title: The Kingsmen

text: With a competing "Louie Louie" version from Paul Revere and the Raiders getting heavy play on a competing station, Chase began playing the Kingsmen's demo version on his show at KISN. He then contracted with Jerry Dennon's Jerden Records to press a single. The B-side was "Haunted Castle", composed by Ely and Don Gallucci, the new keyboardist; however, Lynn Easton was credited on both the Jerden and Wand releases.


title: The Kingsmen

text: "Louie Louie" reached No. 1 on the "Cashbox" and "Music Vendor" charts and No. 2 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart. Additionally it reached No. 1 on the CHUM Canada chart and in the UK it reached No. 26 on the "Record Retailer" chart. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc.


title: The Kingsmen

text: The band attracted nationwide attention when "Louie Louie" was banned by the governor of Indiana, Matthew E. Welsh, also attracting the attention of the FBI because of alleged indecent lyrics in their version of the song. The lyrics were, in fact, innocent, but Ely's baffling enunciation permitted teenage fans and concerned parents alike to imagine the most scandalous obscenities. (Ironically, the FBI totally missed Lynn Easton yelling "Fuck!" at 0:54 after fumbling a drum fill.) All of this attention only made the song more popular. In April 1966 "Louie Louie" was reissued and once again hit the music charts, reaching No. 65 on the "Cashbox" chart and No. 97 on the "Billboard Hot 100" chart.


title: The Kingsmen

text: In 1985, Ross Shafer, host and a writer-performer of the late-night comedy series "Almost Live!" on the Seattle TV station KING, spearheaded an effort to have "Louie Louie" replace "Washington, My Home" by Helen Davis as Washington's official state song. Picking up on this initially prankish effort, Whatcom County Councilman Craig Cole introduced Resolution No. 85–12 in the state legislature, citing the need for a "contemporary theme song that can be used to engender a sense of pride and community, and in the enhancement of tourism and economic development". His resolution also called for the creation of a new "Louie Louie County". While the House did not pass it, the Senate's Resolution 1985-37 declared April 12, 1985, "Louie Louie Day". A crowd of 4,000, estimated by press reports, convened at the state capitol that day for speeches, singalongs, and performances by the Wailers, the Kingsmen, and Paul Revere and the Raiders. Two days later, a Seattle event commemorated the occasion with the premiere performance of a new, Washington-centric version of the song written by composer Berry.


title: The Kingsmen

text: Over the years the Kingsmen's version of "Louie Louie" has been recognized by organizations and publications worldwide for its influence on the history of rock and roll. Rankings and recognition in major publications and surveys are shown in the table below.


title: The Kingsmen

text: Before the success of "Louie Louie", the members of the Kingsmen took varied paths. Easton, whose mother had registered the name of the group and therefore owned it, declared that from this point on he intended to be the singer asserting, "It's my band because I own the name" (he and his mother had registered the name), and forcing Ely to play the drums. This led Ely and Nordby to quit the group in 1963, and Gary Abbott and Norm Sundholm were added to play drums and bass, respectively.


title: The Kingsmen

text: Don Gallucci was forced out because he wasn't old enough to tour and later formed Don and the Goodtimes, which morphed into the short-lived Touch. Later, Gallucci became a record producer with Elektra Records, with his most famous production being the Stooges' seminal second album "Fun House".


title: The Kingsmen

text: The two remaining original Kingsmen, Lynn Easton and Mike Mitchell, were joined by Gary Abbott, Barry Curtis and Norm Sundholm to record their first album and tour as the official band. Dick Peterson (not Dickie Peterson) replaced Gary Abbott shortly thereafter. This line-up stayed intact from 1964 into 1966 and charted multiple singles and albums with Easton as the principal vocalist.


title: The Kingsmen

text: After Ely's departure and considerable chart success by the new line-up, the group learned that he was performing with another group as The Kingsmen. Following legal action, a settlement was reached and Easton, Mitchell, Peterson, Curtis and Sundholm established their rights to the "Kingsmen" name. Thus, Ely was forced to stop using the name, Easton could no longer lip sync to Ely's vocals, and subsequent releases of "Louie Louie" were required to have the text "Lead vocal by Jack Ely" below the title. Unable to perform using the Kingsmen name, Ely continued with his groups the Squires and the Courtmen. He also received a gold record for "Louie Louie" as part of the settlement.


title: The Kingsmen

text: The Kingsmen's 1964 follow up to "Louie Louie" was a party version of "Money (That's What I Want)" which hit the "Billboard Hot 100" at No. 16 and on "Cashbox" at No. 17. Then came "Little Latin Lupe Lu" peaking on "Billboard" at No. 46 and "Cashbox" at No. 49. After that it was "Death of An Angel" No. 33 on Cashbox and No. 42 on Billboard.


title: The Kingsmen

text: After starting 1965 with their own float in the Rose Bowl Parade, the Kingsmen returned to the Top 10 nationally with "The Jolly Green Giant" reaching No. 4 on Billboard and No. 8 on Cashbox. The novelty number also made No. 25 on the Billboard R&B chart and hit No. 1 on the RPM Canada chart. The follow-up song was "The Climb", No. 45 on Cashbox and No. 65 on Billboard. "Annie Fanny" was released next reaching No. 43 on Cashbox and No. 47 on Billboard. Next came "(You Got) The Gamma Goochee", No. 98 on Cashbox and No. 122 on Billboard. The group also appeared in the beach party movie "How to Stuff a Wild Bikini" singing "Give Her Lovin'" (released as a B-side to "Annie Fanny") which appeared on the soundtrack album along with their recording of the title song.


title: The Kingsmen

text: In 1966 the Kingsmen continued to hit the charts with "Killer Joe" reaching No. 77 on Billboard and No. 81 on Cashbox. Their original recording of "Louie Louie" was re-released as "Louie Louie 64-65-66" and re-entered the Billboard, Cash Box, and Record World charts. They also released a promotional item, a "picture-sleeve-clad potato-chip ad jingle 45" titled "The Krunch", their only picture sleeve single, which did not chart.


title: The Kingsmen

text: In 1967 they made the charts for the last time with "Bo Diddley Bach" reaching No. 128 on Billboard. Later that year, founding member Lynn Easton left the group. He worked for an advertising firm and hosted "this is IT", a "bandstand-type" show for Portland television station KGW.


title: The Kingsmen

text: In late 1968 with the original group on a recording and touring hiatus, the Kingsmen's management team worked with the Kasenetz-Katz production organization and studio musicians to release a single on the Earth label ("Feed Me"/"Just A 'B' Side"). A separate lineup was formed with new members (including lead singer Yank Barry) to tour for a time during 1968–1969 on the East Coast of the United States while the main lineup of the band was inactive.


title: The Kingsmen

text: In addition to Jack Ely's groups and re-recordings, several of the Kingsmen pursued other solo projects. Dick Peterson and Barry Curtis as the Other Two released two singles in 1966, and Lynn Easton re-recorded "The Jolly Green Giant" in 1976. Peterson as Dick St. Nicklaus released two albums, "Magic" (1979) and "Sweet and Dandy" (1980), and multiple singles.


title: The Kingsmen

text: In 1983, the group successfully sued K-tel over the release of the 1982 "60's Dance Party" album because it featured a 1976 Jack Ely re-recording of "Louie Louie" billed as by "The Kingsmen" and displayed the text "These selections are rerecordings by the original artists" on the back cover. K-tel had also similarly marketed the Lynn Easton re-recording of "The Jolly Green Giant".


title: The Kingsmen

text: In 1993, members of the group brought legal action against Gusto Records to have all of their original recordings returned. Gusto had acquired the Kingsmen song rights from Springboard International Records, Inc., who had purchased the entire Scepter-Wand catalog in 1977 after Florence Greenberg's retirement, but the group had not been paid royalties since 1968. In 1998, the Kingsmen were awarded ownership of all their early recordings, including "Louie Louie".


title: The Kingsmen

text: Mike Mitchell died on April 16, 2021, on his 77th birthday. At the time of his death, he was the only remaining member of the Kingsmen's original lineup who still performed with the band. His "Louie Louie" guitar break has been called "iconic", "blistering", and "one of the most famous guitar solos of all time". "Guitar Player" magazine noted, "Raw, lightning-fast, and loud, the solo's unbridled energy helped make the song a No. 2 pop hit, but also helped set the template for garage-rock – and later hard-rock – guitar."


title: The Kingsmen

text: U.S. albums and singles, plus major compilation releases and appearances on 1960s various artist compilations.


title: The Kingsmen

text: Prior to this group's formation, another group called The Kingsmen operated in 1958 and was made up of members of Bill Haley & His Comets who were moonlighting from their regular work with Haley. This group scored a hit record (#35) on Billboard with the instrumental entitled "Week End", written by Rudy Pompilli, Franny Beecher, and Billy Williamson, backed with "Better Believe It" as the B side. They released a follow-up single on East West Records featuring "The Catwalk" backed with "Conga Rock". Although the Comets did the actual recordings, when the Kingsmen went on tour a different set of musicians performed instead of Haley's people. The band made at least one appearance on "American Bandstand" in 1958.


title: The Kingsmen

text: Many other groups have used the name "The Kingsmen", including a gospel vocal group formed in 1956 (also referred to as The Kingsmen Quartet), and bands that were later renamed as Flamin' Groovies, The Gants and The Statler Brothers. An a cappella group at Columbia University is traditionally known as the Kingsmen; former members include Art Garfunkel and the original lineup of Sha Na Na.


title: Vampire in Brooklyn

text: Vampire in Brooklyn is a 1995 American dark comedy horror film directed by Wes Craven. It stars Eddie Murphy, who produced and wrote with his brothers Vernon Lynch and Charles Q. Murphy. The film co-stars Angela Bassett, Allen Payne, Kadeem Hardison, John Witherspoon, Zakes Mokae, and Joanna Cassidy. Murphy also plays an alcoholic preacher, Pauly, and a foul-mouthed Italian gangster, Guido, respectively.


title: Vampire in Brooklyn

text: "Vampire in Brooklyn" was the final film produced under Eddie Murphy's exclusive contract with Paramount Pictures, which began with "48 Hrs." (1982) and included the "Beverly Hills Cop" franchise (1984–1994).


title: Vampire in Brooklyn

text: "Vampire in Brooklyn" was released theatrically in the United States on October 27, 1995. It received mostly negative reviews and failed to meet the studio's expectations at the box office. Despite this, "Vampire In Brooklyn" has become regarded as a cult classic and has been subject to critical re-evaluation especially towards Craven’s direction, Murphy and Bassett’s performances and chemistry and the humor.


title: Vampire in Brooklyn

text: An abandoned ship crashes into a dockyard in Brooklyn, New York, and the ship inspector, Silas Green, finds it full of corpses. Elsewhere, Julius Jones, Silas's nephew, has a run-in with some Italian mobsters. Just as the two goons are about to kill Julius, Maximillian, a vampire who arrived on the ship, intervenes and kills them. Max infects Julius with his vampiric blood, thereby turning Julius into a decaying ghoul, and explains that he has come to Brooklyn in search of the Dhampir daughter of a vampire from his native Caribbean island in order to live beyond the night of the next full moon.


title: Vampire in Brooklyn

text: This Dhampir turns out to be NYPD Detective Rita Veder, still dealing with the death of her mentally ill mother (a paranormal researcher) some months before. As she and her partner, Detective Justice, investigate the murders on the ship, Rita begins having visions about a woman who looks like her, and starts asking questions about her mother's past. Rita is completely unaware of her vampire heritage, and believes she is losing her mind like her mother.


title: Vampire in Brooklyn

text: Max initiates a series of sinister methods to pull Rita into his thrall, including seducing and murdering her roommate Nikki, as well as disguising himself as her preacher and a lowlife crook. Max, in these disguises, misleads Rita into thinking Justice slept with Nikki, making her jealous and angry with him. After saving Rita from being run down by a taxicab, Max takes her to dinner. Rita is taken with Max's suave charm, and while dancing with her, he bites her.


title: Vampire in Brooklyn

text: The next day, Justice finds Rita in her apartment, having slept all day with it completely darkened. Justice informs Rita about Nikki's murder, and vows to help understand her visions, as one correctly foretold Nikki's fate. Rita forgives Justice, but she almost bites him in the neck during a passionate kiss before catching her disappearing reflection in a mirror, and realizes she is becoming a vampire. She confronts Max about the changes occurring in her, and deduces he is also responsible for the murders she and Justice are investigating. Rita further finds out that Max was sent to her by her father; his death at the hands of vampire hunters was what drove Rita's mother insane.


title: Vampire in Brooklyn

text: Max tries to convince Rita that she will be happier as a vampire instead of remaining in the human world, where he feels she will remain out of place and misunderstood by society. Justice plans to rescue Rita from Max, and seeks advice from Dr. Zeko, a vampire expert they visited earlier in the murder investigation. Zeko explains that he knew Rita's mother while she did her research on the vampires of the Caribbean islands, and she surrendered to evil by falling in love with Rita's father. To avoid becoming a vampire, Rita must refrain from drinking the blood of an innocent human victim and Max must die before the next full moon. Zeko gives Justice an ancient dagger with instructions to either kill Max or risk being killed by Rita.


title: Vampire in Brooklyn

text: When Justice reaches her, Rita is lying inside Max's coffin, almost completely changed into a vampire, and threatens to bite Justice. Justice and Max fight, during which Justice loses Zeko's dagger on the floor. Max encourages Rita to kill Justice and complete the transformation, but she rejects life as a vampire and drives the dagger through Max's heart, causing him to disintegrate. Rita and Justice kiss.


title: Vampire in Brooklyn

text: Meanwhile, Julius, now completely decayed, enters his master's limousine. He finds Max's ring and puts it on, instantly transforming him into a fully intact member of the undead. Overjoyed, he tells Silas, "There's a new vampire in Brooklyn, and his name is Julius Jones!", as both of them drive off into the night to parts unknown.


title: Vampire in Brooklyn

text: According to Charlie Murphy, the movie was originally going to be a straight horror film with no laughs but Wes Craven brought a different focus to it. He also said: "Maximilian wasn't going to have any redeeming qualities. But Wes taught us that we must get the audience to care about our characters. And even if they didn't know any vampires personally, they would at least have to identify with the type of person he was."


title: Vampire in Brooklyn

text: About the movie, Eddie Murphy said: "I've always wanted to do something where I was the villain in the movie. I love horror pictures and I was a big fan of Wes Craven. This movie started out as something small, this was a movie my company was just going to produce and the screenplay came together so well that I thought it will be a fun role to play. Because I got to do something kind of scary and had a safety net because the vampire can turn into other peoples. I get to be funny when I'm the preacher and I get to be funny when I'm the Italian guy. And the vampire is pretty straight and I got all these funny stuff happening around me. I felt it was a unique piece to do."


title: Vampire in Brooklyn

text: Filming lasted for 55 days, of which three were spent on location in New York City and the rest were spent in Los Angeles.


title: Vampire in Brooklyn

text: "Vampire in Brooklyn" was released to coincide with the Halloween season. The film received mostly negative reviews, and was considered at the time as a lesser film of both Murphy and Craven. In the next year, 1996, Craven moved on to begin the hugely successful "Scream" franchise, while Murphy began concentrating on more family-friendly movies, with his remake "The Nutty Professor". On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 12% based on reviews from 33 critics, and the site's consensus is: "Neither scary nor very funny, this misguided effort never lives up to its premise." On Metacritic, it has score of 27% based on reviews from 17 critics. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.


title: Vampire in Brooklyn

text: Roger Ebert gave the film 1 star out of 4, saying: "The movie is unpleasant to look at. It's darker than "Se7en", but without sufficient purpose, and my overall memory of it is people screaming in the shadows. To call this a comedy is a sign of optimism; to call it a comeback for Murphy is a sign of blind faith."


title: Vampire in Brooklyn

text: "Variety" wrote, in a positive review, "Helmer Wes Craven keeps the action moving despite some detours allowing Murphy to play other characters as he did in "Coming to America". Murphy proves effective and menacing as the vampire in a rather brave departure from what might be expected. Bassett looks great once she gets vampired-up. The vampire effects and makeup are also impressive."


title: Vampire in Brooklyn

text: In the retrospective book "Wes Craven: The Art of Horror", the author John Kenneth Muir said, "Given the fact that "A Vampire in Brooklyn" is an entry in an over-exposed horror genre and an uneasy mix of humor and horror, it is amazing that it is successful at all. The chemistry between Bassett and Murphy is strong, Kadeem Hardison and John Witherspoon are adept at comedy, the special effect sequences and transformations are startling, and the overall 1930s–'40s mood is charming." He also praised J. Peter Robinson's musical score, calling it "delightful".


title: Vampire in Brooklyn

text: Charles Pulliam More from Gizmodo touted "Vampire in Brooklyn" as one of the most underrated horror movies of all time: "Vampire in Brooklyn isn't just a funny, scary film; it's also an important one. Vampire lore is a living, breathing thing that's in a constant state of reimagination and evolution and different storytellers develop new ideas. "Vampire in Brooklyn" bucks that trend both by centering on a predominantly black cast of characters and infusing its spin on the vampire mythos with elements of West Indian zombie lore. Those elements, combined with Murphy's very distinct comedic vision, set Vampire in Brooklyn apart from its peers, making it one of the most unique films in its genre—and one of the best."


title: Vampire in Brooklyn

text: Monique Jones from Shadow and Act stated that "Vampire in Brooklyn" is one of Murphy's most interesting films due to how much of an outlier it is in his filmography."


title: Vampire in Brooklyn

text: Danielle Kwateng-Clark from Essence singled out "Vampire in Brooklyn" as one of the best movies starring Angela Bassett and simply said about it "Every actor plays a cop at least once in their career, and Bassett was great alongside Eddie Murphy in this film."


title: Vampire in Brooklyn

text: Andrew Shearer from Online Athens singled out the movie as one of Murphy's most underrated performances: "Released a year before Murphy hit big with "The Nutty Professor" and director Wes Craven did the same with "Scream", this horror comedy undeservedly tanked despite the big name talent and a Halloween season release date. Audiences came to see Murphy camp it up, but he surprised everyone instead by being truly terrifying as the villain opposite Angela Bassett as the hero and love interest."


title: Vampire in Brooklyn

text: Stephanie Williams from SYFY Wire considers the movie a "spooky-time favorite" and praised Angela Bassett's performances, the humor especially from Kadeem Hardison and John Witherspoon and adds that "infusing Caribbean culture into the traditional vampire lore was an excellent choice for obvious reasons."


title: Vampire in Brooklyn

text: Rich Knight from Cinema Bland considers the movie a "underrated classic" and praised Eddie Murphy's performance: "I've always loved Wes Craven's Vampire in Brooklyn because it's so off-kilter and bizarre. But the highlight is definitely when Maximillian turns into Preacher Pauly and tries to make Detective Veder think that her man is cheating on her. And I always laugh uproariously at the scene where his hair catches on fire in the church. I don't care what anybody says, I love this movie."


title: Vampire in Brooklyn

text: In 2020, during its 25th anniversary, Rotten Tomatoes released a podcast titled "Rotten Tomatoes score is wrong about Vampire in Brooklyn" that attempted to justify why "Vampire in Brooklyn" should have received a higher score calling it a "cult classic" especially for the "under-appreciated sense of the bizarre, a killer score, and some serious chemistry between Murphy and Angela Bassett". They also added: "Look closely, and there are glimmers of Craven's keen sense of the horror-comedy mix, and Murphy's natural-born charisma."


title: Vampire in Brooklyn

text: Jake Dee from Screen Rant considers Rita Veder, Angela Bassett's characters, as one of Wes Craven's strongest female characters.


title: Vampire in Brooklyn

text: In 2022, Vampire in Brooklyn was listed among some other “underrated“ vampire movies by Sara Century from Collider: “Though generally panned at the time of its release, there's a lot to love about A Vampire in Brooklyn. Not only is it often hilarious, but it's an interesting role choice for Eddie Murphy, and Angela Bassett is excellent as Rita.“ Vampire In Brooklyn was also listed as one of 10’s 90’s horror movies than fans loved despited negative critics by Collider.


title: Vampire in Brooklyn

text: On a retrospective article about Wes Craven, Chris Catt from Creepy Catalog praised the movie: “Craven did a nice job of finding a middle ground between horror and comedy. Once again in his career, Wes Craven was forced to juggle differing visions, but he ended up making one of his more underrated movies.“


title: Vampire in Brooklyn

text: In an interview with "Rolling Stone", Murphy gave a reason "Vampire in Brooklyn" was a failure:"The only way I was able to do "Nutty Professor" and to get out of my Paramount deal, I had to do "Vampire in Brooklyn". But you know what ruined that movie? The wig. I walked out in that longhaired wig and people said, 'Oh, get the fuck out of here! What the hell is this?'"


title: Vampire in Brooklyn

text: In an interview, Wes Craven also gave a reason about the film's failure:"That was kind of a screwed-up thing, because I wanted to work with a big star. I suppose it could have been better if it were a horror movie, but it wasn't. Eddie didn't want to be funny. He wanted to be serious and he was very difficult."He reiterates this statement years later in an interview with director Mick Garris: "The tough part was he (Murphy) didn't want to be funny at all. He wanted to play totally straight so I couldn't get the humor into it that I wanted to get into it". However, he praised Murphy calling him "gifted" and said: "He could play three characters without a sweat. It was quite remarkable." About the final product, he said: "I thought it was a fun little film and it was nice to get a chance to do comedy but i think the script really hampered it".


title: Vampire in Brooklyn

text: In an interview with Bobbie Wygant, Angela Bassett was really enthusiastic about the film: "I'm such a great fan of Wes Craven and Eddie Murphy and sometimes when you're acting against him, you get kind of caught up in charisma and the charm but he's a vampire and he's supposed to that to you but, no, you have to do your work also." She added: "I had a great time".


title: Vampire in Brooklyn

text: In an interview with "The A.V. Club", John Witherspoon stated "Vampire in Brooklyn" was "one of my favorite movies. I had the chance to holler and scream." About Craven, he said, "Wes Craven, oh my God, he's funny; he's hilarious. But so, they let me ad-lib. But the worst thing about ad-libbing is that when you shoot it again, you don't remember what you said. So he would take notes and tell me what I said. I said, 'I said that?' So many lines that you say you forget that you say anything—you're just ad-libbing, you're not committing it to memory. So it was kind of difficult working with him, because he shot a lot of scenes, you know, instead of shooting one scene and get the genius of it all, he'd shoot it from different angles. So now I gotta think about what I said. He had a little pencil and he wrote it down, he came up to me said, 'I want you to say that again, that was so funny.' That was kind of a difficult movie. But by the end of it, I just stuck with the script."


title: Vampire in Brooklyn

text: In an interview with Shadow and Act, Kadeem Hardison singled out "Vampire in Brooklyn" as his "favorite" works: "I had so much fun doing this. This was probably the most fun—"I'm Gon Git You Sucka" was close. Damon Wayans was my comedy guru. But Ed was some kind of Jesus, he was a god. And for him to call me on the phone and say, 'I've seen all the tapes, you're the only one in town that can do it,' that was like, 'Oh shit! Ok!


title: Vampire in Brooklyn

text: Later Editor Patrick Lussier said:“There were all sorts of challenges with making that film, including the death of a stunt woman early on in the first week of photography. Her name was Sonia Davis and there was a lot of weight on that film because of it. It was a pretty awful thing and then after that, the combination of Eddie Murphy wanting to make a movie that was completely in the vein of The Serpent and the Rainbow, which is one of Wes's best films, and the studio Paramount wanted them to make essentially a sort of Horror version of Beverly Hills Cop. The original drafts of the script were much darker and much, much more Brooklyn centric and very, very cool. I think the original ending had an oil tanker truck hanging off the side of the Brooklyn Bridge and this sort of fight with Eddie, Angela Bassett and Allen Payne all in is this thing. I remember him telling me one day that the head of the studio at Paramount had dragged him in after seeing some of the dailies and was yelling at him that it needed to be funny. It needed to be funny the way Jack Nicholson was funny in The Shining, when he says, ‘here's Johnny’ and Wes's response was, ‘Do you hear yourself? You're saying this needs to be funny, like The Shining… so I think it was a brutally hard experience for so many reasons.“


title: Vampire in Brooklyn

text: Chris Parker, one of the screenwriters said: "I don't want to disparage "Vampire in Brooklyn". I love it. I’m so glad it happened."


title: Vampire in Brooklyn

text: Michael Lucker, also one of the screenwriters, is happy about the legacy of the film: "What's strange is as the years go by, no matter where I go, there are people who love this movie and know lines from it. I live in Atlanta, and whenever it comes up with people in the community it's met with such a positive response and wide grins."


title: Joan of Kent

text: Joan, Countess of Kent (29 September 1326/1327 – 7 August 1385), known as The Fair Maid of Kent, was the mother of King Richard II of England, her son by her third husband, Edward the Black Prince, son and heir apparent of King Edward III. Although the French chronicler Jean Froissart called her "the most beautiful woman in all the realm of England, and the most loving", the appellation "Fair Maid of Kent" does not appear to be contemporary. Joan inherited the titles 4th Countess of Kent and 5th Baroness Wake of Liddell after the death of her brother John, 3rd Earl of Kent, in 1352. Joan was made a Lady of the Garter in 1378.


title: Joan of Kent

text: Joan was born on 29 September of either 1326 or 1327 and was the daughter of Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent (1301-1330), by his wife, Margaret Wake, 3rd Baroness Wake of Liddell. Edmund was the sixth son of King Edward I of England by his second wife, Margaret of France, daughter of King Philip III of France. Edmund was always a loyal supporter of his eldest half-brother, King Edward II, which placed him in conflict with that monarch's wife, Queen Isabella of France and her lover Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March. Edmund was executed in 1330 after Edward II was deposed; and Edmund's widow and four children (including Joan, who was only two years old at the time) were placed under house arrest in Arundel Castle in Sussex, which had been granted to Edmund in 1326 by his half-brother the king following the execution of the rebel Edmund FitzAlan, 9th Earl of Arundel. It was a time of great strain for the widowed Countess of Kent and her four children. They received respite after the new king, Edward III (Joan's half-first cousin), reached adulthood and took charge of affairs. He took on the responsibility for the family and looked after them well.


title: Joan of Kent

text: In 1340, at the age of about thirteen, Joan secretly married 26-year-old Thomas Holland of Up Holland, Lancashire, without first gaining the royal consent necessary for couples of their rank. Shortly after the wedding, Holland left for the continent as part of the English expedition into Flanders and France. The following winter (1340 or 1341), while Holland was overseas, Joan's family arranged for her to marry William Montagu, son and heir of William Montagu, 1st Earl of Salisbury. It is not known if Joan confided to anyone about her first marriage before marrying Montagu, who was her own age. Later, Joan indicated that she had not announced her existing marriage with Thomas Holland because she was afraid it would lead to Holland's execution for treason. She may also have been influenced to believe that the earlier marriage was invalid. Montagu's father died in 1344, and he became the 2nd Earl of Salisbury.


title: Joan of Kent

text: When Holland returned from the French campaigns in about 1348, his marriage to Joan was revealed. Holland confessed the secret marriage to the King and appealed to the Pope for the return of his wife. Salisbury held Joan captive so that she could not testify until the Church ordered him to release her. In 1349, the proceedings ruled in Holland's favor. Pope Clement VI annulled Joan's marriage to Salisbury and Joan and Thomas Holland were ordered to be married in the Church.


title: Joan of Kent

text: When the last of Joan's siblings died in 1352, the lands and titles of her parents devolved upon her, and she became the 4th Countess of Kent and 5th Baroness Wake of Liddell. Her husband Holland was created Earl of Kent in right of his wife in 1360.


title: Joan of Kent

text: The death of Joan's first husband, Thomas Holland, in 1360 made her an attractive marriage prospect for Edward, the Black Prince, the son of her half-first cousin King Edward III. Some may infer that evidence of a long-held desire by Edward for Joan may be found in the record of his presenting her with a silver cup, part of the booty from one of his early military campaigns. Although one generation removed from her, he was only three or four years younger than she was (depending on whether she was born in 1326 or 1327). It is suggested that Edward's parents did not favour a marriage between their son and their former ward, but this may be contradicted by the fact that King Edward assisted his son in acquiring all four of the needed dispensations for Edward to marry Joan. Among the problems was Edward and Joan's birth placement within the prohibited degrees of consanguinity. Queen Philippa (wife of Edward III) had made a favourite of Joan in her childhood. Both she and the King may have been concerned about the legitimacy of any resulting children, considering Joan's complicated marital record, but such concerns were remedied by a second ruling of Pope Clement's successor Innocent VI that held the initial ruling on Joan's previous marriage attempts.


title: Joan of Kent

text: At the King's request, the Pope granted the four dispensations needed to allow the two to be legally married. Matters moved fast, and Joan was officially married to the Prince barely nine months after Holland's death. The official ceremony took place on 10 October 1361 at Windsor Castle, with the King and Queen in attendance. The Archbishop of Canterbury presided.


title: Joan of Kent

text: In 1362, the Black Prince was invested as Prince of Aquitaine, a region of France that had belonged to the English Crown since the marriage of Eleanor of Aquitaine to Henry II of England in 1152. He and Joan moved to Bordeaux, the capital of the principality, where they spent the next nine years. Two sons were born during this period to the royal couple. The elder son, Edward of Angoulême (1365-1370), died at the age of five. At about the time of the birth of their younger son, the future King Richard II, the Black Prince was lured into a battle on behalf of King Peter of Castile and achieved one of his greatest victories. King Peter, however, was later killed, and there was no money to pay the troops. In the meantime, the Princess was forced to raise another army as her husband's enemies were threatening Aquitaine in his absence.


title: Joan of Kent

text: By 1371, the Black Prince was no longer able to perform his duties as Prince of Aquitaine due to poor health, thus he and Joan returned to England shortly after burying their elder son. In 1372, the Black Prince forced himself to attempt one final, abortive campaign in the hope of saving his father's French possessions, but the exertion completely shattered his health. He returned to England for the last time on 7 June 1376, a week before his forty-sixth birthday, and died in his bed at the Palace of Westminster the next day.


title: Joan of Kent

text: Joan's son Prince Richard was now next in line to succeed his grandfather Edward III, who died on 21 June 1377. Richard was crowned as Richard II the following month at the age of 10. Early in his reign, the young King faced the challenge of the Peasants' Revolt. The Lollards, religious reformers led by John Wyclif, had enjoyed Joan's support, but the violent climax of the popular movement for reform reduced the feisty Joan to a state of terror, while leaving the King with an improved reputation.


title: Joan of Kent

text: As the King's mother, Joan exercised much influence behind the scenes and was recognised for her contributions during the early years of her son's reign. She also enjoyed a certain respect among the people as a venerable royal dowager. For example, on her return to London from a pilgrimage to Thomas Becket's shrine at Canterbury Cathedral in 1381, she found her way barred by Wat Tyler and his mob of rebels on Blackheath. Not only was she let through unharmed, but she was saluted with kisses and provided with an escort for the rest of her journey.


title: Joan of Kent

text: In January 1382, Richard II married Anne of Bohemia, daughter of Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Bohemia.


title: Joan of Kent

text: John Holland, 1st Duke of Exeter, was Joan's son by her first marriage; his wife Elizabeth of Lancaster was a daughter of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, brother of the Black Prince. In 1385, while campaigning with his half-brother King Richard II in the Kingdom of Scotland, John Holland became involved in a quarrel with Sir Ralph Stafford, son of the 2nd Earl of Stafford, a favourite of Queen Anne of Bohemia. Stafford was killed and John Holland sought sanctuary at the shrine of St John of Beverley. On the King's return, Holland was condemned to death. Joan pleaded with her royal son for four days to spare his half-brother, and on the fifth day (the exact date in August is not known), she died at Wallingford Castle. King Richard then relented and pardoned Holland, who was sent on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.


title: Joan of Kent

text: Joan was buried beside her first husband, as requested in her will, at the Greyfriars in Stamford, Lincolnshire. The Black Prince had built a chantry chapel for her in the crypt of Canterbury Cathedral in Kent (where he himself was buried), with ceiling bosses sculpted with likenesses of her face. Another boss in the north nave aisle is also said to show her face.


title: ABA routing transit number

text: In the United States, an ABA routing transit number (ABA RTN) is a nine-digit code printed on the bottom of checks to identify the financial institution on which it was drawn. The American Bankers Association (ABA) developed the system in 1910 to facilitate the sorting, bundling, and delivering of paper checks to the drawer's (check writer's) bank for debit to the drawer's account.


title: ABA routing transit number

text: Newer electronic payment methods continue to rely on ABA RTNs to identify the paying bank or other financial institution. The Federal Reserve Bank uses ABA RTNs in processing Fedwire funds transfers. The ACH Network also uses ABA RTNs in processing direct deposits, bill payments, and other automated money transfers.


title: ABA routing transit number

text: Since 1911, the American Bankers Association has partnered with a series of registrars, currently Accuity, to manage the ABA routing number system. Accuity is the Official Routing Number Registrar and is responsible for assigning ABA RTNs and managing the ABA RTN system. Accuity publishes the "American Bankers Association Key to Routing Numbers" semi-annually. The "Key Book" contains the listing of all ABA RTNs that have been assigned.


title: ABA routing transit number

text: There are approximately 26,895 active ABA RTNs currently in use. Every financial institution in the United States has at least one. The Routing Number Policy allows for up to five ABA RTNs to be assigned to a financial institution. Many institutions have more than five ABA RTNs as a result of mergers.


title: ABA routing transit number

text: ABA RTNs are only for use in payment transactions within the United States. They are used on paper check, wire transfers, and ACH transactions. On a paper check, the ABA RTN is usually the middle set of nine numbers printed at the bottom of the check. Domestic transfers that use the ABA RTN will usually be returned to the paying bank.


title: ABA routing transit number

text: Incoming international wire transfers also use a BIC code, also known as a SWIFT code, as they are administered by the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) and defined by ISO 9362. In addition, many international financial institutions use an IBAN code.


title: ABA routing transit number

text: The IBAN was originally developed to facilitate payments within the European Union but the format is flexible enough to be applied globally. It consists of an ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code, followed by two check digits that are calculated using a mod-97 technique, and Basic Bank Account Number (BBAN) with up to thirty alphanumeric characters. The BBAN includes the domestic bank account number and potentially routing information. The national banking communities decide individually on a fixed length for all BBAN in their country.


title: ABA routing transit number

text: The bank numbers in the United States were originated by the American Bankers Association (ABA) in 1911. Banks had been disagreeing on identification. The ABA arranged a meeting of clearing house managers in Chicago in December 1910. The gathering chose a committee to assign each bank in the country convenient numbers to use. In May 1911, the American Bankers Association released the codes. The numerical committee was W. G. Schroeder, C. R. McKay, and J. A. Walker. The publisher of the new directory was Rand-McNally and Company. The ABA clearing house codes are like the sub-headings in a decimal outline. The prefixes mean locations and the suffixes banking firms within those locations. Half of the prefixes represent major cities the other half represent regions of the United States. Lower prefixes are used for higher populations, first based on the 1910 U. S. Census. Likewise, within each prefix area banks are numbered in order of city population and bank seniority, although single-bank towns are numbered in alphabetical order. When a new bank is being organized, the current publisher of the directory of banks assigns it a transit code. The American Bankers Association asked banks to use the directory exclusively so banks would agree on how to sort checks. The book was abbreviated "Key to Numerical System of The American Bankers Association," and as the "Key". It was published by Rand McNally & Co. In 1952 Rand McNally moved its corporate headquarters to Skokie, Illinois, and became more interested in publishing maps. Also in Skokie is a company called Accuity, which from its history has been the official registrar of ABA bank numbers since 1911. By 2014 it was the publisher of the semi-annual "ABA Key to Routing Numbers" and was owned by Reed Business Information, British publisher of reference works for professionals, which in turn is owned by Reed-Elsevier, English-Dutch publisher of online format reference works for professionals. Over the years the ABA's identification numbers for banks accommodated the Federal Reserve Act, the Expedited Funds Act and the Check 21 Act. By 2014 the "Key" included the U. S. Federal Reserve's nine-digit magnetic-ink routing numbers.


title: ABA routing transit number

text: The ABA RTN appears in two forms on a standard check – the fraction form and the MICR (magnetic ink character recognition) form. Both forms give essentially the same information, though there are slight differences.


title: ABA routing transit number

text: The MICR forms are the main form – it is printed in magnetic ink, and is machine-readable; it appears at the bottom left of a check, and consists of nine digits.


title: ABA routing transit number

text: The fraction form was used for manual processing before the invention of the MICR line, and still serves as a backup in check processing should the MICR line become illegible or torn; it generally appears in the upper right part of a check near the date.


title: ABA routing transit number

text: where PP is a 1 or 2 digit Prefix, no longer used in processing, but still printed, representing the bank's check processing center location, with 1 through 49 for processing centers located in a major city, and 50 through 99 representing processing is done at a non-major city in a particular state. Sometimes a branch number or the account number are printed below the fraction form; branch number is not used in processing, while the account number is listed in MICR form at the bottom. Further, the Federal Reserve Routing Symbol and ABA Institution Identifier may have fewer than 4 digits in the fraction form. The essential data, shared by both forms, is the Federal Reserve Routing Symbol (XXXX), and the ABA Institution Identifier (YYYY), and these are usually the same in both the fraction form and the MICR, with only the order and format switched (and left-padded with 0s to ensure that they are 4 digits long).


title: ABA routing transit number

text: The prefix and the Federal Reserve Routing Symbol (XXXX) are determined by the bank's geographical location and treatment by the Federal Reserve type, while the remaining data (YYYY, and Branch number, if present) depends on the specific bank, and are unique within a Federal Reserve district.


title: ABA routing transit number

text: In the check depicted above right, the fraction form is "11-3167/1210" (with "01" below it) and MICR form is "129131673" which are analyzed as follows:


title: ABA routing transit number

text: In the case of a MICR line that is illegible or torn, the check can still be processed without the check digit. Typically, a repair strip or sleeve is attached to the check, then a new MICR line is imprinted. Either 021200025 or 0212-0002 (with a hyphen, but no check digit) may be printed, and both are 9 digits. The former (with check digit) is preferred to ensure better accuracy, but requires computing the check digit, while the latter is easily determined by inspection of the fraction, with minimal clerical handling.


title: ABA routing transit number

text: The Federal Reserve uses the ABA RTN system for processing its customers' payments. The ABA RTNs were originally assigned in the systematic way outlined below, reflecting a financial institution's geographical location and internal handling by the Federal Reserve. Following consolidation of the Federal Reserve's check processing facilities, and the consolidation in the banking industry, the RTN a financial institution uses may not reflect the "Fed District" where the financial institution's place of business is located. Check processing is now centralized at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.


title: ABA routing transit number

text: The first two digits of the nine digit RTN must be in the ranges 00 through 12, 21 through 32, 61 through 72, or 80.


title: ABA routing transit number

text: The third digit corresponds to the Federal Reserve check processing center originally assigned to the bank.


title: ABA routing transit number

text: The fourth digit is "0" if the bank is located in the Federal Reserve city proper, and otherwise is 1–9, according to which state in the Federal Reserve district it is.


title: ABA routing transit number

text: The fifth through eighth digits constitute the bank's unique ABA identity within the given Federal Reserve district.


title: ABA routing transit number

text: The ninth, check digit provides a checksum test using a position-weighted sum of each of the digits. High-speed check-sorting equipment will typically verify the checksum and if it fails, route the item to a reject pocket for manual examination, repair, and re-sorting. Mis-routings to an incorrect bank are thus greatly reduced.


title: ABA routing transit number

text: In terms of weights, this is 371 371 371. This allows one to catch any single-digit error (incorrectly inputting one digit), together with most transposition errors. 1, 3, and 7 are used because they (together with 9) are coprime to 10; using a coefficient that is divisible by 2 or 5 would lose information (because formula_1), and thus would not catch some substitution errors. These do not catch transpositions of two digits that differ by 5 (0 and 5, 1 and 6, 2 and 7, 3 and 8, 4 and 9), but captures other transposition errors.


title: ABA routing transit number

text: As an example, consider 111000025 (which is a valid routing number of Bank of America in Virginia). Applying the formula, we get:


title: ABA routing transit number

text: The symbol that delimits a routing transit number is the MICR E-13B transit character ⑆ This character, with Unicode value U+2446, appears at right.


title: ABA routing transit number

text: The numerator consists of two parts separated by a dash. The prefix (no longer used in check processing, yet still printed on most checks) is a 1 or 2 digit code (P or PP) indicating the region where the bank is located. The numbers 1 to 49 are cities, assigned by size of the cities in 1910. The numbers 50 to 99 are states, assigned in a rough spatial geographic order, and are used for banks located outside one of the 49 numbered cities.


title: ABA routing transit number

text: The second part of the numerator (after the dash) is the bank's ABA Institution Identifier, which also forms digits 5 to 8 of the nine digit routing number (YYYY).


title: ABA routing transit number

text: The denominator is also part of the routing number; by adding leading zeroes to make up four digits where necessary (e.g. 212 is written as 0212, 31 is written as 0031, etc.), it forms the first four digits of the routing number (XXXX).


title: ABA routing transit number

text: There might also be a fourth element printed to the right of the fraction: this is the bank's branch number. It is not included in the MICR line. It would only be used internally by the bank, e.g. to show where the signature card is located, where to contact the responsible officer in case of an overdraft, etc.


title: ABA routing transit number

text: For example, a check from Wachovia Bank in Yardley, PA, has a fraction of 55-2/212 and a routing number of 021200025. The prefix (55) no longer has any relevance, but from the remainder of the fraction, the first 8 digits of the routing number (02120002) can be determined, and the check digit (the last digit, 5 in this example) can be calculated by using the check digit formula (thus giving 021200025).


title: ABA routing transit number

text: This table is up to date as of 2020. One weakness of the current routing table arrangement is that various territories like American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands share the same routing code.


title: Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award

text: The Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award is a special Grammy Award that is awarded by The Recording Academy to "performers who, during their lifetimes, have made creative contributions of outstanding artistic significance to the field of recording."


title: Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award

text: This award is distinct from the Grammy Hall of Fame Award, which honors specific recordings rather than individuals, and the Grammy Trustees Award, which honors non-performers.


The 2018 United States Senate election in Florida was held on November 6, 2018, alongside a gubernatorial election, elections to the U.S. House of Representatives and other state and local elections. Incumbent Democratic Senator Bill Nelson ran for re-election to a fourth term, but was narrowly defeated by Republican Governor Rick Scott. The election was the closest Senate race in the state's history.


title: 2018 United States Senate election in Florida

text: The results of the race were in dispute for 12 days following the election. The results showed that Nelson was narrowly trailing Scott, but the margin remained below 0.5%, triggering an automatic recount under Florida law. A controversial recount ensued, with both campaigns claiming irregularities. Following the recount, Florida elections officials confirmed Scott's victory on November 18, 2018. Scott received 50.05% of the vote, while Nelson received 49.93%; the margin of victory was 10,033 votes out of 8.19 million votes cast, or 0.12%. Both in terms of raw vote margin and by percentage of difference, this was the closest Senate election in the 2018 cycle. Scott's victory marked the first time since the Reconstruction era that Republicans have held both Senate seats in Florida.


text: Incumbent Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson sought re-election in the 2018 U.S. Senate election in Florida. The election was expected to be a key race in determining which party would control the U.S. Senate in 2019.


text: As of the second quarter of 2018, Nelson had a 44%-34% approval rating among his constituents. Despite having won re-election in 2012 by a 13% margin, Nelson was considered potentially vulnerable; he had been the only statewide elected Democrat in Florida since 2011, and his previous opponents, Connie Mack IV and Katherine Harris, were seen as much weaker challengers than Scott. Additionally, he was one of 10 incumbent Democratic senators running in states that had been carried by Donald Trump in 2016. Nelson was described as a "low-key centrist" that might not be able to energize progressive voters.


text: After being encouraged by President Trump to enter the Senate race, Republican Governor of Florida Rick Scott announced his candidacy on April 9, 2018. As of the first quarter of 2018, Scott held a 54%-35% approval rating among his constituents, with a majority of Florida voters believing the state was moving in the right direction under Scott's administration. Republican President Donald Trump also held a positive approval rating of 49%-47% in Florida as of August 2018. Trump had won the state in 2016 by 1.2% over Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. Scott had put more than $86 million of his own money into his successful 2010 and 2014 gubernatorial bids.


text: The Republican primary was considered merely a formality, as Governor Scott's lone challenger was a perennial candidate who was running for Senate seats in eight other Republican primaries across the country. No other notable Republicans entered the race before or after Scott announced his candidacy.


text: As both of Senator Nelson's primary opponents failed to qualify for the ballot, no Democratic primary was held.


text: According to The Cook Political Report, the race was one of the 10 most competitive U.S. Senate races in the nation. It was also described as the most expensive U.S. Senate race in the country.


text: Scott's involvement in a large Medicare fraud case stirred controversy during the general election campaign. Scott responded with ads accusing Nelson of having cut Medicare benefits and stolen from Medicare; fact-checkers found that both of Scott's assertions were "mostly false." During the campaign, Scott characterize[s] Nelson as a "socialist"; PolitiFact described the assertion as "pants-on-fire" false.


text: Gun control was a key issue in this race. The election came less than nine months after the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, the deadliest school shooting in American history. Nelson also mentioned the Orlando nightclub shooting that occurred in June 2016 and killed 49 people, asserting that —"nothing was done" by Scott's administration. In the wake of Stoneman Douglas, Scott raised the age to purchase a gun from 18 to 21, set a three-day waiting period to purchase assault-style weapons, and banned bump stocks--moves that Nelson described as "doing the bare...minimum". The National Rifle Association opposed Scott's legislation.


text: Environmental issues also took on a prominent role in the race. Scott and his administration had been heavily criticized for weakening regulations designed to protect the environment, even going as far as to instruct the FDEP not to use the words "climate change" or "global warming" in official reports. Because of this, Scott was blamed for the state's worsening algae blooms, even being dubbed "Red Tide Rick" on social media. Scott blamed the toxic blooms on Nelson and on Congress' general inefficiency.


text: During the campaign, Scott sought to avoid mentioning President Trump and at times criticized or distanced himself from actions of the Trump administration. Prior to the campaign, he had used his friendship with Trump to boost his profile, had been an early and vocal supporter of Trump in 2016, and reportedly spoke to President Trump every one or two weeks. Trump endorsed Scott in his Senate bid.


text: Both Nelson's and Scott's responses to Hurricanes Irma and Michael (which made landfall in September 2017 and October 2018, respectively) were closely watched during the campaign season.


text: The results of the race were in dispute for 12 days following the election. Because Scott's lead over Nelson was less than 0.5% of the vote, an automatic recount was triggered under Florida law. A controversial recount ensued, with both campaigns claiming irregularities.


text: Nelson and Scott traded accusations of voter suppression and voter fraud. Two lawsuits were filed by the Scott campaign after the election against the Supervisor of Elections in both Palm Beach and Broward Counties while the Nelson campaign filed one against the Secretary of State in Florida. On November 9, the Scott campaign won both of their lawsuits. Notably, election officials in Broward County had to receive police protection after accusations of voter fraud were made by a few members of Congress.


text: Additionally, a number of mail-in ballots were found in a mail distribution center in the city of Opa-locka three days after the election. The Miami-Dade Elections Department considered the votes uncountable because they had not arrived at the department by the time the polls closed.


text: The deadline for all ballots to be machine-counted was 3:00 pm EST on Thursday, November 15, 2018. The revised totals triggered a statewide hand-recount of rejected ballots. At least three counties (Broward, Hillsborough, and Palm Beach County) missed the deadline. During machine counting, 846 votes from Hillsborough County were lost, presumably due to a power outage. Machines purchased from Sequoia Voting Systems broke down, creating delays in the count of Palm Beach County votes.


text: Florida elections officials announced on November 18, 2018 that Scott had prevailed. Scott received 50.05% of the vote, while Nelson received 49.93%; the margin of victory was 10,033 votes out of 8.19 million votes cast. Nelson then conceded the race to Scott.


title: Casablanca-class escort carrier

text: The "Casablanca"-class escort carrier were a series of escort carriers constructed for the United States Navy during World War II. They are the most numerous class of aircraft carriers ever built. Fifty were laid down, launched and commissioned within the space of less than two years – 3 November 1942 through to 8 July 1944. These were nearly one third of the 143 aircraft carriers built in the United States during the war. Despite their numbers, and the preservation of more famous and larger carriers as museums, none of these modest ships survive today. Five were lost to enemy action during World War II and the remainder were scrapped.


title: Casablanca-class escort carrier

text: "Casablanca" was the first class to be designed from keel up as an escort carrier. It had a larger and more useful hangar deck than previous conversions. It also had a larger flight deck than the . Unlike larger carriers which had extensive armor, protection was limited to splinter plating. Their small size made them useful for transporting assembled aircraft of various sizes, but fighters were limited to smaller and lighter aircraft such as the Grumman F4F Wildcat. The hull numbers were assigned consecutively, from CVE-55 "Casablanca" to CVE-104 "Munda".


title: Casablanca-class escort carrier

text: "Casablanca"-class carriers were built by the Kaiser Shipbuilding Company's Vancouver Yard on the Columbia River in Vancouver, Washington. The Vancouver yard was expressly built in 1942 to construct Liberty ships, but exigencies of war soon saw the yard building LST landing craft and then escort carriers all before the end of the yard's first year in operation. The yard had twelve building ways and a outfitting dock along with a unique additional building slip originally intended to add prefabricated superstructures to Liberty ships. Their relatively small size and mass-production origins led their crews to refer to them as "jeep carriers" or "Kaiser Jeeps" with varying degrees of affection.


title: Casablanca-class escort carrier

text: The "Casablanca" class initially continued the US Navy's policy of naming escort carriers after bays and sounds, in this case the numerous inlets of the Alexander Archipelago that form the southwest coastline of Alaska, though several were subsequently renamed to carry on the US Navy's tradition of naming aircraft carriers after battles. Those ships that appear to be named after islands, seas, straits or cities actually commemorated battles fought at those locations. Several had their original "Bay" names changed to battle names while under construction, and two of them ("Midway" and "Coral Sea") lost their battle names mid-career to new s, becoming USS "St. Lo" and USS "Anzio" respectively. Unlike the larger and s, none were named to commemorate historical naval vessels.


title: Casablanca-class escort carrier

text: Although "Essex"-class aircraft carriers were completed in 20 months or less, 1941 projections on the basis of the 38-month average pre-war construction period estimated no new fleet carriers could be expected until 1944. Kaiser had reduced construction time of cargo ships (Liberty ships) from more than a year to less than 90 days, and proposed building a fleet of 50 small carriers in less than two years. The US naval authorities refused to approve construction of the Kaiser-built ships until Kaiser went directly to the President's advisers. The Allies were in desperate need of carriers to replace early war losses. Kaiser produced the small carriers as rapidly as planned and resistance to their value quickly disappeared as they proved their usefulness defending convoys, providing air support for amphibious operations, and allowing fleet carriers to focus on offensive air-strike missions. Unlike most other large warships since , the "Casablanca"-class ships were equipped with uniflow reciprocating engines instead of steam turbines. This was done because of bottlenecks in the gear-cutting industry, but greatly limited their usefulness after the war.


title: Casablanca-class escort carrier

text: Although designated as convoy escort carriers, the "Casablanca" class was far more frequently used in large fleet amphibious operations, where speed was less important and their small airgroups could combine to provide the effectiveness of a much larger ship.


title: Casablanca-class escort carrier

text: Their finest hour came in the Battle off Samar, when Taffy 3, a task unit composed of six of these ships and their screen of three destroyers and four destroyer escorts gave battle against the Japanese main force. Their desperate defense not only preserved most of their own ships, but succeeded in turning back the massive force with only aircraft machine guns, torpedoes, depth charges, high-explosive bombs, and their own 5"/38 caliber guns. Tasked with ground support and antisubmarine patrols, they lacked the torpedoes and armor-piercing bombs to tackle a surface fleet alone. Taffy 3 was to be protected by Admiral Halsey's Third Fleet with carriers and battleships. But the Third Fleet had left the scene to pursue a decoy carrier fleet, inadvertently leaving Taffy 3 the only force between the massive Japanese fleet and undefended landing forces at Leyte Gulf. The lightly armed vessels each had only one 5-inch/38 cal gun mounted aft, yet two of their number, "St. Lo" (ex-"Midway") and , became the only US aircraft carriers to ever record a hit on an enemy warship by its own guns. "St. Lo" hit a Japanese destroyer with a single round and "Kalinin Bay" damaged a with two hits. Recent evidence suggests that six 5-inch shells fired from struck the cruiser "Chōkai". One of these rounds was reported to have impacted amidships on the starboard side, causing a large secondary explosion (probably from one of "Chōkai"s own torpedoes) that proved fatal to the heavy cruiser. The "White Plains" gun crew claimed to have put all six 5-inch rounds into "Chōkai" from a range of , near the maximum effective range for the 5-inch/38 gun. However, this claim is not supported by Japanese sources, which report this damage as resulting from an air attack.


title: Casablanca-class escort carrier

text: Another noteworthy achievement of the "Casablanca" class was when , under command of Captain Daniel V. Gallery, participated in the first capture-at-sea of a foreign warship by the US Navy since the War of 1812 when a crew of volunteers from boarded after Gallery's "Guadalcanal"-centered hunter-killer group forced it to the surface with depth charges. "Guadalcanal" also earned the distinction of being the only aircraft carrier in history to conduct flight operations with a captured enemy vessel in tow.


title: Casablanca-class escort carrier

text: Of the eleven United States aircraft carriers of all types lost during World War II, six were escort carriers, five of which were of the Kaiser-built "Casablanca" class:


title: Casablanca-class escort carrier

text: Damaged at Lingayen Gulf on 6 January 1945 after kamikaze with two 551-pound (250 kg) bombs hit her flight deck. She was repaired and put back in service.


title: Casablanca-class escort carrier

text: Some ships were retained postwar as aircraft transports, where their lack of speed was not a major drawback. Some units were reactivated as helicopter escort carriers (CVHE and T-CVHE) or utility carriers (CVU and T-CVU) after the war, but most were deactivated and placed in reserve once the war ended, stricken in 1958-9 and scrapped in 1959–61. One ship, , was heavily modified into an amphibious assault ship (LPH-6), but was scrapped in 1966.


title: Casablanca-class escort carrier

text: Originally, half of their number were to be transferred to the Royal Navy under Lend-Lease, but instead they were retained in the US Navy and the Batch II s were transferred instead as the (the RN's Batch I "Bogues" were the "Attacker" class).


title: Casablanca-class escort carrier

text: All ships of the "Casablanca" class were built in Vancouver, Washington, by the Kaiser Shipbuilding Company. The following ships of the class were constructed.


title: Casablanca-class escort carrier

text: pps. 1 & 2 - "Kaiser Company, Inc. - Vancouver", BuShips QQ files, NARA, College Park, MD.- "The Ships We Build", Kaiser Company, Inc., n.d., c. immediate post-war, 1945.


title: Mr. Wonderful (Fleetwood Mac album)

text: Mr. Wonderful is the second studio album by British blues rock band Fleetwood Mac, released on 23 August 1968. This all-blues album was broadly similar to their debut album, albeit with some changes to personnel and recording method. The album was recorded live in the studio with miked amplifiers and PA system, rather than plugged into the board. A horn section was introduced and Christine Perfect (later Christine McVie) of Chicken Shack was featured on keyboards. In the US, the album was not issued under the name "Mr. Wonderful", though around half of the tracks appeared on "English Rose".


title: Mr. Wonderful (Fleetwood Mac album)

text: An expanded version of "Mr. Wonderful" was included in the box set "The Complete Blue Horizon Sessions".


title: Mr. Wonderful (Fleetwood Mac album)

text: Compared to the huge success of the band's first album, "Fleetwood Mac", this follow-up received rather muted critical reviews: AllMusic described it as "a disappointment". Four of the songs, "Dust My Broom", "Doctor Brown", "Need Your Love Tonight" and "Coming Home", all begin with an identical Elmore James riff. "Evenin' Boogie" was the first instrumental released by Fleetwood Mac.


title: Mr. Wonderful (Fleetwood Mac album)

text: Sputnik Music describes the style as "vocally conservative, sticking to gruff mannerisms, and it often sounds like Green is drunkedly wandering through the music. The production adds further insult to injury, as it muffles his voice rather than amplifying it and makes the instruments sound murky."


title: Bell 360 Invictus

text: The Bell 360 Invictus is a proposed helicopter design intended to meet the United States Army requirement for a Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA). It is based on technology from the Bell 525 Relentless.


title: Bell 360 Invictus

text: Scott C. Donnelly, CEO of Textron, has said in April 2019 that the 360 will be based on the 525. The 360 and 525 will share an articulated rotor system, although the 360, which will only seat two (a pilot and gunner), will use a single engine and a four-blade rotor, whereas the 525 uses twin engines and a five-blade rotor and has a nineteen-passenger capacity. Bell has since announced it is developing the 360 with Collins Aerospace, and the Sierra Nevada Corporation is developing the mission system for the aircraft.


title: Bell 360 Invictus

text: The design was unveiled on 1 October 2019, showing a two-seat tandem cockpit, with sighting optics and/or laser designator above a 20mm cannon gun turret at the chin position below the cockpit, mid-mounted stub wings below the shrouded rotor hub and four diameter rotor blades, an active horizontal stabilizer and a tilted and shrouded tail rotor. Missiles are mounted on integrated launchers. The rotor diameter is dictated by US Army requirements, which specified that maximum diameter for FARA candidates to allow the rotorcraft to fit between buildings on future battlefields. Its main engine will be a single General Electric T901 turboshaft engine, with supplemental power from a Pratt & Whitney PW207D1 turboshaft.


title: Bell 360 Invictus

text: The US Army requirement calls for a cruising speed in excess of , and the 360 is intended to meet this; the 525 rotor system has been tested to exceed . The stub wings are intended to provide lift equivalent to approximately 50% of the weight of the aircraft at moderate to high speed. Combat radius will be with at least 90 minutes time on station. It will use fly-by-wire control.


title: Bell 360 Invictus

text: Bell unveiled a full-scale mockup of the 360 at the Association of the United States Army annual show beginning 14 October 2019.


title: Venice Marco Polo Airport

text: Venice Marco Polo Airport is the international airport of Venice, Italy. It is located on the mainland near the village of Tessera, a "frazione" of the "comune" of Venice located about east of Mestre (on the mainland) and around the same distance north of Venice proper. Due to the importance of Venice as a leisure destination, it features flights to many European metropolitan areas as well as some partly seasonal long-haul routes to the United States, Canada, South Korea and the Middle East. The airport handled 11,184,608 passengers in 2018, making it the fourth-busiest airport in Italy. The airport is named after Marco Polo and serves as a base for Volotea, Ryanair, Wizz Air and easyJet.


title: Venice Marco Polo Airport

text: Another airport located in the Venice area, Treviso Airport, is sometimes unofficially labelled as "Venice – Treviso" and mostly serves low-cost airlines, mainly Ryanair and Wizz Air.


title: Venice Marco Polo Airport

text: A modern terminal was opened in 2002, but it is already at full capacity. The airport is managed by SAVE S.p.A., a company partially owned by local authorities that also controls the smaller Treviso Airport, dedicated mainly to low-cost carriers. The airport was named after the Venetian traveller Marco Polo.


title: Venice Marco Polo Airport

text: The airport terminal has three floors: the ground floor for arrivals and the second floor for departures. The departure area has 70 check-in desks and has two lounges airside for customers. The two departure lounges are the "Tintoretto Lounge" for SkyTeam customers and the "Marco Polo Room" for customers of all other companies. The third floor of the terminal has offices for the operating company and airlines. The departure gates area is separated for Schengen and non-Schengen flights.


title: Venice Marco Polo Airport

text: The airport is connected to the nearby railway station of Venice Mestre and to the bus terminal of Piazzale Roma in Venice by scheduled bus services; to several destinations in Venice itself by the Alilaguna water shuttle (Blue, Red and Orange lines); and to Piazza San Marco by the express Gold Line or water taxi. From the airport it is possible to reach:


title: Junebug (film)

text: Junebug is a 2005 American comedy-drama film directed by Phil Morrison. Amy Adams received an Academy Award nomination for her supporting role in the film.


title: Junebug (film)

text: When art dealer Madeleine (Embeth Davidtz) travels from Chicago to North Carolina to pursue a local, self-taught painter (Frank Hoyt Taylor) for her outsider art gallery, she takes the opportunity to meet and stay with the family of her new husband George (Alessandro Nivola), who live close by.


title: Junebug (film)

text: There is his mother Peg (Celia Weston); his reserved, contemplative father Eugene (Scott Wilson); and his sullen, resentful, twenty-ish brother Johnny (Ben McKenzie) who, although married, lives at home. He is studying for his high school equivalency certificate while working at Replacements, Ltd. as an order processor. Johnny married his now pregnant wife Ashley (Amy Adams) before either of them finished high school. Relations between Johnny and Ashley are strained, with Ashley believing that a baby will solve their marital problems.


title: Junebug (film)

text: Madeleine and George stay in the expected baby's nursery, and Madeleine becomes friends with Ashley, who is very sweet and friendly, if somewhat naive and talkative. The family takes Madeleine to a church social, where George is asked to sing a hymn. Madeleine is not used to intense religious displays but makes no comment. She attends Ashley's baby shower and gives her sister-in-law an antique silver spoon, which stands out from the other gifts. Madeleine discovers that she does not know much about George, as they have been married only six months and knew each other only a week before they got married.


title: Junebug (film)

text: The artist Madeleine is pursuing wavers over signing with her gallery. Ashley goes into labor, and the family goes to the hospital with her. Madeleine chooses to go and convince the artist to sign with her gallery, which briefly makes George angry. Madeleine calls George to rave about the artist (she is impressed with his work, but shocked by his anti-semitism) without asking about the baby. George interrupts her and informs her that Ashley's baby boy is stillborn, which causes Madeleine to double over with guilt. The artist and his sister drive Madeleine back to her in-laws' home, and she later sits with Eugene on the back porch and cries. Meanwhile, George supports Ashley at the hospital, who expresses that George is always there when Ashley needs him. George kisses Ashley on the forehead and leaves. George comes home and has a wordless encounter in the garage with his brother, Johnny, who throws a tool at him, injuring his forehead. George does nothing in response.


title: Junebug (film)

text: The next day, George and Madeleine prepare to leave. Johnny calls Ashley and suggests that they "try again," to which Ashley excitedly squeals. As George and Madeleine drive onto the highway and pick up speed, George remarks, "I'm so glad we're out of there" as Madeleine caresses George's neck with her left hand.


title: Junebug (film)

text: "Junebug" was well received among critics. "Junebug" has an approval rating of 86% on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 136 reviews, and an average rating of 7.54/10. The website's critical consensus states, "Aided and abetted by a wonderful cast, director Phil Morrison transforms familiar material into an understated and resonant comedy". Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 80 out of 100, based on 34 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".


title: Junebug (film)

text: Roger Ebert gave the film four stars and praised it as "a movie that understands, profoundly and with love and sadness, the world of small towns; it captures ways of talking and living I remember from my childhood, with the complexity and precision of great fiction". Tim Robey of "The Daily Telegraph" labeled the film a "rare treat" and a "small, quiet miracle". There was particular praise for Amy Adams, who went on to earn her first of six Academy Award nominations. It was premiered at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival, where Adams won a special jury prize.


title: Junebug (film)

text: Though much of the movie is free of background music, its score is made up of original music by Yo La Tengo, as well as classical music by Haydn, Shostakovich, Schubert and Vivaldi. The film begins and ends with the 1977 song "Harmour Love" performed by Syreeta Wright and written by Stevie Wonder. During a scene where most of the characters are at a church social, George and two young men are featured singing the hymn "Softly and Tenderly, Jesus Is Calling" by Will Lamartine Thompson.


title: Junebug (film)

text: No official soundtrack has been released of the film. As a result, Syreeta's album "One to One" (which contains the song "Harmour Love") has since experienced a resurgence of sales. Yo La Tengo have released some of the original music in a compilation of their work on soundtracks "They Shoot, We Score".


title: Reeperbahn

text: The Reeperbahn () is a street and entertainment district in Hamburg's St. Pauli district, one of the two centres of Hamburg's nightlife (the other being Sternschanze) and also the city's major red-light district. In German, it is also nicknamed "die sündigste Meile" (the most sinful mile) and "Kiez". The Reeperbahn Festival is among the largest club festivals.


title: Reeperbahn

text: The name "Reeperbahn" means ropewalk, which is a place where ropes are made ( = rope, the standard German word is ; = track). Until the 1620s Hamburg's ropewalks had been located in the Neustadt (New Town) quarter of the inner city close to the Elbe, which then became a densely built up area. Therefore, the ropewalks "had to be relocated outside the city walls on the country road leading toward Altona – which later took on the street name 'Reperbahn'." The street was a ropewalk in the 17th and 18th centuries.


title: Reeperbahn

text: The street is lined with restaurants, night clubs, discotheques and bars. There are also strip clubs, sex shops, brothels and similar businesses. Between 1997 and 2007 the Erotic Art Museum was open on Nobistor, a street running between the Reeperbahn and "Louise-Schroeder-Straße".


title: Reeperbahn

text: The "", a musical theatre, is also located at the Reeperbahn. It played Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Cats" for many years, after that "Mamma Mia!", an ABBA-musical, followed by "", ("I have never been to New York"), a jukebox musical featuring hit songs by Austrian singer/songwriter Udo Jürgens, then "Sister Act" and finally "Rocky", based on the Stallone film. There are other theatres at the Reeperbahn (St. Pauli Theater, Imperial Theater, Schmidt's Tivoli) and also several Cabarets/Varietés.


title: Reeperbahn

text: A famous landmark is the Davidwache, a police station located on the South side of the Reeperbahn at the cross street '. Street prostitution is legal during certain times of the day on '. The "Herbertstraße", a short side street off the "Davidstraße", has sex workers displaying themselves behind windows, waiting for customers. Since 1933, large screens block the view into Herbertstraße from the adjacent streets. Since the 1970s, there have been signs saying that entrance to the street is prohibited for women and juveniles; however, it is a public road which anyone may enter. Many pubs, and street-based sex workers, can be found on the square of Hans-Albers-Platz south of the Reeperbahn.


title: Reeperbahn

text: The "" ("Great Freedom") is a cross street on the North Side with several bars, clubs and a Catholic church. In former years, several sex theatres here ("Salambo", "Regina", "Colibri", "Safari") would show live sex acts on stage. , until its closure in 2013, the "Safari" was the only live sex theatre left in Germany. The popular table dance club "Dollhouse" now takes the place of the "Salambo". "Hotel Luxor", Hamburg's oldest brothel that had operated on this street for 60 years, was closed in 2008. The street's name comes from the fact that Catholics were allowed to practise their religion here at a time when this district did not yet belong to Hamburg; they were forbidden from doing so in Protestant Hamburg proper.


title: Reeperbahn

text: In 1967, Europe's largest brothel at the time, the six-floor "Eros Center", was opened on the Reeperbahn. It was closed in the late 1980s amidst the AIDS scare.


title: Reeperbahn

text: At a major trial during 2006 and 2007 ten members of the "Marek Gang", which controls brothels on and near the Reeperbahn, were charged with pimping. The judge rejected the charge of forming a criminal gang and handed out suspended sentences: the men had started relationships with young women in local discotheques in order to recruit them to work in their brothels, an illegal practice if the women are under 21 years of age; some men had also abused some of the women who worked for them.


title: Reeperbahn

text: Because of the problems with the high crime rate, in 2007 the Senate of Hamburg enacted a ban on weapons in the Reeperbahn area. The only other such area with a weapons ban in Hamburg is the "", St. Georg.


title: Reeperbahn

text: The "St Pauli Preservation Society" decries the ongoing gentrification of the area. Several older residents blamed the decline of the Reeperbahn's sex industry on the rise of discotheques and cheap bars that attract teenage customers. In 2013, the Dancing Towers were built at the eastern end of Reeperbahn, symbolizing a couple dancing tango. The increasing number of these and other modern buildings erected at the Reeperbahn attracted criticism by some St. Pauli inhabitants.


title: Reeperbahn

text: In the early 1960s, The Beatles (who had not yet become world-famous) played in several clubs around the Reeperbahn, including the "Star-Club", "Kaiserkeller", "Top Ten" (Reeperbahn 136) and "Indra". Stories about the band's residencies, onstage and offstage antics are legendary; some stories are true (John Lennon played a song set with a toilet seat around his neck), others inflated (the band urinating in an alley as nuns walked past was told rather differently later). A fellow musician, Ted "Kingsize" Taylor, made a crude tape recording of their last New Year's Eve show, at the Star-Club in December 1962; a cleaned-up version of the tape was later released as an album, later characterized by Harrison as "awful".


title: Reeperbahn

text: To mark the historical importance of their time in Hamburg, a "Beatles-Platz" was built at the cross of Reeperbahn and Große Freiheit.


title: Reeperbahn

text: The popular 1944 movie "Große Freiheit Nr. 7" tells the story of a singer (played by Hans Albers) who works in a Reeperbahn club and falls in love with a girl played by Ilse Werner. Hans Albers and Heinz Rühmann played in the 1954 movie "Auf der Reeperbahn nachts um halb eins" ("On the Reeperbahn at Half Past Midnight", after a song of the same name sung by Albers in the 1944 film).


title: Reeperbahn

text: In 1958, Trinidadian calypso artiste, Lord Invader recorded a track titled "My Experience On The Reeperbahn". It recalls a time when he was conned by a transvestite. "You cannot tell a man from a woman. I was a man dancing hand in hand with a man dressed as woman on the Reeperbahn". "Reeperbahn" is a 1978 song by Udo Lindenberg, to the tune of Penny Lane, lamenting the decay of the entertainment there.


title: Reeperbahn

text: In the 1965 film "Ship of Fools", Jose Ferrer and Christiane Schmidtmer sang "Heute Abend Geh'n Wir Bummeln Auf Der Reeperbahn" ("Tonight We Will Go Strolling on The Reeperbahn").


title: Reeperbahn

text: Randy Pie's 1975 song "Kitsch" is about a curiosity shop on the Reeperbahn – the group hailed from Hamburg.


title: Reeperbahn

text: Reeperbahn is the name of a 1980s Swedish band. Finnish artist Irwin Goodman has a song and an album called "St.Pauli ja Reeperbahn". The street is also mentioned in the Elvis Costello song "Human Hands", in Van Morrison's song "Heavy Connection", in Paul Kelly's song "Every Fucking City", in the Midnight Oil song "Mountains of Burma", the Sloppy Seconds song "Germany" from their album "Destroyed" and in the Runrig song "Song of the Earth". The heavy metal band Blue Cheer have a song called "Sweet Child of the Reeperbahn" on their 1991 album "Dining with the Sharks". The punk band The Toy Dolls have a song titled "Caught up the Reeperbahn", first released on their 1993 album "Absurd-Ditties".


title: Reeperbahn

text: "Reeperbahn" is the name of a track from the Christian rock group Model Engine's CD "The Lean Years Tradition".


title: Reeperbahn

text: The Reeperbahn is often mentioned in Karen Duve's 1999 novel, "Regenroman". (The English translation is entitled "Rain").


title: Reeperbahn

text: Dutch DJ and producer Nicky Romero had the music video for his song "Toulouse" shot in Hamburg, Germany. Near the end, the actors enter the Reeperbahn's subway system.


title: Reeperbahn

text: Australian pop-punk band the Hard-Ons have a song called "Don't Fear The Reeperbahn" on their 2007 album "Most People Are Nicer Than Us". Its title is a play on the Blue Öyster Cult song "(Don't Fear) The Reaper".


title: Reeperbahn

text: German electro house duo Digitalism recorded the song "Reeperbahn" on their 2011 release "I Love You Dude".


title: Reeperbahn

text: The commercial house music producer Eric Prydz has a track titled "Reeperbahn" under his moniker Pryda.


title: Reeperbahn

text: London based indie band Spector have a bonus track titled "Reeperbahn" on the deluxe version of their 2015 album "Moth Boys".


title: Reeperbahn

text: UK based folk rock band Skinny Lister wrote a song titled "Hamburg Drunk", which depicts a rough night "falling and sprawlling down the old Reeperbahn" on their 2016 album "The Devil, The Heart and the Fight".


title: Shani Shingnapur

text: Shani Shingnapur or Shani Shinganapur or Shingnapur is a village in the Indian state of Maharashtra. Situated in Nevasa taluka in Ahmednagar district, the village is known for its popular temple of Shani, the Hindu god associated with the planet (graha) Saturn. Shingnapur is 35km from Ahmednagar city. Shani Shingnapur Devsthan Trust ,Shani Shingnapur is registered under Mumbai Public Trust act.


title: Shani Shingnapur

text: Shingnapur is also famous for the fact that no house in the village has doors, only door frames. Despite this, officially no theft was reported in the village although there were reports of theft in 2010 and 2011.


title: Shani Shingnapur

text: The temple is believed to be a "jagrut devasthan" (lit. "alive temple"), meaning that a deity still resides in the temple icon. Villagers believe that god Shani punishes anyone attempting theft. The deity here is "Swayambhu" (Sanskrit: self-evolved deity) that is self emerged from earth in form of black, imposing stone. Though no one knows the exact period, it is believed that the Swayambhu Shanaishwara statue was found by shepherds of the then local hamlet. It is believed to be in existence at least since the start of "Kali Yuga".


title: Shani Shingnapur

text: The village has a post office and a high school known as "Shri Shanishwar Vidya Mandir" besides the primary schools run by the Zilla Parishad. The chief source of water supply in the village is wells.


title: Shani Shingnapur

text: The story of the swayambhu statue handed down from generations through word of mouth, goes something like this: When the Shepherd touched the stone with a pointed rod, the stone started bleeding. The shepherds were astounded. Soon the whole village gathered around to watch the miracle. On that night Lord Shaneeshwara appeared in the dream of the most devoted and pious of the


title: Shani Shingnapur

text: He told the shepherd that he is "Shaneeshwara". He also told that the unique looking black stone is his swayambhu form. The shepherd prayed and asked the lord whether he should construct a temple for him. To this, Lord Shani Mahatma said there is no need for a roof as the whole sky is his roof and he preferred to be under open sky. He asked the shepherd to do daily pooja and 'Tailabhisheka' every Saturday without fail. He also promised the whole hamlet will have no fear of dacoits or burglars or thieves.


title: Shani Shingnapur

text: So, Lord Shanaishwara can be seen even today, in the open yard without any roof above. To this day, there are no doors for any houses, shops, temples. It is to be seen to believe that even post office has no door, not to speak of locks. Due to the fear of Lord Shani, none of the structures, be it dwelling houses, huts, shops, etc. situated within one kilometer radius of this Lord Shani temple have neither doors nor locks. No thievery or burglary was reported until 2010 when first theft was reported and again another one was reported in 2011. This Shani Shingnapur is visited daily by thousands of devotees praying for Lord Shaneswara's favour. The place is busiest on Saturdays. Shani Thrayodashi is considered to be a favorite day for the lord. Similarly Saturday falling on 'Amavasya'(new moon day in Sanskrit and many other Indian languages) is considered to be a favourite day for the Lord Shanaishwara and on that days devotees seeking his blessings throng this temple in thousands. In the many years history of the village, there has not been a single incident of theft, riots, murder or rape. It is believed that nobody from the village has ever gone to a home of the aged, nor has there been a single complaint lodged in a police station.


title: Shani Shingnapur

text: The shrine for Shani consists of a five and a half feet high black rock installed on an open-air platform, which symbolizes the god Shani. A Trishula (trident) is placed along the side of the image and a Nandi (bull) image is on the south side. In front are the small images of Shiva and Hanuman.


title: Shani Shingnapur

text: Generally, the temple has 30–45,000 visitors a day, which swells to around three lakh (i.e. three hundred thousand) on "amavasya" (the no moon day), believed to be the most auspicious day to appease Shani. The village holds a fair in honour of the deity on this day. A bigger festival is held on new moon days that fall on Saturdays. Devotees bathe Lord Shani's image with water and oil and offer flowers, and "udid" to him. A palanquin procession of Shani is held on the day of the fair. Other festivals include the birthday of Shani, "Shani Jayanti".


title: Shani Shingnapur

text: The shrine gained popularity with the decade-old film "Surya Putra Shanidev" made by the film producer Gulshan Kumar.


title: Shani Shingnapur

text: According to a 400-year tradition, women are restricted from entering the inner sanctum. On 26 January 2016, a group of over 500 women, led by activist Trupti Desai, marched to the temple under the group "Bhumata Ranragani Brigade", demanding entry into the Inner sanctum. They were stopped by the police.


title: Shani Shingnapur

text: In a landmark judgement on 30 March 2016, the Bombay High Court asked Maharashtra government to ensure that women are not denied entry to any temple. On 8 April 2016, the Shani Shingnapur trust finally allowed the women devotees to enter the sanctum.


title: Shani Shingnapur

text: In January 2011, the United Commercial (UCO) Bank opened a 'lockless' branch in the village, the first of its kind in the country, taking note of the near-zero crime rate in the region. The local police were reported to be unhappy over this development and that it amounted to a breach of conditions, because the Central government of India has made it mandatory for all banks to have high security. The bank has doors, but they will always remain open. However, it was reported by the local legislator and the bank officials that adequate precautions were being taken for the safety of lockers and important documents.


title: Shani Shingnapur

text: The way to Shingnapur village is covered with sugarcane fields and local people use bull to extract juice from the sugarcane, instead of machines and this type of juice extraction centres are known as "Rasavanti".


title: Welland Canal

text: The Welland Canal is a ship canal in Ontario, Canada, connecting Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. It forms a key section of the St. Lawrence Seaway and Great Lakes Waterway. Traversing the Niagara Peninsula from Port Weller in St. Catharines to Port Colborne, it enables ships to ascend and descend the Niagara Escarpment and bypass Niagara Falls. It is the fourth canal connecting these waterways; three smaller predecessors also bore the same name.


title: Welland Canal

text: The Welland Canal passes about 3,000 ships which transport about of cargo a year. It was a major factor in the growth of the city of Toronto, Ontario. The original canal and its successors allowed goods from Great Lakes ports such as Cleveland, Detroit, Milwaukee, and Chicago, as well as other heavily industrialized areas of the United States and Ontario, to be shipped to the port of Montreal or to Quebec City, where they were usually reloaded onto ocean-going vessels for international shipping.


title: Welland Canal

text: The Welland Canal in use today is the Fourth Welland Canal. The First Welland Canal was excavated 24 feet wide and 8 feet deep from 1824-1829 with forty wooden locks and commenced operation on November 30, 1829. The Second Welland Canal began excavation in 1841 and was wider at 36 feet and deeper at 9 feet with larger locks made of stone to replace the wooden locks used in the first canal. It was wider and deeper than the first to provide access for larger ships up to 150 feet long. The Second Welland Canal was completed in 1845 and remained in operation for nearly a century before closing permanently in 1935. The Third Welland Canal was designed to follow a straighter and thus shorter route than the first two and began construction in 1872 through 1887. It was 100 feet wide and 14 feet deep, with 26 masonry locks lined with wood to protect ships rubbing against the sides or bottom. The Third Canal locks were again larger being 45 feet wide and 270 feet long. The canal permitted access to larger ships with the Third Canal operating from 1887 until 1935 along with the still operating Second Welland Canal. The Fourth Welland Canal began construction in 1913 and was completed in 1932 with a delay due to World War I consuming vital manpower and materials. The Fourth Canal was once again an enlarged design to accommodate the increased size of ships with the main channel now 350 feet wide and 30 feet deep to permit two large ships to pass going in opposite directions. The current locks are 80 feet wide and 766 feet long. Three years after the Fourth Canal began operating in 1932 the government of Canada closed the Second and Third canals which required costly upkeep as they were deemed redundant. The Fourth Canal is equipped with just eight locks compared to the forty locks needed by the First Welland Canal. In comparison the Panama Canal opened in 1914 with locks 110 feet wide and 1,050 feet long.


title: Welland Canal

text: The Welland Canal eclipsed other, narrower canals in the region, such as the Trent-Severn Waterway and, significantly, the Erie Canal (which linked the Atlantic and Lake Erie via New York City and Buffalo, New York) by providing a shorter, more direct connection to Lake Erie.


title: Welland Canal

text: The southern, Lake Erie terminus of the canal is higher than the northern terminus on Lake Ontario. The canal includes eight ship locks. Seven of the locks (Locks 1–7, the 'Lift' locks) are long and raise (or lower) passing ships by between each. The southernmost lock, (Lock 8 – the 'Guard' or 'Control' lock) is in length. The Garden City Skyway passes over the canal, restricting the maximum height of the masts of the ships allowed on this canal to .


title: Welland Canal

text: All other highway or railroad crossings of the Welland Canal are either movable bridges (of the vertical lift or bascule bridge types) or tunnels. The maximum permissible length of a ship in this canal is . It takes ships an average of about eleven hours to traverse the entire length of the Welland Canal.


title: Welland Canal

text: Before the digging of the Welland Canal, shipping traffic between Lake Ontario and Lake Erie used a portage road between Chippawa, Ontario, and Queenston, Ontario, which are both located on the Niagara River—above and below Niagara Falls, respectively.


title: Welland Canal

text: The Welland Canal Company was incorporated by the Province of Upper Canada, in 1824, after a petition by nine "freeholders of the District of Niagara". One of the petitioners was William Hamilton Merritt, who was in part looking to provide a regular flow of water for his many water-powered industries along the Twelve Mile Creek in Thorold. The construction began at Allanburg, Ontario, on November 30, at a point now marked as such on the west end of Bridge No. 11 (formerly Highway 20). This canal opened for a trial run on November 30, 1829. After a short ceremony at Lock One, in Port Dalhousie, the schooner "Anne & Jane" (also called "Annie & Jane" in some texts) made the first transit, upbound to Buffalo, N.Y., with Merritt as a passenger on her deck.


title: Welland Canal

text: The first canal ran from Port Dalhousie, Ontario, on Lake Ontario south along Twelve Mile Creek to St. Catharines. From there it took a winding route up the Niagara Escarpment through Merritton, Ontario, to Thorold, where it continued south via Allanburg to Port Robinson, Ontario, on the Welland River. Ships went east (downstream) on the Welland River to Chippawa, at the south (upper) end of the old portage road, where they made a sharp right turn into the Niagara River, upstream towards Lake Erie. Originally, the section between Allanburg and Port Robinson was planned to be carried in a tunnel. However, the sandy soil in this part of Ontario made a tunnel infeasible, and a deep open-cut canal was dug instead.


title: Welland Canal

text: A southern extension from Port Robinson opened in 1833, with the founding of Port Colborne. This extension followed the Welland River south to Welland (known then as the settlement of Aqueduct, for the wooden aqueduct that carried the canal over the Welland River at that point), and then split to run south to Port Colborne on Lake Erie. A feeder canal ran southwest from Welland to another point on Lake Erie, just west of Rock Point Provincial Park in Port Maitland. With the opening of the extension, the canal stretched between the two lakes, with 40 wooden locks. The minimum lock size was , with a minimum canal depth of .


title: Welland Canal

text: Deterioration of the wood used in the 40 locks and the increasing size of ships led to demand for the Second Welland Canal, which used cut stone locks, within just a few years.