title: Mohamed Atta

text: Atta's professor, Dittmar Machule, brought him along on an archaeological expedition to Aleppo in 1994. The invitation had been for a three-day visit, but Atta ended up staying several weeks that August, only to visit Aleppo yet again that December. While in Syria, he met Amal, a young Palestinian woman who worked for a planning bureau in the city. Volker Hauth, who was traveling with Atta, described Amal as "attractive and self-confident. She observed Muslim customs, taking taxis to and from the office so as not to come into close physical contact with men on buses. But she was also said to be 'emancipated' and 'challenging'. Atta and Amal appeared to be attracted to each other, but Atta soon decided that "she had a quite different orientation and that the emancipation of the young lady did not fit." His nascent infatuation with her, begrudgingly realised, was the closest thing Atta knew to romance. In mid-1995, he stayed for three months in Cairo, on a grant from the Carl Duisberg Society, along with fellow students Volker Hauth and Ralph Bodenstein. The academic team inquired into the effects of redevelopment in the Islamic Cairo, the old quarter, which the government undertook to remodel for tourism. Atta stayed in Cairo awhile with his family after Hauth and Bodenstein flew back to Germany.


title: Mohamed Atta

text: While in Hamburg, Atta held several positions, such as one part-time job at Plankontor, as well as another at an urban planning firm, beginning in 1992. He was let go from the firm in 1997, however, because its business had declined and "his draughtsmanship was not needed" after it bought a CAD system. Among other odd jobs to supplement his income, Atta sometimes worked at a cleaning company and sometimes bought and sold cars. Atta had harbored a desire to return to his native city, ever since he finished his studies in Hamburg; but he was prevented by the dearth of job prospects in Cairo, his family lacking the "right connections" to avail the customary nepotism. Further, after the Egyptian government had imprisoned droves of political activists, he knew better than to trust it not to target him too, with his social and political beliefs being such as they were.


title: Mohamed Atta

text: After coming to Hamburg in 1992, Atta grew more religiously fanatical and frequented the mosque with greater regularity. His friends in Germany described him as an intelligent man in whom religious convictions and political motives held equal sway. He harbored anger and resentment toward the U.S. for its policy in Islamic nations of the Middle East, with nothing inflaming his ire more than the Oslo Accords and the Gulf War in particular. He was also angry and bitter at the elite in his native Egypt, who he believed hoarded power for themselves, as well as at the Egyptian government, that cracked down on the dissident Muslim Brotherhood. Atta was anti-Semitic, believing that Jews controlled the world's media, financial, and political institutions from New York City. These beliefs were even stronger during Operation Infinite Reach, which he believed that Monica Lewinsky was a Jewish agent influencing Bill Clinton against aiding Palestine, which would later play a key role in creating the Hamburg Cell.


title: Mohamed Atta

text: On August 1, 1995, Atta returned to Egypt for three months of study. Before this trip he grew out a beard, with a view to show himself as a devout Muslim and to make a political gesture thereby. Atta returned to Hamburg on October 31, 1995, only to join the pilgrimage to Mecca shortly thereafter.


title: Mohamed Atta

text: In Hamburg, Atta was intensely drawn to al-Quds Mosque which adhered to a "harsh, uncompromisingly fundamentalist, and resoundingly militant" version of Sunni Islam. He made acquaintances at al-Quds; some of whom visited him on occasion at Centrumshaus. He also began teaching classes both at Al-Quds and at a Turkish mosque near the Harburg district. Atta also started and led a prayer group, which Ahmed Maklat and Mounir El Motassadeq joined. Ramzi bin al-Shibh was also there, teaching occasional classes, and became Atta's friend.


title: Mohamed Atta

text: On April 11, 1996, Atta signed his last will and testament at the mosque, officially declaring his Muslim beliefs and giving 18 instructions regarding his burial. This was the same day that Israel, much to the outrage of Atta, attacked Lebanon in Operation Grapes of Wrath; signing the will "offering his life" was his response. The instructions in his last will and testament reflect both Sunni funeral practices along with some more puritanical demands from Salafism, including asking people not "to weep and cry" and to generally refrain from showing emotion. The will was signed by el-Motassadeq and a second person at the mosque.


title: Mohamed Atta

text: After leaving Plankontor in the summer of 1997, Atta disappeared again and did not return until 1998. He had made no progress on his thesis. Atta phoned his graduate advisor, Machule, and mentioned family problems at home, saying, "Please understand, I don't want to talk about this." At the winter break in 1997, Atta left and did not return to Hamburg for three months. He said that he went on pilgrimage to Mecca again, just 18 months after his first time. This claim has been disputed; Terry McDermott has argued that it is unusual for someone to go on pilgrimage so soon after the first time and to spend three months there (more than Hajj requires). When Atta returned, he claimed that his passport was lost and applied for a new one, which is a common tactic to erase evidence of travel to places such as Afghanistan. When he returned in spring 1998, after disappearing for several months, he had grown a thick long beard, and "seemed more serious and aloof" than before to those who knew him.


title: Mohamed Atta

text: By mid-1998, Atta was no longer eligible for university housing in Centrumshaus. He moved into a nearby apartment in the Wilhelmsburg district, where he lived with Said Bahaji and Ramzi bin al-Shibh. By early 1999, Atta had completed his thesis, and formally defended it in August 1999.


title: Mohamed Atta

text: In mid-1998, Atta worked alongside Shehhi, bin al-Shibh, and Belfas, at a warehouse, packing computers in crates for shipping. The Hamburg group did not stay in Wilhelmsburg for long. The next winter, they moved into an apartment at Marienstrasse 54 in the borough of Harburg, near the Hamburg University of Technology, at which they enrolled. It was here that the Hamburg cell developed and acted more as a group. They met three or four times a week to discuss their anti-American feelings and to plot possible attacks. Many al-Qaeda members lived in this apartment at various times, including hijacker Marwan al-Shehhi, Zakariya Essabar, and others.


title: Mohamed Atta

text: In late 1999, Atta, Shehhi, Jarrah, Bahaji, and bin al-Shibh decided to travel to Chechnya to fight against the Russians, but were convinced by Khalid al-Masri and Mohamedou Ould Salahi at the last minute to change their plans. They instead traveled to Afghanistan over a two-week period in late November. On November 29, 1999, Mohamed Atta boarded Turkish Airlines Flight TK1662 from Hamburg to Istanbul, where he changed to flight TK1056 to Karachi, Pakistan. After they arrived, they were selected by Al Qaeda leader Mohammed Atef as suitable candidates for the "planes operation" plot. They were all well-educated, had experience of living in western society, along with some English skills, and would be able to obtain visas. Even before bin al-Shibh had arrived, Atta, Shehhi, and Jarrah were sent to the House of Ghamdi near bin Laden's home in Kandahar, where he was waiting to meet them. Bin Laden asked them to pledge loyalty and commit to suicide missions, which Atta and the other three Hamburg men all accepted. Bin Laden sent them to see Atef to get a general overview of the mission, and then they were sent to Karachi to see Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to go over specifics.


title: Mohamed Atta

text: German investigators said that they had evidence that Mohamed Atta trained at al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan from late 1999 to early 2000. The timing of the Afghanistan training was outlined on August 23, 2002, by a senior investigator. The investigator, Klaus Ulrich Kersten was the director of Germany's federal anticrime agency, the Bundeskriminalamt. He provided the first official confirmation that Atta and two other pilots had been in Afghanistan, and he also provided the first dates of the training. Kersten said in an interview at the agency's headquarters in Wiesbaden that Atta was in Afghanistan from late 1999 until early 2000, and that there was evidence that Atta met with Osama bin Laden there.


title: Mohamed Atta

text: A video surfaced in October 2006. The first chapter of the video showed bin Laden at Tarnak Farms on January 8, 2000. The second chapter showed Atta and Ziad Jarrah reading their wills together ten days later on January 18. On his return journey, Atta left Karachi on February 24, 2000, by flight TK1057 to Istanbul where he changed to flight TK1661 to Hamburg. Immediately after returning to Germany, Atta, al-Shehhi, and Jarrah reported their passports stolen, possibly to discard travel visas to Afghanistan.


title: Mohamed Atta

text: On March 22, 2000, Atta was still in Germany when he sent an e-mail to the Academy of Lakeland in Florida. He inquired about flight training, "Dear sir, we are a small group of young men from different Arab countries. Now, we are living in Germany since a while for study purposes. We would like to start training for the career of airline professional pilots. In this field, we haven't yet any knowledge but we are ready to undergo an intensive training program (up to ATP and eventually higher)." Atta sent 50–60 similar e-mails to other flight training schools in the United States.


title: Mohamed Atta

text: On May 17, Atta applied for a United States visa. The next day, he received a five-year B-1/B-2 (tourist/business) visa from the United States embassy in Berlin. Atta had lived in Germany for approximately five years and also had a "strong record as a student". He was therefore treated favorably and not scrutinized. After obtaining his visa, Atta took a bus on June 2 from Hamburg to Prague where he stayed overnight before traveling on to the United States the next day. Bin al-Shibh later explained that they believed it would contribute to operational security for Atta to fly out of Prague instead of Hamburg, where he traveled from previously. Likewise, Shehhi traveled from a different location, in his case via Brussels.


title: Mohamed Atta

text: On June 6, 2002, ABC's "World News Tonight" broadcast an interview with Johnelle Bryant, former loan officer at the U.S. Department of Agriculture in south Florida, who told about her encounter with Mohamed Atta. This encounter took place "around the third week of April to the third week of May of 2000", before Atta's official entry date into the United States (see below). According to Bryant, Atta wanted to finance the purchase of a crop-duster. "He wanted to finance a twin-engine, six-passenger aircraft and remove the seats," Bryant told ABC's "World News Tonight". He insisted that she write his name as ATTA, that he originally was from Egypt but had moved to Afghanistan, that he was an engineer and that his dream was to go to a flight school. He asked about the Pentagon and the White House. He said he wanted to visit the World Trade Center and asked Bryant about the security there. He mentioned Al Qaeda and said the organization "could use memberships from Americans". He mentioned Osama bin Laden and said "this man would someday be known as the world's greatest leader." Bryant said "the picture that came out in the newspaper, that's exactly what that man looked like." Bryant contacted the authorities after recognising Atta in news reports. Law-enforcement officials said Bryant passed a lie-detector exam.


title: Mohamed Atta

text: According to official reports, Atta flew from Prague to Newark International Airport, arriving on June 3, 2000. That month, Atta and Shehhi stayed in hotels and rented rooms in New York City on a short-term basis. Jarrah had arrived in the United States on June 27, 2000, after his flight landed at Newark, New Jersey, and Jarrah had decided to go with Shehhi and Atta to search for different flight schools in the US. They continued to inquire about flight schools and personally visited some, including Airman Flight School in Norman, Oklahoma, which they visited on July 3, 2000. Days later, Shehhi, Jarrah and Atta ended up in Venice, Florida. Atta and Shehhi established accounts at SunTrust Bank and received wire transfers from Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's nephew in the United Arab Emirates. On July 6, 2000, Atta, Jarrah and Shehhi enrolled at Huffman Aviation in Venice, where they entered the Accelerated Pilot Program. When Atta and Shehhi arrived in Florida, they initially stayed with Huffman's bookkeeper and his wife in a spare room of their house. After a week, they were asked to leave because they were rude. Atta and Shehhi then moved into a small house nearby in Nokomis where they stayed for six months.


title: Mohamed Atta

text: Atta began flight training on July 6, 2000, and continued training nearly every day. By the end of July, both Atta and Shehhi did solo flights. Atta earned his private pilot certificate in September, and then he and Shehhi decided to switch flight schools. Both enrolled at Jones Aviation in Sarasota and took training there for a brief time. They had problems following instructions and were both very upset when they failed their Stage 1 exam at Jones Aviation. They inquired about multi-engine planes and told the instructor that "they wanted to move quickly, because they had a job waiting in their country upon completion of their training in the U.S." In mid-October, Atta and Shehhi returned to Huffman Aviation to continue training. In November 2000, Atta earned his instrument rating, and then a commercial pilot's license in December from the Federal Aviation Administration.


title: Mohamed Atta

text: Atta continued with flight training that included solo flights and simulator time. On December 22, Atta and Shehhi applied to Eagle International for large jet and simulator training for McDonnell Douglas DC-9 and Boeing 737-300 models. On December 26, Atta and Shehhi needed a tow for their rented Piper Cherokee on a taxiway of Miami International Airport after the engine shut down. On December 29 and 30, Atta and Marwan went to the Opa-locka Airport where they practiced on a Boeing 727 simulator, and they obtained Boeing 767 simulator training from Pan Am International on December 31. Atta purchased cockpit videos for Boeing 747-200, Boeing 757-200, Airbus A320 and Boeing 767-300ER models via mail-order from Sporty's Pilot Shop in Batavia, Ohio, in November and December 2000.


title: Mohamed Atta

text: Records on Atta's cellphone indicated that he phoned the Moroccan embassy in Washington on January 2, just before Shehhi flew to the country. Atta flew to Spain on January 4, 2001, to coordinate with bin al-Shibh and returned to the United States on January 10. While in the United States he traveled to Lawrenceville, Georgia, where he and Shehhi visited an LA Fitness Health Club. During that time Atta flew out of Briscoe Field in Lawrenceville with a pilot, and Atta and either the pilot or Shehhi flew around the Atlanta area. They lived in the area for several months. On April 3, Atta and Shehhi rented a postal box in Virginia Beach, Virginia.


title: Mohamed Atta

text: On April 11, Atta and Shehhi rented an apartment at 10001 Atlantic Blvd, Apt. 122 in Coral Springs, Florida, for $840 per month, and assisted with the arrival of the muscle hijackers. On April 16, Atta was given a citation for not having a valid driver's license, and he began steps to get the license. On May 2, Atta received his driver's license in Lauderdale Lakes, Florida. While in the United States, Atta owned a red 1989 Pontiac Grand Prix.


title: Mohamed Atta

text: On June 27, Atta flew from Fort Lauderdale to Boston, Massachusetts, where he spent a day, and then continued to San Francisco for a short time, and from there to Las Vegas. On June 28, Atta arrived at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas to meet with the three other pilots. He rented a Chevrolet Malibu from an Alamo Rent A Car agency. It is not known where he stayed that night, but on the 29th he registered at the Econo Lodge at 1150 South Las Vegas Boulevard. Here he presented an AAA membership for a discount, and paid cash for the $49.50/night room. During his trip to Las Vegas, he is thought to have used a video camera that he had rented from a Select Photo outlet back in Delray Beach, Florida.


title: Mohamed Atta

text: In July 2001, Atta again left for Spain in order to meet with bin al-Shibh for the last time. On July 7, 2001, Atta flew on Swissair Flight 117 from Miami to Zürich, where he had a stopover. On July 8, Atta was recorded on surveillance video when he withdrew 1700 Swiss francs from an ATM. He used his credit card to purchase two Swiss Army knives and some chocolate in a shop at the Zürich Airport. After the stopover in Zürich, he arrived in Madrid at 4:45 pm on Swissair Flight 656, and spent several hours at the airport. Then at 8:50 pm, he checked into the Hotel Diana Cazadora in Barajas, a town near the airport. That night and twice the next morning, he called Bashar Ahmad Ali Musleh, a Jordanian student in Hamburg who served as a liaison for bin al-Shibh.


title: Mohamed Atta

text: On the morning of July 9, Mohamed Atta rented a silver Hyundai Accent, which he booked from SIXT Rent-A-Car for July 9 to 16, and later extended to the 19th. He drove east out of Madrid towards the Mediterranean beach area of Tarragona. On the way, Atta stopped in Reus to pick up Ramzi bin al-Shibh at the airport. They drove to Cambrils, where they spent a night at the Hotel Monica. They checked out the next morning, and spent the next few days at an unknown location in Tarragona. The absence of other hotel stays, signed receipts or credit card stubs has led investigators to believe that the men may have met in a safe house provided by other al-Qaeda operatives in Spain. There, Atta and bin al-Shibh held a meeting to complete the planning of the attacks. Several clues have been found to link their stay in Spain to Syrian-born Imad Eddin Barakat Yarkas (Abu Dahdah), and Amer el Azizi, a Moroccan in Spain. They may have helped arrange and host the meeting in Tarragona. Yosri Fouda, who interviewed bin al-Shibh and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM) before the arrest, believes that Said Bahaji and KSM may have also been present at the meeting. Spanish investigators have said that Marwan al-Shehhi and two others later joined the meeting. Bin al-Shibh would not discuss this meeting with Fouda.


title: Mohamed Atta

text: During the meetings in Spain, Atta and bin al-Shibh had coordinated the details of the attacks. The 9/11 Commission obtained details about the meeting, based on interrogations of bin al-Shibh in the weeks after his arrest in September 2002. Bin al-Shibh explained that he passed along instructions from Osama bin Laden, including his desire for the attacks to be carried out as soon as possible. Bin Laden was concerned about having so many operatives in the United States. Atta confirmed that all the muscle hijackers had arrived in the United States, without any problems, but said that he needed five to six more weeks to work out details. Bin Laden also asked that other operatives not be informed of the specific data until the last minute. During the meeting, Atta and bin al-Shibh also decided on the targets to be hit, ruling out a strike on a nuclear plant. Bin al-Shibh passed along bin Laden's list of targets; bin Laden wanted the United States Capitol, the Pentagon, and the World Trade Center to be attacked, as they were deemed "symbols of America." If any of the hijackers could not reach their intended targets, Atta said, they were to crash the plane. They also discussed the personal difficulties Atta was having with fellow hijacker Ziad Jarrah. Bin al-Shibh was worried that Jarrah might even abandon the plan. The 9/11 Commission Report speculated that the now-convicted terrorist conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui was being trained as a possible replacement for Jarrah.


title: Mohamed Atta

text: From July 13 to 16, Atta stayed at the Hotel Sant Jordi in Tarragona. After bin al-Shibh returned to Germany on July 16, 2001, Atta had three more days in Spain. He spent two nights in Salou at the beachside Casablanca Playa Hotel, then spent the last two nights at the Hotel Residencia Montsant. On July 19, Atta returned to the United States, flying on Delta Air Lines from Madrid to Fort Lauderdale, via Atlanta.


title: Mohamed Atta

text: On July 22, 2001, Atta rented a Mitsubishi Galant from Alamo Rent a Car, putting on the vehicle before returning it on July 26. On July 25, Atta dropped Ziad Jarrah off at Miami International Airport for a flight back to Germany. On July 26, Atta traveled via Continental Airlines to Newark, New Jersey, checked into the Kings Inn Hotel in Wayne, New Jersey, and stayed there until July 30 when he took a flight from Newark back to Fort Lauderdale.


title: Mohamed Atta

text: On August 4, Atta is believed to have been at Orlando International Airport waiting to pick up suspected "20th Hijacker" Mohammed al-Qahtani from Dubai, who ended up being held by immigration as "suspicious." Atta was believed to have used a payphone at the airport to phone a number "linked to al-Qaeda" after Qahtani was denied entry.


title: Mohamed Atta

text: On August 6, Atta and Shehhi rented a white, four-door 1995 Ford Escort from Warrick's Rent-A-Car, which was returned on August 13. On August 6, Atta booked a flight on Spirit Airlines from Fort Lauderdale to Newark, leaving on August 7 and returning on August 9. The reservation was not used and canceled on August 9 with the reason "Family Medical Emergency". Instead, he went to Central Office & Travel in Pompano Beach to purchase a ticket for a flight to Newark, leaving on the evening of August 7 and schedule to return in the evening on August 9. Atta did not take the return flight. On August 7, Atta checked into the Wayne Inn in Wayne, New Jersey and checked out on August 9. The same day, he booked a one-way first-class ticket via the Internet on America West Flight 244 from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport to Las Vegas. Atta traveled twice to Las Vegas on "surveillance flights" rehearsing how the 9/11 attacks would be carried out. Other hijackers traveled to Las Vegas at different times in the summer of 2001.


title: Mohamed Atta

text: Throughout the summer, Atta met with Nawaf al-Hazmi to discuss the status of the operation on a monthly basis.


title: Mohamed Atta

text: On August 23, Atta's driver license was revoked "in absentia" after he failed to show up in traffic court to answer the earlier citation for driving without a license.


title: Mohamed Atta

text: On September 10, 2001, Atta picked up al-Omari from the Milner Hotel in Boston, Massachusetts, and the two drove their rented Nissan Altima to a Comfort Inn in South Portland, Maine. On the way, they were seen getting gasoline at an Exxon gas station and visited the Longfellow House in Portland that afternoon; they arrived at the hotel at 5:43 p.m. and spent the night in Room 233. While in South Portland, they were seen making two ATM withdrawals and stopping at Wal-Mart. The FBI also reported that "two middle-eastern men" were seen in the parking lot of a Pizza Hut, where Atta is known to have eaten that day.


title: Mohamed Atta

text: Atta and al-Omari arrived early the next morning, at 5:40 a.m., at the Portland International Jetport, where they left their rental car in the parking lot and boarded at 6:00 a.m. Colgan Air (US Airways Express) BE-1900C flight to Logan International Airport in Boston. In Portland, Mohamed Atta was selected by the Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening System (CAPPS), which required his checked bags to undergo extra screening for explosives but involved no extra screening at the passenger security checkpoint.


title: Mohamed Atta

text: The connection between the two flights at Logan International Airport was within Terminal B, but the two gates were not connected within security. Passengers must leave the secured area, go outdoors, cross a covered roadway, and enter another building before going through security once again. There are two separate concourses in Terminal B; the south concourse is mainly used by US Airways and the north one is mostly used by American Airlines. It had been overlooked that there would still be a security screen to pass in Boston because of this distinct detail of the terminal's arrangement. A ticket staffer at Portland Airport reported becoming uneasy with the anger of Atta upon being told of the additional screening requirements in Boston, but that he did not act on his suspicions after becoming concerned that he was racially profiling Atta. At 6:45 a.m., while at the Boston airport, Atta took a call from Flight 175 hijacker Marwan al-Shehhi. This call was apparently to confirm that the attacks were ready to begin. Atta checked in for American Airlines Flight 11, passed through security again, and boarded the flight. Atta was seated in business class, in seat 8D. At 7:59 a.m., the plane departed from Boston to Los Angeles International Airport, carrying 81 passengers.


title: Mohamed Atta

text: The hijacking began at 8:14 a.m. — 15 minutes after the flight departed — when beverage service would be starting. At this time, the pilots stopped responding to air traffic control, and the aircraft began deviating from the planned route. At 8:18 am, flight attendants Betty Ong and Madeline Amy Sweeney began making phone calls to American Airlines to report what was happening. Ong provided information about lack of communication with the cockpit, lack of access to the cockpit, and passenger injuries. At 8:24:38 a.m., a voice believed to be Atta's was heard by air traffic controllers, saying: "We have some planes. Just stay quiet and you will be OK. We are returning to the airport." "Nobody move, everything will be OK. If you try to make any moves you'll endanger yourself and the airplane. Just stay quiet." "Nobody move, please. We are going back to the airport. Don't try to make any stupid moves." The transponder of the plane was turned off at 8:21 a.m. At 8:46:40 a.m., Atta crashed the plane into the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City.


title: Mohamed Atta

text: Because the flight from Portland to Boston had been delayed, his bags did not make it onto Flight 11. Atta's bags were later recovered in Logan International Airport, and they contained airline uniforms, flight manuals, and other items. The luggage included a copy of Atta's will, written in Arabic, as well as a list of instructions, called "The Last Night". This document is divided into three sections; the first is a fifteen point list providing detailed instructions for the last night of a martyr's life, the second gives instructions for travelling to the plane and the third from the time between boarding the plane and martyrdom. Almost all of these points discuss spiritual preparation, such as prayer and citing religious scripture.


title: Mohamed Atta

text: On October 1, 2006, "The Sunday Times" released a video it had obtained "through a previously tested channel", purporting to show Mohamed Atta and Ziad Jarrah recording a martyrdom message six months earlier at a training camp in Afghanistan. The video, bearing the date of January 18, 2000, is of good resolution but contains no sound track. Lip readers have failed to decipher it. Atta and Jarrah appear in high spirits, laughing and smiling in front of the camera. They had never been pictured together before. Unidentified sources from both Al-Qaeda and the United States confirmed The Times the video's authenticity. A separate section of the video shows Osama bin Laden addressing his followers at a complex near Kandahar. Ramzi bin al-Shibh is also identified in the video. According to "The Sunday Times", "American and German investigators have struggled to find evidence of Atta's whereabouts in January 2000 after he disappeared from Hamburg. The hour-long tape places him in Afghanistan at a decisive moment in the development of the conspiracy when he was given operational command. Months later both he and Jarrah enrolled at flying schools in America."


title: Mohamed Atta

text: In the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks, the names of the hijackers were released. There was some confusion regarding who Mohamed Atta was, and cases of mistaken identity. Initially, Mohamed Atta's identity was confused with that of a native Jordanian, Mahmoud Mahmoud Atta, who bombed an Israeli bus in the West Bank in 1986, killing one and severely injuring three. Mahmoud Atta was 14 years older than Atta. Mahmoud Atta, a naturalized U.S. citizen, was subsequently deported from Venezuela to the United States, extradited to Israel, tried and sentenced to life in prison. The Israeli Supreme Court later overturned his extradition and set him free. After 9/11, there also were reports stating that Mohamed Atta had attended International Officers School at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama. "The Washington Post" quoted a United States Air Force official who explained, "discrepancies in their biographical data, such as birth dates 20 years off, indicate we are probably not talking about the same people."


title: Mohamed Atta

text: In the months following the September 11 attacks, officials at the Czech Interior Ministry asserted that Atta made a trip to Prague on April 8, 2001, to meet with an Iraqi intelligence agent named Ahmed Khalil Ibrahim Samir al-Ani. This piece of information was passed on to the FBI as "unevaluated raw intelligence". Intelligence officials have concluded that such a meeting did not occur. A Pakistani businessman named Mohammed Atta had come to Prague from Saudi Arabia on May 31, 2000, with this second Atta possibly contributing to the confusion. The Egyptian Mohamed Atta arrived at the Florenc bus terminal in Prague, from Germany, on June 2, 2000. He left Prague the next day, flying on Czech Airlines to Newark, New Jersey, U.S. In the Czech Republic, some intelligence officials say the source of the purported meeting was an Arab informant who approached the Czech intelligence service with his sighting of Atta only after Atta's photograph had appeared in newspapers all over the world. United States and Czech intelligence officials have since concluded that the person seen with Ani was mistakenly identified as Atta, and the consensus of investigators is that Atta never attended a meeting in Prague.


title: Mohamed Atta

text: In 2005, Army Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer and Congressman Curt Weldon alleged that the Defense Department data mining project, Able Danger, produced a chart that identified Atta, along with Nawaf al-Hazmi, Khalid al-Mihdhar, and Marwan al-Shehhi, as members of a Brooklyn-based al-Qaeda cell in early 2000. Shaffer largely based his allegations on the recollections of Navy Captain, Scott Phillpott, who later recanted his recollection, telling investigators that he was "convinced that Atta was not on the chart that we had." Phillpott said that Shaffer was "relying on my recollection 100 percent," and the Defense Department Inspector General's report indicated that Philpott "may have exaggerated knowing Atta's identity because he supported using Able Danger's techniques to fight terrorism."


title: Mohamed Atta

text: Five witnesses who had worked on Able Danger and had been questioned by the Defense Department's Inspector General later told investigative journalists that their statements to the IG were distorted by investigators in the final IG's report, or the report omitted essential information that they had provided. The alleged distortions of the IG report centered around excluding any evidence that Able Danger had identified and tracked Atta years before 9/11.


title: Mohamed Atta

text: Lt. Col. Shaffer's book also clearly indicates direct identification of the Brooklyn cell, and Mohamed Atta.


title: Mohamed Atta

text: Atta's father, Mohamed el-Amir Awad el-Sayed Atta, a retired lawyer in Egypt, vehemently rejected allegations his son was involved in the September 11 attacks, and instead accused the Mossad and the United States government of having a hand in framing his son. Atta Sr. rejected media reports that stated his son was drinking wildly, and instead described his son as a quiet boy uninvolved with politics, shy and devoted to studying architecture. The elder Mr. Atta said he had spoken with Mohamed by phone the day after on September 12, 2001. He held interviews with the German news magazine "Bild am Sonntag" in late 2002, saying his son was alive and hiding in fear for his life, and that American Christians were responsible for the attacks. In an interview on September 24, 2001, Atta Sr. stated, "My son is gone. He is now with God. The Mossad killed him."


title: Mohamed Atta

text: In 2021, on the 20th anniversary of the attacks, Atta's mother was interviewed by a Spanish newspaper. His mother, 79, at the time denied her son's involvement in the attacks and that she feels he is in Afghanistan.


title: Mohamed Atta

text: There are multiple, conflicting explanations for Atta's behavior and motivation. Political psychologist Jerrold Post has suggested that Atta and his fellow hijackers were just following orders from al-Qaeda leadership, "and whatever their destructive, charismatic leader Osama bin Laden said was the right thing to do for the sake of the cause was what they would do." In turn, political scientist Robert Pape has claimed that Atta was motivated by his commitment to the political cause, that he was psychologically normal, and that he was "not readily characterized as depressed, not unable to enjoy life, not detached from friends and society." By contrast, criminal justice professor, Adam Lankford, has found evidence that indicated Atta was suicidal, and that his struggles with social isolation, depression, guilt, shame, hopelessness, and rage were extraordinarily similar to the struggles of those who commit conventional suicide and murder-suicide. By this view, Atta's political and religious beliefs affected the method of his suicide and his choice of target, but they were not the underlying causes of his behavior.


title: Robert Burns

text: Robert Burns (25 January 175921 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the best known of the poets who have written in the Scots language, although much of his writing is in a "light Scots dialect" of English, accessible to an audience beyond Scotland. He also wrote in standard English, and in these writings his political or civil commentary is often at its bluntest.


title: Robert Burns

text: He is regarded as a pioneer of the Romantic movement, and after his death he became a great source of inspiration to the founders of both liberalism and socialism, and a cultural icon in Scotland and among the Scottish diaspora around the world. Celebration of his life and work became almost a national charismatic cult during the 19th and 20th centuries, and his influence has long been strong on Scottish literature. In 2009 he was chosen as the greatest Scot by the Scottish public in a vote run by Scottish television channel STV.


title: Robert Burns

text: As well as making original compositions, Burns also collected folk songs from across Scotland, often revising or adapting them. His poem (and song) "Auld Lang Syne" is often sung at Hogmanay (the last day of the year), and "Scots Wha Hae" served for a long time as an unofficial national anthem of the country. Other poems and songs of Burns that remain well known across the world today include "A Red, Red Rose", "A Man's a Man for A' That", "To a Louse", "To a Mouse", "The Battle of Sherramuir", "Tam o' Shanter" and "Ae Fond Kiss".


title: Robert Burns

text: Burns was born two miles (3 km) south of Ayr, in Alloway, the eldest of the seven children of William Burnes (1721–1784), a self-educated tenant farmer from Dunnottar in the Mearns, and Agnes Broun (1732–1820), the daughter of a Kirkoswald tenant farmer.


title: Robert Burns

text: He was born in a house built by his father (now the Burns Cottage Museum), where he lived until Easter 1766, when he was seven years old. William Burnes sold the house and took the tenancy of the Mount Oliphant farm, southeast of Alloway. Here Burns grew up in poverty and hardship, and the severe manual labour of the farm left its traces in a premature stoop and a weakened constitution.


title: Robert Burns

text: He had little regular schooling and got much of his education from his father, who taught his children reading, writing, arithmetic, geography, and history and also wrote for them "A Manual of Christian Belief". He was also taught by John Murdoch (1747–1824), who opened an "adventure school" in Alloway in 1763 and taught Latin, French, and mathematics to both Robert and his brother Gilbert (1760–1827) from 1765 to 1768 until Murdoch left the parish. After a few years of home education, Burns was sent to Dalrymple Parish School in mid-1772 before returning at harvest time to full-time farm labouring until 1773, when he was sent to lodge with Murdoch for three weeks to study grammar, French, and Latin.


title: Robert Burns

text: By the age of 15, Burns was the principal labourer at Mount Oliphant. During the harvest of 1774, he was assisted by Nelly Kilpatrick (1759–1820), who inspired his first attempt at poetry, "O, Once I Lov'd A Bonnie Lass". In 1775, he was sent to finish his education with a tutor at Kirkoswald, where he met Peggy Thompson (born 1762), to whom he wrote two songs, "Now Westlin' Winds" and "I Dream'd I Lay".


title: Robert Burns

text: Despite his ability and character, William Burnes was consistently unfortunate, and migrated with his large family from farm to farm without ever being able to improve his circumstances. At Whitsun, 1777, he removed his large family from the unfavourable conditions of Mount Oliphant to the farm at Lochlea, near Tarbolton, where they stayed until William Burnes's death in 1784. Subsequently, the family became integrated into the community of Tarbolton. To his father's disapproval, Robert joined a country dancing school in 1779 and, with Gilbert, formed the Tarbolton Bachelors' Club the following year. His earliest existing letters date from this time, when he began making romantic overtures to Alison Begbie (b. 1762). In spite of four songs written for her and a suggestion that he was willing to marry her, she rejected him.


title: Robert Burns

text: Robert Burns was initiated into the Masonic lodge St David, Tarbolton, on 4 July 1781, when he was 22.


title: Robert Burns

text: In December 1781, Burns moved temporarily to Irvine to learn to become a flax-dresser, but during the workers' celebrations for New Year 1781/1782 (which included Burns as a participant) the flax shop caught fire and was burnt to the ground. This venture accordingly came to an end, and Burns went home to Lochlea farm. During this time he met and befriended Captain Richard Brown who encouraged him to become a poet.


title: Robert Burns

text: He continued to write poems and songs and began a commonplace book in 1783, while his father fought a legal dispute with his landlord. The case went to the Court of Session, and Burnes was upheld in January 1784, a fortnight before he died.


title: Robert Burns

text: Robert and Gilbert made an ineffectual struggle to keep on the farm, but after its failure they moved to the farm at Mossgiel, near Mauchline, in March, which they maintained with an uphill fight for the next four years. In mid-1784 Burns came to know a group of girls known collectively as The Belles of Mauchline, one of whom was Jean Armour, the daughter of a stonemason from Mauchline.


title: Robert Burns

text: His first child, Elizabeth "Bess" Burns (1785–1817), was born to his mother's servant, Elizabeth Paton (1760–circa 1799), while he was embarking on a relationship with Jean Armour, who became pregnant with twins in March 1786. Burns signed a paper attesting his marriage to Jean, but her father "was in the greatest distress, and fainted away". To avoid disgrace, her parents sent her to live with her uncle in Paisley. Although Armour's father initially forbade it, they were married in 1788. Armour bore him nine children, three of whom survived infancy.


title: Robert Burns

text: Burns was in financial difficulties due to his lack of success in farming, and to make enough money to support a family he took up an offer of work in Jamaica from Patrick Douglas of Garrallan, Old Cumnock, whose sugar plantations outside Port Antonio were managed by his brother Charles, under whom Burns was to be a "book keeper" (assistant overseer of slaves). It has been suggested that the position was for a single man, and that he would live in rustic conditions, not likely to be living in the great house at a salary of £30 per annum. It is said in Burns's defence that in 1786 the abolitionist movement was just beginning to be broadly active. Burns's authorship of "The Slave's Lament" (1792), a work claimed to typify his egalitarian views, is disputed. Burns’s name is absent from any abolition petition and according to Lisa Williams "is strangely silent on the question of chattel slavery compared to other contemporary poets. Perhaps this was due to his government position, severe limitations on free speech at the time or his association with beneficiaries of the slave trade system".


title: Robert Burns

text: At about the same time, Burns fell in love with Mary Campbell (1763–1786), whom he had seen in church while he was still living in Tarbolton. She was born near Dunoon and had lived in Campbeltown before moving to work in Ayrshire. He dedicated the poems "The Highland Lassie O", "Highland Mary", and "To Mary in Heaven" to her. His song "Will ye go to the Indies, my Mary, And leave auld Scotia's shore?" suggests that they planned to emigrate to Jamaica together. Their relationship has been the subject of much conjecture, and it has been suggested that on 14 May 1786 they exchanged Bibles and plighted their troth over the Water of Fail in a traditional form of marriage. Soon afterwards Mary Campbell left her work in Ayrshire, went to the seaport of Greenock, and sailed home to her parents in Campbeltown.


title: Robert Burns

text: In October 1786, Mary and her father sailed from Campbeltown to visit her brother in Greenock. Her brother fell ill with typhus, which she also caught while nursing him. She died of typhus on 20 or 21 October 1786 and was buried there.


title: Robert Burns

text: As Burns lacked the funds to pay for his passage to the West Indies, Gavin Hamilton suggested that he should "publish his poems in the mean time by subscription, as a likely way of getting a little money to provide him more liberally in necessaries for Jamaica." On 3 April Burns sent proposals for publishing his "Scotch Poems" to John Wilson, a printer in Kilmarnock, who published these proposals on 14 April 1786, on the same day that Jean Armour's father tore up the paper in which Burns attested his marriage to Jean. To obtain a certificate that he was a free bachelor, Burns agreed on 25 June to stand for rebuke in the Mauchline kirk for three Sundays. He transferred his share in Mossgiel farm to his brother Gilbert on 22 July, and on 30 July wrote to tell his friend John Richmond that, "Armour has got a warrant to throw me in jail until I can find a warrant for an enormous sum ... I am wandering from one friend's house to another."


title: Robert Burns

text: On 31 July 1786 John Wilson published the volume of works by Robert Burns, "Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish dialect". Known as the Kilmarnock volume, it sold for 3 shillings and contained much of his best writing, including "The Twa Dogs" (which features Luath, his Border Collie), "Address to the Deil", "Halloween", "The Cotter's Saturday Night", "To a Mouse", "Epitaph for James Smith", and "To a Mountain Daisy", many of which had been written at Mossgiel farm. The success of the work was immediate, and soon he was known across the country.


title: Robert Burns

text: Burns postponed his planned emigration to Jamaica on 1 September, and was at Mossgiel two days later when he learnt that Jean Armour had given birth to twins. On 4 September Thomas Blacklock wrote a letter expressing admiration for the poetry in the Kilmarnock volume, and suggesting an enlarged second edition. A copy of it was passed to Burns, who later recalled, "I had taken the last farewell of my few friends, my chest was on the road to Greenock; I had composed the last song I should ever measure in Scotland – 'The Gloomy night is gathering fast' – when a letter from Dr Blacklock to a friend of mine overthrew all my schemes, by opening new prospects to my poetic ambition. The Doctor belonged to a set of critics for whose applause I had not dared to hope. His opinion that I would meet with encouragement in Edinburgh for a second edition, fired me so much, that away I posted for that city, without a single acquaintance, or a single letter of introduction."


title: Robert Burns

text: On 27 November 1786 Burns borrowed a pony and set out for Edinburgh. On 14 December William Creech issued subscription bills for the first Edinburgh edition of "Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish dialect", which was published on 17 April 1787. Within a week of this event, Burns had sold his copyright to Creech for 100 guineas. For the edition, Creech commissioned Alexander Nasmyth to paint the oval bust-length portrait now in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, which was engraved to provide a frontispiece for the book. Nasmyth had come to know Burns and his fresh and appealing image has become the basis for almost all subsequent representations of the poet. In Edinburgh, he was received as an equal by the city's men of letters—including Dugald Stewart, Robertson, Blair and others—and was a guest at aristocratic gatherings, where he bore himself with unaffected dignity. Here he encountered, and made a lasting impression on, the 16-year-old Walter Scott, who described him later with great admiration:


title: Robert Burns

text: The new edition of his poems brought Burns £400. His stay in the city also resulted in some lifelong friendships, among which were those with Lord Glencairn, and Frances Anna Dunlop (1730–1815), who became his occasional sponsor and with whom he corresponded for many years until a rift developed. He embarked on a relationship with the separated Agnes "Nancy" McLehose (1758–1841), with whom he exchanged passionate letters under pseudonyms (Burns called himself "Sylvander" and Nancy "Clarinda"). When it became clear that Nancy would not be easily seduced into a physical relationship, Burns moved on to Jenny Clow (1766–1792), Nancy's domestic servant, who bore him a son, Robert Burns Clow, in 1788. He also had an affair with a servant girl, Margaret "May" Cameron. His relationship with Nancy concluded in 1791 with a final meeting in Edinburgh before she sailed to Jamaica for what turned out to be a short-lived reconciliation with her estranged husband. Before she left, he sent her the manuscript of "Ae Fond Kiss" as a farewell.


title: Robert Burns

text: In Edinburgh, in early 1787, he met James Johnson, a struggling music engraver and music seller with a love of old Scots songs and a determination to preserve them. Burns shared this interest and became an enthusiastic contributor to "The Scots Musical Museum". The first volume was published in 1787 and included three songs by Burns. He contributed 40 songs to volume two, and he ended up responsible for about a third of the 600 songs in the whole collection, as well as making a considerable editorial contribution. The final volume was published in 1803.


title: Robert Burns

text: On his return from Edinburgh in February 1788, he resumed his relationship with Jean Armour and took a lease on Ellisland Farm, Dumfriesshire, settling there in June. He also trained as a gauger or exciseman in case farming continued to be unsuccessful. He was appointed to duties in Customs and Excise in 1789 and eventually gave up the farm in 1791. Meanwhile, in November 1790, he had written his masterpiece, the narrative poem "Tam O' Shanter". The Ellisland farm beside the river Nith, now holds a unique collection of Burns's books, artefacts, and manuscripts and is mostly preserved as when Burns and his young family lived there. About this time he was offered and declined an appointment in London on the staff of "The Star" newspaper, and refused to become a candidate for a newly created Chair of Agriculture in the University of Edinburgh, although influential friends offered to support his claims. He did however accept membership of the Royal Company of Archers in 1792.


title: Robert Burns

text: After giving up his farm, he removed to Dumfries. It was at this time that, being requested to write lyrics for "The Melodies of Scotland", he responded by contributing over 100 songs. He made major contributions to George Thomson's "A Select Collection of Original Scottish Airs for the Voice" as well as to James Johnson's "Scots Musical Museum". Arguably his claim to immortality chiefly rests on these volumes, which placed him in the front rank of lyric poets. As a songwriter he provided his own lyrics, sometimes adapted from traditional words. He put words to Scottish folk melodies and airs which he collected, and composed his own arrangements of the music including modifying tunes or recreating melodies on the basis of fragments. In letters he explained that he preferred simplicity, relating songs to spoken language which should be sung in traditional ways. The original instruments would be fiddle and the guitar of the period which was akin to a cittern, but the transcription of songs for piano has resulted in them usually being performed in classical concert or music hall styles. At the 3 week Celtic Connections festival Glasgow each January, Burns songs are often performed with both fiddle and guitar.


title: Robert Burns

text: Thomson as a publisher commissioned arrangements of "Scottish, Welsh and Irish Airs" by such eminent composers of the day as Joseph Haydn and Ludwig van Beethoven, with new lyrics. The contributors of lyrics included Burns. While such arrangements had wide popular appeal, Beethoven's music was more advanced and difficult to play than Thomson intended.


title: Robert Burns

text: Burns also worked to collect and preserve Scottish folk songs, sometimes revising, expanding, and adapting them. One of the better known of these collections is "The Merry Muses of Caledonia" (the title is not Burns's), a collection of bawdy lyrics that were popular in the music halls of Scotland as late as the 20th century. At Dumfries, he wrote his world famous song "A Man's a Man for A' That", which was based on the writings in The Rights of Man by Thomas Paine, one of the chief political theoreticians of the American Revolution. Burns sent the poem anonymously in 1795 to the Glasgow Courier. He was also a radical for reform and wrote poems for democracy, such as – Parcel of Rogues to the Nation, The Slaves Lament and the Rights of Women.


title: Robert Burns

text: Many of Burns's most famous poems are songs with the music based upon older traditional songs. For example, "Auld Lang Syne" is set to the traditional tune "Can Ye Labour Lea", "A Red, Red Rose" is set to the tune of "Major Graham" and "The Battle of Sherramuir" is set to the "Cameronian Rant".


title: Robert Burns

text: Burns's worldly prospects were perhaps better than they had ever been but he alienated some acquaintances by freely expressing sympathy with the French, and American Revolutions, for the advocates of democratic reform and votes for all men and the Society of the Friends of the People which advocated Parliamentary Reform. His political views came to the notice of his employers, to which he pleaded his innocence. Burns met other radicals at the Globe Inn Dumfries. As an Exciseman he felt compelled to join the Royal Dumfries Volunteers in March 1795.


title: Robert Burns

text: He lived in Dumfries in a two-storey red sandstone house on Mill Hole Brae, now Burns Street. The home is now a museum. He went on long journeys on horseback, often in harsh weather conditions as an Excise Supervisor. He was kept very busy doing reports, father of four young children, song collector and songwriter.


title: Robert Burns

text: As his health began to give way, he aged prematurely and fell into fits of despondency. The habits of intemperance (alleged mainly by temperance activist James Currie) are said to have aggravated his long-standing possible rheumatic heart condition.


title: Robert Burns

text: On the morning of 21 July 1796, Burns died in Dumfries, at the age of 37. The funeral took place on Monday 25 July 1796, the day that his son Maxwell was born. He was at first buried in the far corner of St. Michael's Churchyard in Dumfries; a simple "slab of freestone" was erected as his gravestone by Jean Armour, which some felt insulting to his memory. His body was eventually moved to its final location in the same cemetery, the Burns Mausoleum, in September 1817. The body of his widow Jean Armour was buried with his in 1834.


title: Robert Burns

text: Armour had taken steps to secure his personal property, partly by liquidating two promissory notes amounting to fifteen pounds sterling (about 1,100 pounds at 2009 prices). The family went to the Court of Session in 1798 with a plan to support his surviving children by publishing a four-volume edition of his complete works and a biography written by Dr. James Currie. Subscriptions were raised to meet the initial cost of publication, which was in the hands of Thomas Cadell and William Davies in London and William Creech, bookseller in Edinburgh. Hogg records that fund-raising for Burns's family was embarrassingly slow, and it took several years to accumulate significant funds through the efforts of John Syme and Alexander Cunningham.


title: Robert Burns

text: Burns was posthumously given the freedom of the town of Dumfries. Hogg records that Burns was given the freedom of the Burgh of Dumfries on 4 June 1787, 9 years before his death, and was also made an Honorary Burgess of Dumfries.


title: Robert Burns

text: Burns's style is marked by spontaneity, directness, and sincerity, and ranges from the tender intensity of some of his lyrics through the humour of "Tam o' Shanter" and the satire of "Holy Willie's Prayer" and "The Holy Fair".


title: Robert Burns

text: Burns's poetry drew upon a substantial familiarity with and knowledge of Classical, Biblical, and English literature, as well as the Scottish Makar tradition. Burns was skilled in writing not only in the Scots language but also in the Scottish English dialect of the English language. Some of his works, such as "Love and Liberty" (also known as "The Jolly Beggars"), are written in both Scots and English for various effects.


title: Robert Burns

text: His themes included republicanism (he lived during the French Revolutionary period) and Radicalism, which he expressed covertly in "Scots Wha Hae", Scottish patriotism, anticlericalism, class inequalities, gender roles, commentary on the Scottish Kirk of his time, Scottish cultural identity, poverty, sexuality, and the beneficial aspects of popular socialising (carousing, Scotch whisky, folk songs, and so forth).


title: Robert Burns

text: The strong emotional highs and lows associated with many of Burns's poems have led some, such as Burns biographer Robert Crawford, to suggest that he suffered from manic depression—a hypothesis that has been supported by analysis of various samples of his handwriting. Burns himself referred to suffering from episodes of what he called "blue devilism". The National Trust for Scotland has downplayed the suggestion on the grounds that evidence is insufficient to support the claim.


title: Robert Burns

text: Burns is generally classified as a proto-Romantic poet, and he influenced William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and Percy Bysshe Shelley greatly. His direct literary influences in the use of Scots in poetry were Allan Ramsay and Robert Fergusson. The Edinburgh literati worked to sentimentalise Burns during his life and after his death, dismissing his education by calling him a "heaven-taught ploughman". Burns influenced later Scottish writers, especially Hugh MacDiarmid, who fought to dismantle what he felt had become a sentimental cult that dominated Scottish literature.


title: Robert Burns

text: Burns had a significant influence on Alexander McLachlan and some influence on Robert Service. While this may not be so obvious in Service's English verse, which is Kiplingesque, it is more readily apparent in his Scots verse.


title: Robert Burns

text: Scottish Canadians have embraced Robert Burns as a kind of patron poet and mark his birthday with festivities. 'Robbie Burns Day' is celebrated from Newfoundland and Labrador to Nanaimo. Every year, Canadian newspapers publish biographies of the poet, listings of local events and buffet menus. Universities mark the date in a range of ways: McMaster University library organized a special collection and Simon Fraser University's Centre for Scottish Studies organized a marathon reading of Burns's poetry. Senator Heath Macquarrie quipped of Canada's first Prime Minister that "While the lovable [Robbie] Burns went in for wine, women and song, his fellow Scot, John A. did not chase women and was not musical!" 'Gung Haggis Fat Choy' is a hybrid of Chinese New Year and Robbie Burns Day, celebrated in Vancouver since the late 1990s.


title: Robert Burns

text: In January 1864, President Abraham Lincoln was invited to attend a Robert Burns celebration by Robert Crawford; and if unable to attend, send a toast. Lincoln composed a toast.


title: Robert Burns

text: An example of Burns's literary influence in the US is seen in the choice by novelist John Steinbeck of the title of his 1937 novel, "Of Mice and Men", taken from a line in the second-to-last stanza of "To a Mouse": "The best laid schemes o' mice an' men / Gang aft agley." Burns's influence on American vernacular poets such as James Whitcomb Riley and Frank Lebby Stanton has been acknowledged by their biographers. When asked for the source of his greatest creative inspiration, singer-songwriter Bob Dylan selected Burns's 1794 song "A Red, Red Rose" as the lyric that had the biggest effect on his life.


title: Robert Burns

text: The author J. D. Salinger used protagonist Holden Caulfield's misinterpretation of Burns's poem "Comin' Through the Rye" as his title and a main interpretation of Caulfield's grasping to his childhood in his 1951 novel "The Catcher in the Rye". The poem, actually about a rendezvous, is thought by Caulfield to be about saving people from falling out of childhood.


title: Robert Burns

text: Burns became the "people's poet" of Russia. In Imperial Russia Burns was translated into Russian and became a source of inspiration for the ordinary, oppressed Russian people. In Soviet Russia, he was elevated as the archetypal poet of the people. As a great admirer of the egalitarian ethos behind the American and French Revolutions who expressed his own egalitarianism in poems such as his "Birthday Ode for George Washington" or his "Is There for Honest Poverty" (commonly known as "A Man's a Man for a' that"), Burns was well placed for endorsement by the Communist regime as a "progressive" artist. A new translation of Burns begun in 1924 by Samuil Marshak proved enormously popular, selling over 600,000 copies. The USSR honoured Burns with a commemorative stamp in 1956. He remains popular in Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union.


title: Robert Burns

text: Burns clubs have been founded worldwide. The first one, known as The Mother Club, was founded in Greenock in 1801 by merchants born in Ayrshire, some of whom had known Burns. The club set its original objectives as "To cherish the name of Robert Burns; to foster a love of his writings, and generally to encourage an interest in the Scottish language and literature." The club also continues to have local charitable work as a priority.


title: Robert Burns

text: Burns's birthplace in Alloway is now a National Trust for Scotland property called the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum. It includes: the humble Burns Cottage where he was born and spent the first years of his life, a modern museum building which houses more than 5,000 Burns artefacts including his handwritten manuscripts, the historic Alloway Auld Kirk and Brig o Doon which feature in Burns's masterpiece 'Tam o Shanter', and the Burns Monument which was erected in Burns's honour and finished in 1823.


title: Robert Burns

text: His house in Dumfries is operated as the Robert Burns House, and the Robert Burns Centre in Dumfries features more exhibits about his life and works. Ellisland Farm in Auldgirth, which he owned from 1788 to 1791, is maintained as a working farm with a museum and interpretation centre by the Friends of Ellisland Farm.


title: Robert Burns

text: Significant 19th-century monuments to him stand in Alloway, Leith, and Dumfries. An early 20th-century replica of his birthplace cottage belonging to the Burns Club Atlanta stands in Atlanta, Georgia. These are part of a large list of Burns memorials and statues around the world.


title: Robert Burns

text: Organisations include the Robert Burns Fellowship of the University of Otago in New Zealand, and the Burns Club Atlanta in the United States. Towns named after Burns include Burns, New York, and Burns, Oregon.


title: Robert Burns

text: In the suburb of Summerhill, Dumfries, the majority of the streets have names with Burns connotations. A British Rail Standard Class 7 steam locomotive was named after him, along with a later Class 87 electric locomotive, No. 87035. On 24 September 1996, Class 156 diesel unit 156433 was named "The Kilmarnock Edition" at Girvan station to launch the new Burns Line services between Girvan, Ayr and Kilmarnock, supported by Strathclyde Partnership for Transport.


title: Robert Burns

text: Several streets surrounding the Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr.'s Back Bay Fens in Boston, Massachusetts, were designated with Burns connotations. A life-size statue was dedicated in Burns's honour within the Back Bay Fens of the West Fenway neighbourhood in 1912. It stood until 1972 when it was relocated downtown, sparking protests from the neighbourhood, literary fans, and preservationists of Olmsted's vision for the Back Bay Fens.


title: Robert Burns

text: There is a statue of Burns in The Octagon, Dunedin, in the same pose as the one in Dundee. Dunedin's first European settlers were Scots; Thomas Burns, a nephew of Burns, was one of Dunedin's founding fathers.


title: Robert Burns

text: In November 2012, Burns was awarded the title Honorary Chartered Surveyor by The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, the only posthumous membership so far granted by the institution.


title: Robert Burns

text: The oldest statue of Burns is in the town of Camperdown, Victoria. It now hosts an annual Robert Burns Scottish Festival in celebration of the statue and its history.


title: Robert Burns

text: In 2020, the Robert Burns Academy in Cumnock, East Ayrshire opened and is named after Burns as an honour of Burns having spent time living in nearby Mauchline.


title: Robert Burns

text: The Soviet Union was the first country in the world to honour Burns with a commemorative stamp, marking the 160th anniversary of his death in 1956.


title: Robert Burns

text: The UK postal service, the Royal Mail, has issued postage stamps commemorating Burns three times. In 1966, two stamps were issued, priced fourpence and one shilling and threepence, both carrying Burns's portrait. In 1996, an issue commemorating the bicentenary of his death comprised four stamps, priced 19p, 25p, 41p and 60p and including quotes from Burns's poems. On 22 January 2009, two 1st class stamps were issued by the Royal Mail to commemorate the 250th anniversary of Burns's birth.


title: Robert Burns

text: Burns was pictured on the Clydesdale Bank £5 note from 1971 to 2009. On the reverse of the note was a vignette of a field mouse and a wild rose in reference to Burns's poem "To a Mouse". The Clydesdale Bank's notes were redesigned in 2009 and, since then, he has been pictured on the front of their £10 note. In September 2007, the Bank of Scotland redesigned their banknotes to feature famous Scottish bridges. The reverse side of new £5 features Brig o' Doon, famous from Burns's poem "Tam o' Shanter", and pictures the statue of Burns at that site.


title: Robert Burns

text: In 1996, the Isle of Man issued a four-coin set of Crown (5/-) pieces on the themes of "Auld Lang Syne", Edinburgh Castle, Revenue Cutter, and Writing Poems. Tristan da Cunha produced a gold £5 Bicentenary Coin.


title: Robert Burns

text: In 2009 the Royal Mint issued a commemorative two pound coin featuring a quote from "Auld Lang Syne".


title: Robert Burns

text: In 1976, singer Jean Redpath, in collaboration with composer Serge Hovey, started to record all of Burns's songs, with a mixture of traditional and Burns's own compositions. The project ended when Hovey died, after seven of the planned twenty-two volumes were completed. Redpath also recorded four cassettes of Burns's songs (re-issued as 3 CDs) for the Scots Musical Museum.


title: Robert Burns

text: In 1996, a musical about Burns's life called "Red Red Rose" won third place at a competition for new musicals in Denmark. Robert Burns was played by John Barrowman. On 25 January 2008, a musical play about the love affair between Robert Burns and Nancy McLehose entitled "Clarinda" premiered in Edinburgh before touring Scotland. The plan was that "Clarinda" would make its American premiere in Atlantic Beach, FL, at Atlantic Beach Experimental Theatre on 25 January 2013. Eddi Reader has released two albums, "Sings the Songs of Robert Burns" and "The Songs of Robert Burns Deluxe Edition", about the work of the poet.


title: Robert Burns

text: Alfred B. Street wrote the words and Henry Tucker wrote the music for a song called "Our Own Robbie Burns" in 1856.


title: Robert Burns

text: Burns Night, in effect a second national day, is celebrated on Burns's birthday, 25 January, with Burns suppers around the world, and is more widely observed in Scotland than the official national day, St. Andrew's Day. The first Burns supper in The Mother Club in Greenock was held on what was thought to be his birthday on 29 January 1802; in 1803 it was discovered from the Ayr parish records that the correct date was 25 January 1759.


title: Robert Burns

text: The format of Burns suppers has changed little since. The basic format starts with a general welcome and announcements, followed with the Selkirk Grace. After the grace comes the piping and cutting of the haggis, when Burns's famous "Address to a Haggis" is read and the haggis is cut open. The event usually allows for people to start eating just after the haggis is presented. At the end of the meal, a series of toasts, often including a 'Toast to the Lassies', and replies are made. This is when the toast to "the immortal memory", an overview of Burns's life and work, is given. The event usually concludes with the singing of "Auld Lang Syne".


title: Robert Burns

text: In 2009, STV ran a television series and public vote on who was "The Greatest Scot" of all time. Robert Burns won, narrowly beating William Wallace. A bust of Burns is in the Hall of Heroes of the National Wallace Monument in Stirling.


title: Funimation

text: Crunchyroll, LLC, previously known as Funimation from 1994 to 2022, is an American entertainment company that specializes in the dubbing and distribution of East Asian media, with a long history of working with Japanese anime owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony as a joint venture between Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex.


title: Funimation

text: The company was founded in May 1994 as Funimation Productions by Gen Fukunaga and his wife Cindy Brennan in Silicon Valley, with funding by Daniel Cocanougher and his family, who became investors in the company, which then relocated to North Richland Hills, later to Flower Mound, Texas, and after that in Coppell, Texas. Funimation was one of the leading distributors of anime and other foreign entertainment properties in North America. It licensed popular series, such as "Dragon Ball", "One Piece", "Yu Yu Hakusho", "My Hero Academia", "Attack on Titan", "Fairy Tail", "Black Clover", "Fruits Basket", "Assassination Classroom", and "Tokyo Ghoul" among many others.


title: Funimation

text: Funimation was acquired by Navarre Corporation in May 2005; in April 2011, Navarre sold Funimation to a group of investors that included Fukunaga for $24 million. From 2017 to 2019, the Japanese conglomerate Sony owned a 95% stake in the company through its Sony Pictures Television division. From March 2022, the company itself was rebranded into Crunchyroll, LLC after acquiring the streaming service of the same name in August 2021, but the Funimation brand currently co-exists with Crunchyroll and remains in active use.


title: Funimation

text: In the early 1990s, Japanese-born businessman Gen Fukunaga was approached by his uncle, Nagafumi Hori, who was working as a producer for Toei Company. Hori proposed that if Fukunaga could start a production company and raise enough money, Toei Animation would license the rights to the "Dragon Ball" franchise to the United States. Fukunaga met with co-worker Daniel Cocanougher, whose family owned a feed mill in Decatur, Texas, and convinced Cocanougher's family to sell their business and serve as an investor for his company.


title: Funimation

text: The company was founded on May 9, 1994, as Funimation Productions. The company was originally based in Silicon Valley, but eventually relocated to North Richland Hills, Texas. They initially collaborated with other companies on "Dragon Ball", such as BLT Productions, Ocean Studios, Pioneer and Saban Entertainment. In the United States, "Dragon Ball" debuted in syndication in 1995, but aired for only 13 episodes due to poor ratings. Funimation then decided to debut "Dragon Ball Z" in syndication in 1996. Compared with the original "Dragon Ball", "Dragon Ball Z" saw greater success among American audiences, which resulted in Funimation securing an hour-long, two-episode, second season time block for the fall of 1997. Cartoon Network began airing "Dragon Ball Z" as part of its Toonami programming block in 1998, which quickly became the highest-rated show on the block and garnered a large following. The success of "Dragon Ball Z" is credited for allowing Funimation to acquire other licensed titles.


title: Funimation

text: Beginning in September 2003, Funimation signed a North American home video deal with Canada-based Nelvana. Such titles released included "Redwall", "Pecola", "Tales from the Cryptkeeper", "Timothy Goes to School" and the Disney Channel TV special "The Santa Claus Brothers".


title: Funimation

text: On May 11, 2005, Funimation was acquired by Navarre Corporation for US$100.4 million in cash and 1.8 million shares of Navarre stock. As part of the acquisition, Gen Fukunaga was retained as head of the company, transitioning to the position of CEO, and the company's name was changed from Funimation Productions to Funimation Entertainment. In 2007, Funimation moved from North Richland Hills, Texas to Flower Mound, Texas. Funimation moved into the Lakeside Business District with a ten-year lease.


title: Funimation

text: According to an interview in February 2008 with Navarre Corporation CEO Cary Deacon, Funimation was in early stage negotiations to acquire some of the titles licensed through Geneon's USA division, which ceased operations in December 2007. In July 2008, Funimation confirmed that they had acquired distribution rights to several Geneon titles, including some that Geneon had left unfinished when they withdrew from the U.S. market. At Anime Expo 2008, Funimation announced that it had acquired over 30 titles from the Sojitz catalog that had previously been licensed by ADV Films. In 2009, Funimation signed a deal with Toei Animation to stream several of its anime titles online through the Funimation website.


title: Funimation

text: On May 27, 2010, Navarre Corporation announced that it began negotiating a potential sale of Funimation. It was also announced that if the sale took place, Funimation would be reclassified as a "discounted operation" starting in the first quarter of 2011. On September 16, 2010, Navarre announced that six potential buyers were interested in acquiring Funimation. In the first quarter of 2011, Navarre reclassified Funimation as "discounted operations". On April 4, 2011, Navarre released a statement announcing that Funimation had been sold to a group of investors that included original owner Gen Fukunaga for $24 million. It was also announced that Navarre would remain as exclusive distributor of Funimation's titles.


title: Funimation

text: On October 14, 2011, Funimation announced a partnership with Niconico, the English language version of Nico Nico Douga, to form the Funico brand for the licensing of anime for streaming and home video release. From this point on, virtually all titles simulcasted by Niconico were acquired by Funimation. In 2014, Funimation released "" to theaters in partnership with Screenvision. Based on its success, Funimation launched its own theatrical division in December 2014. On June 22, 2015, Funimation and Universal Pictures Home Entertainment announced a multi-year home video distribution deal. The deal allowed UPHE to manage distribution and sales of Funimation's catalog of titles. Universal began distributing Funimation's titles in October of that year.


title: Funimation

text: In January 2016, Funimation introduced a new logo and announced the rebranding of their streaming platform as "FunimationNow". In April 2016, they launched their service in the UK and Ireland.


title: Funimation

text: On September 8, 2016, Funimation announced a partnership with Crunchyroll. Select Funimation titles would be streamed subtitled on Crunchyroll, while select Crunchyroll titles would be streamed on FunimationNow, including upcoming dubbed content. In addition, Funimation would act as the distributor for Crunchyroll's home video catalog.


title: Funimation

text: On May 18, 2017, Shout! Factory acquired the North American distribution rights to "In This Corner of the World", with a U.S. theatrical release to take place on August 11, 2017, co-released by Funimation Films.


title: Funimation

text: In May 2017, it was reported that Universal Studios and Sony Pictures Television were interested in purchasing Funimation; however, Universal decided not to proceed with the bidding. On July 31, 2017, Sony Pictures Television announced that it would buy a controlling 95% stake in Funimation for $143 million, a deal that was approved by the United States Department of Justice on August 22, 2017. This deal allowed Funimation to have synergies with Sony's Animax and Kids Station divisions and "direct access to the creative pipeline". The deal was closed on October 27, 2017.


title: Funimation

text: On February 16, 2018, it was reported that Shout! Factory's Shout! Studios division acquired the U.S./Canadian distribution rights to "Big Fish & Begonia" and partnered with Funimation Films again for distribution. On July 12, 2018, it was announced that Funimation Films had picked up licensing rights for "" in North America and that its English dub would premiere in theaters sometime in January 2019 in the United States and Canada, only around a month after its national premiere in Japan.


title: Funimation

text: On August 7, 2018, AT&T fully acquired Otter Media, owner of Crunchyroll. On October 18, 2018, Funimation and Crunchyroll announced that their partnership with would end on November 9, 2018, as a result of Sony Pictures Television's acquisition of Funimation. Despite the home video releases being unaffected and still going on as planned, select Funimation content would be removed from Crunchyroll, and subtitled content would return to FunimationNow. Additionally, it was also announced that Funimation would be removed from Otter Media-owned streaming service VRV entirely, being replaced by HIDIVE. In December 2018, it was reported that another reason the partnership ended was due to a dispute concerning international expansion. On December 4, 2018, Funimation inked an exclusive multi-year first-look SVOD deal with Hulu.


title: Funimation

text: On February 1, 2019, Gen Fukunaga announced that he would be stepping down as general manager, and transitioning to chairman of the company, with Colin Decker assuming the role of general manager in May 2019. On March 23, 2019, at AnimeJapan 2019, Funimation announced that they had partnered with Chinese streaming service Bilibili to jointly license anime titles for both the U.S. and Chinese markets.


title: Funimation

text: On May 29, 2019, Funimation announced that they had acquired Manga Entertainment's UK branch, and immediately consolidated the former's UK business into the latter's. On July 5, 2019, Funimation announced at Anime Expo that they had reached a streaming partnership with Right Stuf, with select titles from Nozomi Entertainment being made available on FunimationNow later in the year. On August 31, 2019, Aniplex of America announced on Twitter that they would be partnering with Funimation Films to co-release "Rascal Does Not Dream of a Dreaming Girl" theatrically in the U.S. on October 2, 2019, and in Canada on October 4, 2019.


title: Funimation

text: On September 24, 2019, Sony Pictures Television and Aniplex announced that they were consolidating their international anime streaming businesses under a new joint venture, Funimation Global Group, LLC., with Funimation general manager Colin Decker leading the joint venture. The joint venture would operate under Funimation's branding, and allow Funimation to acquire and distribute titles with Aniplex subsidiaries Wakanim, Madman Anime and AnimeLab. The first title under the joint venture, "", would receive a 30-day exclusivity on FunimationNow, AnimeLab and Wakanim, and provide Funimation exclusive rights to the English dub for one year.


title: Funimation

text: In December 2019, Funimation launched a "Decade of Anime" poll in which fans voted for their favorite anime across multiple categories.


title: Funimation

text: On January 24, 2020, Funimation announced it would be merging its online catalog into AnimeLab for Australian and New Zealand audiences, and would shut down FunimationNow for Australia and New Zealand on March 30.


title: Funimation

text: On May 1, 2020, Funimation announced that they formed a partnership with Kodansha Comics to host a series of weekly watch parties. On May 4, Funimation announced that they had struck a deal with NIS America to stream select titles on FunimationNow. Funimation would also announce that same day that they would hold a virtual anime convention called "FunimationCon" on July 3–4, 2020. It was one of several virtual events taking the place of that year's Anime Expo, which announced its cancellation on April 17.


title: Funimation

text: On July 3, 2020, Funimation announced at FunimationCon that they would expand their streaming service to Latin America, starting with Mexico and Brazil in Q4 2020, with one of the first dubbed titles released being "Tokyo Ghoul:re". Funimation later revealed that they would launch their Latin American services in December 2020. However, they launched their service early on November 18, 2020.


title: Funimation

text: On September 9, 2020, Funimation announced that they had reached a distribution partnership with Viz Media, with Viz Media titles being made available to stream on Funimation's website. The deal was made after select Viz titles such as Part I of "Naruto" and the first 75 episodes of "Hunter × Hunter" were previously made available on FunimationNow. On December 2, 2020, Brazilian TV channel Loading announced a content partnership with Sony Pictures Entertainment. Funimation titles being included in the partnership was hinted at, but not confirmed. Five days later, it was officially confirmed that Funimation titles would be included in the partnership.


title: Funimation

text: On November 24, 2020, Funimation announced they had partnered with Sunrise to stream select "Gundam" titles such as "Mobile Suit Gundam", "Mobile Suit Gundam SEED", and later "Mobile Suit Gundam Wing" and "Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam". Some "Gundam" titles already streamed on Funimation prior to said partnership like "".


title: Funimation

text: To unify the company's image abroad, Manga Entertainment was rebranded as Funimation UK in the UK and Ireland, on April 19, 2021, with AnimeLab relaunched under the Funimation brand in Australia and New Zealand, from June 17, 2021. Afterwards, Funimation launched their streaming services to three South American countries of Colombia, Chile, and Peru on June 16, 2021.


title: Funimation

text: On September 1, 2021, Funimation and Gonzo announced a partnership to upload select remastered titles on their respective YouTube channels until November 30. These titles were "Ragnarok the Animation", "Witchblade" and "Burst Angel".


title: Funimation

text: On December 9, 2020, Sony Pictures Entertainment announced that it would acquire Crunchyroll from WarnerMedia for a total of in cash, placing the company under Funimation once the acquisition was finalized. However, on March 24, 2021, it was reported that the United States Department of Justice had extended its antitrust review of the acquisition. The acquisition of Crunchyroll was completed on August 9, 2021, with Sony stating in their press release that they would create a unified anime subscription using their anime businesses as soon as possible. Crunchyroll confirmed four days later that VRV was included in the acquisition.


title: Funimation

text: On January 25, 2022, Crunchyroll announced that they were going to release "Jujutsu Kaisen 0" in theaters on March 18, 2022, in the United States and Canada. The film launched in over 1,500 theaters, as well as some IMAX theatres, in both sub and dub. They also stated that the feature would be coming soon to theaters in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, France, Germany, and Latin America among other countries. This is the first Crunchyroll film to be distributed in association with Funimation Films.


title: Funimation

text: On March 1, 2022, it was announced that the Funimation, Wakanim and VRV SVOD services would be consolidated into Crunchyroll. Additionally, it was announced that Funimation Global Group, LLC would undergo a rebrand as Crunchyroll, LLC. Fourteen days later, it was announced that Funimation's home video releases would be distributed under the Crunchyroll banner, with the latter's logo replacing that of the former on the spine and back of the covers for each new release that comes out starting with its June 2022 slate.


title: Funimation

text: Following the Russian military invasion of Ukraine, Crunchyroll announced on March 11 that it would halt services in Russia, thus shutting down operations of Wakanim and Crunchyroll EMEA entirely, in line with global sanctions.


title: Funimation

text: On April 5, 2022, the company announced that Funimation's YouTube channel was rebranded as Crunchyroll Dubs and that it would serve as Crunchyroll's channel for English-dubbed content while English-subtitled content would still be uploaded on their Crunchyroll Collection channel. The company also stated that they would release an English-dubbed first episode of an anime series every Saturday at 3:00pm ET on the channel, starting with "" on April 9, 2022. Three days later, another announcement was made in that the Funimation Shop would be moved to the Crunchyroll Store. On August 4, 2022, Crunchyroll acquired Right Stuf.


title: Funimation

text: As a result of the merger in March 2022, pre-existing shows such as "My Hero Academia", "Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out!", and others that were streaming on Funimation will remain along with newer seasons until a full migration of its licensed catalog is transferred over to Crunchyroll. New series such as "Spy × Family", "Chainsaw Man", and "A Couple of Cuckoos" are only released on Crunchyroll, albeit with the dubbing production done in the Coppell studios. Once the content migration is completed, the Funimation OTT platform is expected to be sunset.


title: Funimation

text: Funimation Entertainment, along with Olympusat, launched the Funimation Channel on September 29, 2005, the second 24-hour anime digital cable network in North America (the first being A.D. Vision's Anime Network). Olympusat was the exclusive distributor of the channel.


title: Funimation

text: On March 23, 2006, a syndicated block was announced for Colours TV. A few months later, it was announced that the channel was launched in a few cities via VHF and UHF digital signals. Both services were discontinued in favor for a more successful expansion on digital cable, fiber optics and DBS systems. The channel launched its HD feed on September 27, 2010. On December 31, 2015, Funimation and Olympusat ended their deal and no longer broadcasts Funimation titles on the channel. The television channel was replaced by Toku. Funimation originally announced plans to relaunch Funimation Channel in 2016, which ultimately did not come into fruition.


title: Funimation

text: Back in 2007, Funimation licensed "Revolutionary Girl Utena: The Movie", the "Record of Lodoss War" series, the "Project A-ko" series, "" and "Grave of the Fireflies" from Central Park Media and played them on the Funimation Channel on television in the United States. In 2009, they licensed "Buso Renkin", "Honey and Clover", "Hunter × Hunter", "Nana" and "Monster" from Viz Media (their fellow rival) for the channel. They also licensed "Ninja Nonsense" and "Boogiepop Phantom" from Right Stuf's Nozomi Entertainment division for it as well. The only title licensed for Funimation Channel which was not licensed by Funimation, neither Viz Media, nor Nozomi Entertainment or Central Park Media was "Haré+Guu", which was licensed for North American distribution by AN Entertainment and Bang Zoom! Entertainment and had its North American DVD release published by Funimation, while its licensors were the producers. The only Enoki USA titles Funimation licensed for Funimation Channel were "Revolutionary Girl Utena" and "His and Her Circumstances".


title: Funimation

text: Funimation's catalog of series and films, as well as official Japanese simulcasts, are currently available for streaming on their website and dedicated apps. They currently stream over 800 titles from their catalog, Aniplex of America, Viz Media, Nozomi Entertainment, NIS America, and TMS Entertainment among other distributors. They currently are streaming titles in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Peru, and by Wakanim they are also available in select parts of Europe, Africa, and Asia. Via Crunchyroll, they also have over 5 million subscribers


title: Funimation

text: and 120 million registered users worldwide with over 1,200 anime titles, 200 dorama, and 80 manga currently available from a wide array of distributors such as Sentai Filmworks and Discotek Media.


title: Funimation

text: On September 19, 2006, Funimation created an official channel on YouTube where they upload advertisements for box sets, as well as clips and preview episodes of their licensed series. In September 2008, they began distributing full episodes of series on Hulu. In April 2009, Funimation began distributing full episodes of series at Veoh. In February 2012, Crackle began streaming select titles from Funimation, joining titles previously acquired from Funimation for their localized Animax hub.


title: Funimation

text: A dedicated Funimation app launched for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 in December 2014 and March 2015, respectively. A Nintendo Switch app launched in December 2020.


title: Funimation

text: In January 2014, English dubbed episodes of "Space Dandy" premiered on Adult Swim's Toonami programming block a day before the Japanese broadcast; one of the rare occasions an anime series premiered in the United States before Japan. Funimation would later introduce a new "SimulDub" program in October 2014, in which English dubs of their simulcast titles would premiere within weeks after their subtitled airing. This practice began with SimulDub versions of "Psycho-Pass 2" and "Laughing Under the Clouds", episodes of which were streamed roughly three weeks to one month following their original Japanese broadcast.


title: Funimation

text: On March 18, 2020, Funimation announced that production of SimulDubs would be delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic; Subtitled simulcasts would continue as scheduled. On April 10, 2020, Funimation announced that an episode of "My Hero Academia" had been recorded and would be released on April 12. Funimation would later announce the scheduled release dates for SimulDubs that were produced during the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: Funimation

text: In July 2008, Funimation and Red Planet Media announced the launch of a mobile video on demand service for AT&T Mobility and Sprint mobile phone subscribers. Three titles were part of the launch, "Gunslinger Girl", "", and "The Galaxy Railways", with entire seasons of each made available.


title: Funimation

text: Until 2016, Funimation did not directly release its properties in non-North American (English language speaking) markets, and instead sub-licensed its properties to other companies such as Revelation Films, MVM Entertainment, the UK branch of Manga Entertainment, and Anime Limited in the United Kingdom until 2016, and Madman Entertainment and Siren Visual in Australia and New Zealand until 2017. Funimation has also attempted to distribute "Dragon Ball Z" to Spanish speaking audiences, and has released a number of Spanish-language DVDs of the series.


title: Funimation

text: In 2016, Funimation began directly releasing some of its titles in the United Kingdom and Ireland with Funimation branding, with Funimation handling licensing and localization, and Anime Limited handling distribution and classification. Funimation later distributed "My Hero Academia" in the region through Universal Pictures UK in 2017, and later through Sony Pictures UK, along with other select titles, in 2018. Funimation later began sub-licensing titles to Manga Entertainment's UK branch in late 2018, before acquiring the company on May 29, 2019, and releasing titles directly. On September 24, 2019, Sony Pictures Television and Aniplex consolidated their international anime streaming businesses, with Funimation becoming the leading company for the group.


title: Funimation

text: Funimation also began directly distributing its titles in Australia and New Zealand in 2017. Similar to the UK and Ireland, select titles were released through Universal Sony Pictures Home Entertainment from 2017 to 2018. From September 2018, Funimation transferred distribution to Madman Anime, with the company handling distribution and classification within the region.


title: Funimation

text: In 2005, Funimation's legal department began to pursue a more aggressive approach toward protecting the company's licensed properties. They started sending "cease and desist" (C&D) letters to sites offering links to fansubs of their titles. This move was similar to that taken by the now-defunct ADV Films several years before with several major torrent sites.


title: Funimation

text: Funimation's legal department served C&D letters for series that had not yet been advertised or announced as licensed, including "", "Black Cat", and "SoltyRei", with a few known series also mentioned in the letter. Funimation revealed more licenses on October 6, 2006, when it sent letters to torrent sites demanding that distribution of "xxxHolic"'s TV series, "Mushishi", "Ragnarok the Animation", and other series cease.


title: Funimation

text: Since October 2009, Funimation has routinely filed DMCA takedown notices to get unauthorized distributions of its and its partners' properties removed from Google search results.


title: Funimation

text: In January 2011, Funimation filed a lawsuit against BitTorrent users in the U.S. for allegedly downloading and uploading "One Piece". Funimation dropped the suit in March after a Northern Texas judge, having already indicated that the court would appoint attorneys for the defendants, ruled that the defendants were not "acting in concert" and thus could not be sued as a group; each would have to be sued separately.


title: Funimation

text: The "One Piece" film at issue was a fansub, an unauthorized copy distributed with fan-produced, translated subtitles. Soon after the lawsuit was abandoned, Funimation was reported to have long been deriving dubs from fansubs. Nevertheless, Funimation continues to hold their stance that fansubbing is harmful to the anime industry, stating "The practices of illegal downloads and 'fansubbing' are very harmful to our Japanese partners and [...] we have been asked to monitor and take action against unauthorized distribution of these titles. Because we believe that this will benefit the industry, we have agreed to do so." Sites which distribute fansubs or separate fan-created subtitles remain a frequent target of civil actions by Funimation and other anime companies, as well as criminal prosecution in at least one case.


title: Funimation

text: Two months after failing to sue BitTorrent users in the North Texas district, Funimation engaged in forum shopping and proceeded to sue 1,427 defendants in the neighboring East Texas district for acting "in concert" to infringe copyright on "". This case was allowed to proceed. However, the court dismissed the case against all remaining defendants with prejudice, on October 17, 2013.


title: Funimation

text: In November 2011, Funimation sued A.D. Vision, AEsir Holdings, Section23 Films, Valkyrie Media Partners, Seraphim Studios, Sentai Filmworks and its CEO, John Ledford and Switchblade Pictures for a sum of $8 million, citing "breach of contracts" and other issues. Funimation said that ADV's transfer of assets were made with "the intent to defer, hinder or defraud the creditors of ADV [Films]." Funimation sought ADV's sale of assets as void. The lawsuit was settled in mediation in 2014. The terms of the settlement were not disclosed.


title: Funimation

text: In early 2019, allegations of sexual misconduct against voice actor Vic Mignogna were brought forward on Twitter. Funimation conducted an internal investigation of the matter and announced on February 11, 2019, that they had ended their relations with Mignogna. On April 19, 2019, Mignogna filed a civil suit against Funimation and voice actors Jamie Marchi, Monica Rial, and Rial's fiancé, Ron Toye. Mignogna and his attorney were seeking a monetary relief of over $1 million. On June 12, 2019, Funimation filed a response denying Mignogna's allegations. On July 1, 2019, Funimation filed an anti-SLAPP motion for Mignogna to dismiss his lawsuit. Rial, Marchi, and Toye then filed their anti-SLAPP motions on July 19, 2019. A hearing to consider the defendants's anti-SLAPP motions took place on September 6, 2019; presiding Tarrant County judge John P. Chupp dismissed the civil suit against Marchi. On October 4, 2019, the civil suit against Funimation, Rial, and Toye was dismissed.


title: Funimation

text: On October 24, 2019, Mignogna filed an appeal against the dismissal. On October 30, 2019, Rial, Toye, Marchi, and Funimation filed a motion to have Mignogna's appeal dismissed, which was subsequently denied. On November 5, 2019, Funimation filed a motion to recover attorney's fees, costs, and sanctions related to the lawsuit. On November 27, 2019, Tarrant County judge John P. Chupp ruled that Mignogna had to pay a total of $238,042.42 in attorney's fees and sanctions to Rial, Toye, Marchi, and Funimation.


title: Funimation

text: On April 24, 2019, Kojicast filed a lawsuit against Funimation claiming that the company's FunimationNow streaming service was an infringement on Kojicast's patent.


title: Funimation

text: On January 13, 2021, Jenisa Angeles filed a class-action lawsuit against Funimation, claiming that their online store failed to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The suit was settled out of court. The terms of the settlement were not disclosed.


title: Welsh Corgi

text: The Pembroke Welsh Corgi ( or Corgi, plural Corgis, or occasionally the etymologically consistent Corgwn; ) is a small type of herding dog that originated in Wales. The name "corgi" is derived from the Welsh words and (which is mutated to ), meaning "dwarf" and "dog", respectively.


title: Welsh Corgi

text: Two separate breeds are recognized: the Pembroke Welsh Corgi and the Cardigan Welsh Corgi. Physical differences are seen between the two breeds. According to the breed standards, overall the Cardigan is larger, both in weight and height. Their tails are of different shapes, and docking was previously performed on Corgis before the practice was largely banned.


title: Welsh Corgi

text: Historically, the Pembroke has been attributed to the influx of dogs alongside Flemish weavers from around the 10th century, while the Cardigan is attributed to the dogs brought with Norse settlers, in particular a common ancestor of the Swedish Vallhund.


title: Welsh Corgi

text: The Pembroke is the more popular of the two, yet still appears on the Kennel Club's vulnerable dog breeds of the United Kingdom list. The Pembroke Welsh Corgi gained in popularity because Elizabeth II had personally owned more than 30 Pembrokes or Corgi-Dachshund crosses, known as "dorgis".