title: Meadow Williams

text: Williams' "Axis Sally" co-star Al Pacino criticized her acting performance in the film, as well as her professionalism as a producer on the project.


title: Meadow Williams

text: In a 2019 email to producer Randall Emmett, Pacino suggested adding another shooting day to the film "to help [Williams] give a better performance".


title: Meadow Williams

text: "Let's do this Randall. I'm not going for the A's or the B's. I’m going for something between C and B. I don't like Ds," wrote Pacino, "And, as long as you put the effort in with what you know about filmmaking and Michael too I'm sure we'll get to a B-. And that's good enough for me, if it's good enough for you."


title: Meadow Williams

text: Pacino also complained that Williams was interfering with director Michael Polish's editing process. "My thought Randall is very simple. She is not a professional. ... Someone has to say 'back off a second dear, we're completing the film still, take a look when it's ready'," Pacino wrote to Emmett.


title: Meadow Williams

text: She was married to her first husband until 2010. In 2010, she married Gerald Kessler, a vitamin tycoon multi-millionaire. Kessler died in 2015 and she inherited almost all of his $800 million estate, which was the subject of legal action by Kessler's children from his previous marriage. Since 2017 she has been dating actor Swen Temmel.


title: McMinnville UFO photographs

text: The McMinnville UFO photographs, also known as the Trent UFO photos, were taken by a farming couple, Paul and Evelyn Trent near McMinnville, Oregon, United States on May 11, 1950. The photos were reprinted in "Life" magazine and in newspapers across the nation, and are often considered to be among the most famous photographs ever taken of a UFO. UFO skeptics consider these photographs a hoax, although many ufologists continue to argue that the photos actually depict a genuine three dimensional unidentified flying object in the sky.


title: McMinnville UFO photographs

text: Although these images have become known as the "McMinnville UFO Photographs", the Trent farm was actually just outside Sheridan, Oregon, approximately nine miles (15 km) southwest of McMinnville, which was the nearest larger town.


title: McMinnville UFO photographs

text: According to astronomer William K. Hartmann's account, on 11 May 1950 at 7:30 p.m., Evelyn Trent was walking back to her farmhouse after feeding her caged rabbits. Before reaching the house, she noticed a slow-moving, metallic disk-shaped object heading in her direction from the northeast. She yelled for her husband, Paul, who was inside the house; he claimed that upon leaving the house, he also saw the object. After watching the object for a short time, he went back inside their home to obtain a camera; he said he managed to take two photos of the object before it sped away to the west. Paul Trent's father also claimed he briefly viewed the object before it flew away.


title: McMinnville UFO photographs

text: Hartmann's version of the incident traces back to an interview the Trents gave to Lou Gillette, host of the radio station KMCM (later KLYC), and quoted in "The Oregonian" newspaper on 10 June 1950. However, the Trents had given a slightly different version of the incident to the local McMinnville newspaper, the "Telephone Register", two days earlier on 8 June 1950. In that version, Evelyn Trent stated "We'd been out in the back yard. Both of us saw the object at the same time. The camera! Paul thought it was in the car but I was sure it was in the house. I was right—and the Kodak was loaded with film..."


title: McMinnville UFO photographs

text: The roll of film in the Trent's camera was not entirely used up, so the Trents did not have the film developed immediately. The film was not developed until the remaining frames were used in shooting family photographs for Mother's Day, Sunday, 14 May 1950.


title: McMinnville UFO photographs

text: In a 1997 interview, the Trents claimed that they initially thought the object they had photographed was a secret military aircraft, and feared the "photos might bring them trouble." When he mentioned his sighting and photographs to his banker, Frank Wortmann, the banker was intrigued enough to display them from his bank window in McMinnville.


title: McMinnville UFO photographs

text: Shortly afterwards Bill Powell, a local newspaper reporter, convinced Mr. Trent to loan him the negatives. Powell examined the negatives and found no evidence that they were tampered with or faked. On June 8, 1950, Powell's story of the incident—accompanied by the two photos—was published as a front-page story in the McMinnville "Telephone-Register". The headline read: "At Long Last—Authentic Photographs Of Flying Saucer[?]"


title: McMinnville UFO photographs

text: The story and photos were subsequently picked up by the International News Service (INS) and sent to other newspapers around the nation, thus giving them wide publicity. "Life" magazine published cropped versions of the photos on June 26, 1950, along with a photo of Trent and his camera. The Trents had been promised that the negatives would be returned to them; however, they were not returned—"Life" magazine told the Trents that it had misplaced the negatives.


title: McMinnville UFO photographs

text: In 1967, the negatives of the Trent photos were found in the files of the United Press International (UPI), the news service which had merged with INS years earlier. The negatives were then loaned to Dr. William K. Hartmann, an astronomer who was working as an investigator for the Condon Committee, a government-funded UFO research project based at the University of Colorado Boulder. The Trents were not immediately informed that their "lost" negatives had been found. Hartmann interviewed the Trents and was impressed by their sincerity; the Trents apparently never asked for any money for their photos, nor could he find any evidence that they had sought any notoriety from them.


title: McMinnville UFO photographs

text: In Hartmann's analysis, he wrote to the Condon Committee that "This is one of the few UFO reports in which all factors investigated, geometric, psychological, and physical, appear to be consistent with the assertion that an extraordinary flying object, silvery, metallic, disk-shaped, tens of meters in diameter, and evidently artificial, flew within sight of two witnesses."


title: McMinnville UFO photographs

text: One reason for this conclusion was due to the photometric analysis of the images. Hartmann noted that the brightness of the underside of the object appeared to be lighter than the underside of the oil tank seen in the images. This could be due to the effects of atmospheric extinction and scattering, the same effects that make distant mountains appear "washed out" and blue. This effect suggested the objects were further from the camera than the tank, not small, local objects."


title: McMinnville UFO photographs

text: Hartmann did, however, also point out the possibility that the images were manufactured. He noted that "The object appears beneath a pair of wires, as is seen in Plates 23 and 24. We may question, therefore, whether it could have been a model suspended from one of the wires. This possibility is strengthened by the observation that the object appears beneath roughly the same point in the two photos, in spite of their having been taken from two positions." and concludes "These tests do not rule out the possibility that the object was a small model suspended from the nearby wire by an unresolved thread."


title: McMinnville UFO photographs

text: Hartmann also noticed a discrepancy that would later become the main point of objection for later skeptics. He noticed that the overall lighting of the image was consistent with the lighting that would be expected around sunset, but noted that "There could be a possible discrepancy in view of the fact that the UFO, the telephone pole, possibly the garage at the left, and especially the distant house gables (left of the distant barn) are illuminated from the right, or east. The house, in particular, appears to have a shadow under its roof that would suggest a daylit photo, and combined with the eastward incidence, one could argue that the photos were taken on a dull, sunlit day at, say, 10 a.m."


title: McMinnville UFO photographs

text: After Hartmann concluded his investigation he returned the negatives to UPI, which then informed the Trents. In 1970, the Trents asked Philip Bladine, the editor of the "News-Register" (the successor of the "Telephone-Register"), for the negatives; the Trents noted that they had never been paid for the negatives and thus wanted them back. Bladine asked UPI to return the negatives, which it did. However, for some reason, Bladine did not inform the Trents that the negatives had been returned.


title: McMinnville UFO photographs

text: In 1975, the negatives were found in the files of the "News-Register" by Bruce Maccabee, an optical physicist for the U.S. Navy and a ufologist. After completing his own study of the photos, Maccabee ensured that the original negatives were finally returned to the Trents.


title: McMinnville UFO photographs

text: Maccabee analyzed the photos and concluded that the photographs were not hoaxed and showed a "real, physical" object in the sky above the Trent farm. Much of his analysis is based on densitometric measurements, similar to the photometric analysis done by Hartmann. Maccabee argued that the brightness of the object's underside suggested it was at some distance from the camera, not a smaller object close to it.


title: McMinnville UFO photographs

text: Maccabee also analyzed the position of various objects in the image as well as an image prepared by Hartmann when he visited the site in June 1967. Based on this, Maccabee argued that the line-of-sight of the two images intersected some distance behind the power lines seen in the photos, providing further evidence, in his opinion, that it was not a small model suspended from the lines. Maccabee stated that his analysis of the object did not find any evidence of a thread or string suspending it from the power lines.


title: McMinnville UFO photographs

text: In reply to the skeptical arguments that shadows on objects in the photos proved that they were taken in the morning rather than in the early evening, as the Trents had claimed, Maccabee argued that cloud conditions in the McMinnville area on the evening of the sighting could have caused the shadows on the garage. He also stated, in response to the 2013 IPACO photoanalysis that concluded the photos were a hoax, that "regarding [their] photogrammetric analysis, I showed that the sighting lines did not cross under the wires and they did not refute this...I still stand on my original work."


title: McMinnville UFO photographs

text: In the 1980s, journalists and noted UFO skeptics Philip J. Klass and Robert Sheaffer, stated their opinions that the photos were faked, and that the entire event was a hoax.


title: McMinnville UFO photographs

text: Their primary argument stated that shadows on a garage on the left-hand side of the photos proved that the photos were taken in the morning rather than in the early evening, as the Trents had claimed. Klass and Sheaffer argued that since the Trents had apparently lied about the time of day the photos were taken, their entire story was thus suspect. They also claimed that the Trents had shown an interest in UFOs prior to their alleged sighting.


title: McMinnville UFO photographs

text: Additionally, their analysis of the photos suggested that the object photographed was small and likely a model hanging from power lines visible at the top of the photos. They also believed the object may have been the detached side-view mirror of a vehicle. The object has a shape that is somewhat similar to the round mirrors that were used on Ford vehicles produced at the same time the photo was allegedly taken.


title: McMinnville UFO photographs

text: Klass also claimed to have found a number of contradictions in the Trents' story of the sighting, and noted that their version of the incident changed over the years. His conclusion was that the Trents had fabricated the event.


title: McMinnville UFO photographs

text: After Sheaffer sent his research and conclusions to William Hartmann, Hartmann withdrew his previous positive assessment of the case which had been forwarded to the Condon Committee.


title: McMinnville UFO photographs

text: In April 2013, three researchers with IPACO posted two studies to their Web site titled "Back to McMinnville pictures" and "Evidence of a suspension thread." They argued that the geometry of the photographs is most consistent with a small model with a hollow bottom hanging from a wire suspended from the power lines above, and they stated that they had detected the presence of a thread above the object. Their conclusion was that "the clear result of this study was that the McMinnville UFO was a model hanging from a thread."


title: McMinnville UFO photographs

text: The McMinnville UFO photographs remain among the best-publicized in UFO history. Skeptics continue to argue the two photographs are hoaxes and/or fakes. Ufologists continue to insist that the Trent photos are credible evidence that UFOs are a real, physical phenomenon. Over the years, the Trents have consistently been described as honest, simple farm folk who never attempted to profit from their photographs, nor the notoriety they brought them. Evelyn Trent died in 1997 and Paul Trent in 1998; both insisted until the end of their lives that the sighting, and the photos, were genuine. The interest surrounding the Trent UFO photos led to an annual "UFO Festival" being established in McMinnville; it is now the largest such gathering in the Pacific Northwest, and is the second-largest UFO festival in the nation after the one held in Roswell, New Mexico.


title: Tokyo Ghoul √A (season 2)

text: The second season of the "Tokyo Ghoul" anime series, titled Tokyo Ghoul √A, is a direct sequel to the first season of the anime, picking up right where the final episode left off. The series is produced by Pierrot, and directed by Shuhei Morita. The anime aired from January 9 to March 27, 2015, on Tokyo MX, TVO, TVA, TVQ, MRO, BS Dlife and CS AT-X.


title: Tokyo Ghoul √A (season 2)

text: The season roughly adapts the second half of the "Tokyo Ghoul" manga. Unlike the first season, however, "Tokyo Ghoul √A" does not directly adapt everything from the manga. Rather, it mixes in the manga's events and overall plotline with an anime original story written by the manga author Sui Ishida. The anime follows Ken Kaneki after he joins Aogiri Tree, as the group begins their battle against the CCG, who are trying to exterminate the ghoul organization.


title: Tokyo Ghoul √A (season 2)

text: The score is composed by Yutaka Yamada, who also produced the score for the first season. The opening theme for the anime is by österreich, and the ending theme is by amazarashi.


title: Tokyo Ghoul √A (season 2)

text: TC Entertainment released the series in Japan onto six volumes from March 27 to August 28, 2015. A complete set containing all twelve episodes was later released on September 30, 2016.


title: Tokyo Ghoul √A (season 2)

text: Funimation licensed the series in North America, simulcasted the series on their website, produced an English dub as it aired, and released the series on home video on May 24, 2016. Madman Entertainment licensed the series in Australia and New Zealand, simulcasted the series on AnimeLab, and released the series on home video on July 6, 2016. Anime Limited licensed the series in the United Kingdom and Ireland, who simulcasted the series on Wakamin, and released the series on home video on June 13, 2016. The series ran on Adult Swim's Toonami programming block in the United States from July 9 to October 1, 2017.


title: Prince Maximilian of Liechtenstein

text: Prince Maximilian of Liechtenstein (Maximilian Nikolaus Maria; born 16 May 1969), known professionally as Max von Liechtenstein, is a member of the Liechtenstein princely family and businessman. He is the second son of Prince Hans-Adam II and Princess Marie.


title: Prince Maximilian of Liechtenstein

text: After passing his examinations at the Liechtensteinisches Gymnasium in Vaduz, he studied at the European Business School in Oestrich-Winkel, Germany, and graduated in 1993. In 1998 he completed an MBA degree at Harvard Business School in Boston, Massachusetts.


title: Prince Maximilian of Liechtenstein

text: Prince Maximilian went to work for Chase Capital Partners (the private equity arm of Chase Manhattan Corporation) in New York City. After an interval in which he earned his advanced degree in business and was married, he worked for two years for "Industrie Kapital". In 2003, he began the management of the German office of JPMorgan Partners.


title: Prince Maximilian of Liechtenstein

text: Since the spring of 2006, he has been the Chief Executive Officer of the LGT Group. Professionally, he is referred to as Prince Max, rather than Prince Maximilian.


title: Prince Maximilian of Liechtenstein

text: Prince Maximilian met Angela Brown, a Panamanian-American fashion designer, at a private party in New York in 1997. In 1999, the Principality of Liechtenstein's Information Bureau announced the forthcoming nuptials of Prince Maximilian to Angela Brown. Prince Maximilian married Angela civilly on 21 January 2000 in Vaduz, Liechtenstein, and religiously on 29 January 2000, at 11:00 am, at the Church of St. Vincent Ferrer in New York City.


title: Prince Maximilian of Liechtenstein

text: The marriage brought a person of Afro-Panamanian ancestry into one of the remaining reigning families of Europe. Prince Maximilian obtained prior consent and full support of the sovereign, who also attended the wedding. While some members of the princely house were said to be shocked and to consider the interracial marriage and the eleven years age gap (with Angela being older than Prince Maximilian) "the end of an era", others were said to have expressed support.


title: Prince Maximilian of Liechtenstein

text: Maximilian is styled as "His Serene Highness" Prince Maximilian of Liechtenstein, Count of Rietberg. He also bears the coat of arms of the princely house.


title: Air India One

text: Air India One (also referred to as AI1 AIC1 or INDIA 1) is the air traffic control call sign of any Special Extra Section Flight (SESF) operated by the Indian Air Force (IAF) for the President of India, Vice President of India or Prime Minister of India. The IAF's Air Headquarters Communication Squadron, based at Air Force Station Palam, is the unit responsible for coordinating the missions.


title: Air India One

text: Initially, the Air India One was an Air India Boeing 747-400 which used to ferry the President, Vice President and the Prime Minister.


title: Air India One

text: In 2016, the Boeing 777-300ER was selected as SESF (VVIP transport). The new aircraft, with specially-designed liveries, entered service in October 2020, replacing the Boeing 747-400s operated for the missions by Air India. Unlike the 747s which were commercial aircraft, the newly inducted aircraft are military vessels formally owned and operated by the Indian Air Force. They bear no Air India markings and have no commercial dual-use. However, under a special contract, they will be maintained by Air India Engineering Services Limited (AIESL), which has experience maintaining the Boeing 777 series aircraft for Air India's commercial fleet.


title: Air India One

text: The aircraft are fitted with encrypted satellite communication facilities and advanced navigation aids, an advanced missile warning system, a missile deflecting shield and electronic countermeasures so as to provide protection from any ground-based or airborne threats and flares and glares for misleading the missile. They are capable of long-range travel removing the need for air-to-air refueling (which is a feature on the VC-25As though they have not been used at all in their service) . The 777-300ER's onboard electronics include about 238 miles of wiring (twice the amount found in a normal 777). The heavy shielding is crucial to protect the wiring and crucial electronics from the electromagnetic pulse associated with a nuclear blast.


title: Air India One

text: At a Boeing facility in Fort Worth, Texas, two ex- Air India aircraft (VT-ALV and VT-ALW, now registered as K7066 and K7067 respectively) were specially outfitted with missile defense and countermeasures dispensing systems, including large aircraft infrared countermeasures (LAIRCM) self-protection suites (SPS).


title: Air India One

text: On Air India One flights, the President is designated as "VIP-1", the Vice President as "VIP-2", and the Prime Minister as "VIP-3". The BBJs have a four class configuration. For VIPs 1, 2 and 3, an executive enclosure in the aircraft includes an office and a bedroom. All other passengers aboard Air India One are required to wear colour-coded identity cards at all times. Members of the official delegation (at the rank of Joint Secretary to the Government of India and above) are tagged in purple and sit in first class. Personnel of the Special Protection Group are also tagged in purple to provide proximate security to the Prime Minister, and may carry close combat weapons for the duration of flights. Accompanying officials (passengers of rank below Joint Secretary) are tagged in pink, and sit in business class equivalent seats. Support staff, including cooks and butlers, and other security personnel (not including the Special Protection Group) are tagged in red, while journalists in the press pool are tagged in yellow. Both red and yellow-tagged passengers sit in economy class equivalent seats.


title: Air India One

text: While Ministers of the Union and senior staff officers of the Indian Armed Forces may use smaller aircraft for official travel, the 777-300ER's are exclusively used by the President, Vice President and Prime Minister. Additional Indian Air Force VIP Aircraft such as the B737 BBJ and ERJ-135 are also used by many government dignitaries (including the Prime Minister) for domestic and international medium-haul travel.


title: Bad Girls (Donna Summer album)

text: Bad Girls is the seventh studio album by American singer-songwriter Donna Summer. It was released on April 25, 1979, by Casablanca Records. Originally issued as a double album, "Bad Girls" became the best-selling and most critically acclaimed album of Summer's career (before the release of ""). It was also her final studio album for Casablanca Records. In 2003, Universal Music re-issued "Bad Girls" as a digitally remastered and expanded deluxe edition.


title: Bad Girls (Donna Summer album)

text: "Bad Girls" reached the top of the US "Billboard" 200, where it stayed for six weeks: for one week on June 16, 1979, and then for five consecutive weeks, from July 7 to August 4, 1979. "Bad Girls" also topped the "Billboard" R&B Albums chart for three weeks, from June 23 to July 7, 1979, and all cuts from the album topped the Disco Top 80 for seven weeks, from May 26 to July 7, 1979. It contained the US "Billboard" Hot 100 number-one hits "Hot Stuff" and "Bad Girls", and the number-two hit "Dim All the Lights". Summer also achieved further success when she became the first female artist to have two songs in the top three of the "Billboard" Hot 100, when on the week of June 30, 1979, "Hot Stuff" fell to number two and "Bad Girls" rose to number three.


title: Bad Girls (Donna Summer album)

text: "Bad Girls" was universally acclaimed and was certified platinum—now double platinum—by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) within just a week of its release. At the 1980 Grammy Awards, "Bad Girls" was nominated for Album of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and "Hot Stuff" won Best Female Rock Vocal Performance. Additionally, "Dim All the Lights" was nominated for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance and "Bad Girls" was nominated for Best Disco Recording.


title: Bad Girls (Donna Summer album)

text: "Bad Girls" is widely considered one of the greatest disco albums. It was ranked by "Rolling Stone"'s list of the Women Who Rock: The 50 Greatest Albums of All Time at number 23, where the magazine wrote, "The late great Queen of Disco pulls out all the stops for an album that sums up Seventies radio, from ladies-choice smooch jams to filthy funk." In a BBC Music review of the album, Daryl Easla wrote, ""Bad Girls" is a fantastic reminder of when [Summer] was the Madonna, Whitney, Tina, Diana, Barbra, Aretha, Mariah, Beyonce, Taylor, including Britney, Christina, Mary J and Missy of her day all rolled into one. No one compares to her as she mastered voice versatility with more than ten voices singing all genres".


title: Bad Girls (Donna Summer album)

text: Having made her name in the preceding years as "the queen of disco," Summer set to work on her new album with long-time partners Giorgio Moroderand Pete Bellotte, as well as various others she had not worked with before. By this time, although disco music was still popular, other styles such as punk and heavy metal were also doing well on the charts, so the team decided to incorporate a rockier sound into some of the songs. Other songs had a more soul/R&B feel to them, and in all it was probably Summer's most diverse album to date. The fusion of rock and disco was particularly evident, and synthesizers were used to augment the sound for a more electronic and dance oriented electro music in the first two songs on the album – "Hot Stuff" and "Bad Girls", which also became the first two singles to be released from the album. Both were huge hits and made number one on the American singles chart. The former also won Summer a Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance and became popular again in the 1990s when it was featured in "The Full Monty" and again in the film "The Martian". "Dim All the Lights" was the third single and also became a huge hit, peaking at number two in the U.S.


title: Bad Girls (Donna Summer album)

text: "Bad Girls" was universally acclaimed by music reviews. As well as the winner of the aforementioned Grammy Award for "Hot Stuff" (Best Female Rock Vocal Performance). The song "Bad Girls" was also nominated for Best Disco Recording. "Dim All the Lights" was nominated for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance and the album itself was nominated for Album of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. The album was also nominated for "Favourite Pop/Rock Album" at the American Music Awards of 1980. The single took an American Music Award for "Favorite Pop/Rock Single", while Summer took awards for "Favorite Pop/Rock Female Artist" & "Favorite Soul/R&B Female Artist". In 2020, the album was ranked at 283 on "Rolling Stone"'s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list.


title: Bad Girls (Donna Summer album)

text: "Bad Girls" would be Summer's final studio album for Casablanca Records, who ended 1979 with the release of a greatest hits double-album. For her next studio album, Summer wanted to branch out into other formats of music but since she and Casablanca could not come to an agreement on her musical direction, Summer opted to sign a new deal with Geffen Records, the then-new label formed by David Geffen. Her first album with Geffen Records was more rock/new wave oriented. In the meantime, Casablanca chose to release more singles from the "Bad Girls" album into 1980: "Sunset People" and "Walk Away", the latter of which became a moderate hit reaching the top 40. Casablanca/PolyGram also released a special edition compilation entitled "Walk Away – Greatest Hits 1977–1980", which featured a selection of her hits from the "Bad Girls" period and the preceding years. In 2003 Universal Music, owners of the Casablanca/PolyGram back catalogue since 1998, re-issued "Bad Girls" as a digitally remastered and expanded deluxe edition.


title: Bad Girls (Donna Summer album)

text: The album was certified double platinum for sales in excess of 2 million copies in the U.S. on December 1, 1993 (double albums are certified per disc by the RIAA rather than per complete unit). It also became her second consecutive number-one album in the U.S., also spending three weeks at number one in Canada on the "RPM 100" national albums chart. It has sold over 4 million copies worldwide.


title: Bad Girls (Donna Summer album)

text: All tracks produced by Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte except "My Baby Understands" by Donna Summer and Juergen Koppers.


The Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF; ) was an ethnic federalist political coalition in Ethiopia that existed from 1988 to 2019. It consisted of four political parties, namely Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), Amhara Democratic Party (ADP), Oromo Democratic Party (ODP) and Southern Ethiopian People's Democratic Movement (SEPDM). After leading the overthrow of the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, it dominated Ethiopian politics from 1991 to 2019. In November 2019, the EPRDF was dissolved, and Prime Minister and EPDRF chairman Abiy Ahmed merged three of the constituent parties (not including the TPLF) into his new Prosperity Party, which was officially founded on 1 December 2019.


title: Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front

text: During the Ethiopian Civil War, the EPRDF was a rebel group battling the Derg, a military regime led by Mengistu Haile Mariam that was effectively in power from 1974 until it was replaced by the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia in 1987. During this period, the Derg was responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of opponents without trial in the Qey Shibir and the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia resulting in 400,000 deaths.


text: The EPRDF was formed by the union of the TPLF and the Ethiopian People's Democratic Movement (EPDM) in early-1989. They were later joined by the OPDO (the Oromo members of the TPLF, EPLF, and EPDM) and the Ethiopian Democratic Officers' Revolutionary Movement (a small body of Derg officers captured by TPLF, most notably at Shire in February 1989, which was later disbanded after the establishment of the Transitional Government of Ethiopia).


text: Following the collapse of the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia in the early 1990s, the EPRDF gained support from the United States. Michael Johns, an Africa expert with The Heritage Foundation, wrote in 1991 that "there are some modestly encouraging signs that the front intends to abandon Mengistu's autocratic practices".


text: The EPRDF was led by a Council as well as an executive committee, whose members were selected every three years by a congress of the party. The four member parties had the same organizational structure. Government and party structures were closely intertwined.


text: The other five regions of Ethiopia were governed by parties which were either created or heavily influenced by the EPRDF. One of the earliest was the Afar People's Democratic Organization in the Afar Region, which subsequently merged with other Afar political groups to create the Afar National Democratic Party (ANDP). These were the five regional parties:


text: Revolutionary democracy replaced Marxism–Leninism as the EPRDF's official ideology in the early 1990s, not because the front had lost their belief in Marxism, but rather because of the international situation (the Soviet Union was dissolved in 1991). The main message of Revolutionary Democracy, similar to that found in Marxist–Leninist thought, is that a vanguard party should rule because it represents the people and has "supposedly superior knowledge of the nature of social development conferred on them by the EPRDF ideology." Similar to Marxism–Leninism, the EPRDF prefers to categorize society into classes such as the peasantry, the bourgeoisie, the proletariat and the comprador bourgeoisie and considers its main adversary to be imperialism, that is free market capitalist states.


text: The peasantry are considered the main class in Ethiopia, since they form a majority of the population, and they are considered the pillar of Revolutionary Democracy. Upon seizing power, the front was suspicious of the petite bourgeoisie class, believing that they were naturally inclined to oppose the front's policies. Despite this, the front believed it could win over the petite bourgeoisie through economic incentives and successful policy. Importantly, if members of the petite bourgeoisie class oppose the EPRDF, the front will "empty their 'belly and pocket'". The urban proletariat are in contrast naturally inclined towards the EPRDF, and the EPRDF seeks to recruit members of these class so as to strengthen the front's organizational links with the trade unions. The EPRDF asserts that the "local investor", that is, the capitalist, will naturally be hostile towards the front and its policies, and the front should therefore try to persuade this class to become neutral. Religious organizations are deemed reactionary by the EPRDF.


text: Some people state that the EPRDF has not espoused a well-defined unified ideology or political philosophy. Its members held a variety of positions that could be broadly defined as being to the left of the opposition parties. The EPRDF traditionally identified itself with a number of general goals, namely rapid export-based economic growth; close cooperation with the United States in foreign and defense policies; close cooperation with China on economic and trade policies: and several newer issues, such as administrative reform. Administrative reform encompassed several themes, namely simplification and streamlining of government bureaucracy; privatization of state-owned enterprises; and adoption of measures, including tax reform, in preparation for the expected strain on the economy posed by a rapidly growing population. Other priorities in the early 1990s included the promotion of a more active and positive role for Ethiopia following the collapse of the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, the internationalization of Ethiopia's economy by the liberalization and promotion of domestic demand (expected to lead to the industrialization) and the promotion of education. A business-inspired commitment to free enterprise was tempered by the insistence of protectionism and tariffs.


text: The EPRDF opposes liberal democracy, and liberalism in general. Despite this, Revolutionary Democracy can be considered a mixture of communist and liberal thought. The front views liberal democracy and free market capitalism as decadent, and has a "romantic attachment" to the beliefs of Vladimir Lenin, who condemned liberal democracy as the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie (literally the dictatorship of the upper class) while supporting Lenin's assertion of the need for a vanguard party which practices democratic centralism. It considers liberal democracy to be "ill-fit and unsustainable", but ironically much of the front's economic policies are based on the tacit acknowledgement of the need of some liberalism in the economic field.


text: With the majority of EPRDF's top leaders being former members of the Marxist–Leninist League of Tigray, a Hoxhaist organization led by among others Meles Zenawi, Marxist ideology still plays a prominent role in party discourse, with some even claiming that the front is hiding their ideology. Theodore M. Vestal claims that the front based its ideology on Marxist–Leninist revisionism, believing it explains the regime's authoritarian nature. Of the communists traits in Revolutionary Democracy, most of them have been borrowed from Mao Zedong Thought, an ideology conceived by Chinese leader Mao Zedong.


title: Little Anthony and the Imperials

text: Little Anthony and the Imperials is an American rhythm and blues/soul vocal group from New York City founded by Clarence Collins in the 1950s and named in part for its lead singer, Jerome Anthony "Little Anthony" Gourdine, who was noted for his high-pitched voice. In addition to Collins and Gourdine, the original Imperials included Ernest Wright, Glouster "Nate" Rogers, and Tracey Lord, the last two of whom were subsequently replaced by Sammy Strain. The group was one of the very few doo-wop groups to enjoy sustained success on the R&B and pop charts throughout the 1960s. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on April 4, 2009, 23 years after the group's first year of eligibility for induction.


title: Little Anthony and the Imperials

text: In 1957, a doo-wop group known as "The Chesters" was composed of Collins, whose falsetto had been inspired by Jimmy Scott; Tracey Lord, Nathaniel Rodgers, and Ronald Ross. Anthony Gourdine, a former member of The DuPonts, joined as lead vocalist. Ernest Wright took over from Ross, and the group recorded briefly for Apollo Records.


title: Little Anthony and the Imperials

text: Changing their name to "The Imperials", the group signed with End Records in 1958. Their first single was "Tears on My Pillow", which was an instant hit. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc by the RIAA. The B-side, "Two People in the World", was also a hit. The group followed up with "Shimmy, Shimmy, Ko Ko Bop" in 1960. When their success dwindled in 1961, Gourdine left to attempt a solo career. Original Imperials member Nate


title: Little Anthony and the Imperials

text: to get married. The line-up then became Collins, Wright, Sammy Strain, (a childhood friend who had grown up together with the Imperials in Brooklyn), and George Kerr. Kerr was replaced by Kenny W. Seymour after a short time. This line-up had little success.


title: Little Anthony and the Imperials

text: Gourdine returned in 1963, replacing Seymour. The group's classic line-up – Gourdine, Wright, Collins, and Strain – was now complete. With the help of record producer/songwriter Teddy Randazzo (a childhood friend of the group), the Imperials found success on the new DCP (Don Costa Productions) label with the dramatic pop-soul records "I'm on the Outside (Looking In)" (1964), "Goin' Out of My Head" (1964), "Hurt So Bad" (1965), "I Miss You So" (1965), "Take Me Back" (1965), "Hurt" (1966), "Better Use Your Head" (1966), and "Out of Sight, Out of Mind" (1969). In 1965, the Imperials appeared on the CBS-TV special "Murray The K – It's What's Happening, Baby", where they performed "I'm Alright" before a live audience in New York at the Brooklyn Fox Theatre. At the height of their career, the group made two appearances on "The Ed Sullivan Show", at the time television's top talent showcase, on March 28, 1965, and again on January 25, 1970. They also performed on "Shindig!" "Hullabaloo", "Kraft Music Hall", "Soul Train", "American Bandstand", "The Midnight Special", and "The Tonight Show".


title: Little Anthony and the Imperials

text: The Imperials then joined United Artists Records and were assigned to its Veep Records subsidiary, and then to the parent label itself, where they recorded "World of Darkness", "It's Not The Same", "If I Remember To Forget", "Yesterday Has Gone", and the Thom Bell-produced "Help Me Find A Way (To Say I Love You)".


title: Little Anthony and the Imperials

text: Albums from this era include: "Reflections", "Payin' Our Dues", "Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind" (named after their hit cover of The Five Keys song), and "Movie Grabbers", which included a rendition of "You Only Live Twice", the James Bond motion picture theme. This song was originally recorded by The Imperials – expressly for the film and its soundtrack – but was later given instead to Nancy Sinatra for the film, due to her father Frank's greater influence.


title: Little Anthony and the Imperials

text: They recorded three singles for Janus Records including "Father Father", which they later performed on the Merv Griffin Show. Then they went to Avco Records in the mid-1970s and recorded "On A New Street", and charted with the songs "La La La (At the End)" and "I'm Falling in Love With You". This album was produced by both Bell and Randazzo. A second LP for Avco Records entitled "Hold On" was withdrawn from sale in the USA after the failure of the title track to sell and Avco's subsequent financial difficulties. The group appeared on "Soul Train" on May 26, 1973. By this time, Strain and Wright had left the group, although both would eventually return.


title: Little Anthony and the Imperials

text: Wright left in 1971 to join Tony Williams' Platters. He was replaced by the returning Kenny Seymour, who was again replaced after a short time by Bobby Wade, formerly a Cleveland-based singer with a number of solo releases on Cleveland labels, that included Way Out and Big Jim. Strain left in 1972. He had a restaurant in Los Angeles and had not been singing professionally for three years. At the end of that period, he was briefly a member of The Fandangos with Lonnie Cook and Alvin Walker. He also auditioned for the lead voice of Arpeggio. Strain had been replaced by Harold Jenkins as a member of The Imperials. He then joined the O'Jays as the replacement for original O'Jays member William Powell, who left the group due to illness. (Powell died of cancer shortly thereafter.) Jenkins had already been functioning as the group's choreographer. Jenkins and Seymour had previously performed together in the Impacts. Gourdine left for a second (more successful) attempt at a solo career. The trio of Collins, Wade, and Jenkins continued as "the Imperials". Collins left in 1988, and was replaced by Sherman James. They then toured as "Bobby Wade's Imperials". James left in 1992, and was replaced by Ron Stevenson.


title: Little Anthony and the Imperials

text: In 1992, Collins, Wright, Strain, and Gourdine reunited for a concert at Madison Square Garden. This reunion proved to be a success. When the decision was made for the foursome to tour together again, Wade relinquished the Imperials name, with his group becoming "Bobby Wade's Emperors" when they became the house band at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. At this point, Strain left the O'Jays, and permanently returned to the Imperials. 1992, the year of the group's reformation, was also the 40th anniversary of Dick Clark's American Bandstand, and he invited the Imperials to appear as part of the televised special celebration.


title: Little Anthony and the Imperials

text: On August 30, 1997, the group was featured on NBC's "Today" show as part of that show's "Summer Concert Series", and appeared on three popular PBS specials: "Rock, Rhythm, and Doo-Wop" and "Red, White and Rock" in 2002; and "Soul Spectacular: 40 Years Of R&B" in 2003. Also, during this period, they recorded two new CDs: "Little Anthony & the Imperials – Live: Up Close & Personal" (the group's first ever live album), and "Pure Acapella", an all a cappella CD showcasing the group's vocal talents on several classic 1950s doo-wop songs, including their own hit, "Two People in the World", which was written by Imperials member Ernest Wright. These two recordings marked the first time that the classic line-up had recorded together in over 30 years.


title: Little Anthony and the Imperials

text: In 2009, the year of the group's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, Little Anthony and the Imperials released their first new CD in years, entitled "You'll Never Know".


title: Little Anthony and the Imperials

text: Gourdine, Collins, Wright, and Strain continued touring as "Little Anthony and the Imperials" until Strain retired in 2004 and Jenkins, for the second time, returned to take his place. In 2010, Jenkins also retired, and was replaced by Robert DeBlanc. , the Imperials were (along with the Dells), one of the few 1950s-era R&B groups still touring with the great majority of their original members (Gourdine, Collins, and Wright).


title: Little Anthony and the Imperials

text: Little Anthony and the Imperials released their first new LP in several years in October 2008, entitled "You'll Never Know", and they performed on the "Late Show with David Letterman" on August 26, 2008. On their "Discovery" album, the electronic music duo Daft Punk sampled Little Anthony and the Imperials' 1977 recording of "Can You Imagine" for the track "Crescendolls".


title: Little Anthony and the Imperials

text: Imperials founder Collins retired from the group in late 2012 for age and health reasons. He still owns the trademark on The Imperials' name. He and Anthony were once married to twin sisters, Brenda Collins and Linda Gourdine, but Brenda and Clarence have since divorced. The Contemporary Christian Gospel Group The Imperials uses the name with Collins' permission. Gourdine's first wife was Judy Fouseca, with whom he had four children, and four more by his second wife, Linda. Strain, once married to singer Yvonne Fair (now deceased), is married to his second wife, DeBorah, and has two children, Vincent and Shawn. Original member Wright is married and has a daughter, Nicole. He is also a songwriter and producer. Original Imperials bass singer Glouster "Nate" Rogers is a cancer survivor. He has been married many years to wife Loretta. Original Imperials member Tracey Lord is deceased.


title: Little Anthony and the Imperials

text: In early 2014, Gourdine toured the UK with David Gest's Legends of Soul, when he performed "Tears on My Pillow" and "Goin' Out of My Head"


title: Little Anthony and the Imperials

text: . The same year, he released his biography, "Little Anthony: My Journey, My Destiny", recounting his life, his memories, and his years with The Imperials.


title: Little Anthony and the Imperials

text: , The Imperials are still performing. Imperials founder Collins, now retired, has been replaced by Johnny Britt. De Blanc and original members Wright and Gourdine round out the group. When the group is not touring, Gourdine does stage plays and currently also has a one-man show, which he is currently doing to support his recently released biography, and to celebrate his 55-plus years as a performer.


title: Little Anthony and the Imperials

text: Over the decades, in a measure of their profound influence, several of The Imperials' hit songs have been covered by numerous other artists of many different musical genres, including pop, jazz, MOR, rock, Latin, country, doo-wop, and R&B. Some examples:


title: Little Anthony and the Imperials

text: In addition, according to songwriter and producer Kenny Gamble, Little Anthony and the Imperials and their music were a major influence in the development of Philadelphia soul, and artists such as the Stylistics, the Delfonics, Blue Magic (who covered the Imperials' tune "The Loneliest House on the Block"), Chicago's Chi-Lites, and other groups. They were also the first contemporary music group to play New York's prestigious Copacabana nightclub, even predating the Temptations and Supremes.


title: Little Anthony and the Imperials

text: Little Anthony and the Imperials received the Rhythm and Blues Foundation's Pioneer Award in 1993. They were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1999 and the Long Island Music Hall of Fame on October 15, 2006. In 2007, the Imperials were inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame On January 14, 2009, it was announced that Little Anthony and the Imperials had been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Gourdine, Wright, Collins, Strain, and Rogers were present to be honored. Deceased original Imperials member Tracey Lord was inducted posthumously; his sons accepted his Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction on his behalf. The group was inducted by Smokey Robinson. In October 2009, the group performed "Two People in the World" at the 25th Anniversary Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Concert. In 2014, "Goldmine" magazine inducted the Imperials into "The Goldmine Hall of Fame". Editor Phil Marder referred to them as one of the few 1950s doo-wop groups (though the group hated that label) to consistently chart hits during the British Invasion. "Goldmine" also named Little Anthony and the Imperials as one of "The 20 Greatest Doo-Wop Groups of All Time".


title: Little Anthony and the Imperials

text: Sammy Strain is one of the few artists in popular music history to be a double Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, having been inducted with the O'Jays in 2005 and the Imperials in 2009.


title: Little Anthony and the Imperials

text: In 2018, Little Anthony and the Imperials were inducted into the Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame in Detroit.


title: Little Anthony and the Imperials

text: (Only demo copies existed until 2013, when this album was released in a 2-for-1 CD with The Imperials' "On A New Street" album by Soulmusic.Com Records.)


title: Impasto

text: Impasto is a technique used in painting, where paint is laid on an area of the surface thickly, usually thick enough that the brush or painting-knife strokes are visible. Paint can also be mixed right on the canvas. When dry, impasto provides texture; the paint appears to be coming "out" of the canvas.


title: Impasto

text: The word "impasto" is Italian in origin; in which it means "dough" or "mixture"; related to the verb , "to knead", or "to paste". Italian usage of includes both a painting and a potting technique. According to Webster's "New World College Dictionary", the root noun of is , whose primary meaning in Italian is "paste".


title: Impasto

text: Oil paint is the traditional medium for impasto painting, due to its thick consistency and slow drying time. Acrylic paint can also be used for impasto by adding heavy body acrylic gels. Impasto is generally not used in watercolor or tempera without the addition of thickening agent due to the inherent thinness of these media. An artist working in pastels can produce a limited impasto effect by pressing a soft pastel firmly against the paper.


title: Impasto

text: The impasto technique serves several purposes. First, it makes the light reflect in a particular way, giving the artist additional control over the play of light in the painting. Second, it can add expressiveness to the painting, with the viewer being able to notice the strength and speed by which the artist applied the paint. Third, impasto can push a piece from a painting to a three-dimensional sculptural rendering. The first objective was originally sought by masters such as Rembrandt, Titian, and Vermeer, to represent folds in clothes or jewels: it was then juxtaposed with a more delicate painting style. Much later, the French Impressionists created pieces covering entire canvases with rich impasto textures. Vincent van Gogh used it frequently for aesthetics and expression. Abstract expressionists such as Hans Hofmann and Willem de Kooning also made extensive use of it, motivated in part by a desire to create paintings which dramatically record the action of painting itself. Still more recently, Frank Auerbach has used such heavy impasto that some of his paintings become nearly three-dimensional.


title: Impasto

text: Impasto gives texture to the painting, meaning it can be opposed to more flat, smooth, or blended painting styles.


title: Impasto

text: Many artists have used the impasto technique. Some of the more notable ones including: Rembrandt van Rijn, Diego Velázquez, Vincent van Gogh, Jackson Pollock, and Willem de Kooning.


title: Radeon HD 7000 series

text: The Radeon HD 7000 series, codenamed "Southern Islands", is a family of GPUs developed by AMD, and manufactured on TSMC's 28 nm process. The primary competitor of Southern Islands, Nvidia's GeForce 600 Series (also manufactured at TSMC), also shipped during Q1 2012, largely due to the immaturity of the 28 nm process.


title: Radeon HD 7000 series

text: The AMD Eyefinity-branded on-die display controllers were introduced in September 2009 in the Radeon HD 5000 Series and have been present in all products since.


title: Radeon HD 7000 series

text: Both Unified Video Decoder (UVD) and Video Coding Engine (VCE) are present on the dies of all products and supported by AMD Catalyst and by the free and open-source graphics device driver#ATI/AMD.


title: Radeon HD 7000 series

text: Open CL 1.0 to 1.2 are supported for all Chips with Terascale and GCN Architecture. OpenCL 2.0 is supported with GCN 2nd Gen. or 1.2 and higher) For OpenCL 2.1 and 2.2 only Driver Updates are necessary with OpenCL 2.0 conformant Cards.


title: Radeon HD 7000 series

text: Vulkan 1.2 is available for GCN 2nd Gen or higher with Windows Adrenalin 20.1(and newer) and Linux Mesa 20.0(and newer).


title: Radeon HD 7000 series

text: The 28 nm product line is divided in three dies ("Tahiti", "Pitcairn", and "Cape Verde"), each one highly increasing shader units (32, 20 and 10 respectively). While this gives a high increase in single-precision floating point, there is however a significant departure in double-precision compute power. "Tahiti" has a maximum ¼ double precision throughput relative to its single precision throughput, while the other two smaller consumer dies can only achieve a 1/16 ratio. While each bigger die has two additional memory controllers widening its bus by 128 bits, "Pitcairn" however has the same front-end dual tesselator units as "Tahiti" giving it similar performance to its larger brethren in DX11 tessellation benchmarks.


title: Radeon HD 7000 series

text: Codenamed "Tahiti", the Radeon HD 7900 series was announced on December 22, 2011. Products include the Radeon 7970 GHz Edition, Radeon HD 7970 and Radeon HD 7950. The Radeon HD 7970 features 2048 usable stream cores, whereas the Radeon HD 7950 has 1792 usable stream cores, as 256 out of the 2048 cores are disabled during product binning which detects defective areas of a chip. The cards are the first products to take advantage of AMD's new "Graphics Core Next" compute architecture. Both cards are equipped with 3 GB GDDR5 memory and manufactured on TSMC's 28 nm process. The "Tahiti" GPU is also used in the Radeon HD 7870 XT, released November 19, 2012. In this case one quarter of the stream processors are disabled, giving 1536 usable cores. Additionally, the memory interface is downgraded from 384-bit to 256-bit, along with a memory size reduction from 3 GB to 2 GB.


title: Radeon HD 7000 series

text: Codenamed "Pitcairn", the Radeon HD 7800 series was formally unveiled on March 5, 2012, with retail availability from March 19, 2012. Products include the Radeon HD 7870 and Radeon HD 7850. The Radeon HD 7870 features 1280 usable stream cores, whereas the Radeon HD 7850 has 1024 usable stream cores. Both cards are equipped with 2GB GDDR5 memory (some 7850s offer 1GB) and manufactured on TSMC's 28 nm process.


title: Radeon HD 7000 series

text: Codenamed "Cape Verde", the Radeon HD 7700 series was released on February 15, 2012. Products include the Radeon HD 7770 GHz Edition and Radeon HD 7750. The Radeon HD 7770 GHz Edition features 640 stream cores based on the GCN architecture, whereas the Radeon HD 7750 has only 512 usable stream cores. Both cards are equipped with 1 GB GDDR5 memory and manufactured in 28 nm. On March 22, 2013, another card, Radeon HD 7790, was introduced in this series. This card is based on the Bonaire architecture, which features 896 stream cores using 2nd Generation GCN technology, an incremental update. In May 2013, AMD launched the Radeon HD 7730, based on the Cape Verde LE graphics processor. It features a 128-bit memory bus, 384 stream cores, 8 ROPs, and a core clock speed of up to 800 MHz. The HD 7730 came with GDDR5 and DDR3 variants, running on memory clock speeds of 1125 MHz and 900 MHz, respectively. Load power usage was lowered by 14.5% (47W) compared to the Radeon HD 7750 (55W).


title: Radeon HD 7000 series

text: AMD Catalyst is being developed for Microsoft Windows and Linux. As of July 2014, other operating systems are not officially supported. This may be different for the AMD FirePro brand, which is based on identical hardware but features OpenGL-certified graphics device drivers.


title: Radeon HD 7000 series

text: The free and open-source drivers are primarily developed on Linux and for Linux, but have been ported to other operating systems as well. Each driver is composed out of five parts:


title: Radeon HD 7000 series

text: The free and open-source "Radeon" graphics driver supports most of the features implemented into the Radeon line of GPUs.


title: Radeon HD 7000 series

text: The free and open-source "Radeon" graphics device drivers are not reverse engineered, but based on documentation released by AMD.


title: Ray and Faye Copeland

text: Faye Della Copeland (née Wilson; August 4, 1921 – December 23, 2003) and Ray Copeland (December 30, 1914 – October 19, 1993) became, at the ages of 69 and 76 respectively, the oldest couple ever sentenced to death in the United States. They were convicted of killing five drifters at their farm in Mooresville, Missouri. When her sentence was commuted to life in prison in 1999, Faye Copeland was the oldest woman on death row.


title: Ray and Faye Copeland

text: Ray Copeland was born in Oklahoma in 1914. While he was growing up, his family moved around, struggling to survive during the Great Depression. As a young man, he began a life of petty crime, stealing livestock and forging checks, until he was caught and served a year in jail. After his release in 1940, he met Faye Wilson, and they were married soon afterward. They quickly had several children and, thanks to Ray's criminal reputation, had to keep moving their family around while money was tight. During this time, Ray served several jail sentences, until he finally came up with a plan to improve his illegal money-making methods so as to be undetected.


title: Ray and Faye Copeland

text: Because Ray was well known as a fraud, he could not buy and sell cattle on his own. To get around this problem, he began to pick up drifters and hobos and employed them as farmhands on his property in Mooresville, Missouri. He would take his employees to the market, where they would use his bad checks to buy the cattle for him. After the transactions, Ray would sell the cattle quickly and the farmhands would disappear without a trace. For a while, the scam worked, but the police caught up and Ray was once again sent to jail.


title: Ray and Faye Copeland

text: Upon his release, he resumed his criminal activities, but this time he made sure his farmhands were not as connected to him as before. This went on until a previous employee, Jack McCormick, called the Crime Stoppers hotline in August 1989 to tell them about the Copelands. McCormick claimed that he had seen human bones on their farm while he was employed there and also claimed that Ray had tried to kill him.


title: Ray and Faye Copeland

text: Police were initially skeptical of the claims, but after checking Ray's criminal record, they decided to investigate further. In October 1989, they visited the Copeland farm armed with a search warrant, dozens of officers and a team of bloodhounds. Initially, they did not find any incriminating evidence, but after further searching, the bodies of three young men were discovered in a nearby barn. As the search continued, more bodies were found, all killed with the same weapon: a .22 caliber Marlin rifle that was later found in the Copeland home.


title: Ray and Faye Copeland

text: It became clear that Ray killed his employees in the pursuit of money, but Faye's actions were initially questioned. When she went to trial in November 1990, her defense mounted a picture of her as a dutiful wife and mother who had endured beatings and general ill-treatment from her husband. However, the jury convicted her of five counts of first degree murder. She was given four death sentences for the murders and one life sentence.


title: Ray and Faye Copeland

text: In March 1991, Ray went on trial, was convicted of five counts of murder and sentenced to death. Upon hearing that Faye had been sentenced to death by lethal injection as well, Ray showed no emotion and replied "Well, those things happen to some, you know."


title: Ray and Faye Copeland

text: Ray died of natural causes on October 19, 1993. His body was cremated. Faye's attorneys appealed her conviction, contending that the jury had not been allowed to hear evidence that Ray had abused her for years. On August 6, 1999, Judge Ortrie Smith overturned the death sentence, but let the convictions stand and commuted her sentence to five consecutive terms of life without parole.


title: Ray and Faye Copeland

text: On August 10, 2002, Faye suffered a stroke that left her partially paralyzed and unable to speak. Weeks later, in September 2002, Governor Bob Holden authorized a medical parole for Faye, fulfilling her one wish that she not die in prison. She was paroled to a nursing home in her hometown of Chillicothe, Missouri, where she died of natural causes at the age of 82. She left behind five children and 17 grandchildren.


title: Ray and Faye Copeland

text: The Copelands' story has been fictionalized in a comic book "Family Bones", written by Ray's great-nephew Shawn Granger. The play "Temporary Help" by David Wiltse, which appeared off-Broadway in 2004, was based on this story.


title: Ray and Faye Copeland

text: The case was documented in multiple television series, such as "Forensic Files", "Wicked Attraction", "" and "The New Detectives".


title: Jeffrey Earnhardt

text: Jeffrey L. Earnhardt (born June 22, 1989) is an American professional stock car racing driver who competes full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 44 Chevrolet Camaro for Alpha Prime Racing. He is the son of Kerry Earnhardt, grandson of Dale Earnhardt, nephew of Dale Earnhardt Jr., great grandson of Ralph Earnhardt and brother of Bobby Dale Earnhardt.


title: Jeffrey Earnhardt

text: Earnhardt's first race came in the hornet division at Wythe Raceway in Rural Retreat, Virginia. He scored three feature wins and finished in the top-five in division points, winning rookie of the year. The following year he moved up to the sportsman division at the Motor Mile Speedway in Radford, Virginia, finishing the season in the top-10 of the division standings. He competed in the late model season finale at the track as a teammate to RCR developmental driver Allison Duncan.


title: Jeffrey Earnhardt

text: In 2006, General Motors created a driver developmental search program wherein they looked for individuals they believed to be the stars of the future and invited them to test a late model and a Busch car at two different tracks with the best moving on. Earnhardt made the final cut. In 2007, Earnhardt drove the No. 1 Chevrolet for Andy Santerre Motorsports in the NASCAR Busch East Series. He finished fifth in the 2007 Busch East point standings and won the Most Popular Driver Award at the end of the season.


title: Jeffrey Earnhardt

text: In 2008, Earnhardt returned to what is now known as the ARCA Menards Series East for another full season. Earnhardt was unexpectedly replaced in the car at Dover in September 2008 with Aric Almirola who won the race. When DEI subsequently merged with Chip Ganassi Racing, their driver development program went into limbo, and Earnhardt was released.


title: Jeffrey Earnhardt

text: In 2010, Earnhardt drove several races with Rick Ware Racing which qualified him to drive on all NASCAR tracks in the 2011 season. He signed with RWR to drive a full season in 2011 and make his run for rookie of the year in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. However, he was originally released from the team after offering his driving services to other truck teams. Earnhardt and Ware later reconciled, citing a lack of communication from both parties. RWR ran Earnhardt in the 24 Hours of Daytona where they finished 12th.


title: Jeffrey Earnhardt

text: Earnhardt moved to the grand-am Rolex Sports Car Series in 2012, where he raced in the GT class for Rick Ware Racing.


title: Jeffrey Earnhardt

text: In November 2012, he announced he would be competing for rookie of the year in the NASCAR Nationwide Series in 2013, driving the No. 79 for Go Green Racing; sponsorship issues later limited his schedule with the team.


title: Jeffrey Earnhardt

text: On April 4, 2013, it was announced that Earnhardt would drive the No. 5 Chevrolet Camaro for JR Motorsports in a one-race agreement for the Nationwide race at Richmond International Raceway.


title: Jeffrey Earnhardt

text: For 2014, Earnhardt moved full-time to the Nationwide Series, driving the No. 4 Chevrolet for JD Motorsports. During the Subway Firecracker 250 at Daytona, he was replaced by Matt DiBenedetto during the first caution period, since Earnhardt had suffered a fractured collarbone in a motorcycle accident during the week. His car was sponsored by The Great Outdoors RV Superstore for the Nationwide series Zippo 200 race at Watkins Glen International where he finished 21st. He would then finish 18th in the point standings and was also released by JD Motorsports after his disappointing season.


title: Jeffrey Earnhardt

text: Before the 2015 season started, Earnhardt was picked up by Viva Motorsports to drive the season opener at Daytona. He finished 15th in the Daytona race.


title: Jeffrey Earnhardt

text: Earnhardt made his Sprint Cup Series debut at the 2015 Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond International Raceway for Go Fas Racing. When he started this race, he became the second 4th generation driver to compete in NASCAR's top series, with Adam Petty being the first.


title: Jeffrey Earnhardt

text: After his prior success in racing Can-am and Cyclops created a partnership with Earnhardt and on September 18, Go Fas Racing announced that Earnhardt would run the majority of the 2016 Sprint Cup Series season, except for restrictor plate races that Bobby Labonte ran and road course races that Boris Said entered, with sponsorship from Can-Am motorcycles. He competed for Cup Rookie of the Year honors. Earnhardt joined BK Racing for the Hellmann's 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, driving the No. 83. He returned to BK for the AAA Texas 500, driving the No. 83 in place of an injured Matt DiBenedetto. Earnhardt then made his final start with BK Racing at Homestead, finishing 31st.


title: Jeffrey Earnhardt

text: After the 2016 season ended, Go Fas Racing announced that Earnhardt would not return to the No. 32 team for 2017, and was replaced by Matt DiBenedetto. In January 2017, Earnhardt announced that he would drive the No. 33 Chevrolet for Circle Sport – The Motorsports Group. The following month, Earnhardt made his CS–TMG debut at the Daytona 500, and in his debut with the team, Earnhardt made NASCAR history by becoming the first-ever fourth-generation driver to compete in the Daytona 500. He started 33rd and finished 26th (which tied his career-best finish up to that point) after being involved in a crash on lap 143.


title: Jeffrey Earnhardt

text: On October 15, 2017, Earnhardt signed a contract extension to remain with CS–TMG for the 2018 season. However, on December 12, Circle Sport Racing and The Motorsports Group ended their partnership, leaving Earnhardt temporarily without a ride. Earnhardt ended up joining the No. 00 StarCom Racing team for the 2018 Daytona 500, marking the 40th consecutive year that a member of the Earnhardt family had driven in the event. Earnhardt also ran the next four races for StarCom and planned to run the full season for the team, but after the fifth race of the season, he and the team parted ways. On May 22, it was announced that Earnhardt would drive the No. 55 for Premium Motorsports in Charlotte's Coca-Cola 600. The week following the race, he announced more races with the team but did not name an exact number. On July 7, Earnhardt finished 11th at the Coke Zero Sugar 400, which was his career best Cup Series finish up to that point. On July 28, 2018, it was announced that Earnhardt would join Gaunt Brothers Racing in their No. 96 Toyota for 14 races, with sponsorship from Xtreme Concepts.


title: Jeffrey Earnhardt

text: In November 2018, Earnhardt joined Joe Gibbs Racing's for the 2019 NASCAR Xfinity Series season, driving the No. 18 Toyota Supra in nine races and sharing the ride with Riley Herbst, Kyle Busch, and Denny Hamlin. At the summer Charlotte race, Earnhardt scored a career-best third place finish, despite sustaining damage from hitting the turn 3 wall on lap 142.


title: Jeffrey Earnhardt

text: On February 14, 2019, security company and sponsor Xtreme Concepts announced the formation of XCI Racing, which would field the No. 81 Toyota Camry and Supra for Earnhardt at the two Talladega Cup and five Xfinity races, respectively. Although Earnhardt stated that he would like to build with XCI to a full season in NASCAR's premier series in 2020, the team withdrew from the 2019 Circle K Firecracker 250 before Earnhardt announced his departure from XCI and JGR on August 7.


title: Jeffrey Earnhardt

text: Earnhardt returned to JD Motorsports in 2020 on a 12-race schedule. After running 29 races during the 2020 season, he was elevated to a full-time schedule with the team in 2021 in the No. 0.


title: Jeffrey Earnhardt

text: On November 9, 2021, Earnhardt announced that he would not return to JD Motorsports in 2022 in order to pursue opportunities to drive for a top-tier team whether it be full-time or part-time. On January 14, 2022, it was announced that Earnhardt would drive part-time for Sam Hunt Racing in 2022. He would drive both of the team's cars, the part-time No. 24 and the full-time No. 26. Earnhardt's sponsor for most of the races in 2021, ForeverLawn, also moved with him from JDM to Sam Hunt Racing. Earnhardt would also drive the No. 35 car for Emerling-Gase Motorsports in the spring race at Phoenix. and the No. 3 car for Richard Childress Racing in the spring race at Talladega. It was the first time that Earnhardt drove the No. 3, the number made famous by his grandfather Dale when he drove for RCR in the Cup Series, in NASCAR and the first time he drove for RCR in NASCAR. He collected his first career Pole award, and finished the race in a career-best second place behind Noah Gragson.


title: Jeffrey Earnhardt

text: Earnhardt made his amateur debut in mixed martial arts on May 22, 2012, defeating Chris Faison by unanimous decision in Charlotte, North Carolina.


title: Jeffrey Earnhardt

text: Earnhardt is a fourth generation NASCAR driver. He is the middle child of Kerry Earnhardt, nephew of Dale Earnhardt Jr., grandson of NASCAR Hall of Fame driver Dale Earnhardt, and great-grandson of Ralph Earnhardt. He has four siblings: a paternal half-sister, Kayla and two maternal half-brothers, James and David. His older brother, Bobby Dale Earnhardt, retired in 2019 from the ARCA Racing Series.


title: Pyracantha

text: Pyracantha (from Greek "fire" and "thorn", hence firethorn) is a genus of large, thorny evergreen shrubs in the family Rosaceae, with common names firethorn or pyracantha. They are native to an area extending from Southwest Europe east to Southeast Asia. They resemble and are related to "Cotoneaster", but have serrated leaf margins and numerous thorns ("Cotoneaster" is thornless).


title: Pyracantha

text: The plants reach up to tall. Leaves are small and oval. The seven species have small white flowers which are 5-merous and many stamened. Fruit are either red, orange, or yellow pomes. The flowers are produced during late spring and early summer; the fruit develops in late summer, and matures in late autumn.


title: Pyracantha

text: The fruit of "Pyracantha" are classified as pomes. The pulp is safe for human consumption, but it is insipid, and the seeds are mildly poisonous as they contain cyanogenic glycosides (as do apples, plums, cherries, and almonds). Seeds that are chewed and crushed while raw will release cyanogenic glycosides, and can cause mild gastro-intestinal problems when eaten in large enough quantities. The fruit can be made into jelly. The fruits persist significantly into winter which makes them a valuable bird food.


title: Pyracantha

text: A large number of fossil fruits of †"Pyracantha acuticarpa" have been described from middle Miocene strata of the Fasterholt area near Silkeborg in Central Jutland, Denmark.


title: Pyracantha

text: "Pyracantha" is a member of the Rose family, and includes seven species. The genus was defined by 19th century botanist Max Joseph Roemer.


title: Pyracantha

text: Pyracanthas are valuable ornamental plants, grown in gardens for their decorative flowers and fruit, often very densely borne. The thorns are easily able to puncture human skin, and when successful, the piercing causes a slight inflammation and severe pain. Their dense thorny structure makes them particularly valued in situations where an impenetrable barrier is required. The aesthetic characteristics of pyracanthas, in conjunction with their home security qualities, make them an alternative to artificial fences and walls. They are also good shrubs for a wildlife garden, providing dense cover for roosting and nesting birds, summer flowers for bees and an abundance of berries as a food source.


title: Pyracantha

text: Pyracantha fruit can be dispersed into natural areas, allowing plants to invade natural communities. Species of Pyracantha are considered to be invasive in portions of the United States, including the states of California and Georgia. Orange firethorn ("Pyracantha angustifolia") is considered to be a weed or potential ("sleeper") weed in several states or territories of Australia, including Victoria, the ACT and New South Wales. As a consequence, importation and propagation are prohibited in some parts of Australia.


title: Ophélie Bau

text: Bau was born Ophélie Baufle in Montpellier and grew up in Besançon where she was crowned miss Besançon in 2014.


title: Ophélie Bau

text: Bau made her acting debut in the 2017 film "". While the film received mixed reviews Bau's performance was widely praised. She won the 2019 Lumières Award for “Best female newcomer” for her role in the film and was nominated in the same category at the César awards.


title: Ophélie Bau

text: Bau appeared in the 2019 sequel to Mektoub, "". Shortly before the film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2019 news broke that the film featured an unsimulated sex scene between her and a co-star and that they had been pressured into drinking heavily to complete the scene by the film's director Abdellatif Kechiche. Bau attended the premiere of the film but walked out of the screening and did not attend a press conference for the film. In 2020 in an interview she revealed she walked away from the premiere because she had asked Kechiche to allow her to view the sex scene in private before it was screened in public, a request which he denied.


title: Đại Việt

text: Đại Việt (, ; literally Great Việt), often known as Annam (, Chữ Hán: 安南), was a monarchy in eastern Mainland Southeast Asia from the 10th century AD to the early 19th century, centered around the region of present-day Hanoi, Northern Vietnam. Its early name, Đại Cồ Việt, was established in 968 by Vietnamese ruler Đinh Bộ Lĩnh after he ended the Anarchy of the 12 Warlords, until the beginning of the reign of Lý Thánh Tông (r. 1054–1072), the third emperor of the Lý dynasty. Đại Việt lasted until the reign of Gia Long (r. 1802–1820), the first emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty, when the name was changed to Việt Nam.


title: Đại Việt

text: Đại Việt's history is divided into the rule of eight dynasties: Đinh (968–980), Early Lê (980–1009), Lý (1009–1226), Trần (1226–1400), Hồ (1400–1407), and Later Lê (1428–1789); the Mạc dynasty (1527–1677); and the brief Tây Sơn dynasty (1778–1802). It was briefly interrupted by the Hồ dynasty (1400–1407), who changed the country's name briefly to "Đại Ngu", and the Fourth Era of Northern Domination (1407–1427) when the region was administered as Jiaozhi by the Ming dynasty. Đại Việt's history can also be divided into two periods: unified empire, which lasted from 960s to 1533, and fragmented from 1533 to 1802, when there were more than one dynasty and noble clans simultaneously ruling from their own domains. From the 13th to 18th century, Đại Việt's borders expanded to encompass territory that resemble modern-day Vietnam, which lies along the South China Sea from the Gulf of Tonkin to the Gulf of Thailand.


title: Đại Việt

text: Early Đại Việt emerged in the 960s as a hereditary monarchy with Mahayana Buddhism as state religion, and lasted for 6 centuries. From the 16th century, Đại Việt gradually weakened and decentralized into multiple sub-kingdoms and domains, ruled by either the Lê, Mạc, Trịnh, Nguyễn families simultaneously. It was briefly unified by the Tây Sơn brothers in 1786, who divided among themselves in 1787. After the Trịnh-Nguyễn War which ended in Nguyễn victory and destruction of the Tây Sơn, Đại Việt was reunified, ending 300 years of fragmentation. From 968 to 1804, Đại Việt flourished and acquired significant power in the region. The state slowly annexed Champa and Cambodia's territories, expanding Vietnamese territories to the south and west. The Empire of Đại Việt is the primary precursor to the country of Vietnam and the basis for its national historic and cultural identity.


title: Đại Việt

text: The term "" (Yue) () in Early Middle Chinese was first written using the logograph "戉" for an axe (a homophone), in oracle bone and bronze inscriptions of the late Shang dynasty ( BC), and later as "越". At the time it referred to a people or chieftain to the northwest of the Shang. In the early 8th century BC, a tribe on the middle Yangtze was called the Yangyue, a term later used for peoples further south. Between the 7th and 4th centuries BC Yue/Việt referred to the state of Yue in the lower Yangtze basin and its people.


title: Đại Việt

text: From the 3rd century BC the term was used for the non-Han Chinese populations of south and southwest China and northern Vietnam, with particular ethnic groups called Minyue, Ouyue, Luoyue (Vietnamese: Lạc Việt), etc., collectively called the Baiyue (Bách Việt, ; ). The term Baiyue/Bách Việt first appeared in the book "Lüshi Chunqiu" compiled around 239 BC. According to Ye Wenxian (1990), apud Wan (2013), the ethnonym of the Yuefang in northwestern China is not associated with that of the Baiyue in southeastern China.


title: Đại Việt

text: At first, Yue referred to all peoples of the south that practiced un-Chinese slash-and-burn cultivation and lived in stilt houses, but this definition does not suggest that all Yue were the same and spoke the same language. They were loosely-connected or independent tribal societies belonging to a diverse ethnolinguistic complex. As Chinese imperial power expanded toward the south, Chinese sources generalized the tribes of Northern Vietnam at the time as Yue, or the Luoyue and the Ouyue (Lạc Việt and Au Viet in Vietnamese). Over time, the term Yue morphed and became a geopolitical designation rather than a term for a group of people, and became more of a historical and political term rather than tied to connotations of barbarism. During the period of Chinese rule, many states and rebellions in the former region of "Yue" (Southern China and Northern Vietnam) used the name Yue as an old geopolitical name rather than as an ethnonym.


title: Đại Việt

text: When the word Yue (Middle Chinese: "ɦʉɐt̚") was borrowed into Vietnamese language during the late Tang dynasty (618–907) by the Austroasiatic Viet-Muong speaking peoples who were the ancestors of modern-day Vietnamese Kinh, the exonym was gradually localized to become an endonym of the Vietnamese. That endonym might have been manifested in different forms depending on how neighboring peoples who interact with, referred to the Vietnamese back then, and until modern-day, for instance, the Cham have been calling the Vietnamese as "Yuen" (yvan) from the reign of Harivarman IV (1074–1080) to present unchanged. It is evident that Vietnamese elites tried to tie their ethnic identity to the ancient Yue through constructed traditions during the late medieval period. However, all endonyms and exonyms referring to the Vietnamese such as "Viet," "Kinh," or Kra–Dai "Keeu", are related to political structures or have common origins in ancient Chinese geographical imagination. Most of the time, the Austroasiatic-speaking ancestors of the modern Kinh under one single ruler might have assumed for themselves a similar or identical self-designation inherent in the modern Vietnamese first-person pronoun "ta" (us, we, I) to differentiate themselves from other groups. In the older colloquial usage, "ta" corresponded to "ours" as opposed to "theirs", and during colonial times they were ""nước ta"" (our country) and ""tiếng ta"" (our language) in contrast to ""nước tây"" (western countries) and ""tiếng tây"" (western languages).


title: Đại Việt

text: Historically Đại Việt, (Đại) Cồ Việt, or Cự Việt was the polity's official name and not a dynastic name. "Đại Việt Quốc" (the Great Viet state) was first mentioned in several brick inscriptions from Hoa Lu, the first capital of the polity, from the 10th century AD. According to Momoki (2014), the name "(Đại) Cồ Việt" is from the 15th-century chronicle "Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư" and likely originated from "Cự Việt" in 12th-century Ly dynasty inscriptions, rather than being the name for the kingdom during the late 10th century.


title: Đại Việt

text: For a thousand years, the area of what is now Northern Vietnam was ruled by a succession of Chinese dynasties as Nanyue, Giao Chỉ (, Jiaozhi), Giao Châu (, Jiaozhou), Annan, and Jinghai Circuit.


title: Đại Việt

text: Ancient Northern Vietnam and particularly the Red River Delta were inhabited by various different ethnolinguistic groups that constituted modern-day Hmong–Mien, Tibeto–Burman, Kra–Dai, Austroasiatic speaking peoples. Early societies had emerged and existed there for a while before the Han conquest in 111 BC, such as the Phùng Nguyên and Dong Son cultures. Both practiced metallurgy and sophisticated bronze-casting techniques. They were together called the Yue and barbarians by the Chinese and collectively understood as non-Chinese. Ancient Chinese texts do not give any distinction for each tribe, and not precisely indicate which languages of tribes that they interacted with in Northern Vietnam. All peoples living under the administration of the Empire were usually referred to as either “people” (ren 人) or “subjects” (min 民). There was absolutely no classification or distinction for "Vietnamese" and it is implausible to identify people accurate as such or implying modern ethnicity to the ancient. It is highly likely that these intermingled multilinguistic communities might have evolved into the present-day without modern ethnic consciousness until ethnic classification efforts carried out by the colonial government and successive governments of the Republic of Vietnam, Democratic Republic of Vietnam, and Socialist Republic of Vietnam, while retaining their intangible ethnic identity such as culture. There was no persisting "ethnic Vietnamese" identity during this period.


title: Đại Việt

text: Official Vietnamese history textbooks usually assume that the people of Northern Vietnam during Chinese rules were Việt/Yue. The Yue were broad groups of non-Chinese peoples of the south which included many different ethnolinguistic groups who shared some certain customs. After the disappearance of the Baiyue and the Lac Viet from Chinese records around the first century AD, new indigenous tribal groups might have emerged in the region under the name of Li-Lao. The Li-Lao people were also known for their great drum casting tradition. However, the culture produced Heger Type II drums, while the previous Dong Son culture of the Lac Viet produced Heger Type I drums.


title: Đại Việt

text: The Li Lao culture flourished from approximately 200 to 750 AD in present-day Southern China and Northern Vietnam. These Li tribes were recorded in Chinese sources as "Lǐ" (俚) "bandits" inhabiting the coastal areas between the Pearl River and Red River. Li political structures were distributed in numerous autonomous settlements/chiefdoms ("dong" 洞) located in riverine valleys. The "Book of Sui" notes that Li noblemen who possess bronze drum in each "dong" were called "dulao" (都老), which Churchman argues bears some resemblance and cultural connection to the previous local ruling class of the Red River Delta. The Li tribes were described as ferocious raiding bandits who refused to accept imperial authority, leading to Jiaozhou, the heartland of the Red River Delta, whence the Chinese deemed a lone, isolated borderlands with difficult, limited administration. Because the Li-Lao people managed to keep themselves away from Chinese sphere of cultural influence, the landscape of Northern Vietnam during Han-Tang period experienced a perfect equilibrium between Sinification and localization. From the sixth to the seventh century, Chinese dynasties attempted to militarily subdue the Li "dong", gradually causing the Li Lao culture to decline.


title: Đại Việt

text: The important effects of ten centuries of Chinese rules over Northern Vietnam arguably in terms of complex cultural and linguistics are still clear observable. Some native languages of the regions for a long time had employed Sinitic script and Sinitic-derived writing systems to represent their languages, such as Vietnamese, Tày, and Nùng.


title: Đại Việt

text: James Chamberlain believes that the traditional Vietic realm was north central Vietnam/northern Laos and not the Red River Delta. Based on his interpretation of Keith Weller Taylor's examination of Chinese texts ("Jiu Tangshu", "Xin Tangshu", "Suishu", "Taiping Huanyu Ji", "Tongdian"), Chamberlain suggests that Việt-Mường peoples began emigrating from Central Vietnam (Jiuzhen, Rinan) to the Red River Delta in the seventh century, during the Tang dynasty, possibly due to pressure from the Khmers in the south or the Chinese in the north. Chamberlain speculates that during the rebellion led by Mai Thúc Loan, the son of a salt-producing family in Hoan province (today Hà Tĩnh Province, North-Central Vietnam), which lasted from 722 to 723, a large number of Sinicized lowland Vietic people or the Kinh moved north. The "Jiu Tangshu" records that Mai Thúc Loan, also known as Mai Huyền Thành, styled himself as "the Black Emperor" (possibly after his swarthy complexion), and that he had 400,000 followers from 23 provinces across Annam and other kingdoms, including Champa and Chenla.


title: Đại Việt

text: However, archaeogenetics demonstrate that before the Đông Sơn period, the Red River Delta's inhabitants were predominantly Austroasiatic: genetic data from Phùng Nguyên culture's Mán Bạc burial site (dated 1,800 BC) have close proximity to modern Austroasiatic speakers; meanwhile, "mixed genetics" from Đông Sơn culture's Núi Nấp site showed affinity to "Dai from China, Tai-Kadai speakers from Thailand, and Austroasiatic speakers from Vietnam, including the Kinh"; therefore, "[t]he likely spread of Vietic was southward from the RRD, not northward. Accounting for southern diversity will require alternative explanations." Michael Churchman states that "the absence of records of large-scale population shifts indicates that there was a fairly stable group of people in Jiaozhi throughout the Han–Tang period who spoke Austroasiatic languages ancestral to modern Vietnamese". On a Buddhist inscription dated to the 8th century from Thanh Mai village, Hà Nội, 100 out of 136 women mentioned in the epigraphy could be identified as ethnic Vietnamese females. Linguist John Phan proposes that a local dialect of Middle Chinese called Annamese Middle Chinese developed and was spoken in the Red River Delta by descendants of Chinese immigrants, and later was absorbed into the co-existing Việt-Mường languages by the ninth century. Phan identifies three layers of Chinese loanwords into Vietnamese: the earliest layer of borrowing dates to the Han dynasty (ca. 1st century CE) and Jin dynasty (ca. 4th century CE); the late layer of borrowing dates to the post-Tang period, and the recent layer of borrowing dates to the Ming & Qing dynasties.


title: Đại Việt

text: Study of Northern Vietnam and the Red River Delta during the first millennium AD is highly problematic. This region is widely associated with the foundation of the modern country and nation-state of Vietnam. It has been given exceptional treatment and academic scrutiny compared to other regions. This unique academic focus has resulted in critical misinterpretations. Some notable academic works have echoed the established frameworks of colonial and postcolonial Vietnamese nationalist historiography in order to associate the entire history of the early Red River Delta with the Vietnamese, i.e. the Kinh, and the modern country of Vietnam. The rewriting of Vietnamese history in the 20th century considered pushing several nationalistic themed theories. On notable theory, the "Continuity," is defined as a belief that the peoples of Red River Delta during Han-Tang period had always retained their unique "Vietnamese identity" and "Vietnamese spirit", which was arguably rooted in the highly sophisticated Van Lang kingdoms under the Hung kings, which were largely legends transformed into "historical facts" under the scholarship of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. This was despite relentless Chinese acculturation, making them "different" from other groups in Southern China who "eventually lost their separate identities through assimilation to Chinese culture." The Continuity theory reconstructs the emergence of the Đại Việt kingdom in the 10th century as the awakening and resurrection of "Vietnamese sovereignty," and these traditions of Vietnamese exceptionalism continued into modern Vietnam. For example, Keith Taylor took up some aspects of Vietnamese nationalist historiography in his 1983 monograph, "The Birth of Vietnam", and falsely asserted that "Vietnam's independence resulted from a thousand-year struggle to throw off Chinese rule by a group of people who held a conviction 'that they were not and did not want to become Chinese.'" Later, Taylor retreated from Vietnamese nationalist historiography.


title: Đại Việt

text: No evidence of "ethnic Vietnamese" resembling what would be considered the modern Vietnamese exists during the Han-Tang period. Instead, ancient Northern Vietnam as well as today was very diverse and complex in terms of ethnolinguistic and cultural origins. The Continuity theory can be easily discredited by linguistic examinations. By the 9th-11th centuries, the northern portion of the Viet-Muong portion of Vietic speakers had just supposedly diverged, and one dialect cluster thereby evolved into Vietnamese. Other theories advocated by John Phan presents evidence of Vietnamese being developed from a creolized language which resulted from a local linguistic shift from Middle Chinese to proto-Vietnamese after Sinitic rule.


title: Đại Việt

text: Beside anachronisms, Vietnamese nationalist scholarship also inserted a "Vietnamese resistance" myth into history by labeling any rebellious local group in Northern Vietnam during the Han-Tang period as collectively "Vietnamese" who 'were in constant struggles against the Chinese yokes,' in contrast to "corrupt invading Chinese colonizers", generic modern nationalities and ethnicities. The context was heavily entangled with modern perceptions about Vietnam during decolonization and the Cold War. Historians such as Catherine Churchman have criticized attempts of characterizing the past through the lens of modern national boundaries and projecting a "wish for the restoration of long-lost national independence" onto localized dynasties.


title: Đại Việt

text: Prior to independence in the late 9th century, the area that became Đại Việt in northern Vietnam was ruled by the Tang dynasty as Annan. The hill dwellers on the western frontier of Annan and powerful chieftains such as Lý Do Độc allied with the state of Nanzhao in Yunnan and rebelled against the Tang dynasty in the 860s. They captured Annan in three years, forcing the lowlanders to scatter to asylums around the delta. The Tang dynasty turned back and defeated the Nanzhao-indigenous alliance in 866 and renamed the area Jinghai Circuit. A military mutiny forced Tang authorities to withdraw in 880 while loyalist troops left for home on their own initiative.


title: Đại Việt

text: A regional regime led by the Khuc family formed on the Red River Delta in the early 10th century. From 907 to 917, Khúc Hạo and then Khúc Thừa Mỹ was appointed by Chinese dynasties as jiedushi, tributary governors. The Khúc did not try to create any kind of a "de jure" independent polity. In 930, the neighboring Southern Han state invaded Annam and removed the Khúc from power. In 931, Dương Đình Nghệ, a local chief from Aizhou, revolted and quickly ousted the Southern Han. In 937 he was assassinated by Kiều Công Tiễn, leader of the revanchist faction allied with the Southern Han. In 938, emperor Liu Gong of Southern Han led an invasion fleet to Annam to assist Kiều Công Tiễn. Dương Đình Nghệ's son-in-law Ngô Quyền, also was from the south, marched north and killed Kiều Công Tiễn. He then led the people to fight and destroyed the Southern Han fleet on the Bạch Đằng River.


title: Đại Việt

text: After defeating the Southern Han invasion, Ngô Quyền proclaimed himself king and established a new dynasty in Cổ Loa citadel over the Principality. Cổ Loa's sphere of influence probably did not reach the other local nobility. In 944, after his death, Ngô Quyền's brother-in-law Dương Tam Kha (son of Dương Đình Nghệ) took power. The Dương clan increased factional segregation by bringing more southern men into the court. As a result, the principality broke apart during the reign of Tam Kha. Ngô Quyền's sons Ngô Xương Văn and Ngô Xương Ngập deposed their maternal uncle and became dual kings in 950. In 954, Ngô Xương Ngập died. The younger Ngô Xương Văn ruled as the sole king, and nine years later he was killed by warlords. Chaos unleashed across the Red River Delta.


title: Đại Việt

text: A new leader of prowess named Đinh Bộ Lĩnh emerged. From Hoa Lư, he and his son Đinh Liễn spent two years in political and military struggle and managed to subdue all warlords and oppositions. Around 967 or 968, Đinh Bộ Lĩnh established the kingdom of Đại Cồ Việt (大瞿越) (meaning "The Great Gau(tama)'s Việt"), and moved the court to Hoa Lư. He (r. 968–979) became king of Đại Cồ Việt and titled himself emperor, while Prince Đinh Liễn became the great prince. In 973 and 975, Đinh Bộ Lĩnh sent two embassies to the Song dynasty and established relationships. Buddhist clergy were put in charge of important positions. Coins were minted. The territories of the early Việt state comprised the lowland Red River Basin to the Nghệ An region. According to a Hoa Lư inscription (c. 979), in that year Đinh Liễn murdered his brother Đinh Hạng Lang who had been promoted to crown prince by his father. In late 979, both Đinh Bộ Lĩnh and Đinh Liễn were assassinated. Hearing the news, Ngô Nhật Khánh, a prince of the old royal family in exile-and king Paramesvaravarman I of Champa launched a naval attack on Hoa Lư, but much of the fleet was capsized by a late-season typhoon.


title: Đại Việt

text: Queen Dương Vân Nga placed her partner, general Lê Hoàn, as chief of the state. Lê Hoàn's rivals then attacked him but were defeated. The queen of the Dương family decided to replace the Đinh family with the Lê family of Lê Hoàn, and brought the crown from her six-year-old son Đinh Toàn (r. 979–980) to her mate Lê Hoàn (r. 980–1005) in 980. Disturbances in Đại Cồ Việt attracted attention from the Song dynasty. In 981, the Song Emperor launched an invasion of Đại Cồ Việt, but was repulsed by Lê Hoàn. In 982 he attacked Champa, killed the Cham king Paramesvaravarman I, and destroyed a Cham city. A Khmer inscription (c. 987) mentioned that in that year, some Vietnamese merchants or envoys arrived in Cambodia through the Mekong.


title: Đại Việt

text: After Lê Hoàn died in 1005, civil war broke out between crown princes Lê Long Việt, Lê Long Đĩnh, Lê Long Tích, and Lê Long Kính. Long Việt (r. 1005) was murdered by Long Đĩnh while after ruling for three days. As the Lê brothers fought each other, the Lý family-a member of the court's cadet, led by Lý Công Uẩn, quickly rose to power. Long Đĩnh (r. 1005–1009) ruled as a tyrant king and developed hemorrhoids. He died in November 1009. Lý Công Uẩn ascended the throne two days later, with support from the monks, as Lý Thái Tổ.


title: Đại Việt

text: Emperor Lý Thái Tổ (r. 1009–1028) moved the court to the abandoned city of Đại La, which had previously been a seat of power under the Tang dynasty, and renamed it to Thăng Long in 1010. The city became what is now present-day Hà Nội. To control and maintain the nation's wealth, in 1013 he created a taxation system per product. His reign was relatively peaceful, though he campaigned against the Han communities in Hà Giang massif and subdued them in 1014. He furthermore laid the basis of the stability Vietnamese state and his dynasty would rule the kingdom for the next 200 years.


title: Đại Việt

text: Lý Thái Tổ's son and grandson Lý Thái Tông (r. 1028–1053) and Lý Thánh Tông (r. 1054–1071) continued to strengthen the Viet state. Starting during the reign of Lê Hoàn, the Việt expansion extended Việt territories from the Red River Delta in all directions. The Vietnamese destroyed the Cham northern capital Inprapura in 982, raided and plundered Southern Chinese port cities in 995, 1028, 1036, 1059, and 1060; subdued the Nùng people in 1039; raided Laos in 1045; invaded Champa and pillaged Cham cities in 1044 and 1069, and subjugated three northern Cham provinces of Địa Lý, Ma Linh, and Bố Chính. Contact between the Song dynasty of China and the Việt state increased through raids and tributary mission, which resulted in Chinese cultural influences on Vietnamese culture, the first civil examination based on the Chinese model was staged in 1075, Chinese script was declared the official script of the court in 1174, and the emergence of Vietnamese demotic script (Chữ Nôm) occurred in the 12th century.