title: Art Blakey

text: The Jazz Messengers nurtured and influenced many of the key figures of the hard bop movement of the late 1950s to early 1960s, and of the Neotraditionalist movement of the 1980s and 1990s, both of which had the Jazz Messengers in a stylistically seminal role. In the words of drummer Cindy Blackman shortly after Blakey's death, "When jazz was in danger of dying out [during the 1970s], there was still a scene. Art kept it going." Blakey was inducted into the Jazz Hall of Fame (in 1982), the Grammy Hall of Fame (in 2001), and was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005.


title: Art Blakey

text: In addition to his musical interests, Blakey was described by Jerry "Tiger" Pearson as a storyteller, as having a "big appetite for music [...] women [and] food", and an interest in boxing.


title: Art Blakey

text: Blakey married four times, and had long-lasting and other relationships throughout his life. He married his first wife, Clarice Stewart, while yet a teen, then Diana Bates (1956), Atsuko Nakamura (1968), and Anne Arnold (1983). He had 10 children from these relationships — daughters Gwendolyn, Evelyn, Jackie, Kadijah, Sakeena and Akira, and sons Art Jr., Takashi, Kenji and Gamal. Sandy Warren, another longtime companion of Blakey, published a book of reminiscences and favorite food recipes from the period of the late 1970s to early 1980s when Blakey lived in Northfield, New Jersey, with Warren and their son, Takashi.


title: Art Blakey

text: Blakey traveled for a year in West Africa (1948) to explore the culture and religion of Islam he would adopt alongside changing his name; his conversion took place in the late 1940s at a time when other African-Americans were being influenced by the Ahmadi missionary Kahili Ahmed Nasir, according to the "Encyclopedia of Muslim-American History", and at one time in that period, Blakey led a turbaned, Qur'an-reading jazz band called the 17 Messengers (perhaps all Muslim, reflecting notions of the Prophet's and music's roles as conduits of the divine message). A friend recollects that when "Art took up the religion [...] he did so on his own terms", saying that "Muslim imams would come over to his place, and they would pray and talk, then a few hours later [we] would go [...] to a restaurant [...and] have a drink and order some ribs", and suggests that reasons for the name change included the pragmatic: that "like many other black jazz musicians who adopted Muslim names", musicians did so to allow themselves to "check into hotels and enter 'white only places' under the assumption they were not African-American".


title: Art Blakey

text: Drummer Keith Hollis, reflecting on Blakey's early life, states that his fellow drummer "wound up doing drugs to cope"; like many of the era, Blakey and his bands were known for their drug use (namely heroin) while traveling and performing (with varying accounts of Blakey's influence on others in this regard).


title: Art Blakey

text: Other specific recollections have Blakey forswearing serious drink while playing (after being disciplined by drummer Sid Catlett early in his career for drinking while performing), and suggest that the influence of "clean-living cat" Wynton Marsalis led to a period where he was less affected by drugs during performances. Blakey was a heavy smoker; he appears in a cloud of smoke on the "Buhaina's Delight" album cover, and in extended footage of a 1973 appearance with Ginger Baker, Blakey begins a long drummers' "duel" with cigarette alight.


title: Art Blakey

text: Blakey had been living in Manhattan when he died on October 16, 1990, of lung cancer, five days after his 71st birthday, at St. Vincent's Hospital and Medical Center. He was survived by six daughters (Gwendolyn, Evelyn, Jackie, Sakeena, Kadijah and Akira), and three sons (Takashi, Gamal, and Kenji).


title: Art Blakey

text: At his funeral at the Abyssinian Baptist Church on October 22, 1990, a tribute group assembled of past Jazz Messengers including Brian Lynch, Javon Jackson, Geoffrey Keezer, Wynton Marsalis, Terence Blanchard, Valery Ponomarev, Benny Golson, Donald Harrison, Essiet Okon Essiet, and drummer Kenny Washington performed several of the band's most celebrated tunes, such as Golson's "Along Came Betty", Bobby Timmons' "Moanin'", and Wayne Shorter's "One by One". Jackson, a member of Blakey's last Jazz Messengers group, recalled how his experiences with the drummer changed his life, saying that "He taught me how to be a man. How to stand up and be accounted for". Musicians Jackie McLean, Ray Bryant, Dizzy Gillespie, and Max Roach also paid tribute to Blakey at his funeral.


title: Blossom Rock

text: Edith Marie Blossom MacDonald (August 21, 1895 – January 14, 1978), also known as Blossom Rock, was an American actress of vaudeville, stage, film and television. During her career she was also billed as Marie Blake or Blossom MacDonald. Her younger sister was screen actress and singer Jeanette MacDonald. Rock is probably best known for her role as "Grandmama" on the 1960s macabre/black comedy sitcom "The Addams Family".


title: Blossom Rock

text: Blossom Rock was born on August 21, 1895, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was the second of three daughters born to Anna May (née Wright; July, 1871 – May 16, 1947) and Daniel McDonald (April, 1869 – August 8, 1924). The family later changed the spelling of their last name to MacDonald. As a youth, Blossom first performed in vaudeville with her younger sister, Jeanette. She had an elder sister, Elsie Wallace MacDonald (1894–1970), who had also been a vaudeville performer and then operated a dance school until 1962.


title: Blossom Rock

text: She married actor Clarence Warren Rock, on September 26, 1926, in Manhattan, and they performed as a vaudeville act titled "Rock and Blossom" from 1925 to 1929. Clarence Rock died in 1960, and the couple had no children.


title: Blossom Rock

text: Rock adopted the name Marie Blake for her film career, beginning as a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract player in 1937 with an uncredited appearance in "My Dear Miss Aldrich". Her first credited major part was "Love Finds Andy Hardy" (1938), and she then played her most notable onscreen role as Sally, the hospital switchboard operator, in the nine films that comprised MGM's popular "Dr. Kildare" series from 1938 to 1942. She once had the same agent as Irene Ryan, whose similar career later caused Rock to fire him.


title: Blossom Rock

text: Rock returned to using her real name in the 1950s, and later gained her biggest fame by playing "Grandmama" on the ABC sitcom "The Addams Family", which was originally broadcast from 1964 to 1966. In October 1964, she made a public appearance in character at a haunted house at The Children's Museum of Indianapolis.


title: Blossom Rock

text: After production on Season 2 of "The Addams Family" concluded in 1966, Rock suffered a stroke in December 1967 that affected her speech and prevented her from reuniting with fellow castmates for the 1977 television film "Halloween with the New Addams Family". However, she watched the film from the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital. She died at age 82 on January 14, 1978, in Los Angeles, California, and was interred in Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.


title: East

text: East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth.


title: East

text: As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact that east is the direction where the Sun rises: "east" comes from Middle English "est", from Old English "ēast", which itself comes from the Proto-Germanic *"aus-to-" or *"austra-" "east, toward the sunrise", from Proto-Indo-European *aus- "to shine," or "dawn", cognate with Old High German "*ōstar" "to the east", Latin "aurora" 'dawn', and Greek "ēōs" 'dawn, east'. Examples of the same formation in other languages include Latin oriens 'east, sunrise' from orior 'to rise, to originate', Greek ανατολή anatolé 'east' from ἀνατέλλω 'to rise' and Hebrew מִזְרָח mizraḥ 'east' from זָרַח zaraḥ 'to rise, to shine'. "Ēostre", a Germanic goddess of dawn, might have been a personification of both dawn and the cardinal points.


title: East

text: By convention, the "right-hand side" of a map is east. This convention has developed from the use of a compass, which places north at the top. However, on maps of planets such as Venus and Uranus which rotate retrograde, the left hand side is east.


title: East

text: East is the direction toward which the Earth rotates about its axis, and therefore the general direction from which the Sun appears to rise. The practice of praying towards the East is older than Christianity, but has been


title: East

text: adopted by this religion as the Orient was thought of as containing mankind's original home. Hence, some Christian churches have been traditionally oriented towards the east. This tradition of having the altar on the liturgical east is a part of the church orientation concept liturgical east and west.


title: East

text: The "Orient" is the "East", traditionally comprising anything that belongs to the Eastern world, in relation to Europe. In English, it is largely a metonym for, and referring to the same area as, the continent of Asia, divided into the Far East, Middle East, and Near East. Despite this Eurocentric origin, these regions are still located to the east of the Geographical centre of Earth.


title: East

text: Within an individual city, the east end is typically poorer because the prevailing winds blow from the west.


title: Independence (probability theory)

text: Independence is a fundamental notion in probability theory, as in statistics and the theory of stochastic processes. Two events are independent, statistically independent, or stochastically independent if, informally speaking, the occurrence of one does not affect the probability of occurrence of the other or, equivalently, does not affect the odds. Similarly, two random variables are independent if the realization of one does not affect the probability distribution of the other.


title: Independence (probability theory)

text: When dealing with collections of more than two events, two notions of independence need to be distinguished. The events are called pairwise independent if any two events in the collection are independent of each other, while mutual independence (or collective independence) of events means, informally speaking, that each event is independent of any combination of other events in the collection. A similar notion exists for collections of random variables. Mutual independence implies pairwise independence, but not the other way around. In the standard literature of probability theory, statistics, and stochastic processes, independence without further qualification usually refers to mutual independence.


title: Independence (probability theory)

text: Two events formula_1 and formula_2 are independent (often written as formula_3 or formula_4, where the latter symbol often is also used for conditional independence) if and only if their joint probability equals the product of their probabilities:


title: Independence (probability theory)

text: formula_5 indicates that two independent events formula_1 and formula_2 have common elements in their sample space so that they are not mutually exclusive (mutually exclusive iff formula_8). Why this defines independence is made clear by rewriting with conditional probabilities formula_9 as the probability at which the event formula_1 occurs provided that the event formula_2 has or is assumed to have occurred:


title: Independence (probability theory)

text: Thus, the occurrence of formula_2 does not affect the probability of formula_1, and vice versa. In other words, formula_1 and formula_2 are independent to each other. Although the derived expressions may seem more intuitive, they are not the preferred definition, as the conditional probabilities may be undefined if formula_18 or formula_19 are 0. Furthermore, the preferred definition makes clear by symmetry that when formula_1 is independent of formula_2, formula_2 is also independent of formula_1.


title: Independence (probability theory)

text: Stated in terms of log probability, two events are independent if and only if the log probability of the joint event is the sum of the log probability of the individual events:


title: Independence (probability theory)

text: In information theory, negative log probability is interpreted as information content, and thus two events are independent if and only if the information content of the combined event equals the sum of information content of the individual events:


title: Independence (probability theory)

text: Stated in terms of odds, two events are independent if and only if the odds ratio of and is unity (1). Analogously with probability, this is equivalent to the conditional odds being equal to the unconditional odds:


title: Independence (probability theory)

text: or to the odds of one event, given the other event, being the same as the odds of the event, given the other event not occurring:


title: Independence (probability theory)

text: A finite set of events formula_29 is pairwise independent if every pair of events is independent—that is, if and only if for all distinct pairs of indices formula_30,


title: Independence (probability theory)

text: A finite set of events is mutually independent if every event is independent of any intersection of the other events—that is, if and only if for every formula_31 and for every k indices formula_32,


title: Independence (probability theory)

text: This is called the "multiplication rule" for independent events. Note that it is not a single condition involving only the product of all the probabilities of all single events; it must hold true for all subsets of events.


title: Independence (probability theory)

text: For more than two events, a mutually independent set of events is (by definition) pairwise independent; but the converse is not necessarily true.


title: Independence (probability theory)

text: Two random variables formula_33 and formula_34 are independent if and only if (iff) the elements of the π-system generated by them are independent; that is to say, for every formula_35 and formula_36, the events formula_37 and formula_38 are independent events (as defined above in ). That is, formula_33 and formula_34 with cumulative distribution functions formula_41 and formula_42, are independent iff the combined random variable formula_43 has a joint cumulative distribution function


title: Independence (probability theory)

text: or equivalently, if the probability densities formula_44 and formula_45 and the joint probability density formula_46 exist,


title: Independence (probability theory)

text: A finite set of formula_48 random variables formula_49 is pairwise independent if and only if every pair of random variables is independent. Even if the set of random variables is pairwise independent, it is not necessarily mutually independent as defined next.


title: Independence (probability theory)

text: A finite set of formula_48 random variables formula_49 is mutually independent if and only if for any sequence of numbers formula_52, the events formula_53 are mutually independent events (as defined above in ). This is equivalent to the following condition on the joint cumulative distribution function A finite set of formula_48 random variables formula_49 is mutually independent if and only if


title: Independence (probability theory)

text: Notice that it is not necessary here to require that the probability distribution factorizes for all possible subsets as in the case for formula_48 events. This is not required because e.g. formula_57 implies formula_58.


title: Independence (probability theory)

text: The measure-theoretically inclined may prefer to substitute events formula_59 for events formula_60 in the above definition, where formula_1 is any Borel set. That definition is exactly equivalent to the one above when the values of the random variables are real numbers. It has the advantage of working also for complex-valued random variables or for random variables taking values in any measurable space (which includes topological spaces endowed by appropriate σ-algebras).


title: Independence (probability theory)

text: where formula_64 and formula_65 denote the cumulative distribution functions of formula_66 and formula_67 and formula_68 denotes their joint cumulative distribution function. Independence of formula_66 and formula_67 is often denoted by formula_71.


title: Independence (probability theory)

text: The definition of independence may be extended from random vectors to a stochastic process. Therefore, it is required for an independent stochastic process that the random variables obtained by sampling the process at any formula_48 times formula_76 are independent random variables for any formula_48.


title: Independence (probability theory)

text: Formally, a stochastic process formula_78 is called independent, if and only if for all formula_79 and for all formula_80


title: Independence (probability theory)

text: where (x_1,\ldots,x_n) = \mathrm{P}(X(t_1) \leq x_1,\ldots,X(t_n) \leq x_n)</math>.}} Independence of a stochastic process is a property "within" a stochastic process, not between two stochastic processes.


title: Independence (probability theory)

text: Independence of two stochastic processes is a property between two stochastic processes formula_78 and formula_82 that are defined on the same probability space formula_83. Formally, two stochastic processes formula_78 and formula_82 are said to be independent if for all formula_79 and for all formula_80, the random vectors formula_88 and formula_89 are independent, i.e. if


title: Independence (probability theory)

text: The definitions above ( and ) are both generalized by the following definition of independence for σ-algebras. Let formula_90 be a probability space and let formula_91 and formula_92 be two sub-σ-algebras of formula_93. formula_91 and formula_92 are said to be independent if, whenever formula_96 and formula_97,


title: Independence (probability theory)

text: Likewise, a finite family of σ-algebras formula_99, where formula_100 is an index set, is said to be independent if and only if


title: Independence (probability theory)

text: and an infinite family of σ-algebras is said to be independent if all its finite subfamilies are independent.


title: Independence (probability theory)

text: Using this definition, it is easy to show that if formula_33 and formula_34 are random variables and formula_34 is constant, then formula_33 and formula_34 are independent, since the σ-algebra generated by a constant random variable is the trivial σ-algebra formula_118. Probability zero events cannot affect independence so independence also holds if formula_34 is only Pr-almost surely constant.


title: Independence (probability theory)

text: Thus an event is independent of itself if and only if it almost surely occurs or its complement almost surely occurs; this fact is useful when proving zero–one laws.


title: Independence (probability theory)

text: If formula_33 and formula_34 are independent random variables, then the expectation operator formula_123 has the property


title: Independence (probability theory)

text: The converse does not hold: if two random variables have a covariance of 0 they still may be not independent. See uncorrelated.


title: Independence (probability theory)

text: Similarly for two stochastic processes formula_78 and formula_82: If they are independent, then they are uncorrelated.


title: Independence (probability theory)

text: Two random variables formula_33 and formula_34 are independent if and only if the characteristic function of the random vector formula_43 satisfies


title: Independence (probability theory)

text: In particular the characteristic function of their sum is the product of their marginal characteristic functions:


title: Independence (probability theory)

text: though the reverse implication is not true. Random variables that satisfy the latter condition are called subindependent.


title: Independence (probability theory)

text: The event of getting a 6 the first time a die is rolled and the event of getting a 6 the second time are "independent". By contrast, the event of getting a 6 the first time a die is rolled and the event that the sum of the numbers seen on the first and second trial is 8 are "not" independent.


title: Independence (probability theory)

text: If two cards are drawn "with" replacement from a deck of cards, the event of drawing a red card on the first trial and that of drawing a red card on the second trial are "independent". By contrast, if two cards are drawn "without" replacement from a deck of cards, the event of drawing a red card on the first trial and that of drawing a red card on the second trial are "not" independent, because a deck that has had a red card removed has proportionately fewer red cards.


title: Independence (probability theory)

text: Consider the two probability spaces shown. In both cases, formula_134 and formula_135. The random variables in the first space are pairwise independent because formula_136, formula_137, and formula_138; but the three random variables are not mutually independent. The random variables in the second space are both pairwise independent and mutually independent. To illustrate the difference, consider conditioning on two events. In the pairwise independent case, although any one event is independent of each of the other two individually, it is not independent of the intersection of the other two:


title: Independence (probability theory)

text: and yet no two of the three events are pairwise independent (and hence the set of events are not mutually independent). This example shows that mutual independence involves requirements on the products of probabilities of all combinations of events, not just the single events as in this example.


title: Independence (probability theory)

text: Intuitively, two random variables formula_33 and formula_34 are conditionally independent given formula_152 if, once formula_152 is known, the value of formula_34 does not add any additional information about formula_33. For instance, two measurements formula_33 and formula_34 of the same underlying quantity formula_152 are not independent, but they are conditionally independent given formula_152 (unless the errors in the two measurements are somehow connected).


title: Independence (probability theory)

text: The formal definition of conditional independence is based on the idea of conditional distributions. If formula_33, formula_34, and formula_152 are discrete random variables, then we define formula_33 and formula_34 to be "conditionally independent given" formula_152 if


title: Independence (probability theory)

text: for all formula_35, formula_36 and formula_169 such that formula_170. On the other hand, if the random variables are continuous and have a joint probability density function formula_171, then formula_33 and formula_34 are conditionally independent given formula_152 if


title: Independence (probability theory)

text: for any formula_35, formula_36 and formula_169 with formula_170. That is, the conditional distribution for formula_33 given formula_34 and formula_152 is the same as that given formula_152 alone. A similar equation holds for the conditional probability density functions in the continuous case.


title: Independence (probability theory)

text: Independence can be seen as a special kind of conditional independence, since probability can be seen as a kind of conditional probability given no events.


title: Sebaceous cyst

text: Both of the above types of cysts contain keratin, not sebum, and neither originates from sebaceous glands. Epidermoid cysts originate in the epidermis and pilar cysts originate from hair follicles. Technically speaking, then, they are not sebaceous cysts. "True" sebaceous cysts, which originate from sebaceous glands and which contain sebum, are relatively rare and are known as steatocystoma simplex or, if multiple, as steatocystoma multiplex.


title: Sebaceous cyst

text: Medical professionals have suggested that the term "sebaceous cyst" be avoided since it can be misleading. In practice, however, the term is still often used for epidermoid and pilar cysts.


title: Sebaceous cyst

text: The scalp, ears, back, face, and upper arm, are common sites of sebaceous cysts, though they may occur anywhere on the body except the palms of the hands and soles of the feet. They are more common in hairier areas, where in cases of long duration they could result in hair loss on the skin surface immediately above the cyst. They are smooth to the touch, vary in size, and are generally round in shape.


title: Sebaceous cyst

text: The nature of the contents of a sebaceous cyst, and of its surrounding capsule, differs depending on whether the cyst has ever been infected.


title: Sebaceous cyst

text: With surgery, a cyst can usually be excised in its entirety. Poor surgical technique, or previous infection leading to scarring and tethering of the cyst to the surrounding tissue, may lead to rupture during excision and removal. A completely removed cyst will not recur, though if the patient has a predisposition to cyst formation, further cysts may develop in the same general area.


title: Sebaceous cyst

text: Cysts may be related to high levels of testosterone, hence may be more frequent in users of anabolic steroids.


title: Sebaceous cyst

text: About 90% of pilar cysts occur on the scalp, with the remaining sometimes occurring on the face, trunk, and extremities. Pilar cysts are significantly more common in females, and a tendency to develop these cysts is often inherited in an autosomal dominant pattern. In most cases, multiple pilar cysts appear at once.


title: Sebaceous cyst

text: Sebaceous cysts generally do not require medical treatment. However, if they continue to grow, they may become unsightly, painful, and/or infected.


title: Sebaceous cyst

text: Surgical excision of a sebaceous cyst is a simple procedure to completely remove the sac and its contents, although it should be performed when inflammation is minimal.


title: Sebaceous cyst

text: Three general approaches are used - traditional wide excision, minimal excision, and punch biopsy excision.


title: Sebaceous cyst

text: The typical outpatient surgical procedure for cyst removal is to numb the area around the cyst with a local anaesthetic, then to use a scalpel to open the lesion with either a single cut down the center of the swelling, or an oval cut on both sides of the center point. If the cyst is small, it may be lanced, instead. The person performing the surgery will squeeze out the contents of the cyst, then use blunt-headed scissors or another instrument to hold the incision wide open while using fingers or forceps to try to remove the cyst wall intact. If the cyst wall can be removed in one piece, the "cure rate" is 100%. If, however, it is fragmented and cannot be entirely recovered, the operator may use curettage (scraping) to remove the remaining exposed fragments, then burn them with an electrocauterization tool, in an effort to destroy them in place. In such cases, the cyst may recur. In either case, the incision is then disinfected, and if necessary, the skin is stitched back together over it. A scar will most likely result.


title: Sebaceous cyst

text: An infected cyst may require oral antibiotics or other treatment before or after excision. If pus has already formed, then incision and drainage should be done along with avulsion of the cyst wall with proper antibiotics coverage.


title: Proton (software)

text: Proton is a compatibility layer for Microsoft Windows games to run on Linux-based operating systems. Proton is developed by Valve in cooperation with developers from CodeWeavers. It is a collection of software and libraries combined with a patched version of Wine to improve performance and compatibility with Windows games. Proton is designed for integration into the Steam client as "Steam Play". It is officially distributed through the client, although third party forks can be manually installed.


title: Proton (software)

text: Proton was initially released on 21 August 2018. Upon release, Valve announced a whitelist of 27 games that were tested and certified to perform like their native Windows counterparts without requiring end-user tweaking. These include "Doom" (2016), "Quake", and "Final Fantasy VI".


title: Proton (software)

text: Proton incorporates several libraries that improve 3D performance. These include Direct3D-to-Vulkan translation layers, namely DXVK for Direct3D 9, 10 and 11, and VKD3D-Proton for Direct3D 12. A separate library known as D9VK handled Direct3D 9 support until it was merged into DXVK in December 2019.


title: Proton (software)

text: Being a fork of Wine, Proton maintains very similar compatibility with Windows applications as its upstream counterpart. In addition to the official whitelist, many other Windows games are reportedly compatible, albeit unofficially, with Proton. The user can optionally force use of Proton for a specific title, even if a Linux version already exists.


title: Proton (software)

text: ProtonDB is an unofficial community website that collects and displays crowdsourced data describing the compatibility of a given title with Proton, on a rating scale from "Borked" to "Platinum". The site is inspired by the WineHQ AppDB, which also collects and displays crowdsourced compatibility reports and uses a similar rating system.


title: Proton (software)

text: Valve has released seven major versions of Proton. The versioning scheme refers to the upstream Wine version it's based on, with an appended patch number.


title: Proton (software)

text: Proton generally lags behind its upstream Wine base by several releases. Unofficial forks, such as Proton GE, have been created to re-base Proton on recent Wine versions, which may improve compatibility with games over the official release, and sometimes hurt it.


title: Proton (software)

text: In December 2020, Valve released Proton Experimental, a perpetual beta branch of Proton that incorporates new features and bug fixes quicker than regular releases, which are eventually included in a regular release.


title: Muhammad Saeed al-Sahhaf

text: Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf ( ""; born 30 July 1937) is an Iraqi former diplomat and politician. He served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1992 to 2001. He came to worldwide prominence around the 2003 invasion of Iraq, during which he was the Minister of Information under Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, acting as spokesman for the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party and Saddam's government. He has also been nicknamed Baghdad Bob or Comical Ali (a play on "Chemical Ali") for his notable and colorful television appearances as the Information Minister of Iraq.


title: Muhammad Saeed al-Sahhaf

text: Al-Sahhaf was born in Hilla, near Karbala, to a Shi'ite Arab family. After studying journalism at Baghdad University, he graduated with a master's degree in English literature. He planned to become an English teacher before joining the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party in 1963. In the early days of Ba'athist governance, he read out regular announcements of recently executed Iraqis on state television.


title: Muhammad Saeed al-Sahhaf

text: He served as an ambassador to Sweden, Burma, the United Nations and Italy, before returning to Iraq to serve as Foreign Minister in 1992. The reasons for his removal as Foreign Minister in April 2001 are unclear, but his achievements in the position were often claimed to be less satisfactory than that of his predecessor, Tariq Aziz. At least one report suggests that Uday Hussein, Saddam Hussein's son, was responsible for the removal.


title: Muhammad Saeed al-Sahhaf

text: Al-Sahhaf is known for his daily press briefings in Baghdad during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. His colorful appearances caused him to be nicknamed "Baghdad Bob" (in the style of previous propagandists with geographical aliases—some of them alliterative, such as "Hanoi Hannah" and "Seoul City Sue") by commentators in the United States. He was nicknamed "Comical Ali" by commentators in the United Kingdom; commentators in Italy similarly nicknamed him "Alì il Comico".


title: Muhammad Saeed al-Sahhaf

text: His pronouncements included claims that American soldiers were committing suicide "by the hundreds" outside the city, and denial that there were any American tanks in Baghdad, when in fact they were only several hundred meters away from the press conference where he was speaking and the combat sounds of nearing American troops could already be heard in the background. On another occasion, he spoke of the disastrous outcomes of previous foreign attempts to invade Iraq, citing an unspecified Western history book and inviting the journalists present to come to his home to read it. His last public appearance as Information Minister was on 8 April 2003, when he said that the Americans "are going to surrender or be burned in their tanks. They will surrender, it is they who will surrender". When asked where he had gotten his information, he replied, "authentic sources—many authentic sources". He pointed out that he "was a professional, doing his job".


title: Muhammad Saeed al-Sahhaf

text: He frequently used the word "‘ulūj" (), an obscure and particularly insulting term for infidels, to describe the American forces in Iraq. This caused some debate in the Arabic-language media about the exact meaning of the word, with most concluding it meant "bloodsucking insect". In an August 2003 interview on Abu Dhabi TV, al-Sahhaf said it was an archaic term attributed to Umar ibn Al-Khattāb.


title: Muhammad Saeed al-Sahhaf

text: Al-Sahhaf gained something of a cult following in the West, appearing on T-shirts, cartoons, and in Internet phenomena. In the UK, a DVD documentary was sold about his exploits and televised interviews, called "Comical Ali".


title: Muhammad Saeed al-Sahhaf

text: On 25 June 2003, British newspaper the "Daily Mirror" reported that al-Sahhaf had been captured by coalition troops at a roadblock in Baghdad. The report was not confirmed by military authorities and was denied by al-Sahhaf's family through Abu Dhabi TV. The next day, al-Sahhaf recorded an interview for Dubai-based news channel al-Arabiya. He was reportedly paid as much as US$200,000 for the television interview, during which he appeared very withdrawn, in contrast with the bombastic persona he projected during the war. Many of his answers consisted of a simple "yes" or "no". He refused to speculate on the causes of the downfall of the Iraqi government and answered only "history will tell" when asked if video clips purporting to prove that Saddam Hussein was alive were genuine, amid speculation at that time that Hussein had been killed during the war.


title: Muhammad Saeed al-Sahhaf

text: His fame quickly evaporated as the war continued into the insurgency phase; from the middle of 2003 onward, he faded from the public spotlight, and was no longer a figure in the war. Al-Sahhaf said that he had surrendered to United States forces, had been interrogated by them and then released. He was not charged for his role in Saddam Hussein's government.


title: USS Massachusetts (BB-59)

text: USS "Massachusetts" (BB-59) is the third of four fast battleships built for the United States Navy in the late 1930s. The first American battleships designed after the Washington treaty system began to break down in the mid-1930s, they took advantage of an escalator clause that allowed increasing the main battery to guns, but refusal to authorize larger battleships kept their displacement close to the Washington limit of . A requirement to be armored against the same caliber of guns as they carried, combined with the displacement restriction, resulted in cramped ships, a problem that was exacerbated by wartime modifications that considerably strengthened their anti-aircraft batteries and significantly increased their crews.


title: USS Massachusetts (BB-59)

text: On completion, "Massachusetts" was sent to support Operation Torch, the invasion of French North Africa, in November 1942. There, she engaged in an artillery duel with the incomplete French battleship and neutralized her. "Massachusetts" thereafter transferred to the Pacific War for operations against Japan; she spent the war primarily as an escort for the fast carrier task force to protect the aircraft carriers from surface and air attacks. In this capacity, she took part in the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign in 1943 and early 1944 and the Philippines campaign in late 1944 and early 1945. Later in 1945, the ship supported Allied forces during the Battle of Okinawa and thereafter participated in attacks on Japan, including bombarding industrial targets on Honshu in July and August.


title: USS Massachusetts (BB-59)

text: After the war, "Massachusetts" returned to the United States and was decommissioned and assigned to the Atlantic Reserve Fleet, Norfolk in 1947. She remained out of service until 1962, when she was stricken from the "Naval Vessel Register". Three years later, she was transferred to the Massachusetts Memorial Committee and preserved as a museum ship at Battleship Cove in Fall River, Massachusetts. Some material was removed in the 1980s to reactivate the s, but the ship otherwise remains in her wartime configuration.


title: USS Massachusetts (BB-59)

text: The was ordered in the context of global naval rearmament during the breakdown of the Washington treaty system that had controlled battleships construction during the 1920s and early 1930s. Under the Washington and London treaties, so-called treaty battleships were limited to a standard displacement of and a main battery of guns. In 1936, following Japan's decision to abandon the treaty system, the United States Navy decided to invoke the "escalator clause" in the Second London treaty that allowed displacements to rise to and armament to increase to guns. Congressional objections to increasing the size of the new ships forced the design staff to keep displacement as close to 35,000 LT as possible while incorporating the larger guns and armor sufficient to defeat guns of the same caliber.


title: USS Massachusetts (BB-59)

text: "Massachusetts" is long overall and has a beam of and a draft of . She displaces as designed and up to at full combat load. The ship was powered by four General Electric steam turbines, each driving one propeller shaft, using steam provided by eight oil-fired Babcock & Wilcox boilers. Rated at , the turbines were intended to give a top speed of . The ship had a cruising range of at a speed of . She carried three Vought OS2U Kingfisher floatplanes for aerial reconnaissance, which were launched by a pair of aircraft catapults on her fantail. Her peace time crew numbered 1,793 officers and enlisted men, but during the war the crew swelled to 2,500 officers and enlisted.


title: USS Massachusetts (BB-59)

text: The ship is armed with a main battery of nine 16"/45 caliber Mark 6 guns guns in three triple-gun turrets on the centerline, two of which are placed in a superfiring pair forward, with the third aft. The secondary battery consisted of twenty 5-inch /38 caliber dual purpose guns mounted in twin turrets clustered amidships, five turrets on either side. As designed, the ship was equipped with an anti-aircraft battery of twelve guns and twelve .50-caliber (12.7 mm) M2 Browning machine guns, but she was completed with a battery of six quadruple Bofors guns in place of the 1.1 in guns and thirty-five Oerlikon autocannon instead of the .50-cal. guns.


title: USS Massachusetts (BB-59)

text: The main armored belt is thick, while the main armored deck is up to thick. The main battery gun turrets have thick faces, and they were mounted atop barbettes that were thick. The conning tower had thick sides.


title: USS Massachusetts (BB-59)

text: "Massachusetts" received a series of modifications through her wartime career, consisting primarily of additions to anti-aircraft battery and various types of radar sets. The first addition was the installation of SC air search radar in 1941, fitted in the foremast, which was later replaced with an SK type set. At the same time, an SG surface search radar was installed on the forward superstructure; a second SG set was added to the main mast after experiences during the Guadalcanal Campaign in 1942. While still under construction, she received a Mark 8 fire-control radar, mounted on her conning tower to assist in the direction of her main battery guns and Mark 4 radars for the secondary battery guns. She later received Mark 12/22 sets in place of the Mark 4s. "Massachusetts" also received a TDY jammer. In 1945, her traditional spotting scopes were replaced with Mark 27 microwave radar sets.


title: USS Massachusetts (BB-59)

text: The ship's light anti-aircraft battery was gradually expanded. Four more 40 mm quad mounts were added in late 1942, and in February 1943, two more quads were added, one each to the roofs of turrets 2 and 3. By this time, she had another twenty-four 20 mm guns installed, bringing the total to sixty-one of the guns. Two more 40 mm quadruple mounts were added in February, and another seven 20 mm guns were added later that year for a total battery of sixty barrels. By early 1944, the Navy had begun to realize that the 20 mm guns were less effective and had made plans to reduce the number of those guns to 33 barrels in favor of more 40 mm guns. By October, "Massachusetts" had thirty-two of the guns, six of which were in experimental quad and twin mounts. She received six more quadruple 40 mm guns, bringing the total to seventy-two barrels. Two of these new quads were mounted in the forecastle, which proved to be of limited use as they were unusable in all but the calmest seas, and they were removed in the ship's postwar refit, as was the mount atop the number 2 turret.


title: USS Massachusetts (BB-59)

text: "Massachusetts" was laid down at Bethlehem Steel's Fore River Shipyard on 20 July 1939. She was launched on 23 September 1941, and after completing fitting-out work, was commissioned into the fleet on 12 May 1942. She then conducted her shakedown cruise before moving to Casco Bay, Maine; from there, she was assigned to the Western Naval Task Force, which was to support Operation Torch, the invasion of French North Africa. "Massachusetts" got underway on 24 October to join the rest of the unit, which she met at sea four days later. She became the flagship of Rear Admiral Henry Kent Hewitt, part of Task Group (TG) 34.1, which also included the heavy cruisers and and four destroyers. The ships rendezvoused with the rest of the invasion fleet on 28 October some southeast of Cape Race and proceeded across the Atlantic.


title: USS Massachusetts (BB-59)

text: "Massachusetts" participated in the Naval Battle of Casablanca, which began early on the morning of 8 November. The ships were tasked with neutralizing the primary French defenses, which included coastal guns on El Hank, several submarines, and the incomplete battleship which lay at anchor in the harbor with only half of its main battery installed. "Massachusetts" began firing at 07:04 at a range of and shortly thereafter came under fire from "Jean Bart" that morning, and she returned fire at 07:40. "Wichita" and "Tuscaloosa" initially engaged the French batteries on El Hank and the French submarine pens, while "Massachusetts" attacked "Jean Bart". French naval forces, led by the cruiser , put up a stubborn defense. "Massachusetts" and the American cruisers broke up attempts by French destroyers to attack the fleet before returning to shelling "Jean Bart"; in the course of the action, "Massachusetts" scored five hits on "Jean Bart" and disabled her main battery turret.


title: USS Massachusetts (BB-59)

text: With "Jean Bart" out of action, "Massachusetts" and the other ships then shifted fire to destroy coastal artillery batteries, an ammunition dump, and merchant ships in the harbor. One of her 16-inch shells also struck the floating dry-dock that held the submarine ; the dry dock sank, but "Le Conquérant" was not damaged and was able to get underway, only to be sunk by a PBY Catalina at sea. The French defenders agreed to a cease-fire on 11 November, which allowed the ships of TG 34.1 to be detached for other operations. "Massachusetts" got underway for the United States on 12 November to begin preparations for operations in the Pacific Theater.


title: USS Massachusetts (BB-59)

text: "Massachusetts" reached Noumea in New Caledonia on 4 March 1943 and spent the next several months escorting convoys to the Solomon Islands in support of operations during the Solomon Islands campaign. On 30 June, she provided cover for an amphibious assault on New Georgia, part of Operation Cartwheel; at the time, she was assigned to the battleship group for TF 36.3, which included her sister ship and . Over the next week, the Japanese launched several naval and aerial attacks on American forces involved in the campaign, but none attacked the battleship force.


title: USS Massachusetts (BB-59)

text: She departed the area on 19 November to take part in the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign, escorting the carrier task group TG 50.2, again in company with "Indiana" and "North Carolina", that carried out a series of air attacks on Makin, Tarawa, and Abemama in the Gilbert Islands. These operations were in support of the landings at Tarawa and Makin, both to weaken Japanese defenses on the islands and also isolate the Japanese garrisons from forces on nearby islands that might be able to reinforce them or launch counterattacks. On 8 December, she took part in a bombardment of Japanese positions at Nauru. For the operation, she was detached to form TG 50.8 under the command of Rear Admiral Willis Lee, along with "North Carolina", "Indiana", , and and several escorting destroyers.


title: USS Massachusetts (BB-59)

text: Operations during the campaign continued into January 1944, with the invasion of Kwajalein; by this time, "Massachusetts" had been transferred to TG 58.1, under the command of Fifth Fleet. For much of the Pacific War, "Massachusetts" served with the fast carrier task force, at that time designated TF 58, screening the carriers from surface attacks and contributing her heavy anti-aircraft battery against Japanese air attacks. The carriers struck numerous targets in the Marshalls, again to isolate the garrison on Kwajalein. "Massachusetts" bombarded the island on 30 January in company with "Washington", "North Carolina", and "Indiana", the day before marines went ashore.


title: USS Massachusetts (BB-59)

text: "Massachusetts" continued in her role as an escort for the fast carrier task force during Operation Hailstone on 17 February, a major carrier raid on the island of Truk, which had been the primary staging area for the Japanese fleet in the central Pacific. The ship was now part of TG 58.3 for the attack. The fleet continued on to conduct a series of strikes on the islands of Saipan, Tinian, and Guam, which provoked heavy Japanese air attacks in response. "Massachusetts" contributed her heavy anti-aircraft battery to the fleet's defense. The American fleet then moved to the Caroline Islands, striking several islands in the area.


title: USS Massachusetts (BB-59)

text: On 22 April, the fleet supported the landing at Hollandia in western New Guinea. On the way back from the area, the fleet struck Truk again. On 1 May, "Massachusetts" joined a bombardment group designated TG 58.7 that attacked Pohnpei in the Senyavin Islands, again under Lee's command. After the attack, fleet withdrew to Eniwetok in the Marshall Islands. From there, the ship was detached for an overhaul at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, which included having her guns re-lined, as they had been worn out by that time. As a result, she was unavailable for the Mariana and Palau Islands campaign that was waged in June and July. She departed the west coast in July and stopped in Pearl Harbor on the way, departing there on 1 August to rejoin the fleet in the Marshall Islands.


title: USS Massachusetts (BB-59)

text: By this time, the Third Fleet had taken command of the fast carrier task force and all subordinate units were renumbered from the 50s series to the 30s series. Accordingly, she joined TG 38.3 on reaching the fleet and escorted carriers that made a series of strikes in late August and early September in preparation of the landings at Morotai and Peleliu. These included strikes on 9 and 10 September on the island of Mindanao in the Philippines to neutralize Japanese-held airfields that could interfere with the landings. From 12 to 14 September, the fleet moved to strike targets in the Visayas. "Massachusetts" escorted the carriers for further strikes on Luzon, particularly around the capital at Manila, and the Visayas from 21 to 22 September. The month-long campaign destroyed some 1,000 Japanese aircraft and sank or otherwise neutralized 150 ships.


title: USS Massachusetts (BB-59)

text: On 6 October, she sortied with the rest of the fleet to begin preparations for the invasion of the Philippines, still as part of TG 38.3. The first operation was a major strike on Japanese air bases on the island of Okinawa on 10 October, part of an effort to reduce Japan's ability to interfere with the landings from airbases in the region. From 12 to 14 October, the fast carrier task force struck bases on Formosa (Taiwan), before returning to the invasion fleet off Leyte, the initial target. Over the course of the strikes on Okinawa and Formosa, the fleet came under heavy air attacks, but "Massachusetts" was not engaged, as the Japanese attacks concentrated on task groups 38.1 and 38.4. On 16 October, a group of Japanese cruisers and destroyers sortied to attack American vessels that had been damaged in the attacks, prompting "Massachusetts" and the rest of TG 38.3 and 38.2 to return north to engage them, but they failed to locate the Japanese before they returned to port at Amami Ōshima.


title: USS Massachusetts (BB-59)

text: The next day, the carrier task force returned to strike Luzon, the same day that elements of Sixth Army went ashore at Leyte; the raids on Luzon continued into 19 October. The landing on Leyte led to the activation of Operation Shō-Gō 1, the Japanese navy's planned riposte to an Allied landing in the Philippines. The plan was a complicated operation with three separate fleets: The 1st Mobile Fleet, now labeled the Northern Force under Jisaburō Ozawa, the Center Force under Takeo Kurita, and the Southern Force under Shōji Nishimura. Ozawa's carriers, by now depleted of most of their aircraft, were to serve as a decoy for Kurita's and Nishimura's battleships, which were to use the distraction to attack the invasion fleet directly.


title: USS Massachusetts (BB-59)

text: Kurita's ships were detected in the San Bernardino Strait on 24 October, and in the ensuing Battle of the Sibuyan Sea, American carrier aircraft sank the powerful battleship , causing Kurita to temporarily reverse course. This convinced Admiral William F. Halsey, the commander of Third Fleet, to send the fast carrier task force to destroy the 1st Mobile Fleet, which had by then been detected. Later that evening, Commodore Arleigh Burke, Admiral Marc Mitscher's Chief of Staff, suggested that Mitscher detach "Massachusetts" and "South Dakota" (along with a pair of light cruisers and a destroyer screen) to send them ahead of the carriers to fight a night action with the Northern Force. Mitscher agreed, and at 17:12 ordered Rear Admiral Forrest Sherman to put the plan into action. Halsey intervened before Sherman could send the ships north and overruled Mitscher, ordering them to keep the battleships with the main fleet. "Massachusetts" steamed north with the carriers, and on the way Halsey established TF 34, consisting of "Massachusetts" and five other fast battleships, seven cruisers, and eighteen destroyers, commanded by now-Vice Admiral Willis Lee.


title: USS Massachusetts (BB-59)

text: TF 34 was arrayed ahead of the carriers, serving as their screen. On the morning of 25 October, Mitscher began his first attack on the Northern Force, initiating the Battle off Cape Engaño; over the course of six strikes on the Japanese fleet, the Americans sank all four carriers and damaged two old battleships that had been converted into hybrid carriers. Unknown to Halsey and Mitscher, Kurita had resumed his approach through the San Bernardino Strait late on 24 October and passed into Leyte Gulf the next morning. While Mitscher was occupied with the decoy Northern Force, Kurita moved in to attack the invasion fleet; in the Battle off Samar, he was held off by a group of escort carriers, destroyers, and destroyer escorts, TU 77.4.3, known as Taffy 3. Frantic calls for help later that morning led Halsey to detach Lee's battleships to head south and intervene.


title: USS Massachusetts (BB-59)

text: However, Halsey waited more than an hour after receiving orders from Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, the Commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet, to detach TF 34; still steaming north during this interval, the delay added two hours to the battleships' voyage south. A need to refuel destroyers further slowed TF 34's progress south. Heavy resistance from Taffy 3 threw Kurita's battleships and cruisers into disarray and led him to break off the attack before "Massachusetts" and the rest of TF 34 could arrive. Halsey detached the battleships and as TG 34.5 to pursue Kurita through the San Bernardino Strait while Lee took the rest of his ships further southwest to try to cut off his escape, but both groups arrived too late. The historian H. P. Wilmott speculated that had Halsey detached TF 34 promptly and not delayed the battleships by refueling the destroyers, the ships could have easily arrived in the strait ahead of Center Force and, owing to the marked superiority of their radar-directed main guns, destroyed Kurita's ships.


title: USS Massachusetts (BB-59)

text: The fleet withdrew to Ulithi to replenish fuel and ammunition before embarking on a series of raids on Japanese airfields and other facilities on Luzon as the amphibious force prepared for its next landing on the island of Mindoro in the western Philippines. "Massachusetts" was now a member of TG 38.1. The carriers struck Manila on 14 December and after the fleet withdrew on 17 December, Typhoon Cobra swept through the area, battering the fleet and sinking three destroyers, though "Massachusetts" was not significantly damaged in the incident. She reported one injury among her crew and the loss of two of her reconnaissance aircraft. From 30 December to 23 January 1945, "Massachusetts" operated with the carriers of TF 38, which made a series of raids on Formosa and Okinawa, to support the invasion of Lingayen Gulf in the northern Philippines. The carriers of TG 38.1 concentrated their attacks on Formosa.


title: USS Massachusetts (BB-59)

text: By February, the fast carrier task force had reverted to Fifth Fleet command, and "Massachusetts" was now part of TG 58.1. The ship carried on in her role as an escort for the fleet carriers during a series of strikes on Honshu; these were made to support the upcoming invasion of Iwo Jima. The task force departed Ulithi on 10 February, and after conducting exercises off Tinian on 12 February and refueling on the 14th, began the attacks on Honshu on 16 February. Further raids are carried out the next day and on 18 February, the ships of TG 58.1 withdrew to refuel at sea. The carriers also raided Iwo Jima during battle there, with TG 58.1 contributing its firepower beginning on 20 February. TF 58 withdrew to refuel on 24 February and then made additional strikes on the Tokyo area over the course of 25 and 26 February. They then steamed south to raid Okinawa on 1 March before withdrawing the next day to Ulithi, which they reached on 4 March.


title: USS Massachusetts (BB-59)

text: TF 58 sortied again on 14 March for another raid on Japan; "Massachusetts" was again assigned to TG 58.1. The ships refueled on the way on 16 March. Two days later, the carriers began another series of attacks on mainland Japan, starting with targets on the island of Kyushu to weaken Japanese forces before the invasion of Okinawa in April. A large counter-attack consisting of 48 kamikazes hit the fleet, but the attacks were concentrated on TG 58.4 and as a result "Massachusetts" was not heavily engaged. The next day, during raids on the Kure area, Japanese bombers attacked the fleet and badly damaged the carrier , part of TG 58.1, though "Massachusetts" was not hit. Heavy damage inflicted on other units by bombers and kamikazes prompted Mitscher, the commander of TF 58, to withdraw his fleet and reorganize it. "Massachusetts" remained in TG 58.1, but two cruisers were detached to escort "Wasp" back to Ulithi.


title: USS Massachusetts (BB-59)

text: On 23 March, TF 58 steamed southwest to begin preparatory attacks on Okinawa in advance of the landing on the island. The next day, the carriers of TG 58.1 destroyed a convoy of eight transports off Kyushu and "Massachusetts" was detached in company with the battleships "Indiana", "New Jersey", and as TF 59 to shell Okinawa, thereafter returning to their carrier groups. The ship spent much of April operating off the island, helping to fend off heavy Japanese air attacks. Throughout this period, the carrier task groups rotated through the station, with two groups in action at any given time. Heavy and repeated kamikaze attacks hit numerous vessels over the course of the campaign, but "Massachusetts" was not targeted by the suicide craft. In late May, Third Fleet resumed command of the task force, and "Massachusetts"' unit was accordingly re-numbered TG 38.1. On 5 June, the ship passed through another typhoon that did not inflict serious damage to "Massachusetts". Five days later, "Massachusetts" steamed to shell Japanese facilities on the island of Minami Daito Jima in the Ryukyus. Following this bombardment, TF 38 withdrew to Leyte Gulf after three months of continuous operations.


title: USS Massachusetts (BB-59)

text: The fleet thereafter returned to Leyte Gulf to prepare for the next major operation off Japan. The fast carrier task force sortied on 1 July for attacks on Honshu, initially concentrating on the area around Tokyo. On 14 July, "Massachusetts" was detached to form TG 34.8.1. with "Indiana", "South Dakota", two heavy cruisers and nine destroyers. The ships were sent to bombard an industrial complex in Kamaishi that included the Japan Iron Co. and the Kamaishi Steel Works; this complex was Japan's second-largest iron and steel manufacturing center, and this was the first bombardment operation conducted against the Japanese Home Islands. Two weeks later, she repeated the bombardment, this time targeting industrial facilities at Hamamatsu. For this operation, they were joined by the battleship and three destroyers of the British Pacific Fleet. Another attack on Kamaishi followed on 9 August, this time TG 34.8 was reinforced by the battleship .


title: USS Massachusetts (BB-59)

text: Following the Japanese surrender on 15 August, "Massachusetts" departed the region on 1 September, bound for Puget Sound for an overhaul. The work lasted until 28 January 1946, when she sailed south to San Francisco, California before proceeding on to Hampton Roads, Virginia, which she reached on 22 April. She was decommissioned on 27 March 1947 at Norfolk, Virginia, and assigned to the Atlantic Reserve Fleet.


title: USS Massachusetts (BB-59)

text: Plans were drawn up during the period she was in reserve to modernize "Massachusetts" and the other ships of her class should they be needed for future active service. In March 1954, a program to equip the four ships with secondary batteries consisting of ten twin guns were proposed, but the plan came to nothing. Another plan to convert the ship into a guided missile battleship arose in 1956–1957, but the cost of the conversion proved to be prohibitive. She would have had all three main battery turrets removed and replaced with a twin RIM-8 Talos missile launcher forward, two RIM-24 Tartar launchers aft, anti-submarine weapons, and equipment to handle helicopters. The cost of the project amounted to $120 million. "Massachusetts" remained out of service until 1 June 1962, when she was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register. While she was in reserve, the Navy removed approximately 5,000 tons of equipment for use on other naval vessels, including both of the explosive-driven catapults used to launch float planes.


title: USS Massachusetts (BB-59)

text: After "Massachusetts" was stricken and slated for disposal, a group of her former crew lobbied to have the battleship preserved as a museum ship. The Massachusetts Memorial Committee successfully raised enough money to purchase the vessel from the Navy, including through a donation campaign for children in the state, and on 8 June 1965, the Navy transferred ownership of the vessel to the state. Two months later, on 14 August, she was anchored in Fall River, Massachusetts, at Battleship Cove. The museum also includes the destroyer , the submarine , the former East German corvette , a pair of PT boats, and numerous other exhibits.


title: USS Massachusetts (BB-59)

text: In the early 1980s, when the Navy reactivated the four s, parts were cannibalized from preserved battleships, including "Massachusetts", to restore the "Iowa"s to service. Engine room components that were no longer available in the Navy's inventory accounted for most of the material removed from the ships. "Massachusetts" was declared a National Historic Landmark and added to the National Register of Historic Places on 14 January 1986. Apart from the material removed in the 1980s and her aircraft catapults, which were taken for use in other vessels while still in the Navy's possession, "Massachusetts" is still largely in her wartime configuration.


title: USS Massachusetts (BB-59)

text: In November 1998, "Massachusetts" was closed to the public in advance of her planned departure for Boston, where she was scheduled to undergo an overhaul. She departed on her trip to the capital at 06:30 4 November 1998 with a tug boat moving her under the Braga, Mt. Hope and Newport Bridges, then up the coast to Boston. She arrived 7 November and entered Boston's Drydock Number 3, where an inspection determined the battleship was in need of additional steel plating along her hull at the water line to protect against sea water corrosion. In addition, the survey also located leaking rivets and identified a need to remove two of the battleship's propellers for repair purposes. For the next four months "Massachusetts" underwent repairs to correct these problems, including the addition of nearly of steel to her hull and the addition of a compound known as Red Hand Epoxy to encase and protect the hull against further deterioration. In March 1999 "Massachusetts" emerged from her dry docking period and returned under tow to Battleship Cove, arriving at her berth at 15:30 13 March 1999 to a crowd of citizens, dignitaries, veterans, and civic officials.


title: Supermajority

text: A supermajority, supra-majority, qualified majority, or special majority is a requirement for a proposal to gain a specified level of support which is greater than the threshold of more than one-half used for a simple majority. Supermajority rules in a democracy can help to prevent a majority from eroding fundamental rights of a minority, but they can also hamper efforts to respond to problems and encourage corrupt compromises in the times action is taken. Changes to constitutions, especially those with entrenched clauses, commonly require supermajority support in a legislature. Parliamentary procedure requires that any action of a deliberative assembly that may alter the rights of a minority have a supermajority requirement, such as a two-thirds vote.


title: Supermajority

text: Related concepts regarding alternatives to the majority vote requirement include a majority of the entire membership and a majority of the fixed membership. A supermajority can also be specified based on the entire membership or fixed membership rather than on those present and voting.


title: Supermajority

text: Pope Alexander III introduced the use of supermajority rule for papal elections at the Third Lateran Council in 1179.


title: Supermajority

text: In the Democratic Party of the United States, a rule requiring the determination of a presidential nominee required the votes of two-thirds of delegates to the Democratic National Convention was adopted at the party's first presidential nominating convention in 1832. The two-thirds rule gave southern Democrats a "de facto" veto over any presidential nominee after the Civil War, which lasted until the rule was abolished in 1936.


title: Supermajority

text: In the Federalist Papers, Alexander Hamilton and James Madison were critical of supermajority requirements. In Federalist 22, Hamilton wrote that while preventing harmful legislation from being passed, such requirements also prevented beneficial legislation from being passed, and "its real operation is to embarrass the administration, to destroy the energy of government, and to substitute the pleasure, caprice or artifices of an insignificant, turbulent or corrupt junto, to the regular deliberations and decisions of a respectable majority." Hamilton also wrote that such a requirement would encourage "contemptible compromises of the public good". In Federalist 58, Madison wrote that supermajority requirements might help impede the passage of "hasty and partial measures", but "[i]n all cases where justice or the general good might require new laws to be passed, or active measures to be pursued, the fundamental principle of free government would be reversed. It would be no longer the majority that would rule; the power would be transferred to the minority." Madison also wrote that such requirements would encourage secession.


title: Supermajority

text: A majority vote, or more than half the votes cast, is a common voting basis. Instead of the basis of a majority, a supermajority can be specified using any fraction or percentage which is greater than one-half. It can also be called a qualified majority. Common supermajorities include three-fifths (60%), two-thirds (66.66...%), and three-quarters (75%).


title: Supermajority

text: A two-thirds vote, when unqualified, means two-thirds or more of the votes cast. This voting basis is equivalent to the number of votes in favour being at least twice the number of votes against. Abstentions and absences are excluded in calculating a two-thirds vote.


title: Supermajority

text: The two-thirds requirement can be qualified to include the entire membership of a body instead of only those present and voting, but such a requirement must be explicitly stated (such as "two-thirds of those members duly elected and sworn"). In this case, abstentions and absences count as votes against the proposal. Alternatively, the voting requirement could be specified as "two-thirds of those present", which has the effect of counting abstentions but not absences as votes against the proposal.


title: Supermajority

text: For example, if an organization has 150 members and at a meeting 30 members are present with 25 votes cast, a "two-thirds vote" would be 17. ("Two-thirds of those present" would be 20, and "two-thirds of the entire membership" would be 100.)


title: Supermajority

text: Another type of supermajority is three-fifths (60 percent). This requirement could also be qualified to include the entire membership or to include those present.


title: Supermajority

text: In 2006, the Constitution of Florida was amended to require a 60% majority to pass new constitutional amendments by popular vote.


title: Supermajority

text: For the Montenegrin independence referendum held in 2006 the European Union envoy Miroslav Lajčák proposed independence if a 55% supermajority of votes are cast in favor with a minimum turnout of 50%. Such procedure, ultimately accepted by the government of Montenegro, was somewhat criticized as overriding the traditional practice of requiring a two-thirds supermajority, as practiced in all former Yugoslav countries before (including the previous referendum in Montenegro).


title: Supermajority

text: In 2016, the Constitution of Colorado was amended to require a 55% majority to pass new constitutional amendments by popular vote. It had previously been a simple majority.


title: Supermajority

text: Related concepts regarding alternatives to the majority vote requirement include a "majority of the entire membership" and a "majority of the fixed membership".


title: Supermajority

text: A majority of the entire membership is a voting basis that requires that more than half of all the members of a body (including those absent and those present but not voting) vote in favor of a proposition in order for it to be passed. In practical terms, it means an absence or an abstention from voting is equivalent to a "no" vote. It may be contrasted with a majority vote which only requires more than half of those actually voting to approve a proposition for it to be enacted. An absolute majority may also be the same as a majority of the entire membership, although this usage is not consistent.


title: Supermajority

text: A supermajority could be specified in this voting basis, such as a vote of "two-thirds of the entire membership". By way of illustration, in February 2007 the Italian Government fell after it lost a vote in the Italian Senate by 158 votes to 136 (with 24 abstentions). The government needed an absolute majority in the 318 member house but fell two votes short of the required 160 when two of its own supporters abstained. In the United States Electoral College, an absolute majority of electoral votes are required for it to elect the US president and vice-president.


title: Supermajority

text: A majority of the fixed membership is based on the total number of the established fixed membership of the deliberative assembly. It is used only when a specific number of seats or memberships is established in the rules governing the organization. A majority of the fixed membership would be different from a majority of the entire membership if there are vacancies.


title: Supermajority

text: For example, say a board has 12 seats. If the board has the maximum number of members, or 12 members, a majority of the entire membership and a majority of the fixed membership would be seven members. However, if there are two vacancies (so that there are only ten members on the board), then a majority of the entire membership would be six members (more than half of ten), but a majority of the fixed membership would still be seven members.


title: Supermajority

text: It is possible for organizations that use a majority of the fixed membership to be caught in a stalemate if at least half the membership consists of vacancies, making it impossible to perform any actions until those vacancies are filled. The requirement for a minimum number of members to be present in order to conduct business, called a quorum, may be used to avoid such a possibility.


title: Supermajority

text: Similar to the voting basis for the entire membership, a supermajority could be specified for this basis, such as a vote of "two-thirds of the fixed membership".


title: Supermajority

text: Parliamentary procedure requires that any action that may alter the rights of a minority have a supermajority requirement. "Robert's Rules of Order" states:This book also states:


title: Supermajority

text: To pass an amendment to the Australian Constitution, a referendum is required and must ordinarily achieve a double majority: a majority of those voting nationwide, as well as separate majorities in a majority of states (i.e., 4 out of 6 states). Although, a supermajority is required in circumstances where a specific state is affected by a referendum, a majority of voters in that state must also agree to the change. This is often referred to as a "triple majority".


title: Supermajority

text: In Canada, most constitutional amendments can be passed only if identical resolutions are adopted by the House of Commons, the Senate and two-thirds or more of the provincial legislative assemblies representing at least 50 percent of the national population.


title: Supermajority

text: Article 20 of the Constitution of Denmark states that if the government or parliament wants to cede parts of national sovereignty to an international body such as the European Union or the United Nations, it has to get a five-sixths majority in the Folketing (150 out of 179 seats). If there is only a simple majority, a referendum must be held on the subject.


title: Supermajority

text: The Council of the European Union uses 'Qualified majority voting' for the majority of issues brought before the institution. However, for matters of extreme importance for individual member states, unanimous voting is implemented. An example of this is Article 7 of the Treaty on European Union, whereby a member state can have its rights suspended with the unanimous approval of all other member states.


title: Supermajority

text: After the accession of Croatia, on 1July 2013, at least 260 votes out of a total of 352 by at least 15 member states were required for legislation to be adopted by qualified majority. From 1July 2013, the pass condition translated into:


title: Supermajority

text: Requirements to reach an absolute majority is a common feature of voting in the European Parliament (EP) where under the ordinary legislative procedure the EP is required to act by an absolute majority if it is to either amend or reject proposed legislation.


title: Supermajority

text: According to Finnish Law, when a new legislative proposal would in some way add, alter or remove a part of the Finnish constitution, a bill requires a 2/3 majority in the Parliament of Finland. In other words, a legislative proposal that would modify, add or remove a part of the Finnish Constitution requires at least the approval of 134 out of 200 representatives in the Parliament of Finland


title: Supermajority

text: Article 368 of the Indian Constitution requires a supermajority of two-thirds of members present and voting in each house of the Indian Parliament, subject to at least by a majority of the total membership of each House of Parliament, to amend the constitution. In addition, in matters affecting the states and judiciary, at least above half of all the states need to ratify the amendment.


title: Supermajority

text: The President of Italy is elected by an electoral college consisting of both chambers of Parliament sitting in joint session with 58 electors from the country's 20 regions. In the first three rounds of voting, a candidate must get two-thirds of the votes to win, but from the fourth round onwards only an absolute majority is needed. Reforms to the Constitution need to achieve a supermajority of two-thirds of the votes both in the Chamber and in the Senate to avoid the possibility of being sent to popular vote in order to be confirmed through a referendum.


title: Supermajority

text: Amendments to the constitution require a two-thirds majority in both houses of the National Diet and a simple majority in a referendum.


title: Supermajority

text: Section 268 of the Electoral Act sets out a number of 'reserved provisions'. These provisions include section 17(1) of the Constitution Act 1986 (regarding Parliament's term length), section 35 of the Electoral Act (regarding the drawing of electoral boundaries), and section 74 of the Electoral Act (designating 18 as the minimum voting age). For a 'reserved provision' to be amended or repealed, a three-quarters majority is required in the House of Representatives or a majority is needed in a national referendum.


title: Supermajority

text: Under the Constitution of Nigeria a two-thirds majority is required in the National Assembly to alter the Constitution, enact legislation in a few areas, or remove office holders from some positions, such a Speaker. Legislative override or impeachment of the executive at either the state or federal government level also requires a two-thirds majority of the corresponding legislative assembly.


title: Supermajority

text: Under the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines, a two-thirds majority of both chambers of the Congress of the Philippines (the House of Representatives and the Senate) meeting in joint session is required to declare war. A two-thirds majority of both chambers is required to override a presidential veto. A two-thirds vote of both chambers of Congress voting separately is required to designate the vice president as acting president in the event that a majority of the Cabinet certifies that the president is "unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office" but the president declares that no such inability exists. A two-thirds vote of either chamber is required to suspend or expel a member from that chamber.


title: Supermajority

text: Under the 1987 Constitution, "The Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of all its Members, call a constitutional convention, or by a majority vote of all its Members, submit to the electorate the question of calling such a convention." A three-quarters vote of all the members of the Congress is required to propose an amendment to the Constitution; the proposed amendment is submitted to the people for ratification (by a majority of the votes cast) in a plebiscite.


title: Supermajority

text: A two-thirds majority of the Senate is required to ratify treaties, and to remove an impeached official from office. Impeachment by the House, which is the required first step in the removal process, only requires one-third of Representatives to sign a petition (specifically a verified complaint or resolution of impeachment).


title: Supermajority

text: Different amendment procedures apply to different parts of the Constitution. Most of the Articles of the Constitution may be amended by a bill enacted by Parliament if there is at least a supermajority of two-thirds of all elected MPs voting in favour of the bill during its Second and Third Readings in Parliament. This is in contrast to ordinary bills, which only need to be approved by at least a simple majority of all the MPs present and voting.


title: Supermajority

text: However, the ruling People's Action Party (PAP) has commanded a majority of more than two-thirds of the seats in Parliament since 1968. Thus, the more stringent amendment requirement has not imposed any major limitation on Parliament's ability to amend the Constitution.


title: Supermajority

text: A three-fifths majority of legislators is required for a bill to be put to a vote in the National Assembly in order to prevent the ruling party from passing laws without the support of opposition parties. However, if a bill does not achieve the required three-fifths majority at one session without also being rejected, it must then be voted on at the next session even if less than three-fifths of legislators agree to do so.


title: Supermajority

text: Additionally, if the President vetoes a bill, the veto can be overridden by a two-thirds majority of legislators.


title: Supermajority

text: According to Article 65 of the Constitution of South Korea, impeachment of the President requires a two-third majority of legislators to be effective.


title: Supermajority

text: According to Article 113 of the Constitution of South Korea, the Constitutional Court requires a two-thirds majority of its judges to issue rulings nullifying laws, removing impeached officials or dissolving a political party.


title: Supermajority

text: According to Article 130 of the Constitution of South Korea, amendments to the constitution must be passed by a two-thirds majority of legislators and then approved by voters at a referendum in order to become effective.


title: Supermajority

text: The 1978 Constitution states that a three-fifths majority in both Congress of Deputies and Senate of Spain is needed to pass a constitutional reform, but if a two-thirds majority is reached in the Congress of Deputies, an absolute majority of senators is enough to pass the proposal.


title: Supermajority

text: Nevertheless, when a new Constitution is proposed or the proposal's goal is to reform the Preliminary Title, the Chapter on Fundamental Rights and Freedoms or the Title on the Crown, the supermajority becomes significantly harder:


title: Supermajority

text: Each Spanish autonomous community has its own Statute of Autonomy, working like a local constitution that is subject to the 1978 Constitution and national powers.


title: Supermajority

text: The Statute of Autonomy of the Canary Islands states that its economic and fiscal regime and electoral law need a two-thirds majority of the Parliament to be modified. On its behalf, the Ombudsman needs a three-fifths majority to be appointed. Also, if a two-thirds majority votes against a law project, it must be proposed to the following session.


title: Supermajority

text: Before the Additional Articles of the Constitution of the Republic of China in 2005, the constitution amendments need to be passed by the National Assembly. Since the Additional Articles ratified on June 7, 2005, the National Assembly was abolished. Amendments of the constitution need to be proposed by more than one-quarter of members of the Legislative Yuan, passed by three-quarters of those present in the meeting, the presence of which must surpass three-quarters of all members of Legislative Yuan, then followed by approval by more than half (50%) of all eligible voters in referendums.


title: Supermajority

text: In Turkey, constitutional amendments need a three fifths majority (360 votes) to be put forward to a referendum and a two-thirds majority (400 votes) to be ratified directly.


title: Supermajority

text: According to Article 155 of the Constitution of Ukraine, amendments to the constitution, except for Chapter I — "General Principles," Chapter III — "Elections. Referendum", and Chapter XIII — "Introducing Amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine", must be previously approved by a simple majority of the constitutional composition of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and then passed by a two-thirds majority of the constitutional composition of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine at the succeeding regular session of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.


title: Supermajority

text: According to Article 156 of the Constitution of Ukraine, amendments to Chapter I — "General Principles," Chapter III — "Elections. Referendum", and Chapter XIII — "Introducing Amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine" must be passed by a two-thirds majority of the constitutional composition of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and then approved by voters at a referendum in order to become effective.


title: Supermajority

text: Prior to its repeal, the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 provided that the United Kingdom House of Commons could be dissolved and an election held before the expiry of its 5-year term by a vote of two-thirds of the membership of the House of Commons. The Act's provision for an early dissolution vote was the only supermajority required in the British Constitution. The Act also provided that Parliament could alternatively be dissolved if the House of Commons passed a motion of no-confidence in the government and no new government were to win a motion of confidence within two weeks of the original vote of no-confidence.


title: Supermajority

text: The two-thirds supermajority provision for an early dissolution and election was triggered only once, resulting in the 2017 United Kingdom General Election. The previous election in 2015 had occurred due to the natural expiry of the 5-year term of the House of Commons.


title: Supermajority

text: Parliamentary supremacy meant that theoretically the Act could be circumvented by a government with a majority that wanted to bypass the requirement for a two-thirds vote by passing an act that stated, "Notwithstanding the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011, a general election will be called on DATE". This was precisely what was done to initiate the election in 2019, the final election held whilst the Fixed-term Parliaments Act was in effect.


title: Supermajority

text: During the 2019 election, both the governing Conservative Party and the opposition Labour Party expressed a desire to repeal the Fixed-term Parliaments Act and restore the traditional, centuries-old system under which elections could be held at any time, subject to the 5-year maximum term limit established by the Parliament Act 1911. Such a repeal would only require a simple majority.


title: Supermajority

text: Ultimately, the Fixed-term Parliaments Act was repealed by the Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act 2022, thereby removing any supermajority requirement and restoring the previous royal prerogative power to dissolve the House of Commons at any time during its 5-year term.


title: Supermajority

text: The United Nations Security Council requires a supermajority of the fixed membership on substantive matters (procedural matters require a simple majority of those present and voting). According to Article 27 of the United Nations Charter, at least nine of the Security Council's 15 members (i.e., a three-fifths supermajority) must vote in favor of a draft resolution in order to achieve passage. Specifying the fixed membership has the effect of making abstentions count as votes against—absences are not normal but would be treated the same way.


title: Supermajority

text: This is useful for the five permanent members of the council (China, France, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, and the United States) because a vote against from any one of them constitutes a veto, which cannot be overridden. Permanent members who do not support a measure, but are unwilling to be seen to block it against the wishes of the majority of the council, tend to abstain; abstentions by veto powers are generally seen by close observers of the UN as the equivalent of not vetoing votes against and have the same impact on the decision of the Security Council.


title: Supermajority

text: The Constitution of the United States requires supermajorities in order for certain significant actions to occur.


title: Supermajority

text: Amendments to the Constitution may be proposed in one of two ways: a two-thirds supermajority votes of each house of United States Congress or a convention called by Congress on application of two-thirds (currently 34) of the states. Once proposed, the amendment must be ratified by three-quarters (currently 38) of the states (either through the state legislatures, or ratification conventions, whichever "mode of ratification" Congress selects).


title: Supermajority

text: Congress may pass bills by simple majority votes. If the president vetoes a bill, Congress may override the veto by a two-thirds supermajority of both houses.


title: Supermajority

text: A treaty must be ratified by a two-thirds supermajority of the Senate to enter into force and effect.


title: Supermajority

text: Section 4 of the Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution gives Congress a role to play in the event of a presidential disability. If the vice president and a majority of the president's cabinet declare that the president is unable to serve in that role, the vice president becomes acting president. Within 21 days of such a declaration (or, if Congress is in recess when a president is disabled, 21 days after Congress reconvenes), Congress must vote by two-thirds supermajorities to continue the disability declaration; otherwise, such declaration expires after the 21 days and the president would at that time "resume" discharging all the powers and duties of the office. As of 2021, Section 4 has never been invoked.


title: Supermajority

text: The House may, by a simple majority vote, impeach a federal official (such as, but not limited to, the president, vice president, or a federal judge). Removal from office (and optional disqualification from any federal, state or local office) requires a two-thirds supermajority of the Senate. In 1842, the House failed to impeach president John Tyler. In 1868, the Senate fell one vote short of removing president Andrew Johnson following his impeachment. In 1999, efforts to remove Bill Clinton following his impeachment in 1998 fell just short of a simple majority, and 17 votes short of the two-thirds supermajority. The impeachment procedure was last used in 2021, when former president Donald Trump was impeached for a second time and subsequently acquitted. Each chamber may expel one of its own members by a two-thirds supermajority vote; this last happened when the House expelled James Traficant in 2002.


title: Supermajority

text: The 14th Amendment (section 3) bars a person from federal or state office if, after having previously taken an oath to support the Constitution as a federal or state officer, ""shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof"". However, both the House and Senate may jointly override this restriction with a two-thirds supermajority vote each.


title: Supermajority

text: A two-thirds supermajority in the Senate is 67 out of 100 senators, while a two-thirds supermajority in the House is 290 out of 435 representatives. However, since many votes take place without every seat in the House filled and representative participating, it does not often require 67 senators or 290 representatives to achieve this supermajority.


title: Supermajority

text: Apart from these constitutional requirements, a Senate rule (except in cases covered by the nuclear option, or of a rule change) requires an absolute supermajority of three-fifths to move to a vote through a cloture motion, which closes debate on a bill or nomination, thus ending a filibuster by a minority of members. In current practice, the mere threat of a filibuster prevents passing almost any measure that has less than three-fifths agreement in the Senate, 60 of the 100 senators if every seat is filled.


title: Supermajority

text: For state legislatures in the United States, "Mason's Manual" says, "A deliberative body cannot by its own act or rule require a two-thirds vote to take any action where the constitution or controlling authority requires only a majority vote. To require a two-thirds vote, for example, to take any action would be to give to any number more than one-third of the members the power to defeat the action and amount to a delegation of the powers of the body to a minority." Some states require a supermajority for passage of a constitutional amendment or statutory initiative.


title: Supermajority

text: Many state constitutions allow or require amendments to their own constitutions to be proposed by supermajorities of the state legislature; these amendments must usually be approved by the voters at one or more subsequent elections. Michigan, for instance, allows the Legislature to propose an amendment to the Michigan Constitution; it must then be ratified by the voters at the next general election (unless a special election is called).


title: Supermajority

text: In most states, the state legislature may override a governor's veto of legislation. In most states, a two-thirds supermajority of both chambers is required. However, in some states (e.g., Illinois, Maryland and North Carolina), only a three-fifths supermajority is required, while in Kentucky and West Virginia only a normal majority is needed.


title: Supermajority

text: One common provision of so-called "taxpayer bill of rights" laws (either in state statutes or state constitutions) is requirement of a supermajority vote in the state legislature to increase taxes. The National Conference of State Legislatures reported in 2010 that fifteen states required a supermajority vote (either a three-fifths, two-thirds or three-quarters majority vote in both chambers) to pass some or all tax increases.


title: Supermajority

text: Supermajority requirements for tax increases have been criticized as "deeply flawed" by a report by the progressive Center on Budget and Policy Priorities because such requirements empower a minority of legislators, making it difficult to close tax loopholes or fund transportation infrastructure, and also may encourage pork-barrel spending as a trade-off to ensure passage of a tax increase (see logrolling).


title: Film crew

text: A film crew is a group of people, hired by a production company, for the purpose of producing a film or motion picture. The crew is distinguished from the cast, as the cast are understood to be the actors who appear in front of the camera or provide voices for characters in the film. The crew is also separate from the producers, as the producers are the ones who own a portion of either the film studio or the film's intellectual property rights. A film crew is divided into different departments, each of which specializes in a specific aspect of the production. Film crew positions have evolved over the years, spurred by technological change, but many traditional jobs date from the early 20th century and are common across jurisdictions and filmmaking cultures.


title: Film crew

text: Motion picture projects have three discrete stages: development, production, and distribution. Within the production stage there are also three clearly defined sequential phases (pre-production, principal photography, and post-production) and many film crew positions are associated with only one or two of the phases. Distinctions are also made between above-the-line personnel (such as the director, screenwriter, and producers) who begin their involvement during the project's development stage, and the below-the-line technical crew involved only with the production stage.


title: Film crew

text: A director is the person who directs the making of a film. The director most often has the highest authority on a film set. Generally, a director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the technical crew and actors in the fulfillment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, production design, and the creative aspects of filmmaking. Under European Union law, the director is viewed as the author of the film.


title: Film crew

text: The director gives direction to the cast and crew, and creates an overall vision through which a film eventually becomes realized or noticed. Directors need to be able to mediate differences in creative visions and stay within the boundaries of the film's budget. There are many pathways to becoming a film director. Some directors started as screenwriters, cinematographers, film editors, or actors. Other directors have attended a film school. Directors use different approaches. Some outline a general plotline and let the actors improvise dialogue, while others control every aspect, and demand that the actors and crew follow instructions precisely. Some directors also write their own screenplays or collaborate on screenplays with long-standing writing partners. Some directors edit or appear in their films, or compose the music score for their films.


title: Film crew

text: Production is generally not considered a department as such, but rather as a series of functional groups. These include the film's producers and executive producers and production office staff such as the production manager, the production coordinator, and their assistants; the various assistant directors; the accounting staff and sometimes the locations manager and their assistants.


title: Film crew

text: Since the turn of the 21st century, several additional professionals are now routinely listed in the production credits on most major motion pictures.


title: Film crew

text: Grips are trained lighting and rigging technicians. Their main responsibility is to work closely with the electrical department to put in the non-electrical components of lighting set-ups required for a shot, such as flags, overheads, and bounces. On the sound stage, they move and adjust major set pieces when something needs to be moved to get a camera into position. In addition to lifting heavy objects and setting rigging points for lights, they also report to the key grip. In the US and Canada, grips may belong to the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees.


title: Film crew

text: The art department in a major feature film can often number hundreds of people. Usually it is considered to include several sub-departments: the art department proper, with its art director, set designers and draftsmen; set decoration, under the set decorator; props, under the props master/mistress; construction, headed by the construction coordinator; scenic, headed by the key scenic artist; and special effects.


title: Film crew

text: Within the overall art department is a sub-department, also called the art department – which can be confusing. This consists of the people who design the sets and create the graphic art.


title: Film crew

text: The special effects department oversees the mechanical effects (also called physical or practical effects) that create optical illusions during live-action shooting. It is not to be confused with the visual effects department, which adds photographic effects during filming to be altered later during video editing in the post-production process.


title: Film crew

text: Visual effects commonly refers to post-production alterations of the film's images. The on set VFX crew works to prepare shots and plates for future visual effects. This may include adding tracking markers, taking and asking for reference plates and helping the director understand the limitations and ease of certain shots that will effect the future post production. A VFX crew can also work alongside the special effects department for any on-set optical effects that need physical representation during filming (on camera).


title: Film crew

text: Previsualization (also known as previs, previz, pre-rendering, preview, or wireframe windows) is the visualizing of complex scenes in a film before filming. It is also a concept in still photography. It is also used to describe techniques such as storyboarding, either in the form of charcoal sketches or in digital technology, in the planning and conceptualization of film scenes.