title: Andy Dick

text: In 1999, Dick was questioned in the suicide of actor David Strickland and identified his body. On Saturday, March 20, the pair flew from Los Angeles to Las Vegas and spent three days partying in strip clubs. Strickland hanged himself with a bed sheet over the ceiling beam, and died during the morning hours of March 22, 1999. He was 29 years old.


title: Andy Dick

text: On May 15, 1999, Dick drove his car into a utility pole in Hollywood. He was charged with the possession of cocaine, cannabis, and drug paraphernalia, driving under the influence of alcohol/drugs, and hit-and-run driving. He later pleaded guilty to the felony of cocaine possession and two other misdemeanor charges: cannabis possession and possession of a "smoking device". After Dick completed an 18-month drug diversion program, a judge dismissed the felony and misdemeanor drug charges against him.


title: Andy Dick

text: On December 4, 2004, Dick was arrested for indecent exposure after he exposed his buttocks at a local McDonald's.


title: Andy Dick

text: On July 16, 2008, Dick was arrested in Murrieta, California, on suspicion of drug possession and sexual battery. He exposed the breasts of a 17-year-old girl when he allegedly grabbed and pulled down her tank top and brassiere. During a search of his person, police reported finding a small quantity of cannabis and one alprazolam (Xanax) tablet for which Dick did not have a prescription. He was released from jail after posting $5,000 bail. Dick eventually pleaded guilty to misdemeanor battery and marijuana possession. He was sentenced to three years probation, had to pay about $700 in fines, and was ordered to wear an alcohol-monitoring bracelet for one year.


title: Andy Dick

text: On January 23, 2010, Dick was arrested about 4 a.m. at a bar in Huntington, West Virginia, on charges of sexual abuse after reportedly groping a bartender and a patron. He was released from jail after pleading not guilty and posting $60,000 bail. On June 29, 2011, Dick was formally indicted by a Cabell County Grand Jury for two counts of first degree sexual abuse. Dick pleaded not guilty during a formal arraignment in Cabell County Circuit Court in Huntington on July 29, 2011. After receiving the not guilty plea, Judge Paul Ferrell set a trial date of January 17, 2012. After several delays, on May 21, 2012, Dick was given a six-month pre-trial diversion. An assistant prosecutor said that the agreement stated that if Dick would stay out of legal trouble for six months, the criminal charges would be dismissed. Criminal charges were dismissed after Dick completed the pretrial diversion program. In January 2012, the two alleged victims filed a civil suit against Dick for unspecified damages.


title: Andy Dick

text: In March 2018, Lena Sved obtained a restraining order against Dick requiring him to stay at least 100 yards from Sved and the couple's children, Jacob and Meg, the order remaining in effect until March 13, 2023.


title: Andy Dick

text: In June 2018, he was charged with misdemeanor sexual battery and battery charges for allegedly groping a woman in April that year. Dick pleaded not guilty in October 2019 to charges he grabbed an Uber driver by the genitals. In November 2022, he was sentenced to 90 days in jail as well as 12 months on summary probation. He was additionally ordered to attend 52 sexual compulsion anonymous sessions, 52 Alcoholics Anonymous sessions, 12 mental health counseling sessions, and pay restitution to the victim.


title: Andy Dick

text: On June 29, 2021, Dick was arrested for felony assault with a deadly weapon. His fiancée, Elisa Jordana, spoke about the events leading up to it on her YouTube show, "Kermit and Friends", saying that Dick assaulted his lover Lucas with a metal chair. "He could have killed him," she said. She also stated "It was just the worst week with him. It was getting worse and worse and worse, and just every day there was some kind of problem. And there were signs that this was gonna happen." Dick was released from jail on June 30, 2021, after posting the $50,000 bond.


title: Andy Dick

text: On May 10, 2022, Dick was arrested for felony sexual battery of a man in Orange County, California. However, the case was later dropped when the accuser refused to cooperate with the local police.


title: Andy Dick

text: In 2005, Dick dropped his pants and exposed his genitals to the audience at Yuk Yuk's comedy club in Edmonton, Alberta. He was ushered off the stage, and the second night was cancelled.


title: Andy Dick

text: Dick groped Pamela Anderson during her 2005 Comedy Central roast. He joked that he was her plastic surgeon and used the premise to repeatedly grab her breasts. During the roast, Dick also attempted to grope Courtney Love, who proceeded to slap him across the face. Dick also mimed performing oral sex on Anderson's husband at the time, Tommy Lee.


title: Andy Dick

text: In December 2006, Dick upset an audience at The Improv in Los Angeles by shouting "You're all a bunch of niggers!" following an improvised set with comedian Ian Bagg. This was a direct reference to Michael Richards' use of the same epithet to insult hecklers two weeks earlier. He later issued an apology via his publicist:


title: Andy Dick

text: In February 2007, Dick was forcibly removed from the stage during an appearance on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!", after repeatedly touching guest Ivanka Trump. Jimmy Kimmel called in his security guards, Uncle Frank and Veatrice Rice, who assisted as Kimmel dragged Dick off by his legs. Kimmel later said "Andy did a segment, he was a little out of it. [When Ivanka] came out, he wanted a big, wet kiss. It was time for Andy to go, so I escorted him out by his feet." Kimmel added, "He always makes me a little uncomfortable, you have no idea what he's going to do next." Kimmel also said he had spoken to Dick afterwards and that Dick was not upset about the incident.


title: Andy Dick

text: In January 2011, Dick was thrown out of the AVN Awards, a pornographic movie awards ceremony, after repeatedly groping and stalking adult film actress Tera Patrick and drag queen Chi Chi LaRue.


title: Andy Dick

text: In April 2011, Dick was at a party connected with the Newport Beach Film Festival. He appeared intoxicated, exposed himself, urinated on a backdrop and afterwards destroyed it by pulling it down. The organizers claimed that this caused thousands of dollars of damage and considered suing Dick over the incident.


title: Andy Dick

text: In August 2011, Dick was a guest on Greg Fitzsimmons' radio show and made antisemitic statements about Howard Stern. Dick said Stern was a "money-grubbing Jew" and repeatedly called him a "hook-nosed Jew".


title: Andy Dick

text: In October 2017, Dick was fired from a role in the independent film "Raising Buchanan" due to allegations of inappropriate behavior that, according to "The Hollywood Reporter", "included groping people's genitals, unwanted kissing/licking and sexual propositions of at least four members of the production". While he denied most of the allegations, he said "I might have kissed somebody on the cheek to say goodbye and then licked them. That's my thing – I licked Carrie Fisher at a roast. It's me being funny." It would later be revealed that in the same month he had also been fired and escorted off the set from another film, "Vampire Dad", due to what was referred to as "multiple, flagrant acts of improper conduct and inappropriate contact with several crew members". He later said "I overtook my medication and took too many Xanax and I was a bit loopy". He said "I won't do it anymore. I won't lick anyone's face anymore. We have an agreement."


title: Andy Dick

text: In 2019, a man knocked Dick out with a punch to the head, which caused Dick to be sent to the hospital to be monitored for brain bleed. The man accused Dick of groping him, and punched Dick in retaliation.


title: Andy Dick

text: Dick has had a long rivalry with former "NewsRadio" costar Jon Lovitz concerning the death of their mutual friend Phil Hartman. According to Lovitz, Dick had given Hartman's wife Brynn cocaine at a Christmas party at Hartman's house in 1997; Brynn, a recovering addict, began using drugs again, culminating in her killing Hartman and herself on May 28, 1998. When Lovitz joined the cast of "NewsRadio" as Hartman's replacement, he and Dick got into a heated argument in which Lovitz reportedly shouted "I wouldn't be here if you hadn't given Brynn coke in the first place." Lovitz later apologized to Dick for the remark.


title: Andy Dick

text: In early 2007, Dick approached Lovitz at a restaurant and said "I put the Phil Hartman hex on you—you're the next to die." On July 10, 2007, Dick got into a physical altercation with Lovitz at the Laugh Factory in Los Angeles. Lovitz demanded an apology from Dick, who refused and accused Lovitz of blaming him for Hartman's death. Lovitz then grabbed Dick by his shirt and slammed him backwards into the bar, after which the doorman separated the two.


title: Sasha Alexander

text: Sasha Alexander (born Suzana Drobnjakovic on May 17, 1973), is an American actress and TV director. She played Gretchen Witter in "Dawson's Creek" and has acted in films including "Yes Man" (2008) and "He's Just Not That Into You" (2009). Alexander played Caitlin Todd for the first two seasons of "NCIS" (2003–2005). From July 2010 through September 2016, Alexander starred as Maura Isles in the TNT series "Rizzoli & Isles" and was a regular in Season 5 and 6 of "Shameless" in 2015-2016.


title: Sasha Alexander

text: Alexander, who is of Serbian descent, was born Suzana Drobnjakovic in Los Angeles, California. She began acting in school productions in the seventh grade. She was also an ice skater, but stopped due to a knee injury. She continued acting through high school and college, then moved to New York City to act in summer stock and Shakespeare festivals. She graduated from the University of Southern California's School of Cinema-Television, where she was a member of the sorority Kappa Alpha Theta.


title: Sasha Alexander

text: Alexander got her acting start on two short-lived series: the medical drama "Presidio Med" and ABC's twenty-something drama "Wasteland". She achieved widespread media attention and critical praise when she appeared in the fourth season of "Dawson's Creek" as Gretchen Witter, the sister of Pacey Witter, and dated the title character. Alexander was also in an episode of the short-lived Fox comedy series "Greg the Bunny", in which she played the role of a lesbian "TV Guide" reporter and shared an onscreen kiss with Sarah Silverman.


title: Sasha Alexander

text: Alexander appeared in the films "Lucky 13" and "All Over the Guy", as well as "He's Just Not That Into You" (in the role of Catherine), the independent movie "The Last Lullaby", and "Yes Man" (as Lucy) starring Jim Carrey. She appeared as District Attorney Robin Childs in the episode "Alter Boys", and she appeared in an episode of "Friends" ("The One with Joey's Interview"), playing a "Soap Opera Digest" reporter who interviewed Joey.


title: Sasha Alexander

text: Alexander joined "NCIS" as Secret Service/NCIS Special Agent Caitlin "Kate" Todd in 2003. Her character replaced Vivian Blackadder, played by Robyn Lively, who had appeared in the backdoor pilot episodes "Ice Queen" and "Meltdown" on "JAG". The official pilot episode "Yankee White" aired September 23, 2003, on CBS. Alexander's two year tenure on the show ended in May 2005 when her character, Kate, is killed by a terrorist who shoots her in the head during the last few seconds of the season-two finale, "Twilight".


title: Sasha Alexander

text: The official explanation for the her departure was that "she asked to be let out of her contract to pursue other opportunities". In statements made by Alexander since her departure from "NCIS", she has made clear that her problem with the show was that she felt the workload was too physically demanding for her.


title: Sasha Alexander

text: In subsequent television series work, episode counts were considerably smaller, and her character portrayals required less physical effort than her role on "NCIS". In her final appearances in the two-part episode "Kill Ari", Alexander was credited as a special guest star. Her character Caitlin Todd reappeared in a "what if" scenario with Anthony DiNozzo for the "NCIS" 200th episode "Life Before His Eyes" in 2012, however, Alexander did not return to film new footage for the episode; rather footage from the second season episode "SWAK" was recut to incorporate her into the new episode.


title: Sasha Alexander

text: She also had a small role in 2006's "". She joined the cast of "The Nine" in the role of Nick's ex-wife.


title: Sasha Alexander

text: From 2010 to 2016, Alexander played Dr. Maura Isles for seven seasons on the TNT series "Rizzoli & Isles" – the Commonwealth of Massachusetts' Chief Medical Examiner, who works with the Boston Police Department. Alexander costarred with Angie Harmon, who played Boston Homicide Detective Jane Rizzoli, Isles's best friend on the show.


title: Sasha Alexander

text: In 2015, Alexander began a recurring role on Showtime's "Shameless" portraying Helene Runyon, one of Lip Gallagher's college professors. Her character Helene maintains an open relationship with her husband Theo (played by Michael Reilly Burke) which allows her to sleep with Lip. The relationship between Helene and Lip is both romantic and one which provides him with guidance in his college career, but the affair blows-up in season six (2016).


title: Sasha Alexander

text: Alexander was cast opposite Ludacris in the 2018 drama film "The Ride". In 2018, Alexander guest-starred in the "" episode, "Caretaker" (season 20, episode 8), as villainess Anna Mill. Alexander played Detective Chesler in the 2020 Netflix film, "Dangerous Lies".


title: Sasha Alexander

text: On September 18, 1999, Alexander married Luka Pecel, but this marriage later ended by summary dissolution in California.


title: Sasha Alexander

text: Alexander is married to director Edoardo Ponti (the younger son of actress Sophia Loren and film producer Carlo Ponti). They have two children, a daughter Lucia and a son Leonardo. Jessica Capshaw is godmother to Lucia. Alexander speaks English, Serbian, Italian, and some French.


title: B.B. King

text: Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, shimmering vibrato and staccato picking that influenced many later blues electric guitar players. AllMusic recognized King as "the single most important electric guitarist of the last half of the 20th century".


title: B.B. King

text: King was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987, and is one of the most influential blues musicians of all time, earning the nickname "The King of the Blues", and is considered one of the "Three Kings of the Blues Guitar" (along with Albert King and Freddie King, none of whom are related). King performed tirelessly throughout his musical career, appearing on average at more than 200 concerts per year into his 70s. In 1956 alone, he appeared at 342 shows.


title: B.B. King

text: King was born on a cotton plantation of Berclair near the city of Itta Bena, Mississippi, and later worked at a cotton gin in Indianola, Mississippi. He was attracted to music and the guitar in church, and he began his career in juke joints and local radio. He later lived in Memphis and Chicago; then, as his fame grew, toured the world extensively. King died at the age of 89 in Las Vegas on May 14, 2015.


title: B.B. King

text: Riley B. King was born on September 16, 1925, on a cotton plantation of Berclair named Bear Creek in Leflore County, near the city of Itta Bena, Mississippi, the son of sharecroppers Albert and Nora Ella King. When King was four years old, his mother left his father for another man, so he was raised by his maternal grandmother, Elnora Farr, in Kilmichael, Mississippi, then in Lexington. As a teen, he moved to Indianola, Mississippi which he referred to as his hometown and he later worked at a cotton gin.


title: B.B. King

text: While young, King sang in the gospel choir at Elkhorn Baptist Church in Kilmichael. King was attracted to the Pentecostal Church of God in Christ because of its music. The local minister performed with a Sears Roebuck Silvertone guitar during services, and taught King his first three chords. King's first guitar was bought for him by Flake Cartledge, his employer in Kilmichael, for 15 dollars. Cartledge withheld money from King's salary for the next two months until the debt was repaid.


title: B.B. King

text: In November 1941, "King Biscuit Time" first aired, broadcasting on KFFA in Helena, Arkansas. It was a radio show featuring the Mississippi Delta blues. King listened to it while on break at a plantation. A self-taught guitarist, he then wanted to become a radio musician.


title: B.B. King

text: In 1943, King left Kilmichael to work as a tractor driver and play guitar with the Famous St. John's Gospel Singers of Inverness, Mississippi, performing at area churches and on WGRM in Greenwood, Mississippi.


title: B.B. King

text: In 1946, King followed Bukka White to Memphis, Tennessee. White took him in for the next ten months. King returned shortly afterward to Mississippi, where he decided to prepare himself better for the next visit. He returned to West Memphis, Arkansas, two years later in 1948. He performed on Sonny Boy Williamson's radio program on KWEM in West Memphis, where he began to develop an audience. King's appearances led to steady engagements at the Sixteenth Avenue Grill in West Memphis, and later to a ten-minute spot on the Memphis radio station WDIA. The radio spot became so popular that it was expanded and became the "Sepia Swing Club".


title: B.B. King

text: He worked at WDIA as a singer and disc jockey, where he was given the nickname "Beale Street Blues Boy", later shortened to "Blues Boy", and finally to "B.B." It was there that he first met T-Bone Walker. King said, "Once I'd heard him for the first time, I knew I'd have to have [an electric guitar] myself. 'Had' to have one, short of stealing!"


title: B.B. King

text: In the late 1940s and early 1950s, King was a part of the blues scene on Beale Street. "Beale Street was where it all started for me", King said. He performed with Bobby Bland, Johnny Ace, and Earl Forest in a group known as the Beale Streeters.


title: B.B. King

text: According to King and Joe Bihari, Ike Turner introduced King to the Bihari brothers while he was a talent scout at Modern Records. In 1949, King began recording songs under contract with Los Angeles-based RPM Records, a subsidiary of Modern. Many of King's early recordings were produced by Sam Phillips, who later founded Sun Records. Before his RPM contract, King had debuted on Bullet Records by issuing the single, "Miss Martha King" (1949), which did not chart well. "My very first recordings [in 1949] were for a company out of Nashville called Bullet, the Bullet Record Transcription company," King recalled. "I had horns that very first session. I had Phineas Newborn on piano; his father played drums, and his brother, Calvin, played guitar with me. I had Tuff Green on bass, Ben Branch on tenor sax, his brother, Thomas, on trumpet, and a lady trombone player. The Newborn family were the house band at the famous Plantation Inn in West Memphis."


title: B.B. King

text: King assembled his own band; the B.B. King Review, under the leadership of Millard Lee. The band initially consisted of Calvin Owens and Kenneth Sands (trumpet), Lawrence Burdin (alto saxophone), George Coleman (tenor saxophone), Floyd Newman (baritone saxophone), Millard Lee (piano), George Joyner (bass) and Earl Forest and Ted Curry (drums). Onzie Horne was a trained musician enlisted as an arranger to assist King with his compositions. By his own admission, King could not play chords well and always relied on improvisation.


title: B.B. King

text: King's recording contract was followed by tours across the United States, with performances in major theatres in cities such as Washington, D.C., Chicago, Los Angeles, Detroit, and St. Louis, as well as numerous gigs in small clubs and juke joints of the southern United States. During one show in Twist, Arkansas, a brawl broke out between two men and caused a fire. He evacuated along with the rest of the crowd but went back to retrieve his guitar. He said he later found out that the two men were fighting over a woman named Lucille. He named the guitar Lucille, as a reminder not to fight over women or run into any more burning buildings.


title: B.B. King

text: Following his first "Billboard" Rhythm and Blues charted number one, "3 O'Clock Blues" (February 1952), B.B. King became one of the most important names in R&B music in the 1950s, amassing an impressive list of hits including "You Know I Love You", "Woke Up This Morning", "Please Love Me", "When My Heart Beats like a Hammer", "Whole Lotta Love", "You Upset Me Baby", "Every Day I Have the Blues", "Sneakin' Around", "Ten Long Years", "Bad Luck", "Sweet Little Angel", "On My Word of Honor", and "Please Accept My Love". This led to a significant increase in his weekly earnings, from about $85 to $2,500, with appearances at major venues such as the Howard Theater in Washington and the Apollo in New York, as well as touring the "Chitlin' Circuit". 1956 became a record-breaking year, with 342 concerts booked and three recording sessions. That same year he founded his own record label, Blues Boys Kingdom, with headquarters at Beale Street in Memphis. There, among other projects, he was a producer for artists such as Millard Lee and Levi Seabury. In 1962, King signed to ABC-Paramount Records, which was later absorbed into MCA Records (which itself was later absorbed into Geffen Records). In November 1964, King recorded the "Live at the Regal" album at the Regal Theater. King later said that "Regal Live" "is considered by some the best recording I've ever had ... that particular day in Chicago everything came together."


title: B.B. King

text: From the late 1960s, new manager Sid Seidenberg pushed King into a different type of venue as blues-rock performers like Eric Clapton (once a member of the Yardbirds, as well as Cream) and Paul Butterfield were popularizing an appreciation of blues music among white audiences. King gained further visibility among rock audiences as an opening act on the Rolling Stones' 1969 American Tour. He won a 1970 Grammy Award for his version of the song "The Thrill Is Gone", which was a hit on both the Pop and R&B charts. It also gained the number 183 spot in "Rolling Stone" magazine's "500 Greatest Songs of All Time".


title: B.B. King

text: King was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1980, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987, and the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame in 2014. In 2004, he was awarded the international Polar Music Prize, given to artists "in recognition of exceptional achievements in the creation and advancement of music."


title: B.B. King

text: From the 1980s to his death in 2015, he maintained a highly visible and active career, appearing on numerous television shows and sometimes performing 300 nights a year. In 1988, King reached a new generation of fans with the single "When Love Comes to Town", a collaborative effort between King and the Irish band U2 on their "Rattle and Hum" album. In December 1997, he performed in the Vatican's fifth annual Christmas concert and presented his trademark guitar "Lucille" to Pope John Paul II. In 1998, he appeared in "The Blues Brothers 2000", playing the part of the lead singer of the Louisiana Gator Boys, along with Eric Clapton, Dr. John, Koko Taylor and Bo Diddley. In 2000, he and Clapton teamed up again to record "Riding With the King", which won a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album.


title: B.B. King

text: Discussing where he took the Blues, from "dirt floor, smoke in the air" joints to grand concert halls, King said the Blues belonged everywhere beautiful music belonged. He successfully worked both sides of the commercial divide, with sophisticated recordings and "raw, raucous" live performance.


title: B.B. King

text: In 2006, King went on a "farewell" world tour, although he remained active afterward. The tour was partly supported by Northern Irish guitarist, Gary Moore, with whom King had previously toured and recorded. It started in the United Kingdom, and continued with performances at the Montreux Jazz Festival and in Zürich at the Blues at Sunset. During his show in Montreux at the Stravinski Hall, he jammed with Joe Sample, Randy Crawford, David Sanborn, Gladys Knight, Leela James, Andre Beeka, Earl Thomas, Stanley Clarke, John McLaughlin, Barbara Hendricks and George Duke.


title: B.B. King

text: In June 2006, King was present at a memorial of his first radio broadcast at the Three Deuces Building in Greenwood, Mississippi, where an official marker of the Mississippi Blues Trail was erected. The same month, a groundbreaking was held for a new museum, dedicated to King, in Indianola, Mississippi. The B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center opened on September 13, 2008.


title: B.B. King

text: In late October 2006, King recorded a concert album and video entitled "B.B. King: Live" at his B.B. King Blues Clubs in Nashville and Memphis. The video of the four-night production featured his regular B.B. King Blues Band and captured his show as he performed it nightly around the world. Released in 2008, they documented his first live performances in over a decade.


title: B.B. King

text: In 2007, King played at Eric Clapton's second Crossroads Guitar Festival and contributed the songs "Goin' Home", to "" (with Ivan Neville's DumpstaPhunk) and "One Shoe Blues" to Sandra Boynton's children's album "Blue Moo", accompanied by a pair of sock puppets in a music video for the song.


title: B.B. King

text: In the summer of 2008, King played at the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Manchester, Tennessee, where he was given a key to the city. Also in 2008, he was inducted into the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame.


title: B.B. King

text: King performed at the Mawazine festival in Rabat, Morocco on May 27, 2010. In June 2010, King performed at the Crossroads Guitar Festival with Robert Cray, Jimmie Vaughan, and Eric Clapton. He also contributed to Cyndi Lauper's album "Memphis Blues", which was released on June 22, 2010.


title: B.B. King

text: In 2011, King played at the Glastonbury Music Festival, and in the Royal Albert Hall in London, where he recorded a concert video.


title: B.B. King

text: On February 21, 2012, King was among the performers of "In Performance at the White House: Red, White and Blues," during which President Barack Obama sang part of "Sweet Home Chicago". King recorded for the debut album of rapper and producer Big K.R.I.T., who also hails from Mississippi. On July 5, 2012, King performed a concert at the Byblos International Festival in Lebanon.


title: B.B. King

text: On October 3, 2014, after completing his live performance at the House of Blues in Chicago, a doctor diagnosed King with dehydration and exhaustion, and the eight remaining shows of his ongoing tour had to be cancelled. King did not reschedule the shows, and the House of Blues show would prove to be the last before his death in 2015.


title: B.B. King

text: B.B. King used equipment characteristic of the different periods he played in. He played guitars made by various manufacturers early in his career. He played a Fender Esquire on most of his recordings with RPM Records. Later, he was best known for playing variants of the Gibson ES-355.


title: B.B. King

text: In the September edition 1995 of "Vintage Guitar" magazine, early photos show him playing a Gibson ES-5 through a Fender tweed amp. In reference to the photo, B.B. King stated,


title: B.B. King

text: "Yes; the old Fender amplifiers were the best that were ever made, in my opinion. They had a good sound and they were durable; guys would throw them in the truck and they’d hold up. They had tubes, and they’d get real hot, but they just had a sound that is hard to put into words. The Fender Twin was great, but I have an old Lab Series amp that isn’t being made anymore. I fell in love with it, because its sound is right between the old Fender amps that we used to have and the Fender Twin. It’s what I’m using tonight."


title: B.B. King

text: He later moved on from the larger Gibson hollow-bodied instruments, which were prone to feedback when played at high volumes, to various semi-hollow models, beginning first with the ES-335 and then a deluxe version called the ES-355, which employed a stereo option. In 1980, Gibson Guitar Corporation launched the B.B. King Lucille model, a ES-355 with stereo options, a varitone selector and fine tuners (neither of which were actually utilized by B.B.) and, at King's direct request, no f-holes to further reduce feedback. In 2005, Gibson made a special run of 80 Gibson Lucilles, referred to as the "80th Birthday Lucille", the first prototype of which was given as a birthday gift to King, and which he used thereafter.


title: B.B. King

text: King used a Lab Series L5 2×12" combo amplifier and used this amplifier for a long time. It was made by Norlin Industries for Gibson in the 1970s and 1980s. Other popular L5 users are Allan Holdsworth and Ty Tabor of King's X. The L5 has an onboard compressor, parametric equalization, and four inputs. King also used a Fender Twin Reverb.


title: B.B. King

text: He used his signature model strings "Gibson SEG-BBS B.B. King Signature Electric Guitar Strings" with gauges: 10–13–17p–32w–45w–54w and D'Andrea 351 MD SHL CX (medium 0.71mm, tortoiseshell, celluloid) picks.


title: B.B. King

text: In 1991, Beale Street developer John Elkington recruited B.B. King to Memphis to open the original B.B. King's Blues Club, and in 1994, a second club was launched at Universal Citywalk in Los Angeles. A third club in New York City's Times Square opened in June 2000 but closed on April 29, 2018. Management is currently in the process of finding a new location in New York City. Two more clubs opened, at Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut in January 2002, and in Nashville in 2003. Another club opened in Orlando in 2007. A club in West Palm Beach opened in the fall of 2009 and an additional one, based in the Mirage Hotel, Las Vegas, opened in the winter of 2009.


title: B.B. King

text: King made guest appearances in numerous popular television shows including: "The Cosby Show", "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson", "The Young and the Restless", "General Hospital", "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air", "Sesame Street", "Married... with Children", "Sanford and Son" and "Touched by an Angel".


title: B.B. King

text: In 2000, the children's show "Between the Lions" featured a singing character named "B.B. the King of Beasts", modeled on the real King.


title: B.B. King

text: "B.B. King: The Life of Riley", a feature documentary about King narrated by Morgan Freeman and directed by Jon Brewer, was released on October 15, 2012.


title: B.B. King

text: King's performance at the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival appears in the 2021 music documentary, "Summer of Soul".


title: B.B. King

text: King was married twice, to Martha Lee Denton, November 1946 to 1952, and to Sue Carol Hall, 1958 to 1966. The failure of both marriages has been attributed to the heavy demands made by King's 250 performances a year. It is reported that he fathered 15 children with several women. After his death, three more have come forward, claiming King as their father as well. Though neither of his marriages produced children, and biographer Charles Sawyer wrote that doctors found his sperm count too low to conceive children, King never disputed paternity of any of the 15 who claimed it, and by all accounts was generous in bankrolling college tuitions and establishing trust funds. In May 2016, the 11 surviving children initiated legal proceedings against King's appointed trustee over his estimated $30 million to $40 million estate. Several of them also went public with the allegation that King's business manager, LaVerne Toney, and his personal assistant, Myron Johnson, had fatally poisoned him. Autopsy results showed no evidence of poisoning. A defamation suit filed by Johnson against the accusing family members (including his own sister, Karen Williams) is pending. Other children have filed lawsuits targeting King's music estate, which remains in dispute.


title: B.B. King

text: King was an FAA-certified private pilot and learned to fly in 1963 at what was then Chicago Hammond Airport in Lansing, Illinois. He frequently flew to gigs, but in 1995 his insurance company and manager asked him to fly only with another certified pilot. As a result, he stopped flying around the age of 70.<ref name='Reuters/Billboard 2007-06-29'> </ref>


title: B.B. King

text: King's favorite singer was Frank Sinatra. In his autobiography, he spoke about how he was a "Sinatra nut" and how he went to bed every night listening to Sinatra's classic album "In the Wee Small Hours". During the 1960s, Sinatra had arranged for King to play at the main clubs in Las Vegas. He credited Sinatra for opening doors to black entertainers who were not given the chance to play in "white-dominated" venues.


title: B.B. King

text: In September 1970, King recorded Live in Cook County Jail, during a time in which issues of race and class in the prison system were prominent in politics. King also co-founded the Foundation for the Advancement of Inmate Rehabilitation and Recreation, tying in his support for prisoners and interest in prison reform. In addition to prison reform, King also wanted to utilize prison performances as a way to preserve music and songs in a similar way that Alan Lomax did.


title: B.B. King

text: In 2002, King signed on as an official supporter of Little Kids Rock, a nonprofit organization that provides free musical instruments and instruction to children in underprivileged public schools throughout the United States. He sat on the organization's Honorary Board of Directors.


title: B.B. King

text: Diagnosed with diabetes in 1990, King was a high-profile spokesman in the fight against the disease. He appeared in several television commercials for OneTouch Ultra, a blood glucose monitoring device, beginning in the early 2000s. "American Idol" contestant Crystal Bowersox, who was diagnosed with diabetes at age six, would co-star with King in later commercials.


title: B.B. King

text: The last eight shows of King's 2014 tour were cancelled because of health problems caused by complications from high blood pressure and diabetes. On May 14, 2015, at the age of 89, he died in his sleep from vascular dementia caused by a series of small strokes as a consequence of his type 2 diabetes. Two of his daughters alleged that King was deliberately poisoned by two associates trying to induce diabetic shock; an autopsy showed no evidence of such.


title: B.B. King

text: King's body was flown to Memphis on May 27, 2015. A funeral procession went down Beale Street, with a brass band marching in front of the hearse while playing "When the Saints Go Marching In". Thousands lined the streets to pay their last respects. His body was then driven down Route 61 to his hometown of Indianola, Mississippi. He was laid in repose at the B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center, in Indianola, for people to view his open casket. The funeral took place at the Bell Grove Missionary Baptist Church in Indianola, on May 30. He was buried at the B.B. King Museum.


title: 12 Angry Men (1957 film)

text: 12 Angry Men is a 1957 American courtroom drama film directed by Sidney Lumet, adapted from a 1954 teleplay of the same name by Reginald Rose. The film tells the story of a jury of 12 men as they deliberate the conviction or acquittal of a teenager charged with murder on the basis of reasonable doubt; disagreement and conflict among them force the jurors to question their morals and values. It stars Henry Fonda (who also produced the film with Reginald Rose), Lee J. Cobb, Ed Begley, E. G. Marshall, and Jack Warden.


title: 12 Angry Men (1957 film)

text: "12 Angry Men" explores many techniques of consensus-building and the difficulties encountered in the process among this group of men whose range of personalities adds to the intensity and conflict. The jury members are identified only by number; no names are revealed until an exchange of dialogue at the very end. The film forces the audience to evaluate their own self-image through observing the personalities, experiences, and actions of the jurors. The film is also notable for its almost exclusive use of one set, where all but three minutes of the film takes place.


title: 12 Angry Men (1957 film)

text: The film was selected as the second-best courtroom drama ever (after 1962's "To Kill a Mockingbird") by the American Film Institute for their AFI's 10 Top 10 list. It is regarded by many as one of the greatest films ever made. In 2007, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".


title: 12 Angry Men (1957 film)

text: In the overheated jury room of the New York County Courthouse, a jury prepares to deliberate the case of an impoverished 18-year-old accused of stabbing his abusive father to death. The judge instructs them that if there is any reasonable doubt, the jurors are to return a verdict of not guilty; if found guilty, the defendant will receive a mandatory death sentence via the electric chair. The verdict must be unanimous.


title: 12 Angry Men (1957 film)

text: At first, the case seems clear. A neighbor testified to witnessing the defendant stab his father from her window, through the windows of a passing elevated train. Another neighbor testified that he heard the defendant threaten to kill his father, and the father's body hitting the ground; then, as he ran to his door, saw the defendant running down the stairs. The boy has a violent past; he had recently purchased a switchblade of the same type that was found, wiped of fingerprints, at the murder scene, but claimed he lost it.


title: 12 Angry Men (1957 film)

text: In a preliminary vote, all jurors vote "guilty" except Juror 8, who believes that there should be some discussion before the verdict is made. He says he cannot vote "guilty" because reasonable doubt exists. With his first few arguments seemingly failing to convince any of the other jurors, Juror 8 suggests a secret ballot, from which he will abstain; if all the other jurors still vote guilty, he will acquiesce. The ballot reveals one "not guilty" vote. Juror 9 reveals that he changed his vote; he respects Juror 8's motives, and agrees that there should be more discussion.


title: 12 Angry Men (1957 film)

text: Juror 8 argues that the noise of the passing train would have obscured everything the second witness claimed to have overheard. Juror 5 changes his vote, as does Juror 11. Jurors 5, 6, and 8 further question the second witness's story. After looking at a diagram of the witness's apartment and conducting an experiment, the jurors determine that it is impossible the disabled witness could have made it to the door in time. Juror 3, infuriated, argues with and tries to attack Juror 8. Jurors 2 and 6 change their votes; the jury is now evenly split.


title: 12 Angry Men (1957 film)

text: Juror 4 doubts the defendant's alibi based on the boy's inability to recall specific details. Juror 8 tests Juror 4's own memory to make a point. Jurors 2 and 5 point out the unlikelihood the boy made a stab wound angled downwards, as he was shorter than his father. Juror 7 changes his vote out of impatience rather than conviction, angering Juror 11. After another vote, Jurors 12 and 1 also change sides, leaving only three "guilty" votes.


title: 12 Angry Men (1957 film)

text: Juror 10 goes on a bigoted rant, causing Juror 4 to forbid him to speak for the remainder of the deliberation. When Juror 4 is pressed as to why he still maintains a guilty vote, he declares that the woman who saw the killing from across the street stands as solid evidence. Juror 12 reverts to a guilty vote.


title: 12 Angry Men (1957 film)

text: After watching Juror 4 remove his glasses and rub the impressions they made on his nose, Juror 9 realizes that the first witness was constantly rubbing similar impressions on her own nose, indicating that she also was a habitual glasses wearer. He observes she also always dressed up in clothes befitting a younger woman, hence not wearing the glasses in court. Juror 8 remarks that the witness, who was trying to sleep when she saw the killing through her bedroom window, would not have had glasses on or the time to put them on, making her story questionable. Jurors 12, 10 and 4 all change their vote, leaving Juror 3 as the sole dissenter.


title: 12 Angry Men (1957 film)

text: Juror 3 vehemently and desperately tries to convince the others, until he finally reveals that his strained relationship with his own son makes him wish the defendant guilty. He breaks down in tears and changes his vote to "not guilty". As the others leave, Juror 8 graciously helps Juror 3 with his coat. The defendant is acquitted off-screen, and the jurors leave the courthouse. Jurors 8 and 9 stop to learn each other's real names (Davis and McCardle, respectively), before parting.


title: 12 Angry Men (1957 film)

text: Professor of Law Emeritus at UCLA School of Law Michael Asimow referred to the film as a "tribute to a common man holding out against lynch mob mentality". Gavin Smith of "Film Comment" called the film "a definitive rebuttal to the lynch mob hysteria of the McCarthy era".


title: 12 Angry Men (1957 film)

text: Business academic Phil Rosenzweig called the jury in "12 Angry Men" being made up entirely of white men "especially important", writing: "Many of the twelve would have looked around the room, and, seeing other white men, assumed that they had much in common and should be able to reach a verdict without difficulty. As they deliberate, however, fault lines begin to appear—by age, by education, by national origin, by socioeconomic level, by values, and by temperament."


title: 12 Angry Men (1957 film)

text: Reginald Rose's screenplay for "12 Angry Men" was initially produced for television (starring Robert Cummings as Juror 8), and was broadcast live on the CBS program "Studio One" in September 1954. A complete kinescope of that performance, which had been missing for years and was feared lost, was discovered in 2003. It was staged at Chelsea Studios in New York City.


title: 12 Angry Men (1957 film)

text: The success of the television production resulted in a film adaptation. Sidney Lumet, whose prior directorial credits included dramas for television productions such as "The Alcoa Hour" and "Studio One", was recruited by Henry Fonda and Rose to direct. "12 Angry Men" was Lumet's first feature film, and the only producing credit for Fonda and Rose (under the production company, Orion-Nova Productions). Fonda later stated that he would never again produce a film.


title: 12 Angry Men (1957 film)

text: The film was shot in New York and completed after a short but rigorous rehearsal schedule, in less than three weeks, on a budget of $337,000 (). Rose and Fonda took salary deferrals.


title: 12 Angry Men (1957 film)

text: At the beginning of the film, the cameras are positioned above eye level and mounted with wide-angle lenses, to give the appearance of greater depth between subjects, but as the film progresses the focal length of the lenses is gradually increased. By the end of the film, nearly everyone is shown in closeup, using telephoto lenses from a lower angle, which decreases or "shortens" depth of field. Lumet stated that his intention in using these techniques with cinematographer Boris Kaufman was to create a nearly palpable claustrophobia.


title: 12 Angry Men (1957 film)

text: On its first release, "12 Angry Men" received critical acclaim. A. H. Weiler of "The New York Times" wrote, "It makes for taut, absorbing, and compelling drama that reaches far beyond the close confines of its jury room setting." His observation of the twelve men was that "their dramas are powerful and provocative enough to keep a viewer spellbound." "Variety" called it an "absorbing drama" with acting that was "perhaps the best seen recently in any single film", Philip K. Scheuer of the "Los Angeles Times" declared it a "tour de force in movie making", "The Monthly Film Bulletin" deemed it "a compelling and outstandingly well handled drama", and John McCarten of "The New Yorker" called it "a fairly substantial addition to the celluloid landscape".


title: 12 Angry Men (1957 film)

text: The film was a box office disappointment in the US but did better internationally. The advent of color and widescreen productions may have contributed to its disappointing box office performance. It was not until its first airing on television that the movie finally found its audience.


title: 12 Angry Men (1957 film)

text: The film is viewed as a classic, highly regarded from both a critical and popular viewpoint: Roger Ebert listed it as one of his "Great Movies". The American Film Institute named Juror 8, played by Henry Fonda, 28th in a list of the 50 greatest movie heroes of the 20th century. AFI also named "12 Angry Men" the 42nd-most inspiring film, the 88th-most heart-pounding film and the 87th-best film of the past hundred years. The film was also nominated for the 100 movies list in 1998. In 2011, the film was the second-most screened film in secondary schools in the United Kingdom. , the film holds a 100% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 55 reviews, with a weighted average of 9.10/10. The site's consensus reads: "Sidney Lumet's feature debut is a superbly written, dramatically effective courtroom thriller that rightfully stands as a modern classic".


title: 12 Angry Men (1957 film)

text: The film was selected as the second-best courtroom drama ever by the American Film Institute during their AFI's 10 Top 10 list, just after "To Kill a Mockingbird", and is the highest rated courtroom drama on Rotten Tomatoes' Top 100 Movies of All Time.


title: 12 Angry Men (1957 film)

text: Speaking at a screening of the film during the 2010 Fordham University Law School Film festival, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor stated that seeing "12 Angry Men" while she was in college influenced her decision to pursue a career in law. She was particularly inspired by immigrant Juror 11's monologue on his reverence for the American justice system. She also told the audience of law students that, as a lower-court judge, she would sometimes instruct juries to not follow the film's example, because most of the jurors' conclusions are based on speculation, not fact. Sotomayor noted that events such as Juror 8 entering a similar knife into the proceeding; performing outside research into the case matter in the first place; and ultimately the jury as a whole making broad, wide-ranging assumptions far beyond the scope of reasonable doubt (such as the inferences regarding the woman wearing glasses) would not be allowed in a real-life jury situation, and would in fact have yielded a mistrial (assuming, of course, that applicable law permitted the content of jury deliberations to be revealed).


title: 12 Angry Men (1957 film)

text: In 2007, Michael Asimow argued that the jury in "12 Angry Men" reached an incorrect verdict, writing that the amount of circumstantial evidence against the defendant should have been enough to convict him, even if the testimony of the two eyewitnesses were disregarded.


title: 12 Angry Men (1957 film)

text: In 2012, Mike D'Angelo of "The A.V. Club" also questioned the verdict of the jury in the film, writing: "What ensures The Kid's guilt for practical purposes, [...] is the sheer improbability that "all" the evidence is erroneous. You'd have to be the jurisprudential inverse of a national lottery winner to face so many apparently damning coincidences and misidentifications. Or you'd have to be framed, which is what Johnnie Cochran was ultimately forced to argue—not just because of the DNA evidence, but because there's no other plausible explanation for why every single detail points to O.J. Simpson's guilt. But there's no reason offered in "12 Angry Men" for why, say, the police would be planting switchblades."


title: 12 Angry Men (1957 film)

text: There have been a number of adaptations. A 1963 German TV production "" was directed by Günter Gräwert, and a 1973 Spanish production, "Doce hombres sin piedad", was made for TV 22 years before Spain allowed juror trials, while a 1991 homage by Kōki Mitani, "Juninin no Yasashii Nihonjin" ("12 gentle Japanese"), posits a Japan with a jury system and features a group of Japanese people grappling with their responsibility in the face of Japanese cultural norms. A 1986 episode of "Murder, She Wrote" entitled "Trial by Error" pays tribute to "12 Angry Men". The major twists are originally 10 jurors vote for "not guilty" due to self defense, Jessica votes "unsure" and another juror votes "guilty". Jessica and other jurors recall the evidence, as more and more jurors switch from "not guilty due to self defense" and come to a realization as to what actually occurred the night of the murder. The 1987 Indian film in Hindi language "Ek Ruka Hua Faisla" ("a pending decision") and also in Kannada as "Dashamukha" ("ten faces") are the remakes of the film, with an almost identical storyline. Russian director Nikita Mikhalkov also made a 2007 adaptation, "12", featuring a Chechen teen on trial in Moscow. A 2015 Chinese adaptation, "12 Citizens", follows the plot of the original 1957 American movie, while including characters reflecting contemporary Beijing society, including a cab driver, guard, businessman, policeman, a retiree persecuted in a 1950s political movement, and others. The detective drama television show "Veronica Mars", which like the film includes the theme of class issues, featured an episode, "One Angry Veronica", in which the title character is selected for jury duty. The episode flips the film's format and depicts one holdout convincing the jury to "convict" the privileged defendants of assault against a less well-off victim, despite their lawyers initially convincing 11 jury members of a not guilty verdict.


title: 12 Angry Men (1957 film)

text: In 1997, a television remake of the film under the same title was directed by William Friedkin and produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. In the newer version, the judge is a woman and four of the jurors are black, but the overall plot remains intact. Modernizations include not smoking in the jury room, changes in references to pop culture figures and income, references to execution by lethal injection as opposed to the electric chair, more race-related dialogue and profanity.


title: 12 Angry Men (1957 film)

text: The film has also been subject to parody. In 2015, the Comedy Central TV series "Inside Amy Schumer" aired a half-hour parody of the film titled "12 Angry Men Inside Amy Schumer". The BBC Television comedy "Hancock's Half Hour", starring Tony Hancock and Sid James, and written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, was parodied in the episode broadcast on October 16, 1959. "Family Guy" paid tribute to the film with its Season 11 episode titled "12 and a Half Angry Men", and "King of the Hill" acknowledged the film with their parody "Nine Pretty Darn Angry Men" in season 3.


title: Catnip

text: Nepeta cataria, commonly known as catnip, catswort, catwort, and catmint, is a species of the genus "Nepeta" in the family Lamiaceae, native to southern and eastern Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia, and parts of China. It is widely naturalized in northern Europe, New Zealand, and North America. The common name catmint can also refer to the genus as a whole.


title: Catnip

text: The names "catnip" and "catmint" are derived from the intense attraction about two-thirds of cats have toward it (alternative plants exist). In addition to its uses with cats, catnip is an ingredient in some herbal teas (or tisanes), and is valued for its sedative and relaxant properties.


title: Catnip

text: "Nepeta cataria" is a short-lived perennial, herbaceous plant that grows to be tall and wide, and that blooms from late spring to autumn. In appearance, "N. cataria" resembles a typical member of the mint family of plants, featuring brown-green foliage with the characteristic square stem of the plant family Lamiaceae. The coarse-toothed leaves are triangular to elliptical in shape. The small, bilabiate flowers of "N. cataria" are fragrant and are either pink in colour or white with fine spots of pale purple.


title: Catnip

text: "Nepeta cataria" was one of the many species described by Linnaeus in 1753 in his landmark work "Species Plantarum". He had previously described it in 1738 as "" (meaning ""Nepeta" with flowers in a stalked, interrupted spike"), before the commencement of Linnaean taxonomy.


title: Catnip

text: The plant terpenoid nepetalactone is the main chemical constituent of the essential oil of "Nepeta cataria". Nepetalactone can be extracted from catnip by steam distillation.


title: Catnip

text: "Nepeta cataria" is cultivated as an ornamental plant for use in gardens. It is also grown for its attractant qualities to house cats and butterflies.


title: Catnip

text: The plant is drought-tolerant and deer-resistant. It can be a repellent for certain insects, including aphids and squash bugs. Catnip is best grown in full sunlight and grows as a loosely branching, low perennial.


title: Catnip

text: Varieties include "Nepeta cataria" var. "citriodora" (or "N. cataria" subsp. "citriodora"), or "lemon catnip", named after its lemon-scented leaves.


title: Catnip

text: The iridoid that is deposited on cats who have rubbed themselves against the plants and scratched the surfaces of catnip and silver vine (Actinidia polygama) leaves, repels mosquitoes. The compound iridodial, an iridoid extracted from catnip oil, has been found to attract lacewings that eat aphids and mites.


title: Catnip

text: Nepetalactone is a mosquito and fly repellent. Oil isolated from catnip by steam distillation is a repellent against insects, in particular mosquitoes, cockroaches, and termites. Research suggests that, while a more effective spatial repellant than DEET, when compared with SS220 or DEET, it is not so effective as a repellent as it is when used on the skin of humans.


title: Catnip

text: Catnip has a history of use in traditional medicine for a variety of ailments such as stomach cramps, indigestion, fevers, hives, and nervous conditions. The plant has been consumed as a tisane, juice, tincture, infusion, or poultice, and has also been smoked. However, its medicinal use has fallen out of favor with the development of modern medicine.


title: Catnip

text: Catnip contains the feline attractant nepetalactone. "N. cataria" (and some other species within the genus "Nepeta") are known for their behavioral effects on the cat family, not only on domestic cats, but also other species. Several tests showed that leopards, cougars, servals, and lynxes often reacted strongly to catnip in a manner similar to domestic cats. Lions and tigers may react strongly as well, but they do not react consistently in the same fashion.


title: Catnip

text: With domestic cats, "N. cataria" is used as a recreational substance for the enjoyment of pet cats, and catnip and catnip-laced products designed for use with domesticated cats are available to consumers. Common behaviors cats display when they sense the bruised leaves or stems of catnip are rubbing on the plant, rolling on the ground, pawing at it, licking it, and chewing it. Consuming much of the plant is followed by drooling, sleepiness, anxiety, leaping about, and purring. Some growl, meow, scratch, or bite at the hand holding it. The main response period after exposure is generally between 5 and 15 minutes, after which olfactory fatigue usually sets in; however, about one-third of cats are not affected by catnip. The behavior is hereditary.


title: Catnip

text: Cats detect nepetalactone through their olfactory epithelium, not through their vomeronasal organ. At the olfactory epithelium, the nepetalactone binds to one or more olfactory receptors.


title: Catnip

text: A 1962 pedigree analysis of 26 cats in a Siamese breeding colony suggested that the catnip response was caused by a Mendelian-dominant gene. A 2011 pedigree analysis of 210 cats in two breeding colonies (taking into account measurement error by repeated testing) showed no evidence for Mendelian patterns of inheritance but demonstrated heritabilities of for catnip response behavior, indicating a polygenic liability threshold model.


title: Catnip

text: A study published in January 2021 suggests that felines are specifically attracted to the iridoids nepetalactone and nepetalactol, present in catnip and silver vine, respectively. The compounds were found to repel mosquitos, and it is hypothesized that rubbing against the plants provides the cats with a chemical coat that protects them against mosquito bites.


title: Catnip

text: Other plants that have a catnip-like effect on cats include valerian ("Valeriana officinalis") root and leaves; silver vine ("Actinidia polygama"), or matatabi, popular in Asia; and Tatarian honeysuckle ("Lonicera tatarica") wood. Many of the one-third of cats that do not respond to catnip do respond to one or more of these three alternatives.


title: Georgina Chapman

text: Georgina Rose Chapman (born 14 April 1976) is an English fashion designer and actress. She was a regular cast member on "Project Runway All Stars" and, together with Keren Craig, is a co-founder of the fashion label Marchesa. Chapman was married to film producer Harvey Weinstein before leaving him in 2017 in the wake of allegations of sexual abuse against him.


title: Georgina Chapman

text: Chapman was born in London, England, the daughter of Caroline Wonfor, a journalist, and Brian Chapman, a co-owner of the coffee company Percol. Chapman grew up in Richmond, southwest London. Chapman attended Marlborough College in Wiltshire. In her 20s, Chapman modelled in an advertisement for Head & Shoulders, a dandruff shampoo, and one for throat lozenges Soothers. Chapman met future business partner Keren Craig while they were students at Chelsea College of Art and Design. Chapman graduated from Wimbledon School of Art in 2001 and began her career as a costume designer. After graduation, Chapman appeared in various television shows and films.


title: Georgina Chapman

text: In 2004, she and Craig launched Marchesa, named after socialite Marchesa Luisa Casati. Investors include Giuseppe Cipriani and Steve Witkoff. In 2006, the label was named one of the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund's top 10 finalists. According to the 2015 "Sunday Times" Rich List, Chapman has a net worth of £15 million. From 2012 to 2019, Chapman was a judge on the Weinstein-produced TV show "".


title: Georgina Chapman

text: In May 2019, Chapman's design for an evening gown was featured in the 2019 Met Gala in New York as worn by Hollywood actress Constance Wu on the runway and staircase for the event.


title: Georgina Chapman

text: Chapman was born with femoral anteversion, commonly known as being 'pigeon-toed', as the condition causes her toes to point inward while walking. At the age of eight, she was also diagnosed with dyslexia. She is good friends with actor David Oyelowo, whom she has known since she was 18.


title: Georgina Chapman

text: Chapman and film producer Harvey Weinstein began dating in 2004 after his divorce from his first wife and married on 15 December 2007 in Connecticut, US. They have two children. On 10 October 2017, Chapman announced she was divorcing Weinstein after more than 100 women made accusations of rape, assault, or sexual harassment against him. They reached a settlement in January 2018 and their divorce was finalised in July 2021.


title: Coconut

text: The coconut tree (Cocos nucifera) is a member of the palm tree family (Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus "Cocos". The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, the seed, or the fruit, which botanically is a drupe, not a nut. The name comes from the old Portuguese word "coco", meaning "head" or "skull", after the three indentations on the coconut shell that resemble facial features. They are ubiquitous in coastal tropical regions and are a cultural icon of the tropics.


title: Coconut

text: The coconut tree provides food, fuel, cosmetics, folk medicine and building materials, among many other uses. The inner flesh of the mature seed, as well as the coconut milk extracted from it, form a regular part of the diets of many people in the tropics and subtropics. Coconuts are distinct from other fruits because their endosperm contains a large quantity of clear liquid, called "coconut water" or "coconut juice". Mature, ripe coconuts can be used as edible seeds, or processed for oil and plant milk from the flesh, charcoal from the hard shell, and coir from the fibrous husk. Dried coconut flesh is called copra, and the oil and milk derived from it are commonly used in cookingfrying in particularas well as in soaps and cosmetics. Sweet coconut sap can be made into drinks or fermented into palm wine or coconut vinegar. The hard shells, fibrous husks and long pinnate leaves can be used as material to make a variety of products for furnishing and decoration.


title: Coconut

text: The coconut has cultural and religious significance in certain societies, particularly in the Western Pacific Austronesian cultures where it features in their mythologies, songs, and oral traditions. It also had ceremonial importance in pre-colonial animistic religions. It has also acquired religious significance in South Asian cultures, where it is used in Hindu rituals. It forms the basis of wedding and worship rituals in Hinduism. It also plays a central role in the Coconut Religion of Vietnam. The falling of their mature fruit has led to preoccupation with death by coconut.


title: Coconut

text: Coconuts were first domesticated by the Austronesian peoples in Island Southeast Asia and were spread during the Neolithic via their seaborne migrations as far east as the Pacific Islands, and as far west as Madagascar and the Comoros. They played a critical role in the long sea voyages of Austronesians by providing a portable source of food and water, as well as providing building materials for Austronesian outrigger boats. Coconuts were also later spread in historic times along the coasts of the Indian and Atlantic Oceans by South Asian, Arab, and European sailors. Based on these separate introductions, coconut populations can still be divided into Pacific coconuts and Indo-Atlantic coconuts, respectively. Coconuts were introduced by Europeans to the Americas only during the colonial era in the Columbian exchange, but there is evidence of a possible pre-Columbian introduction of Pacific coconuts to Panama by Austronesian sailors. The evolutionary origin of the coconut is under dispute, with theories stating that it may have evolved in Asia, South America, or on Pacific islands. Trees grow up to tall and can yield up to 75 fruits per year, though fewer than 30 is more typical. Plants are intolerant of cold weather and prefer copious precipitation, as well as full sunlight. Many insect pests and diseases affect the species and are a nuisance for commercial production. About 75% of the world's supply of coconuts is produced by Indonesia, the Philippines, and India. The coconut tree is the official state tree of Kerala, India.


title: Coconut

text: "Cocos nucifera" is a large palm, growing up to tall, with pinnate leaves long, and pinnae long; old leaves break away cleanly, leaving the trunk smooth. On fertile soil, a tall coconut palm tree can yield up to 75 fruits per year, but more often yields less than 30. Given proper care and growing conditions, coconut palms produce their first fruit in six to ten years, taking 15 to 20 years to reach peak production.


title: Coconut

text: True-to-type dwarf varieties of Pacific coconuts have been cultivated by the Austronesian peoples since ancient times. These varieties were selected for slower growth, sweeter coconut water, and often brightly-colored fruits. Many modern different varieties are also grown, including the Maypan coconut, King coconut, and Macapuno. These vary by the taste of the coconut water and color of the fruit, as well as other genetic factors.


title: Coconut

text: Botanically, the coconut fruit is a drupe, not a true nut. Like other fruits, it has three layers: the exocarp, mesocarp, and endocarp. The exocarp is the glossy outer skin, usually yellow-green to yellow-brown in color. The mesocarp is composed of a fiber, called coir, which has many traditional and commercial uses. Both the exocarp and the mesocarp make up the "husk" of the coconut, while the endocarp makes up the hard coconut "shell". The endocarp is around thick and has three distinctive germination pores (micropyles) on the distal end. Two of the pores are plugged (the "eyes"), while one is functional.


title: Coconut

text: The interior of the endocarp is hollow and is lined with a thin brown seed coat around thick. The endocarp is initially filled with a multinucleate liquid endosperm (the coconut water). As development continues, cellular layers of endosperm deposit along the walls of the endocarp up to thick, starting at the distal end. They eventually form the edible solid endosperm (the "coconut meat" or "coconut flesh") which hardens over time. The small cylindrical embryo is embedded in the solid endosperm directly below the functional pore of the endosperm. During germination, the embryo pushes out of the functional pore and forms a haustorium (the coconut sprout) inside the central cavity. The haustorium absorbs the solid endosperm to nourish the seedling.


title: Coconut

text: Coconut fruits have two distinctive forms depending on domestication. Wild coconuts feature an elongated triangular fruit with a thicker husk and a smaller amount of endosperm. These allow the fruits to be more buoyant and makes it easier for them to lodge into sandy shorelines, making their shape ideal for ocean dispersal.


title: Coconut

text: Domesticated Pacific coconuts, on the other hand, are rounded in shape with a thinner husk and a larger amount of endosperm. Domesticated coconuts also have more amounts of coconut water.


title: Coconut

text: These two forms are referred to by the Samoan terms niu kafa for the elongated wild coconuts, and niu vai for the rounded domesticated Pacific coconuts.


title: Coconut

text: A full-sized coconut fruit weighs about . Coconuts sold domestically in coconut-producing countries are typically not de-husked. Especially immature coconuts (6 to 8 months from flowering) sold for coconut water and softer jelly-like coconut meat (known as "green coconuts", "young coconuts", or "water coconuts"), where the original coloration of the fruit is more aesthetically pleasing.


title: Coconut

text: Whole mature coconuts (11 to 13 months from flowering) sold for export, however, typically have the husk removed to reduce weight and volume for transport. This results in the naked coconut "shell" with three pores more familiar in countries where coconuts are not grown locally. De-husked coconuts typically weigh around . coconuts are also easier for consumers to open, but have a shorter postharvest storage life of around two to three weeks at temperatures of or up to 2 months at . In comparison, mature coconuts with the husk intact can be stored for three to five months at normal room temperature .


title: Coconut

text: Unlike some other plants, the palm tree has neither a taproot nor root hairs, but has a fibrous root system. The root system consists of an abundance of thin roots that grow outward from the plant near the surface. Only a few of the roots penetrate deep into the soil for stability. This type of root system is known as fibrous or adventitious, and is a characteristic of grass species. Other types of large trees produce a single downward-growing tap root with a number of feeder roots growing from it. 2,000–4,000 adventitious roots may grow, each about large. Decayed roots are replaced regularly as the tree grows new ones.


title: Coconut

text: The palm produces both the female and male flowers on the same inflorescence; thus, the palm is monoecious. However, there is some evidence that it may be polygamomonoecious and may occasionally have bisexual flowers. The female flower is much larger than the male flower. Flowering occurs continuously. Coconut palms are believed to be largely cross-pollinated, although most dwarf varieties are self-pollinating.


title: Coconut

text: The evolutionary history and fossil distribution of "Cocos nucifera" and other members of the tribe Cocoseae is more ambiguous than modern-day dispersal and distribution, with its ultimate origin and pre-human dispersal still unclear. There are currently two major viewpoints on the origins of the genus "Cocos", one in the Indo-Pacific, and another in South America. The vast majority of "Cocos"-like fossils have been recovered generally from only two regions in the world: New Zealand and west-central India. However, like most palm fossils, "Cocos"-like fossils are still putative, as they are usually difficult to identify.


title: Coconut

text: The earliest "Cocos"-like fossil to be found was ""Cocos" zeylanica", a fossil species described from small fruits, around × in size, recovered from the Miocene (~23 to 5.3 million years ago) of New Zealand in 1926. Since then, numerous other fossils of similar fruits were recovered throughout New Zealand from the Eocene, Oligocene, and possibly the Holocene. But research on them is still ongoing to determine which of them (if any) actually belong to the genus "Cocos". Endt & Hayward (1997) have noted their resemblance to members of the South American genus "Parajubaea", rather than "Cocos", and propose a South American origin. Conran "et al." (2015), however, suggests that their diversity in New Zealand indicate that they evolved endemically, rather than being introduced to the islands by long-distance dispersal. In west-central India, numerous fossils of "Cocos"-like fruits, leaves, and stems have been recovered from the Deccan Traps. They include morphotaxa like "Palmoxylon sundaran", "Palmoxylon insignae", and "Palmocarpon cocoides". "Cocos"-like fossils of fruits include ""Cocos" intertrappeansis", ""Cocos" pantii", and ""Cocos" sahnii". They also include fossil fruits that have been tentatively identified as modern "Cocos nucifera". These includes two specimens named ""Cocos" palaeonucifera" and ""Cocos" binoriensis", both were dated by their authors to the Maastrichtian–Danian of the early Tertiary (70 to 62 million years ago). "C. binoriensis" has been claimed by their authors to be the earliest known fossil of "Cocos nucifera".


title: Coconut

text: Outside of New Zealand and India, only two other regions have reported "Cocos"-like fossils, namely Australia and Colombia. In Australia, a "Cocos"-like fossil fruit, measuring , were recovered from the Chinchilla Sand Formation dated to the latest Pliocene or basal Pleistocene. Rigby (1995) assigned them to modern "Cocos nucifera" based on its size. In Colombia, a single "Cocos"-like fruit was recovered from the middle to late Paleocene Cerrejón Formation. The fruit however was compacted in the fossilization process and it was not possible to determine if it had the diagnostic three pores that characterize members of the tribe Cocoseae. Nevertheless, the authors Gomez-Navarro "et al." (2009), assigned it to "Cocos" based on the size and the ridged shape of the fruit.


title: Coconut

text: Further complicating measures to determine the evolutionary history of "Cocos" is the genetic diversity present within "C. nucifera" as well as its relatedness to other palms. Phylogenetic evidence supports the closest relatives of "Cocos" being either "Syagrus" or "Attalea", both of which are found in South America. However, "Cocos" is not thought to be indigenous to South America, and the highest genetic diversity is present in Asian "Cocos", indicating that at least the modern species "Cocos nucifera" is native to there"." In addition, fossils of potential "Cocos" ancestors have been recovered from both Colombia and India. In order to resolve this enigma, a 2014 study proposed that the ancestors of "Cocos" had likely originated on the Caribbean coast of what is now Colombia, and during the Eocene the ancestral "Cocos" performed a long-distance dispersal across the Atlantic Ocean to North Africa. From here, island-hopping via coral atolls lining the Tethys Sea, potentially boosted by the ocean currents at the time, would have proved crucial to dispersal, eventually allowing ancestral coconuts to reach India. The study contended that an adaptation to coral atolls would explain the prehistoric and modern distributions of "Cocos", would have provided the necessary evolutionary pressures, and would account for morphological factors such as a thick husk to protect against ocean degradation and provide a moist medium in which to germinate on sparse atolls.


title: Coconut

text: The name "coconut" is derived from the 16th-century Portuguese word "coco", meaning 'head' or 'skull' after the three indentations on the coconut shell that resemble facial features. "Coco" and "coconut" apparently came from 1521 encounters by Portuguese and Spanish explorers with Pacific Islanders, with the coconut shell reminding them of a ghost or witch in Portuguese folklore called "coco" (also "côca"). In the West it was originally called "nux indica", a name used by Marco Polo in 1280 while in Sumatra. He took the term from the Arabs, who called it جوز هندي "jawz hindī", translating to 'Indian nut'. "Thenga", its Tamil/Malayalam name, was used in the detailed description of coconut found in "Itinerario" by Ludovico di Varthema published in 1510 and also in the later "Hortus Indicus Malabaricus".


title: Coconut

text: Carl Linnaeus first wanted to name the coconut genus "Coccus" from latinizing the Portuguese word "coco", because he saw works of other botanists in middle of the 17th century use the name as well. He consulted the catalogue "Herbarium Amboinense" by Georg Eberhard Rumphius where Rumphius said that "coccus" was a homonym of "coccum" and "coccus" from Greek "kokkos" meaning "grain" or "berry", but Romans identified "coccus" with "kermes insects"; Rumphius preferred the word "cocus" as a replacement. However, the word "cocus" could also mean "cook" like "coquus" in Latin, so Linnaeus chose "Cocos" directly from the Portuguese word "coco" instead.


title: Coconut

text: The specific name "nucifera" is derived from the Latin words "nux" (nut) and "fera" (bearing), for 'nut-bearing'.


title: Coconut

text: Coconuts have a nearly cosmopolitan distribution thanks to human action in using them for agriculture. However their historical distribution was likely more limited.


title: Coconut

text: Modern genetic studies have identified the center of origin of coconuts as being the Central Indo-Pacific, the region between western Southeast Asia and Melanesia, where it shows greatest genetic diversity. Their cultivation and spread was closely tied to the early migrations of the Austronesian peoples who carried coconuts as canoe plants to islands they settled. The similarities of the local names in the Austronesian region is also cited as evidence that the plant originated in the region. For example, the Polynesian and Melanesian term "niu"; Tagalog and Chamorro term "niyog"; and the Malay word "nyiur" or "nyior". Other evidence for a Central Indo-Pacific origin is the native range of the coconut crab; and the higher amounts of "C. nucifera"-specific insect pests in the region (90%) in comparison to the Americas (20%), and Africa (4%).


title: Coconut

text: A study in 2011 identified two highly genetically differentiated subpopulations of coconuts, one originating from Island Southeast Asia (the Pacific group) and the other from the southern margins of the Indian subcontinent (the Indo-Atlantic group). The Pacific group is the only one to display clear genetic and phenotypic indications that they were domesticated; including dwarf habit, self-pollination, and the round ""niu vai"" fruit morphology with larger endosperm-to-husk ratios. The distribution of the Pacific coconuts correspond to the regions settled by Austronesian voyagers indicating that its spread was largely the result of human introductions. It is most strikingly displayed in Madagascar, an island settled by Austronesian sailors at around 2000 to 1500 BP. The coconut populations in the island show genetic admixture between the two subpopulations indicating that Pacific coconuts were brought by the Austronesian settlers that later interbred with the local Indo-Atlantic coconuts.


title: Coconut

text: Genetic studies of coconuts have also confirmed pre-Columbian populations of coconuts in Panama in South America. However, it is not native and displays a genetic bottleneck resulting from a founder effect. A study in 2008 showed that the coconuts in the Americas are genetically closest related to coconuts in the Philippines, and not to any other nearby coconut populations (including Polynesia). Such an origin indicates that the coconuts were not introduced naturally, such as by sea currents. The researchers concluded that it was brought by early Austronesian sailors to the Americas from at least 2,250 BP, and may be proof of pre-Columbian contact between Austronesian cultures and South American cultures. It is further strengthened by other similar botanical evidence of contact, like the pre-colonial presence of sweet potato in Oceanian cultures. During the colonial era, Pacific coconuts were further introduced to Mexico from the Spanish East Indies via the Manila galleons.


title: Coconut

text: In contrast to the Pacific coconuts, Indo-Atlantic coconuts were largely spread by Arab and Persian traders into the East African coast. Indo-Atlantic coconuts were also introduced into the Atlantic Ocean by Portuguese ships from their colonies in coastal India and Sri Lanka; first being introduced to coastal West Africa, then onwards into the Caribbean and the east coast of Brazil. All of these introductions are within the last few centuries, relatively recent in comparison to the spread of Pacific coconuts.


title: Coconut

text: The coconut palm thrives on sandy soils and is highly tolerant of salinity. It prefers areas with abundant sunlight and regular rainfall ( annually), which makes colonizing shorelines of the tropics relatively straightforward. Coconuts also need high humidity (at least 70–80%) for optimum growth, which is why they are rarely seen in areas with low humidity. However, they can be found in humid areas with low annual precipitation such as in Karachi, Pakistan, which receives only about of rainfall per year, but is consistently warm and humid.


title: Coconut

text: Coconut palms require warm conditions for successful growth, and are intolerant of cold weather. Some seasonal variation is tolerated, with good growth where mean summer temperatures are between , and survival as long as winter temperatures are above ; they will survive brief drops to . Severe frost is usually fatal, although they have been known to recover from temperatures of . They may grow but not fruit properly in areas with insufficient warmth, such as Bermuda.


title: Coconut

text: The main limiting factor for most locations which satisfy the rainfall and temperature requirements is canopy growth, except those locations near coastlines, where the sandy soil and salt spray limit the growth of most other trees.


title: Coconut

text: Wild coconuts are naturally restricted to coastal areas in sandy, saline soils. The fruit is adapted for ocean dispersal. Coconuts could not reach inland locations without human intervention (to carry seednuts, plant seedlings, etc.) and early germination on the palm (vivipary) was important.


title: Coconut

text: Coconuts today can be grouped into two highly genetically distinct subpopulations: the Indo-Atlantic group originating from southern India and nearby regions (including Sri Lanka, the Laccadives, and the Maldives); and the Pacific group originating from the region between maritime Southeast Asia and Melanesia. Linguistic, archaeological, and genetic evidence all point to the early domestication of Pacific coconuts by the Austronesian peoples in maritime Southeast Asia during the Austronesian expansion (c. 3000 to 1500 BCE). Although archaeological remains dating back to 1000 to 500 BCE also suggest that the Indo-Atlantic coconuts were also later independently cultivated by the Dravidian peoples, only Pacific coconuts show clear signs of domestication traits like dwarf habits, self-pollination, and rounded fruits. Indo-Atlantic coconuts, in contrast, all have the ancestral traits of tall habits and elongated triangular fruits.


title: Coconut

text: The coconut played a critical role in the migrations of the Austronesian peoples. They provided a portable source of both food and water, allowing Austronesians to survive long sea voyages to colonize new islands as well as establish long-range trade routes. Based on linguistic evidence, the absence of words for coconut in the Taiwanese Austronesian languages makes it likely that the Austronesian coconut culture developed only after Austronesians started colonizing the Philippines. The importance of the coconut in Austronesian cultures is evidenced by shared terminology of even very specific parts and uses of coconuts, which were carried outwards from the Philippines during the Austronesian migrations. Indo-Atlantic type coconuts were also later spread by Arab and South Asian traders along the Indian Ocean basin, resulting in limited admixture with Pacific coconuts introduced earlier to Madagascar and the Comoros via the ancient Austronesian maritime trade network.


title: Coconut

text: Coconuts can be broadly divided into two fruit typesthe ancestral "niu kafa" form with a thick-husked, angular fruit, and the "niu vai" form with a thin-husked, spherical fruit with a higher proportion of endosperm. The terms are derived from the Samoan language and was adopted into scientific usage by Harries (1978).


title: Coconut

text: The "niu kafa" form is the wild ancestral type, with thick husks to protect the seed, an angular, highly ridged shape to promote buoyancy during ocean dispersal, and a pointed base that allowed fruits to dig into the sand, preventing them from being washed away during germination on a new island. It is the dominant form in the Indo-Atlantic coconuts. However, they may have also been partially selected for thicker husks for coir production, which was also important in Austronesian material culture as a source for cordage in building houses and boats.


title: Coconut

text: The "niu vai" form is the domesticated form dominant in the Pacific coconuts. They were selected for by the Austronesian peoples for their larger endosperm-to-husk ratio as well as higher coconut water content, making them more useful as food and water reserves for sea voyages. The decreased buoyancy and increased fragility of this spherical, thin-husked fruit would not matter for a species that had started to be dispersed by humans and grown in plantations. "Niu vai" endocarp fragments have been recovered in archaeological sites in the St. Matthias Islands of the Bismarck Archipelago. The fragments are dated to approximately 1000 BCE, suggesting that cultivation and artificial selection of coconuts were already practiced by the Austronesian Lapita people.


title: Coconut

text: Coconuts can also be broadly divided into two general types based on habit: the "Tall" (var. "typica") and "Dwarf" (var. "nana") varieties. The two groups are genetically distinct, with the dwarf variety showing a greater degree of artificial selection for ornamental traits and for early germination and fruiting. The tall variety is outcrossing while dwarf palms are self-pollinating, which has led to a much greater degree of genetic diversity within the tall group.


title: Coconut

text: The dwarf coconut cultivars are fully domesticated, in contrast to tall cultivars which display greater diversity in terms of domestication (and lack thereof). The fact that all dwarf coconuts share three genetic markers out of thirteen (which are only present in low frequencies in tall cultivars) makes it likely that they all originate from a single domesticated population. Philippine and Malayan dwarf coconuts diverged early into two distinct types. They usually remain genetically isolated when introduced to new regions, making it possible to trace their origins. Numerous other dwarf cultivars also developed as the initial dwarf cultivar was introduced to other regions and hybridized with various tall cultivars. The origin of dwarf varieties is Southeast Asia, which contain the tall cultivars that are genetically closest to dwarf coconuts.


title: Coconut

text: Another ancestral variety is the niu leka of Polynesia (sometimes called the "Compact Dwarfs"). Although it shares similar characteristics to dwarf coconuts (including slow growth), it is genetically distinct and is thus believed to be independently domesticated, likely in Tonga. Other cultivars of "niu leka" may also exist in other islands of the Pacific, and some are probably descendants of advanced crosses between Compact Dwarfs and Southeast Asian Dwarf types.


title: Coconut

text: Coconut fruit in the wild are light, buoyant, and highly water resistant. It is claimed that they evolved to disperse significant distances via marine currents. However, it can also be argued that the placement of the vulnerable eye of the nut (down when floating), and the site of the coir cushion are better positioned to ensure that the water-filled nut does not fracture when dropping on rocky ground, rather than for flotation.


title: Coconut

text: It is also often stated that coconuts can travel 110 days, or , by sea and still be able to germinate. This figure has been questioned based on the extremely small sample size that forms the basis of the paper that makes this claim. Thor Heyerdahl provides an alternative, and much shorter, estimate based on his first-hand experience crossing the Pacific Ocean on the raft "Kon-Tiki":


title: Coconut

text: He also notes that several of the nuts began to germinate by the time they had been ten weeks at sea, precluding an unassisted journey of 100 days or more.


title: Coconut

text: Drift models based on wind and ocean currents have shown that coconuts could not have drifted across the Pacific unaided. If they were naturally distributed and had been in the Pacific for a thousand years or so, then we would expect the eastern shore of Australia, with its own islands sheltered by the Great Barrier Reef, to have been thick with coconut palms: the currents were directly into, and down along this coast. However, both James Cook and William Bligh (put adrift after the "Bounty" mutiny) found no sign of the nuts along this stretch when he needed water for his crew. Nor were there coconuts on the east side of the African coast until Vasco da Gama, nor in the Caribbean when first visited by Christopher Columbus. They were commonly carried by Spanish ships as a source of fresh water.


title: Coconut

text: These provide substantial circumstantial evidence that deliberate Austronesian voyagers were involved in carrying coconuts across the Pacific Ocean and that they could not have dispersed worldwide without human agency. More recently, genomic analysis of cultivated coconut ("C. nucifera" L.) has shed light on the movement. However, admixture, the transfer of genetic material, evidently occurred between the two populations.


title: Coconut

text: Given that coconuts are ideally suited for inter-island group ocean dispersal, obviously some natural distribution did take place. However, the locations of the admixture events are limited to Madagascar and coastal east Africa, and exclude the Seychelles. This pattern coincides with the known trade routes of Austronesian sailors. Additionally, a genetically distinct subpopulation of coconut on the Pacific coast of Latin America has undergone a genetic bottleneck resulting from a founder effect; however, its ancestral population is the Pacific coconut from the Philippines. This, together with their use of the South American sweet potato, suggests that Austronesian peoples may have sailed as far east as the Americas. In the Hawaiian Islands, the coconut is regarded as a Polynesian introduction, first brought to the islands by early Polynesian voyagers (also Austronesians) from their homelands in the southern islands of Polynesia.


title: Coconut

text: Specimens have been collected from the sea as far north as Norway (but it is not known where they entered the water). They have been found in the Caribbean and the Atlantic coasts of Africa and South America for less than 500 years (the Caribbean native inhabitants do not have a dialect term for them, but use the Portuguese name), but evidence of their presence on the Pacific coast of South America antedates Columbus's arrival in the Americas. They are now almost ubiquitous between 26° N and 26° S except for the interiors of Africa and South America.


title: Coconut

text: The 2014 coral atoll origin hypothesis proposed that the coconut had dispersed in an island hopping fashion using the small, sometimes transient, coral atolls. It noted that by using these small atolls, the species could easily island-hop. Over the course of evolutionary time-scales the shifting atolls would have shortened the paths of colonization, meaning that any one coconut would not have to travel very far to find new land.


title: Coconut

text: Coconuts are susceptible to the phytoplasma disease, lethal yellowing. One recently selected cultivar, the 'Maypan', has been bred for resistance to this disease. Yellowing diseases affect plantations in Africa, India, Mexico, the Caribbean and the Pacific Region.


title: Coconut

text: The coconut palm is damaged by the larvae of many Lepidoptera (butterfly and moth) species which feed on it, including the African armyworm ("Spodoptera exempta") and "Batrachedra" spp.: "B. arenosella", "B. atriloqua" (feeds exclusively on "C. nucifera"), "B. mathesoni" (feeds exclusively on "C. nucifera"), and "B. nuciferae".


title: Coconut

text: "Brontispa longissima" (coconut leaf beetle) feeds on young leaves, and damages both seedlings and mature coconut palms. In 2007, the Philippines imposed a quarantine in Metro Manila and 26 provinces to stop the spread of the pest and protect the Philippine coconut industry managed by some 3.5 million farmers.


title: Coconut

text: The fruit may also be damaged by eriophyid coconut mites ("Eriophyes guerreronis"). This mite infests coconut plantations, and is devastating; it can destroy up to 90% of coconut production. The immature seeds are infested and desapped by larvae staying in the portion covered by the perianth of the immature seed; the seeds then drop off or survive deformed. Spraying with wettable sulfur 0.4% or with Neem-based pesticides can give some relief, but is cumbersome and labor-intensive.


title: Coconut

text: In Kerala, India, the main coconut pests are the coconut mite, the rhinoceros beetle, the red palm weevil, and the coconut leaf caterpillar. Research into countermeasures to these pests has yielded no results; researchers from the Kerala Agricultural University and the Central Plantation Crop Research Institute, Kasaragode, continue to work on countermeasures. The Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Kannur under Kerala Agricultural University has developed an innovative extension approach called the compact area group approach to combat coconut mites.


title: Coconut

text: In 2020, world production of coconuts was 62 million tonnes, led by Indonesia, India, and the Philippines, with 75% combined of the total (table).


title: Coconut

text: Coconut palms are normally cultivated in hot and wet tropical climates. They need year round warmth and moisture to grow well and fruit. Coconut palms are hard to establish in dry climates, and cannot grow there without frequent irrigation; in drought conditions, the new leaves do not open well, and older leaves may become desiccated; fruit also tends to be shed.


title: Coconut

text: The extent of cultivation in the tropics is threatening a number of habitats, such as mangroves; an example of such damage to an ecoregion is in the Petenes mangroves of the Yucatán.


title: Coconut

text: Coconut has a number of commercial and traditional cultivars. They can be sorted mainly into tall cultivars, dwarf cultivars, and hybrid cultivars (hybrids between talls and dwarfs). Some of the dwarf cultivars such as 'Malayan dwarf' have shown some promising resistance to lethal yellowing, while other cultivars such as 'Jamaican tall' are highly affected by the same plant disease. Some cultivars are more drought resistant such as 'West coast tall' (India) while others such as 'Hainan Tall' (China) are more cold tolerant. Other aspects such as seed size, shape and weight, and copra thickness are also important factors in the selection of new cultivars. Some cultivars such as 'Fiji dwarf' form a large bulb at the lower stem and others are cultivated to produce very sweet coconut water with orange-colored husks (king coconut) used entirely in fruit stalls for drinking (Sri Lanka, India).


title: Coconut

text: The two most common harvesting methods are the climbing method and the pole method. Climbing is the most widespread, but it is also more dangerous and requires skilled workers. Manually climbing trees is traditional in most countries and requires a specific posture that exerts pressure on the trunk with the feet. Climbers employed in coconut plantations often develop musculoskeletal disorders and risk severe injury or death from falling.


title: Coconut

text: To avoid this, coconuts workers in the Philippines and Guam traditionally use bolos tied with a rope to the waist to cut grooves at regular intervals on the coconut trunks. This basically turns the trunk of the tree into a ladder, though it reduces the value of coconut timber recovered from the trees and can be an entry point for infection. Other manual methods to make climbing easier include using a system of pulleys and ropes; using pieces of vine, rope, or cloth tied to both hands or feet; using spikes attached to the feet or legs; or attaching coconut husks to the trunk with ropes. Modern methods use hydraulic elevators mounted on tractors or ladders. Mechanical coconut climbing devices and even automated robots have also been recently developed in countries like India, Sri Lanka, and Malaysia.


title: Coconut

text: The pole method uses a long pole with a cutting device at the end. In the Philippines, the traditional tool is known as the "halabas" and is made from a long bamboo pole with a sickle-like blade mounted at the tip. Though safer and faster than the climbing method, its main disadvantage is that it does not allow workers to examine and clean the crown of coconuts for pests and diseases.


title: Coconut

text: Determining "whether" to harvest is also important. Gatchalian et al 1994 developed a sonometry technique for precisely determining the stage of ripeness of young coconuts.


title: Coconut

text: A system of bamboo bridges and ladders directly connecting the tree canopies are also utilized in the Philippines for coconut plantations that harvest coconut sap (not fruits) for coconut vinegar and palm wine production. In other areas, like in Papua New Guinea, coconuts are simply collected when they fall to the ground.


title: Coconut

text: A more controversial method employed by a small number of coconut farmers in Thailand and Malaysia use trained pig-tailed macaques to harvest coconuts. Thailand has been raising and training pig-tailed macaques to pick coconuts for around 400 years. Training schools for pig-tailed macaques still exist both in southern Thailand and in the Malaysian state of Kelantan.


title: Coconut

text: The practice of using macaques to harvest coconuts was exposed in Thailand by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) in 2019, resulting in calls for boycotts on coconut products. PETA later clarified that the use of macaques is not practiced in the Philippines, India, Brazil, Colombia, Hawaii, and other major coconut-producing regions.


title: Coconut

text: In cooler climates (but not less than USDA Zone 9), a similar palm, the queen palm ("Syagrus romanzoffiana"), is used in landscaping. Its fruits are similar to the coconut, but smaller. The queen palm was originally classified in the genus "Cocos" along with the coconut, but was later reclassified in "Syagrus". A recently discovered palm, "Beccariophoenix alfredii" from Madagascar, is nearly identical to the coconut, more so than the queen palm and can also be grown in slightly cooler climates than the coconut palm. Coconuts can only be grown in temperatures above and need a daily temperature above to produce fruit.


title: Coconut

text: Indonesia is the world's largest producer of coconuts, with gross production of 15 million tonnes. A sprouting coconut seed is the logo for Gerakan Pramuka Indonesia, the Indonesian scouting organization.


title: Coconut

text: The Philippines is the world's second-largest producer of coconuts. It was the world's largest producer for decades until a decline in production due to aging trees as well as typhoon devastation. Indonesia overtook it in 2010. It is still the largest producer of coconut oil and copra, accounting for 64% of the global production. The production of coconuts plays an important role in the economy, with 25% of cultivated land (around 3.56 million hectares) used for coconut plantations and approximately 25 to 33% of the population reliant on coconuts for their livelihood.


title: Coconut

text: Two important coconut products were first developed in the Philippines, macapuno and "nata de coco". Macapuno is a coconut variety with a jelly-like coconut meat. Its meat is sweetened, cut into strands, and sold in glass jars as coconut strings, sometimes labeled as "coconut sport". "Nata de coco", also called coconut gel, is another jelly-like coconut product made from fermented coconut water.