faction Team Madness with Gorgeous George and Miss Madness. After that storyline ended, Madusa entered into a tournament for the WCW Championship, but she was defeated and eliminated from the tournament. She was later re-entered into the tournament in a match against Evan Karagias, but was eliminated the next week. After her elimination, Madusa put all her focus on managing Karagias. After Karagias won the WCW World Cruiserweight Championship at Mayhem, he was found flirting with Spice of the Nitro Girls. At Starrcade, however, Spice gave Karagias a low blow during the match, and Madusa pinned him to become the first female ever to win the WCW World Cruiserweight Championship. Spice then aligned herself with Madusa and became her manager for a short time.


title: Madusa

text: In January 2000, Madusa developed a rivalry with Oklahoma. In a farcical Evening Gown match on an episode of "WCW Thunder" on January 12, Madusa defeated Oklahoma by stripping off his dress, but he attacked her after the match. She eventually lost the Cruiserweight belt to Oklahoma at Souled Out on January 16, 2000.


title: Madusa

text: In the meantime, Miceli became an instructor at the WCW Power Plant, where she helped train women such as Nora Greenwald (Molly Holly) to wrestle. Before WCW's collapse, she engaged in a brief feud with Torrie Wilson and Shane Douglas, who defeated her and partner Billy Kidman at Fall Brawl in a Mixed Tag Team Scaffold match. Madusa took a big bump during this match and wasn't seen again on WCW TV. She left the company when she heard that Vince McMahon, the owner of the World Wrestling Federation, was going to buy WCW. Because she had a previous falling-out with McMahon, she opted not to stay with the company. She retired from professional wrestling for good in 2001 because she did not like the direction in which women's wrestling was going; according to her, it was becoming less about real wrestling and more about Bra and Panties matches.


title: Madusa

text: On March 2, 2015, it was announced that Miceli would be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2015, under her Alundra Blayze moniker. On Twitter, she said this was a sign of respect, since that was her name in WWE, but "that bitch Madusa will be on stage speaking." During her speech, in response to constant questions about her dumping the WWF Women's Championship belt in the trash on "Monday Nitro", her inductor, Natalya, wheeled a trash can onstage. Miceli (calling herself both Madusa and Alundra Blayze) withdrew the belt, which she stressed was a good-looking "women's "wrestling" belt", and said it was finally "back home where it belongs" after 20 years. She held the belt on her shoulder, and referred to herself as the reigning WWF Women's Champion. Following her Hall of Fame induction, she made a special appearance during the WrestleMania 31 event the following day on March 29, along with the other Hall of Fame inductees.


title: Madusa

text: In September 2015, Miceli was appointed the commissioner of Japanese women's promotion World Wonder Ring Stardom.


title: Madusa

text: On January 27, 2016, Miceli appeared on WWE Network's program "Table for 3", along with fellow wrestlers Ivory and Molly Holly.


title: Madusa

text: In September 2017, the WWE Network released a documentary entitled "TrailBlayzer" detailing Miceli's careers in both wrestling and monster truck driving.


title: Madusa

text: Miceli as Alundra Blayze was announced as an entrant into the battle royal for a women's championship opportunity at WWE Evolution, marking a return to the ring after an 18-year hiatus, however she was eliminated by Nia Jax


title: Madusa

text: On July 22, 2019, Alundra Blayze appeared as a heel and attacked 24/7 Champion Candice Michelle, after which she captured the title from Candice by forcing her to submit, with Melina acting as the official, becoming the third woman to win the title, while also becoming the first individual to win the title via submission. She also became the second woman to hold both the WWE Women's Championship, and the 24/7 Championship. She later attempted to toss the 24/7 Championship into the trash (similar to when she did the same to the WWF Women's Championship in 1995), only to instead sell the title to WWE Hall of Famer Ted DiBiase.


title: Madusa

text: Returning to TNT for the first time in 20 years, Miceli was presenter of the All Elite Wrestling (AEW)'s Women's Tag Team Cup Tournament: The Deadly Draw, which began on August 3, 2020. The tournament concluded on the August 22, 2020 Saturday episode of "AEW Dynamite", where she gave the championship cup to the tournament winners Ivelisse and Diamante.


title: Madusa

text: Miceli would also appear in WWE on the July 26, 2022 episode of NXT in a backstage segment with Roxanne Perez and McKenzie Mitchell, announcing a fatal four way elimination match for the vacant NXT Women’s Tag Team Championship.


title: Madusa

text: Miceli entered the monster truck business under Dennis Anderson in 1999. She made her first American hot rod appearance at the Trans World Dome. Afterward, she purchased her own truck and named it Madusa, as she still held the rights to the name. She began winning freestyle competitions in 2001. Miceli won the 2004 co-championship at the Monster Jam World Finals for freestyle in the first-ever three-way tie. In March 2005 in Las Vegas, she beat her trainer Dennis Anderson in the final bracket of the Monster Jam World Finals for the Racing Championship, thus making her the first woman to win the Monster Jam World Finals racing championship. Also in 2005, she was the only female competitor in the Super Bowl of Motorsports.


title: Madusa

text: As of January 2008, she is also the Executive Vice President of the Major League of Monster Trucks. In 2009, she returned to Monster Jam for the first time since 2006.


title: Madusa

text: On October 10, 2014, she was injured in a Monster Jam event in Melbourne, Australia and was taken to a Melbourne hospital for treatment.


title: Madusa

text: She appeared in the video game "WCW Nitro", "WCW Backstage Assault", "WWE 2K16", "WWE 2K17", "WWE 2K18" and "WWE 2K19".


title: Madusa

text: After a brief first marriage to Eddie Gilbert in 1990, Miceli's second marriage was on February 14, 1998, to NFL player Ken Blackman, eight months after they met in June 1997. They shared homes in Cincinnati and Homosassa, Florida. In 1998, they opened a motorcycle shop called Spookee Custom Cycles, which made motorcycles for other NFL players such as Kimo von Oelhoffen, Darnay Scott, Bradford Banta, and Dan Wilkinson. The couple later divorced in 2008.


title: Madusa

text: On June 25, 2011, Miceli married Alan Jonason, a sergeant major in the U.S. Army, in Memphis. The wedding took place at Graceland and was broadcast over the internet for over 22,000 fans.


title: Madusa

text: In 1995, she appeared in the films "Shootfighter II", "Death Match", and "Intersanction II". In Japan, she released a CD of songs sung in Japanese. She owns a grooming, pet spa, and doggy bakery called Koolkats and Hotdogs in Lecanto, Florida. In February 2004, she provided commentary for boat races.


title: Israel (name)

text: Israel () is a masculine given name of Hebrew origin. According to the Book of Genesis, Jacob was given the name "Israel" after he wrestled with the angel ( and 35:10). The given name is already attested in Eblaite (𒅖𒊏𒅋, "išrail") and Ugaritic (𐎊𐎌𐎗𐎛𐎍, "yšrʾil"). Commentators differ on the original literal interpretation. The text of Genesis etymologizes the name with the root "śarah" "to rule, contend, have power, prevail over":  (KJV: "a prince hast thou power with God"), but modern suggestions read the "el" as the subject, for a translation of "El/God rules/judges/struggles", "El fights/struggles".


title: Israel (name)

text: The name appears on the Merneptah Stele as 𓇌𓊃𓏤𓏤𓂋𓇋𓄿𓂋𓏤 (ysrỉꜣr), referring to a foreign group of people, probably the Israelites.


title: Israel (name)

text: In Jewish and Christian texts from the Greco-Egyptian area during Second Temple Judaism and beyond the name was understood to mean "a man seeing God" from the "ʾyš" (man) "rʾh" (to see) "ʾel" (God).


title: Israel (name)

text: Jacob's descendants came to be known as the Israelites, eventually forming the twelve tribes of Israel and ultimately the kingdom of Israel, whence came the name of modern-day State of Israel.


title: Morgan Ortagus

text: Morgan Deann Ortagus (born July 10, 1982) is an American television commentator, financial analyst, and political advisor who served as spokesperson for the United States Department of State from 2019 to 2021. She previously held government positions as a deputy attaché and intelligence analyst at the United States Department of the Treasury and as a public affairs officer at USAID. Ortagus worked as national security contributor at Fox News prior to her appointment as State Department spokesperson. She is an officer in the United States Navy Reserve.


title: Morgan Ortagus

text: During her time at the State Department, she was critical of Iran and China, particularly over the Chinese Communist Party's efforts to shift blame to the United States for the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: Morgan Ortagus

text: In February 2022, Ortagus announced her candidacy for Tennessee's 5th congressional district in the 2022 election, but was disqualified by the Tennessee Republican Party.


title: Morgan Ortagus

text: Ortagus was born in Auburndale, Florida to Ronald E. and Denise C. Ortagus. Her father owned a cleanup and restoration company, and her mother was the office manager. She grew up in Florida and won the Miss Florida Citrus title in 2003. Ortagus volunteered with Students Against Destructive Decisions and Mothers Against Drunk Driving after her mentor was killed by a drunk driver in 1996.


title: Morgan Ortagus

text: In 2005, Ortagus—a first-generation college student—graduated from Florida Southern College with a Bachelor of Science degree in political science. She originally expressed interest in music, but switched her major to political science after the September 11 attacks. In 2013, Ortagus graduated from Johns Hopkins University with a Master of Arts degree and a Master of Business Administration from the Carey Business School. Ortagus's research at JHU included work on counterinsurgency.


title: Morgan Ortagus

text: In 2006, Ortagus worked as press secretary on former Deputy National Security Advisor K. T. McFarland's Senate campaign. Prior to that, she had been a campaign staffer for Florida Republican congressman Adam Putnam.


title: Morgan Ortagus

text: From 2007 to 2008, Ortagus was a public affairs officer at United States Agency for International Development (USAID), spending several months in Baghdad, Iraq. She attended a Hanukkah ceremony in one of Saddam Hussein's former palaces in Baghdad.


title: Morgan Ortagus

text: In 2008, Ortagus joined the U.S. Treasury Department, working as an intelligence analyst within the Treasury's Office of Intelligence and Analysis, covering North Africa and the Middle East.


title: Morgan Ortagus

text: In 2010, Ortagus served as a deputy Treasury attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. She worked to counter illicit financial flows and was the principal liaison from the Treasury Department to the banking sector in Saudi Arabia. She returned to the United States in 2011.


title: Morgan Ortagus

text: After returning to the United States, Ortagus joined the private sector, first as global relationship manager at Standard Chartered Bank working with clients from Asia, the Middle East and Africa, and then in 2016 as executive director at Ernst & Young (EY), where she helped found EY's Geostrategic Business Group working on geopolitical risk analysis for investors.


title: Morgan Ortagus

text: In 2013, she was the vice president of the board of the Friends of the Public Private Partnership for Justice Reform in Afghanistan, based in Washington.


title: Morgan Ortagus

text: Ortagus worked as national security contributor and Republican strategist at the Fox News Channel, appearing on "Fox & Friends", "Outnumbered", "The Five" and "Mornings with Maria" on the Fox Business Network.


title: Morgan Ortagus

text: Ortagus and Samantha Vinograd co-founded GO Advisors, a geopolitical risk and policy advisory firm that focused on bridging divides between Wall Street and Silicon Valley with the White House and U.S. Treasury Department.


title: Morgan Ortagus

text: Ortagus was on the National Board of Directors of Maverick PAC as National Co-Chair. The organization's co-founder said that Ortagus "turned the organization really into a new frontier." She was also a member of the CNAS Council and Future of Sanctions Task Force, a member of the Institute for the Study of War's Advancement Committee, a board member to the Elizabeth Dole Foundation, a board member to the Friends of the American University of Afghanistan, and an advisor to Concordia where she contributed to the strategic direction and development of the organization's foreign and defense policy programming.


title: Morgan Ortagus

text: Ortagus returned to government in 2019 as Spokesperson for the U.S. State Department, succeeding Heather Nauert. "Washington Post" columnist Josh Rogin described Ortagus as a bridge between the establishment and more conservative wings of the Republican foreign policy communities, and wrote that she was friends with Eric Trump and Ivanka Trump. She served until the end of the Trump administration, going on maternity leave in November 2020. During her tenure, she promoted the Abraham Accords, which brokered peace agreements between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Sudan.


title: Morgan Ortagus

text: Post-government, Ortagus was a Senior Advisor for the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security at the Atlantic Council, but left by March 2022. She also is a founding investor of Rubicon Founders, a health-care investment firm based in Nashville, Tennessee, in February 2021.


title: Morgan Ortagus

text: On February 7, 2022, Ortagus announced her candidacy for the Republican nomination for Tennessee's 5th congressional district. Two weeks prior, former President Donald Trump endorsed Ortagus for a potential congressional run, saying that "I am told the very strong and impressive Morgan Ortagus is exploring a run in Tennessee's 5th Congressional District." "Politico" forecasted a competitive Republican primary, with some frequent Trump allies backing other candidates.


title: Morgan Ortagus

text: Following Trump's endorsement, the Tennessee General Assembly passed a bill on March 29 to require Congressional candidates live in the district they represented, and to have lived in the state for the three years prior. If signed by the governor, the law's provisions would have taken immediate effect, disqualifying Ortagus. The "Tennessean" reported that the bill targeted Ortagus's candidacy. Instead, Governor Bill Lee allowed the bill to become law unsigned, but only after the congressional filing deadline had passed; as the law's requirements were not retroactive, it did not apply to Ortagus's campaign.


title: Morgan Ortagus

text: On April 19, the Tennessee Republican Party's executive committee removed Ortagus and two other candidates from the primary ballot for the 5th district. The party stated that official challenges had been filed against the three, obligating their removal from the ballot per party bylaws. On June 10, the Tennessee Supreme Court ruled that the Republican Party had not violated open meetings laws, thus keeping the three off the ballot. Maury County Mayor Andy Ogles won the Republican primary on August 4.


title: Morgan Ortagus

text: In July 2020, Ortagus said that blame rested with both political parties "for almost 40 years for not seeing the Chinese Communist Party for who they really are," and stressed the need for American citizens to not trust Chinese social media and technology companies that seek to access private data of U.S. citizens. She welcomed moves by U.S. social media companies to not allow the Chinese government to access their data. In August 2019, Ortagus called the Chinese government a "thuggish regime" for harassing a Hong Kong-based American diplomat. She has condemned the Chinese government's treatment of workers in Xinjiang, China as well as their detention and indoctrination of Uyghur and other religious and ethnic minorities, and called on the CCP to end the use of forced labor. In May 2020, Ortagus said that China was "breaking its word 27 years early" regarding its imposition of a new national security law in Hong Kong and was "taking over the largest financial hub in Asia."


title: Morgan Ortagus

text: After the U.S. killing of Qassem Soleimani in January 2020, Ortagus said that "no one was affected by the brutality and the terrorism of Qassem Soleimani more than the Iranian people themselves," and that the United States had "exercised the maximum restraint possible despite repeated provocations and attacks from the regime and through their proxies. And, finally, enough was enough." She accused Iran of using its proxies to "foment terror throughout the region" and warned that if Iran targeted U.S. diplomats or soldiers, that the U.S. government would "do everything within the law to defend ourselves and defend American interests." Iran did so via Operation Martyr Soleimani, the largest ballistic missile attack ever against Americans, resulting in traumatic brain injuries for 110 U.S. servicemen at the Ayn al Asad Airbase in Iraq.


title: Morgan Ortagus

text: Ortagus called on Iran to allow the United States to participate in the investigation of the Iranian shootdown of PS752 in January 2020.


title: Morgan Ortagus

text: In July 2020, Ortagus condemned the Iranian judiciary for its persistent violation of human rights, including their role in the death of journalist Zahra Kazemi, and for the Death Commissions that killed thousands of political prisoners in the 1980s. She repeatedly tweeted in support of Iranian dissidents and protestors, and said that "the whole world should stand behind the innocent Iranians that are being persecuted by their own government."


title: Morgan Ortagus

text: Ortagus defended Israel against Iranian threats after the U.S. killing of Qassem Soleimani, saying "there is no country that Iran threatens more on a routine basis through their vile and hateful and racist rhetoric than the state of Israel." She also repeated the United States' longstanding pledge to work with Israel to protect mutual security interests. In 2020, she encouraged Israel to more closely scrutinize foreign investments from China, saying "we do not believe decisions that would make Israel beholden to the Chinese Communist Party is what's best for Israel."


title: Morgan Ortagus

text: Ortagus was present for the September 2020 phone call between President Donald Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifah. After the signing of the Abraham Accords between Israel, UAE, and Bahrain, Ortagus said, "Peace for Israel, one of our strongest allies in the world, is important for American national security, because we believe in a strong sovereign state of Israel... Anytime we can bring our friends and allies together, it is positive for the United States." She blamed Palestinian leadership for failing to negotiate with Israel and for their economic malaise.


title: Morgan Ortagus

text: In August 2019, Ortagus called on the Russian Federation to use deconfliction channels to prevent escalation around the border of the Russian-occupied Georgian region of South Ossetia. In May 2020, she blamed Russian interference in Syria, Libya, and Yemen for exacerbating humanitarian crises and causing the deaths of civilians. In July 2020, Ortagus stated that the United States was "troubled by reports of Russian government efforts to manipulate the result of the recent votes on constitutional amendments, including reports of voter coercion, pressure on opponents of the amendments, and restrictions of independent observers of the vote," and that the United States was concerned with an amendment that would potentially allow President Putin to remain in office until 2036."


title: Morgan Ortagus

text: Ortagus called legislation that secured 12 weeks of paid parental leave for federal workers a "monumental achievement" that would provide peace of mind to thousands of working families, and cited Ivanka Trump's bipartisan efforts as key to passage of the legislation in the FY2020 National Defense Authorization Act.


title: Morgan Ortagus

text: In June 2019, Ortagus said the United States "views Canada's claim that the waters of the Northwest Passage are internal waters of Canada as inconsistent with international law."


title: Morgan Ortagus

text: In October 2020, Ortagus said that the United States had expressed its strong opposition to the Government of Turkey's acquisition of the Russian S-400 system, and that the "United States has been clear on our expectation that the S-400 system should not be operationalized."


title: Morgan Ortagus

text: Ortagus married Jonathan Weinberger, an attorney, in 2013, and the couple have a daughter, Adina, born in 2020. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Ortagus's neighbor, presided over their wedding. This is her second marriage; her first ended in divorce.


title: Mother Goose

text: The figure of Mother Goose is the imaginary author of a collection of French fairy tales and later of English nursery rhymes. As a character, she appeared in a song, the first stanza of which often functions now as a nursery rhyme. This, however, was dependent on a Christmas pantomime, a successor to which is still performed in the United Kingdom.


title: Mother Goose

text: The term's appearance in English dates back to the early 18th century, when Charles Perrault’s fairy tale collection, "Contes de ma Mère l'Oye", was first translated into English as "Tales of My Mother Goose". Later a compilation of English nursery rhymes, titled "Mother Goose's Melody, or, Sonnets for the Cradle", helped perpetuate the name both in Britain and the United States.


title: Mother Goose

text: Mother Goose's name was identified with English collections of stories and nursery rhymes popularised in the 17th century. English readers would already have been familiar with Mother Hubbard, a stock figure when Edmund Spenser published the satire Mother Hubberd's Tale in 1590, as well as with similar fairy tales told by "Mother Bunch" (the pseudonym of Madame d'Aulnoy) in the 1690s. An early mention appears in an aside in a versified French chronicle of weekly events, Jean Loret's "La Muse Historique", collected in 1650. His remark, "comme un conte de la Mère Oye" ("like a Mother Goose story") shows that the term was readily understood. Additional 17th-century Mother Goose/Mere l'Oye references appear in French literature in the 1620s and 1630s.


title: Mother Goose

text: In the 20th century, Katherine Elwes-Thomas theorised that the image and name "Mother Goose" or "Mère l'Oye" might be based upon ancient legends of the wife of King Robert II of France, known as "Berthe la fileuse" ("Bertha the Spinner") or "Berthe pied d'oie" ("Goose-Footed Bertha" ), often described as spinning incredible tales that enraptured children. Other scholars have pointed out that Charlemagne's mother, Bertrada of Laon, came to be known as the goose-foot queen ("regina pede aucae"). There are even sources that trace Mother Goose's origin back to the biblical Queen of Sheba. Stories of Bertha with a strange foot (goose, swan or otherwise) exist in many languages including Middle German, French, Latin and, Italian. Jacob Grimm theorised that these stories are related to the Upper German figure Perchta or Berchta (English Bertha). Like the legends of "Bertha la fileuse" in France and the story of Mother Goose Berchta was associated with children, geese, and spinning or weaving, although with much darker connotations.


title: Mother Goose

text: Despite evidence to the contrary, it has been stated in the United States that the original Mother Goose was the Bostonian wife of Isaac Goose, either named Elizabeth Foster Goose (1665–1758) or Mary Goose (d. 1690, age 42). She was reportedly the second wife of Isaac Goose (alternatively named Vergoose or Vertigoose), who brought to the marriage six children of her own to add to Isaac's ten. After Isaac died, Elizabeth went to live with her eldest daughter, who had married Thomas Fleet, a publisher who lived on Pudding Lane (now Devonshire Street). According to Early, "Mother Goose" used to sing songs and ditties to her grandchildren all day, and other children swarmed to hear them. Finally, it was said, her son-in-law gathered her jingles together and printed them. No evidence of such printing has been found, and historians believe this story was concocted by Fleet's great-grandson John Fleet Eliot in 1860.


title: Mother Goose

text: Iona and Peter Opie, leading authorities on nursery lore, give no credence to either the Elwes-Thomas or the Boston suppositions. It is generally accepted that the term does not refer to any particular person.


title: Mother Goose

text: Charles Perrault, one of the initiators of the literary fairy tale genre, published a collection of such tales in 1695 called "Histoires ou contes du temps passés, avec des moralités" under the name of his son, which became better known under its subtitle of "Contes de ma mère l'Oye" or "Tales of My Mother Goose". Perrault's publication marks the first authenticated starting-point for Mother Goose stories. An English translation of Perrault's collection, Robert Samber's "Histories or Tales of Past Times, Told by Mother Goose", appeared in 1729 and was reprinted in America in 1786.


title: Mother Goose

text: Nursery rhymes were once believed to have been published in John Newbery's compilation ", or, Sonnets for the cradle" published some time in London in the 1760s, but the first edition was probably published in 1780 or 1781 by Thomas Carnan, Newbery's stepson and successor. Although this edition was registered with the Stationers' Company in 1780, no copy has ever been confirmed, and the earliest surviving edition is dated 1784. The name "Mother Goose" has been associated in the English-speaking world with children's poetry ever since.


title: Mother Goose

text: In addition to being the purported author of nursery rhymes, Mother Goose is herself the title character in one recorded by the Opies, only the first verse of which figures in later editions of their book. Titled "Old Mother Goose and the Golden Egg", this verse prefaced a 15-stanza poem that rambled through a variety of adventures involving not only the egg but also Mother Goose's son Jack. There exists an illustrated chapbook omitting their opening stanza that dates from the 1820s and another version was recorded by J. O. Halliwell in his "The Nursery Rhymes of England" (1842). Other shorter versions were also recorded later.


title: Mother Goose

text: All of them, however, were dependent on a very successful pantomime first performed in London in 1806, and it is only by reference to its script that the unexplained gaps in the poem's narration are made clear. The pantomime, staged at Covent Garden during the Christmas season, was the work of Thomas John Dibdin and its title, "Harlequin and Mother Goose, or The Golden Egg", signals how it combines the "Commedia dell'arte" tradition and other folk elements with fable – in this case "The Goose That Laid the Golden Eggs". The stage version became a vehicle for the clown Joseph Grimaldi, who played the part of Avaro, but there was also a shorter script for shadow pantomime which allowed special effects of a different kind.


title: Mother Goose

text: Special effects were needed since the folk elements in the story made a witch-figure of Mother Goose. In reference to this, and especially the opening stanza, illustrations of Mother Goose began depicting her as an old lady with a strong chin who wears a tall pointed hat and flies astride a goose. Ryoji Tsurumi has commented on the folk aspects of this figure in his monograph on the play. In the first scene, the stage directions show her raising a storm and, for the very first time onstage, flying a gander – and she later raises a ghost in a macabre churchyard scene. These elements contrast with others from the harlequinade tradition in which the old miser Avaro transforms into Pantaloon, while the young lovers Colin and Colinette become Harlequin and Columbine.


title: Mother Goose

text: A new Mother Goose pantomime was written for the comedian Dan Leno by J. Hickory Wood in 1902. This had a different story line in which the poor but happy Mother Goose is tempted with wealth by the Devil. This was the ancestor of all the pantomimes of that title that followed, adaptations of which continue to appear.