title: Charley Pride

text: In 1994, Charley Pride published his book "Pride: The Charley Pride Story." Pride spoke with John Siegenthaler on Nashville Public Television about the book and his childhood in Mississippi, the impacts of racism throughout his career, and his battle with depression.


title: Charley Pride

text: In 2016, Pride was selected as one of 30 artists to perform on "Forever Country", a mash-up track of "Take Me Home, Country Roads", "On the Road Again", and "I Will Always Love You", which celebrates 50 years of the Country Music Association Awards. Pride released his first album in six years, titled "Music in My Heart", on July 7, 2017.


title: Charley Pride

text: In 2020, the CMA announced that Pride would receive the Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award at the 54th Country Music Association Awards in recognition of his work in the genre. The CEO of the CMA explained that "Charley Pride is the epitome of a trailblazer. Few other artists have grown country music's rich heritage and led to the advancement of country music around the world like Charley. His distinctive voice has created a timeless legacy that continues to echo through the country community today. We could not be more excited to honor Charley with one of CMA's highest accolades."


title: Charley Pride

text: Pride met his wife Rozene while playing baseball in Memphis, Tennessee. They married in 1956 while Pride was on Christmas leave from Army basic training, and had two sons, Kraig and Dion, and a daughter, Angela. They also had five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. They resided in Dallas.


title: Charley Pride

text: In the late 1970s, Pride had an extramarital affair with an unmarried Dallas flight attendant, and in 1979, she gave birth to a son, Tyler. In 1990, the woman sued Pride for child support, and Pride responded by contesting the boy's paternity. In 1992, after a DNA paternity test demonstrated that Pride was in fact the child's father, a Texas court ordered Pride to pay child support until Tyler's 18th birthday, and further ordered that the boy's surname be changed to Pride.<ref name="dmn_6/9/21"></ref>


title: Charley Pride

text: Pride had a tumor removed from his right vocal cord in 1997 at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. He returned to the site in February 2009 for a routine checkup and surprised the Arkansas Senate with an unplanned performance of five songs. He was joined by Governor Mike Beebe during the show.


title: Charley Pride

text: Pride was a fan and part owner of the Texas Rangers. He also performed the national anthem at some of the Rangers' games.


title: Charley Pride

text: Pride died from complications related to COVID-19 in Dallas on December 12, 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic in Texas. He was 86 years old.


title: Charley Pride

text: In May 2021, Tyler Pride contested Charley's will, asserting that he had been omitted to maintain "a Pride family secret" and "[protect] Charley's brand and legacy." In a statement to "The Dallas Morning News", Rozene—the executor of Charley's will—did not dispute that Tyler was Charley's son, but said that Tyler had been given adequate compensation and recognition during Charley's life, and characterized the lawsuit as a ploy for financial gain. In September 2022, Tyler Pride said that the lawsuit had been settled for undisclosed terms.


title: USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67)

text: USS "John F. Kennedy" (CV-67) (formerly CVA-67), the only ship of her class, is an aircraft carrier, formerly of the United States Navy. Considered a supercarrier, she is a variant of the , and the last conventionally powered carrier built for the Navy, as all carriers since have nuclear propulsion. The ship was named after John F. Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States. "John F. Kennedy" was originally designated a CVA, for fixed wing attack carrier, however the designation was changed to CV, for fleet carrier.


title: USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67)

text: After nearly 40 years of service, "John F. Kennedy" was officially decommissioned on 1 August 2007. She is berthed at the NAVSEA Inactive Ships On-site Maintenance facility in Philadelphia, formerly the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, and, until late 2017, was available for donation as a museum and memorial to a qualified organization. In late 2017, the Navy revoked her "donation hold" status and designated her for dismantling.


title: USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67)

text: She has been succeeded by the Pre-Commissioning Unit , laid down in July 2015, launched in October 2019, and scheduled to enter service in 2024.


title: USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67)

text: Contracted as Ship Characteristic Board SCB-127C, the ship's keel was laid on inclined Shipway 8 by Newport News Shipbuilding on 22 October 1964. By 1965, the larger semi-submerged Shipway 11 became available, where final construction was completed. The ship was officially christened 27 May 1967 by Jacqueline Kennedy and her 9-year-old daughter, Caroline, two days short of what would have been President Kennedy's 50th birthday. The ship entered service 7 September 1968.


title: USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67)

text: "John F. Kennedy" is a modified version of the earlier s. Originally scheduled to be the fourth "Kitty Hawk"-class carrier, the ship received so many modifications during construction she formed her own class. The ship was originally ordered as a nuclear carrier, using the A3W reactor, but converted to conventional propulsion after construction had begun. The island is somewhat different from that of the "Kitty Hawk" class, with angled funnels to direct smoke and gases away from the flight deck. "John F. Kennedy" is also shorter than the "Kitty Hawk" class.


title: USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67)

text: After an ORI (operational readiness inspection) conducted by Commander, Carrier Division Two, "John F. Kennedy" left for the Mediterranean in April 1969. The ship reached Rota, Spain on the morning of 22 April 1969 and relieved . Rear Admiral Pierre N. Charbonnet, Commander, Carrier Striking Forces, Sixth Fleet, and Commander, Carrier Striking Unit 60.1.9, shifted his flag to "John F. Kennedy". The turnover complete by nightfall, the carrier, escorted by destroyers, transited the Strait of Gibraltar at the start of the mid watch on 22 April. The next day, "John F. Kennedy" refueled from , and acquired the company of a Soviet (Pennant No. 383).


title: USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67)

text: "John F. Kennedy"s maiden voyage, and several of her subsequent voyages, were on deployments to the Mediterranean during much of the 1970s to help deal with the steadily deteriorating situation in the Middle East. During the 1970s "John F. Kennedy" was upgraded to handle the F-14 Tomcat and the S-3 Viking.


title: USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67)

text: "John F. Kennedy" was involved in the Navy response to the Yom Kippur War in the Middle East in October 1973, with her actions and the larger U.S. Navy picture being described in Elmo Zumwalt's book "On Watch".


title: USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67)

text: On 20 June 1975 "John F. Kennedy" was the target of arson, suffering eight fires, with no injuries, while at port in Norfolk, Virginia.


title: USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67)

text: On 22 November 1975, "John F. Kennedy" collided with the cruiser , severely damaging the smaller ship. As a result of the collision with "John F. Kennedy"s overhanging deck, JP-5 fuel lines were ruptured spraying fuel over an adjacent catwalk, and fires ensued aboard both ships. "Belknap"s superstructure was gutted almost to the main deck, and seven of her crew killed. Aboard "John F. Kennedy", smoke inhalation claimed the life of Yeoman 2nd Class David A. Chivalette of VF-14, CVW-1.


title: USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67)

text: On 14 September 1976, while conducting a nighttime underway replenishment north of Scotland, the destroyer lost control and collided with "John F. Kennedy", resulting in such severe damage to the destroyer that she was removed from service in 1977. Earlier the same day, one F-14 Tomcat, following a problem with the catapult, fell off of the flight deck of "John F. Kennedy", with AIM-54 Phoenix missiles in international waters, off the coast Scotland. Both crew members ejected and landed on the deck, injured but alive. A naval race (surface and submarine) followed between the Soviet Navy and U.S. Navy to get back not only the plane (because of its weapon system), but also its missiles. After a prolonged search, the U.S. Navy retrieved the aircraft and its missiles.


title: USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67)

text: In 1979 "John F. Kennedy" underwent her first, year long overhaul, which was completed in 1980. While the carrier was at Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Virginia for the overhaul, arson attacks were carried out on the ship on two occasions. On 9 April 1979, she experienced five fires which killed one shipyard worker and injured 34 others, and on 5 June 1979 the carrier was the target of two more fires; no one was injured in the latter incident.


title: USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67)

text: On 4 January 1982, "John F. Kennedy", with Carrier Air Wing Three (AC), sailed as the flagship for Carrier Group Four (CCG-4) from Norfolk, Va. on her ninth deployment, and her first visit to the Indian Ocean after port visits to St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, Malaga, Spain, and transiting the Suez Canal. In her time in the Indian Ocean "John F. Kennedy" conducted her only port visit to Perth/Fremantle, Western Australia, anchoring in Gage Roads on 19 March 1982 for a R&R visit, departing on 25 March back to the Indian Ocean. During this time "John F. Kennedy" played host to the first visit of the Somali head of state. Her cruise ended with port visits to Mombasa, Kenya and Toulon, France, and another visit to Malaga, Spain before returning home on 14 July 1982.


title: USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67)

text: In October 1983 "John F. Kennedy" was diverted to Beirut, Lebanon from her planned Indian Ocean deployment, after the Beirut barracks bombing killed 241 U.S. military personnel taking part in the Multinational Force in Lebanon, and spent the rest of that year and early 1984 patrolling the region. On 4 December 1983 ten A-6 aircraft from "John F. Kennedy" along with A-6 and A-7 aircraft from took part in a bombing raid over Beirut, in response to two U.S. F-14 aircraft being fired upon the previous day. The Navy lost two aircraft during the raid: an A-7E from "Independence" and an A-6E from "John F. Kennedy" were shot down by SAMs. The A-7E pilot was picked up by a fishing boat, but the A-6E pilot Lt. Mark Lange died after ejecting and the B/N Lt. Robert "Bobby" Goodman was taken prisoner and released on 3 January 1984.


title: USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67)

text: In 1984 the ship was drydocked at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard for a one-and-a-half-year complex overhaul and upgrades.


title: USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67)

text: In 1985 "John F. Kennedy" received the initial awarding of the Department of Defense Phoenix Award for Maintenance Excellence for having the best maintenance department in the entire Department of Defense.


title: USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67)

text: Setting sail in July 1986, "John F. Kennedy" participated in the International Naval Review to help mark the Re-dedication of the Statue of Liberty. "John F. Kennedy" served as the flagship for the armada before departing on her eleventh overseas deployment to the Mediterranean in Augusthighlighted by multiple Freedom of Navigation exercises in the Gulf of Sidra, and operations off of the coast of Lebanon as a response to increasing terrorist activities and U.S. citizens being taken hostage in Beirut. The ship returned to Norfolk, Virginia in March 1987 and was dry-docked a second time for fifteen months for critical upgrades and major repairs.


title: USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67)

text: In August 1988 "John F. Kennedy" departed on her twelfth overseas deployment. During this deployment, a pair of MiG-23 Flogger fighter aircraft from Libya approached the carrier task force, which was off the shore of Libya near the declared Libyan territorial waters of the Gulf of Sidra. "John F. Kennedy" launched two F-14 Tomcats from VF-32 "Fighting Swordsmen" to intercept the incoming MiGs. The U.S. planes were sent to escort the MiGs away from the task force. During the course of the intercept, the MiGs were determined to be hostile and were both shot down.


title: USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67)

text: "John F. Kennedy" returned to the U.S. in time to participate in Fleet Week in New York and Independence Day celebrations in Boston, Massachusetts before receiving an "All-hands" recall on 10 August 1990, for Operation Desert Shield. The ship was empty of fuel, and ordnance and equipment as she was ready to join the yards for some SRA maintenance. Once the Warning order was issued, the ship went into 24-hour supplies replenishment procedures. She took on all the supplies and equipment she had just been offloading. She took on additional fuel and ordnance while crossing the Atlantic Ocean. She departed the United States combat ready faster than any ship had accomplished since the Vietnam War. She departed on 15 August 1990, and became the flagship for the commander of the Red Sea Battle Force. At midnight on 17 January 1991 "John F. Kennedy"s Carrier Air Wing 3 commenced the very first strike operations against Iraqi forces as part of Operation Desert Storm. Between the commencement of the operation and the cease-fire, "John F. Kennedy" launched 114 airstrikes and nearly 2,900 sorties against Iraq, which delivered over 3.5 million pounds of ordnance. On 27 February 1991 President George H. W. Bush declared a cease-fire in Iraq, and ordered all U.S. forces to stand down. "John F. Kennedy" was relieved, and began the long journey home by transiting the Suez Canal. She arrived in Norfolk on 28 March 1991.


title: USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67)

text: While at Norfolk the ship was placed on a four-month selective restricted-availability period as shipyard workers carried out maintenance. Extensive repairs to the flight deck, maintenance and engineering systems were made. Additionally, the ship was refitted to handle the new F/A-18C/D Hornet.


title: USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67)

text: With the upgrades completed, "John F. Kennedy" departed on her 14th deployment to the Mediterranean, assisting several task forces with workup exercises in anticipation of intervention in Yugoslavia. When "John F. Kennedy" returned she was sent to the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, where she underwent a two-year extensive overhaul. Upon completion of the overhaul the ship was transferred to the Mayport Naval Station near Jacksonville, Florida, which remained the ship's home port.


title: USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67)

text: On 1 October 1995, "John F. Kennedy" was designated to be an operational reserve carrier and Naval Reserve Force ship with a combined full-time active duty and part-time Naval Reserve crew complement, assigned to the U.S. Atlantic Fleet. "John F. Kennedy" would be available to deploy with either an active or reserve carrier air wing when mobilized in support of urgent operational requirements. In this capacity, "John F. Kennedy"s new primary function would be to provide a surge capability, and in peacetime, to support training requirements. She would participate in routine fleet exercises, aviator carrier qualifications, and battle group training. The impetus for this initiative was post-Cold War defense spending in the mid-1990s, however, the Naval Reserve was never adequately funded to accomplish major maintenance actions for the "John F. Kennedy", further exacerbated by additional defense cutbacks that eliminated Carrier Air Wing Reserve 30 and the downgrading of Carrier Air Wing Reserve 20 to a non-deployable Tactical Support Wing and the return of many of the Reserve's front-line combat aircraft to the active duty force. Following the 11 September 2001 attacks on the United States, the Operational Reserve Carrier concept was discontinued and "John F. Kennedy" was returned to the active duty fleet and placed back in the same maintenance rotation as active duty carriers.


title: USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67)

text: "John F. Kennedy" made a high-profile visit to Dublin, Ireland during an Atlantic deployment in 1996. Here, more than 10,000 people were invited to tour the ship at anchor in Dublin Bay. The visit was also intended to honor two personalities who had made a great impact on history: John F. Kennedy, for whom the ship was named, and Commodore John Barry, a native of County Wexford, Ireland who played an instrumental role in the early years of the United States Navy. Officers and crew from "John F. Kennedy" joined local military and civilian organizations in celebrating Barry's achievements at his statue in Crescent Quay, Wexford, and three F-14 Tomcat fighters flew at low level over the town. Jean Kennedy Smith, sister of John F. Kennedy, was the U.S. ambassador to Ireland at the time, and was among those who welcomed the ship to Ireland.


title: USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67)

text: During her visit to Ireland, high winds in Dublin Bay caused the boarding pontoon to tear a large hole in "John F. Kennedy"s hull.


title: USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67)

text: "John F. Kennedy"s 15th Mediterranean deployment included two transits of the Suez Canal, and four months deployed in the Persian Gulf. One night in the Gulf two Iranian F-14's were flying low altitude at high speed heading toward the ship. The AEGIS cruiser acquired the jets on radar and warned them to turn away, which they did. She returned in time to participate in Fleet Week '98 in New York City.


title: USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67)

text: Shortly before "John F. Kennedy"s 16th deployment, she became involved in a rescue mission when the tug "Gulf Majesty" foundered during Hurricane Floyd in mid-September 1999. The ship successfully rescued the crew of the vessel, then headed toward the Middle East, where she became the first U.S. aircraft carrier to make a port call in Al Aqabah, Jordan, in the process playing host to the King of Jordan, before taking up station in support of Operation Southern Watch.


title: USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67)

text: "John F. Kennedy" was the only conventionally powered U.S. carrier underway at the end of 1999, arriving back at Mayport on 19 March 2000. After a brief period of maintenance (Advanced combat direction system was installed), the carrier sailed north to participate in 4 July International Naval Review, then headed to Boston for Sail Boston 2000. The City of Boston arranged this independent event to take advantage of the transit of Tall sailing ships participating in Operation Sail 2000 as they passed by from New London, Connecticut en route to their final port-of-call in Portland, Maine.


title: USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67)

text: During "John F. Kennedy"s last round of refits the ship became a testbed for an experimental system for the Cooperative Engagement Capability, a system that allowed "John F. Kennedy" to engage targets beyond original range.


title: USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67)

text: In 2001, during a pre-deployment trial, "John F. Kennedy" was found to be severely deficient in some respects, especially those relating to air group operations; most problematic, two aircraft catapults and three aircraft elevators, which are used to lift aircraft from the hangar deck to and from the flight deck, were non-functional during inspection, and two boilers would not light. As a result, her captain and two department heads were relieved for cause.


title: USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67)

text: As the 11 September attacks of 2001 unfolded, "John F. Kennedy" and her battle group were ordered to support Operation Noble Eagle, establishing air security along the mid-Atlantic seaboard, including Washington, D.C. "John F. Kennedy" was released from Noble Eagle on 14 September 2001.


title: USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67)

text: During the first six months of 2002, "John F. Kennedy" aircraft dropped 31,000 tons of ordnance on Taliban and al Qaeda targets in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.


title: USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67)

text: In July 2004 "John F. Kennedy" collided with a dhow in the Persian Gulf, leaving no survivors on the traditional Arab sailing boat. After the incident the Navy relieved the commanding officer of "John F. Kennedy". The carrier herself was unscathed, but two jet fighters on the deck were damaged when an F-14B Tomcat assigned to VF-103 slid into an F/A-18C Hornet assigned to VFA-81 damaging the wing of the F-14 as well as the upper section of the radome and forward windscreen of the F/A-18 as the ship made a hard turn to avoid the tiny vessel. A popular misconception is that "John F. Kennedy"s captain waited to make the turn at the last possible moment to recover aircraft critically low on fuel returning from airstrikes. The official review board determined this was not the case and the aircraft could have remained safely aloft until "John F. Kennedy" maneuvered to avoid the dhow.


title: USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67)

text: "John F. Kennedy" was the most costly carrier in the fleet to maintain and was due for an expensive overhaul; budget cutbacks and changing naval tactics


title: USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67)

text: prompted the U.S. Navy to decide to retire her. On 1 April 2005 the Navy formally announced that the carrier's scheduled 15-month overhaul had been cancelled.


title: USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67)

text: Before decommissioning she made a number of port calls to allow the public to "say farewell" to her, including a stop at her "homeport" Boston Harbor. "John F. Kennedy" also took part in the 2005 New York City Fleet Week festivities at the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum. She was decommissioned in Mayport, Florida on 23 March 2007.


title: USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67)

text: The ship's unique in-port cabin, which was decorated by Jacqueline Kennedy with wood paneling, oil paintings, and rare artifacts, was disassembled, to be rebuilt at the National Museum of Naval Aviation at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida.


title: USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67)

text: Ex-"John F. Kennedy" was towed to Norfolk, Virginia on 26 July 2007. She remained in Norfolk until a shoaled area near Pier 4 in Philadelphia could be dredged to enable the ship to safely dock. On 17 March 2008 at about 1700, she was seen leaving Norfolk Naval Station under tow of the tug "Atlantic Salvor". On 22 March 2008 ex-"John F. Kennedy" arrived, with the afternoon high tide, at the Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility in Philadelphia. She is currently laid up in the Philadelphia reserve fleet.


title: USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67)

text: In November 2009, the Navy placed "John F. Kennedy" on donation hold for use as a museum and memorial. A report in the "Boston Herald" newspaper on 26 November 2009 mentioned the possibility of bringing "John F. Kennedy" to the Boston, Massachusetts area, as a museum or memorial at no cost to the city, if desired.


title: USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67)

text: On 4 January 2010, Portland, Maine City Council unanimously endorsed the efforts of the USS "John F. Kennedy" Museum while Gov. John Baldacci also offered his support. One year later on 19 January 2011 the Portland, Maine City Council voted 9–0 to not continue with the project to bring the ship to Maine.


title: USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67)

text: Plans as of September 2014 had the Rhode Island Aviation Hall of Fame working to secure Pier 2 of the Naval Station Newport. These developments come after the former was sold for scrapping earlier after years of being moored in Newport.


title: USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67)

text: With the advent of the nuclear carrier, and "John F. Kennedy" are the last two candidate carriers to become museum ships as they have conventional propulsion. Nuclear carriers, such as and the , require extensive deconstruction to remove their nuclear reactors during decommissioning, leaving them in an unsuitable condition for donation. In October 2017, it was announced that "Kitty Hawk" would be disposed of by scrapping, leaving "John F. Kennedy" the last available carrier capable of conversion to a museum.


title: USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67)

text: In late 2017, the Navy revoked "John F. Kennedy"s "donation hold" status and designated her for dismantling. There are still several groups, from Florida, Maine and Rhode Island, with the assistance of the USS "John F. Kennedy" Veteran's Association, hoping to persuade the Navy to reinstate the "donation hold" status, while they pursue the goal of obtaining her as a museum.


title: USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67)

text: On 6 October 2021, "John F. Kennedy" and "Kitty Hawk" were sold for one-cent each to International Shipbreaking Limited.


title: USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67)

text: The TV series "Supercarrier" was partially filmed on board the ship between September and November 1987, while the ship was undergoing a period of upkeep.


title: George P. Bush

text: George Prescott Bush (born April 24, 1976) is an American politician and attorney serving as the commissioner of the Texas General Land Office since 2015. A member of the Republican Party, Bush unsuccessfully campaigned for the party's nomination in the 2022 Texas Attorney General election.


title: George P. Bush

text: A fourth-generation elected official of the Bush family, he is the eldest child of the former governor of Florida, Jeb Bush; nephew of the 43rd president, George W. Bush; grandson of the 41st president, George H. W. Bush; and great-grandson of the former U.S. senator from Connecticut, Prescott Bush.


title: George P. Bush

text: Bush was born in Houston, Texas, to Jeb and Columba Bush (née Garnica Gallo). Bush has two siblings: younger sister Noelle Lucila Bush and younger brother John Ellis Bush Jr. Bush attended Gulliver Preparatory School in the Miami area.


title: George P. Bush

text: In December 1994, Bush was arrested at his former girlfriend's home after attempting to break in and later driving his car through the front yard. The victims declined to press charges. He graduated from Rice University with a Bachelor of Arts in history in 1998. He attended University of Texas School of Law from 2000 until 2003, graduating with a Juris Doctor degree.


title: George P. Bush

text: From August 1998 until June 1999, Bush taught social studies at a public high school in Homestead, Florida. Bush was the Tarrant County chairman for Uplift Education, a charter school district in Dallas.


title: George P. Bush

text: Bush clerked for U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of Texas, Sidney A. Fitzwater, from September 2003 until 2004. From 2004 to 2007 he practiced corporate and securities law with Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld LLP in Dallas. In 2005, Bush was selected as one of "Texas Monthly"s "Rising Stars" for his work with Akin Gump.


title: George P. Bush

text: From 2007 to 2012, Bush was a partner at Pennybacker Capital, LLC, a real estate private equity firm in Austin, Texas. The firm was originally named N3 Capital and headquartered in Fort Worth. In 2012, he founded St. Augustine Partners, an energy and technology-focused investment firm in Fort Worth.


title: George P. Bush

text: Bush told "Politico" that attending the October 2006 launch of the inspired him to join the United States Navy. He also called the death of Pat Tillman, the National Football League player and Army Ranger who was killed in a friendly fire incident in Afghanistan in 2004, "a wake-up call".


title: George P. Bush

text: In March 2007, the United States Navy Reserve selected Bush for training as an intelligence officer through the direct commission officer program, a Navy initiative whereby applicants in specialized civilian fields forgo the typical prerequisites of a commission, such as the Naval Academy, NROTC or OCS, and—instead—attend the Direct Commissioned Officer Indoctrination Course (DCOIC), a three-week course on subjects such as naval history, customs and courtesies, followed by online classes. He was commissioned as a Navy Reserve Officer in May 2007. Bush served in Afghanistan for eight months from June 2010 to February 2011. During the deployment, he was given a different name for security purposes. Bush left the U.S. Navy Reserve in May 2017 as a lieutenant.


title: George P. Bush

text: In September 2012, Bush announced his intention to run for office, saying that he was considering one of several state offices. Two months later he filed papers required to run for state office in Texas. The same month, his father, Jeb Bush, emailed donors requesting that they support him in his 2014 bid for Texas Land Commissioner.


title: George P. Bush

text: In January 2013, Bush filed a campaign finance report stating he had received about $1.3 million in campaign contributions. In March 2013, Bush filed to run for Texas Land Commissioner. The main role of the Land Office is negotiating and enforcing leases for mineral rights on millions of acres of land owned by the State of Texas.


title: George P. Bush

text: By June 2013, Bush had raised $3.3 million even though no Democratic candidate had emerged for land commissioner. On November 19, 2013, he officially filed the papers to run for Texas land commissioner.


title: George P. Bush

text: In the 2014 Republican primary, outgoing Land Commissioner Jerry E. Patterson ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor while Bush defeated David Watts of Gilmer in Upshur County for the Republican nomination for land commissioner; Bush received 74 percent of the vote, totalling 937,987 votes to Watts' 27 percent with 346,949 votes.


title: George P. Bush

text: In the November 4 general election, Bush faced Democrat John Cook, a former mayor of El Paso. Bush won 61 percent of the vote against token opposition, carrying "virtually every demographic" and riding a nationwide Republican wave in the midterms. He became the only Bush to win his first election.


title: George P. Bush

text: , Bush had about $3.1 million in campaign cash for his re-election campaign. He won the March 6, 2018, Republican primary with nearly 58 percent of the vote, defeating three other candidates including Jerry E. Patterson, the previous land commissioner. In the general election, Bush received 53.68 percent of the vote to Democratic candidate Miguel Suazo's 43.19 percent and Libertarian Matt Pina's 3.1 percent.


title: George P. Bush

text: As state land commissioner, Bush oversees the Texas General Land Office (GLO), which manages about 13 million acres of state land and is in charge of auctions for leases to extract oil and natural gas on those lands.


title: George P. Bush

text: In 2015, the GLO under Bush took control of the Alamo, a historic site in San Antonio, ending the state's partnership with the Daughters of the Republic of Texas (DRT), which had managed the site for decades. In firing DRT as managers of the Alamo, Bush alleged that the group had violated its contract. Bush locked the DRT out of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas Library, and the GLO claimed ownership over the Library's collections and artifacts. DRT sued, and the suit was settled in 2016, with Bush and the GLO relinquishing their claims and agreeing to pay the DRT $200,000 in legal fees. Bush oversaw a $450-million remodel of the Alamo and the plaza around it. In 2015, Bush spoke at a fundraising event for the Alamo Endowment, which took over management of the site in conjunction with the GLO. English singer Phil Collins donated various Alamo-related artifacts to the State of Texas, with the stipulation that the State of Texas build a facility to hold the artifacts within a seven-year period. The Texas state legislature made a one-time infusion of $25 million to Bush's GLO to redevelop the Alamo site, and the city of San Antonio agreed to provide $1 million for the redevelopment.


title: George P. Bush

text: Bush dismissed some one hundred land commission employees hired under the preceding Commissioner Jerry E. Patterson. According to the "San Antonio Express-News", Bush paid almost $1 million in taxpayer funds to encourage the dismissed personnel not to file suit against either him or the agency. He kept at least forty persons on the payroll for up to five months after terminating their employment; they agreed in writing not to sue.


title: George P. Bush

text: In 2016, the office began a multi-year study on the flood effects of the Houston area and Texas coast.


title: George P. Bush

text: In June 2020, amid reports that George W. Bush and Jeb Bush would not support Trump's re-election, George P. Bush announced his full support for Trump, saying "Trump is the only thing standing between America and socialism."


title: George P. Bush

text: In 2021, Bush supported the ouster of Liz Cheney from her position as chair of the House Republican Conference in Congress.


title: George P. Bush

text: In 2020 and 2021, Bush said he was considering running for Texas attorney general in 2022 against incumbent Ken Paxton, a Republican plagued by scandal. On June 2, 2021, Bush officially announced his candidacy.


title: George P. Bush

text: In June 2021, Bush entered the race for Texas Attorney General with a campaign video that praises Donald Trump and does not mention his father, grandfather, or great-grandfather. Trump then endorsed Bush's opponent, Ken Paxton.


title: George P. Bush

text: During the campaign, Bush criticized the ways in which Paxton sought to overturn the 2020 election results, but said that he did not disagree with Paxton's "intent." His campaign talking points were "massive voter fraud", "critical race theory" in schools, finishing the "Trump wall", and district attorneys in big cities "who are not on the side of law enforcement. He also said he would "go after human traffickers and drug cartels".


title: George P. Bush

text: Bush obtained 32% of the vote in the primary election, being defeated by Paxton who obtained 68% of the vote. "The Texas Tribune" wrote Bush's "defeat could mark the end of a four-generation political dynasty."


title: George P. Bush

text: At the age of 12, Bush spoke before the 1988 Republican National Convention, which nominated his grandfather. He also spoke at the 1992 convention on the occasion of his renomination. He campaigned for his uncle, George W. Bush, during his successful 2000 and 2004 presidential campaigns, often performing outreach to Latino voters. He worked on the 2000 presidential campaign from 1999 to 2000. Bush has called himself a "George W. Bush Republican" on immigration reform, and has expressed support for portions of the DREAM Act in the past.


title: George P. Bush

text: When asked in 2003 about whether he planned to run for office himself, Bush replied that his grandmother, Barbara Bush, had advised that anyone thinking about entering politics should distinguish himself in some other field first: "Make a name for yourself, have a family, marry someone great, have some kids, buy a house, pay taxes, and do the things everyone also does instead of just running out and saying, 'Hey, I'm the nephew of or the son of or the grandson of...'"


title: George P. Bush

text: His father campaigned in the 2016 Republican presidential race, but later dropped out. After his father's exit, Bush campaigned for Donald Trump while most of the remainder of the Bush family did not support him. By 2021, ABC News described Bush as an "avowed Trump backer" and Trump, who had shown animosity toward the Bush family in the past, favorably coined Bush as "My Bush."


title: George P. Bush

text: Bush was the national co-chair of Maverick PAC, a national political action committee dedicated to engaging the next generation of Republican voters. Bush served as a member of several diplomacy missions, including one to Nicaragua for the second peaceful transfer of power in that country, and one to Brazil for the Pan American Games in 2007. He also joined two US Congressional delegations, one to Saudi Arabia during the Arab Spring of 2011 and one to Turkey in 2012 at the time of the civil war in neighboring Syria.


title: George P. Bush

text: Bush is a co-founder and serves on the board of directors of Hispanic Republicans of Texas, a political action committee whose goal is to elect Republican political candidates to office in the state.


title: George P. Bush

text: In August 2004, during a trip to Mexico sponsored by the group Republicans Abroad, he called Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez a dictator and criticized the U.S. Border Patrol's use of guns which fire plastic pellets packed with chili powder. Bush was quoted as telling Mexican media, "If there has been American approval for this policy, that is reprehensible. It's kind of barbarous." He attributed the gun usage to "some local INS guy who's trying to be tough, act macho", although it is an agency policy.


title: George P. Bush

text: In 2009, Bush criticized Florida Governor Charlie Crist for accepting money from the 2009 stimulus package, calling for a return to fiscal conservatism. In January 2010, he endorsed Marco Rubio, Crist's opponent for the United States Senate.


title: George P. Bush

text: Bush said that climate change is a serious threat to Texas but he does not accept the scientific consensus which attributes climate change to human activity.


title: George P. Bush

text: In February 2021, Texas experienced a humanitarian crisis after widespread power outages were caused by the infrastructure not being weatherized. Although 90 percent of the power plants that failed were fueled by fossil and nuclear fuels, Bush attacked wind and solar energy: "If the last few days have proven anything, it’s that we need oil & gas. Relying solely on renewable energy would be catastrophic."


title: George P. Bush

text: Bush married law school classmate, Amanda L. Williams, on August 7, 2004, in Kennebunkport, Maine, at St. Ann's by-the-Sea Episcopal Church Williams is a media law attorney at the firm Jackson Walker LLP in Fort Worth, Texas. The couple has two sons.


title: George P. Bush

text: In 2016, the League of United Latin American Citizens Council No. 12 in Laredo gave Bush and Mexican official José Antonio Meade Kuribreña the titles of "Señor Internacional", an honor given to distinguished figures in the border region.


title: Barbara Feldon

text: Barbara Feldon (born Barbara Anne Hall; March 12, 1933) is an American actress primarily known for her roles on television. Her most prominent role was that of Agent 99 in the 1965–1970 sitcom "Get Smart".


title: Barbara Feldon

text: Feldon was born Barbara Anne Hall in Butler, Pennsylvania, part of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. Feldon and her older sister Patricia were the daughters of Raymond D. and Julia Stewart Hall.She graduated from Bethel Park High School and trained at Pittsburgh Playhouse. In 1955, she graduated from Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University) with a Bachelor of Arts in drama. She was initiated into the Delta Xi Chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma. In 1957, she won the grand prize on "The $64,000 Question" in the category of William Shakespeare.


title: Barbara Feldon

text: Feldon studied acting at HB Studio. Following working as a model, Feldon's break came in the form of a popular and much-parodied television commercial for "Top Brass", a hair pomade for men by Revlon. Lounging languidly on an animal-print rug, she purred at the camera, addressing the male viewers as "tigers".


title: Barbara Feldon

text: This led to small roles in television series. In the 1960s, she made appearances on "Twelve O'Clock High" (season one, episode 24: "End of the Line"), Lorne Greene's "Griff", "Flipper" (season one, episodes 12 and 13: the two-parter "The Lady and the Dolphin") and "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." (in "The Never-Never Affair" aired spring 1965). In 1964, she appeared with Simon Oakland in the episode "Try to Find a Spy" of CBS's short-lived drama "Mr. Broadway."


title: Barbara Feldon

text: One substantial guest-starring role was opposite George C. Scott in the television drama "East Side/West Side" (season one, episode 19). It was produced by Talent Associates, which was also developing a TV comedy called "Get Smart" with two prominent writers, Mel Brooks and Buck Henry.


title: Barbara Feldon

text: Feldon was cast in this new show as "Agent 99". She starred opposite comedian Don Adams, who portrayed Maxwell Smart, Secret Agent 86. She played the role for the duration of the show's production from 1965 until 1970 and was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series in 1968 and 1969.


title: Barbara Feldon

text: The character was unusual for the era, showing a capable woman in a stressful career. Feldon noted, "A lot of women said 99 was a role model for them because she was smart and always got the right answer." Feldon almost lost her role as 99 because the sponsor of "Get Smart" was a deodorant soap, and she had done a deodorant commercial for Revlon. Feldon was also notably taller than Adams, her male co-star, another rarity for the time.


title: Barbara Feldon

text: Feldon made guest appearances five times on "The Dean Martin Show" from 1968 to 1972, singing and dancing and performing in comedy skits. She also appeared on "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In." After her starring TV role, she guest-starred in several 1970s television series, including "The Carol Burnett Show" (season 3, episode 17 (1970)), "Thriller" (season 1, episode 1 (1973)), "The Name of the Game" and "McMillan & Wife".


title: Barbara Feldon

text: Her TV movies include "Let's Switch!" (1975) with Barbara Eden, and the cult-classic thriller "A Vacation in Hell" (1979) with Maureen McCormick and Priscilla Barnes. She voiced the character Patti Bear in the 1973 animated television special "The Bear Who Slept Through Christmas".


title: Barbara Feldon

text: Feldon's feature films included "Fitzwilly" (1967), "Smile" (1975), and "No Deposit, No Return" (1976). Her last film to date is 2006's "Last Request", a comedy with T.R. Knight, Danny Aiello, and Joe Piscopo.


title: Barbara Feldon

text: In 1978 she was Bob Eubanks' very first co-host of the annual January 1 Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena.


title: Barbara Feldon

text: Feldon reprised her role as "Agent 99" in the made-for-television film "Get Smart, Again!" (1989) and in a short-lived revival of "Get Smart" in 1995. She wrote and provided audio commentaries and introductions for the DVD release of the original "Get Smart" series in 2006, but did not take part in the 2008 film adaptation that starred Steve Carell as Maxwell Smart. Feldon guest-starred as a former TV spy star on a 1993 episode (season one, episode 20) of "Mad About You", as Diane "Spy Girl" Caldwell.


title: Barbara Feldon

text: She played Lauren Hudson, Sam Malone's annual Valentine's Day love interest, in the 1991 "Cheers" episode "Sam Time Next Year" (S9, EP 19).


title: Barbara Feldon

text: Feldon's distinctive voice has been heard in numerous TV and radio commercials and film and TV documentaries. She has occasionally acted in off-Broadway plays but said she is "no longer interested in performing". Feldon is an accomplished writer and is still actively writing. In 2015, she had two editorial pieces featured in "Metropolitan Magazine". She wrote a book, "Living Alone and Loving It," in 2003.


title: Barbara Feldon

text: "Feldon" has been the actress's last name since she married Lucien Verdoux-Feldon in 1958. They divorced in 1967. In 1968, while living in Los Angeles, she began a 12-year relationship with "Get Smart" producer Burt Nodella. She does not have any children. Upon ending her relationship, she moved back to New York City, where she lived as of 2020.


title: PVR Cinemas

text: PVR Ltd (formerly Priya Village Roadshow Ltd), doing business as PVR Cinemas, is an Indian multiplex chain based in Gurgaon. PVR pioneered the multiplex revolution in India by establishing the first multiplex cinema in 1997 at Saket, New Delhi.


title: PVR Cinemas

text: PVR Cinemas has its origin as Priya Cinema in Vasant Vihar, Delhi, the Cinema was named after Priya Jaisinghani and was bought by Ajay Bijli's father in 1978, who also owned a trucking business, Amritsar Transport Co. In 1988, Bijli took over the running of the cinema hall, which was revamped in 1990, and its success led to the founding PVR Cinemas.


title: PVR Cinemas

text: The company started as a joint venture agreement between Priya Exhibitors Private Limited and Village Roadshow Limited in 1995 with 60:40 ratio. It began its commercial operations in June 1997. The company is founded by Ajay Bijli who is the chairman and managing director of PVR Cinemas. Ajay Bijli's brother Sanjeev Kumar Bijli is the Joint Managing Director of PVR Ltd. The company also operates a pro-active CSR wing under PVR. The first PVR Gold Screen was introduced in Forum Mall, Bengaluru.


title: PVR Cinemas

text: In 2003, ICICI Ventures invested 40 crore in PVR when Village Roadshow decided to pull out of the partnership. In 2012, Kanakia group owned CineMAX cinema chain was bought by Cine Hospitality Private Ltd, a subsidiary of PVR Cinemas for , making PVR the largest cinema chain in India. In May 2016, DLF group owned DT Cinemas was bought by PVR Cinemas for .


title: PVR Cinemas

text: In August 2018, PVR Cinemas announced their acquisition of Chennai-based SPI Cinemas for ₹850 crore in a cash and stock deal.


title: PVR Cinemas

text: On 27 March 2022, PVR announced it would be merging with INOX Leisure, the second largest cinema chain in India.


title: PVR Cinemas

text: In October 2021, PVR announced their collaboration with the film "RRR" as part of the film's promotion. Accordingly, PVR would rebrand itself as PVRRR across the multiplex chain's 170+ properties in over 70 cities for a few months following the film's release on 25 March 2022.


title: PVR Cinemas

text: In June 2022, PVR announced a collaboration with French high-end theatre company, Ice Theatres, part of CGR Theatres, to open new premium theatres in India.


title: PVR Cinemas

text: In 2014, PVR Cinemas introduced Superplex format in Noida. The cinema has 15 screens with IMAX, 4DX, Gold Class, a playhouse and mainstream auditoriums. PVR Cinemas has invested ₹48 crores in this new venture. PVR also joined hands with friends group and business venture was called FRIENDS CINEMA


title: PVR Cinemas

text: PVR Playhouse includes a special 49 seater movie auditorium showcasing children's movies/animated content. Along with Customized 3D glasses, it offers bean bags and rubberised seats kids and parents. This format is available only in Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai, Indore and Hyderabad.


title: PVR Cinemas

text: In 2016, PVR's 4DX became the second movie theater chain in India to introduce 4DX in the country after Cinépolis.


title: Crystal skull

text: Crystal skulls are human skull hardstone carvings made of clear or milky white quartz (also called "rock crystal"), claimed to be pre-Columbian Mesoamerican artifacts by their alleged finders; however, these claims have been refuted for all of the specimens made available for scientific studies. The results of these studies demonstrated that those examined were manufactured in the mid-19th century or later, almost certainly in Europe, during a time when interest in ancient culture abounded. The skulls appear to have been crafted in Germany, quite likely at workshops in the town of Idar-Oberstein, which was renowned for crafting objects made from imported Brazilian quartz in the late 19th century.


title: Crystal skull

text: Despite some claims presented in an assortment of popularizing literature, legends of crystal skulls with mystical powers do not figure in genuine Mesoamerican or other Native American mythologies and spiritual accounts. The skulls are often claimed to exhibit paranormal phenomena by some members of the New Age movement, and have often been portrayed as such in fiction. Crystal skulls have been a popular subject appearing in numerous science fiction television series, novels, films, and video games.


title: Crystal skull

text: Trade in fake pre-Columbian artifacts developed during the late 19th century to the extent that in 1886, Smithsonian archaeologist William Henry Holmes wrote an article called "The Trade in Spurious Mexican Antiquities" for "Science". Although museums had acquired skulls earlier, it was Eugène Boban, an antiquities dealer who opened his shop in Paris in 1870, who is most associated with 19th-century museum collections of crystal skulls. Most of Boban's collection, including three crystal skulls, was sold to the ethnographer Alphonse Pinart, who donated the collection to the Trocadéro Museum, which later became the Musée de l'Homme.


title: Crystal skull

text: Many crystal skulls are claimed to be pre-Columbian, usually attributed to the Aztec or Maya civilizations. Mesoamerican art has numerous representations of skulls, but none of the skulls in museum collections come from documented excavations. Research carried out on several crystal skulls at the British Museum in 1967, 1996 and 2004 shows that the indented lines marking the teeth (for these skulls had no separate jawbone, unlike the Mitchell-Hedges skull) were carved using jeweler's equipment (rotary tools) developed in the 19th century, making a pre-Columbian origin untenable.


title: Crystal skull

text: The type of crystal was determined by examination of chlorite inclusions. It is only found in Madagascar and Brazil, and thus unobtainable or unknown within pre-Columbian Mesoamerica. The study concluded that the skulls were crafted in the 19th century in Germany, quite likely at workshops in the town of Idar-Oberstein, which was renowned for crafting objects made from imported Brazilian quartz in the late 19th century.


title: Crystal skull

text: It has been established that the crystal skulls in the British Museum and Paris's Musée de l'Homme were originally sold by the French antiquities dealer Eugène Boban, who was operating in Mexico City between 1860 and 1880. The British Museum crystal skull transited through New York's Tiffany & Co., while the Musée de l'Homme's crystal skull was donated by Alphonse Pinart, an ethnographer who had bought it from Boban.


title: Crystal skull

text: In 1992 the Smithsonian Institution investigated a crystal skull provided by an anonymous source; the source claimed to have purchased it in Mexico City in 1960, and that it was of Aztec origin. The investigation concluded that this skull also was made recently. According to the Smithsonian, Boban acquired his crystal skulls from sources in Germany, aligning with conclusions made by the British Museum.


title: Crystal skull

text: The "Journal of Archaeological Science" published a detailed study by the British Museum and the Smithsonian in May 2008. Using electron microscopy and X-ray crystallography, a team of British and American researchers found that the British Museum skull was worked with a harsh abrasive substance such as corundum or diamond, and shaped using a rotary disc tool made from some suitable metal. The Smithsonian specimen had been worked with a different abrasive, namely the silicon-carbon compound carborundum (Silicon carbide) which is a synthetic substance manufactured using modern industrial techniques. Since the synthesis of carborundum dates only to the 1890s and its wider availability to the 20th century, the researchers concluded "[t]he suggestion is that it was made in the 1950s or later".


title: Crystal skull

text: The crystal skull of the British Museum first appeared in 1881, in the shop of the Paris antiquarian, Eugène Boban. Its origin was not stated in his catalogue of the time. He is said to have tried to sell it to Mexico's national museum as an Aztec artifact, but was unsuccessful. Boban later moved his business to New York City, where the skull was sold to George H. Sisson. It was exhibited at the meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in New York City in 1887 by George F. Kunz. It was sold at auction, and bought by Tiffany and Co., who later sold it at cost to the British Museum in 1897.


title: Crystal skull

text: This skull is very similar to the Mitchell-Hedges skull, although it is less detailed and does not have a movable lower jaw.


title: Crystal skull

text: The British Museum catalogues the skull's provenance as "probably European, 19th century AD" and describes it as "not an authentic pre-Columbian artefact".


title: Crystal skull

text: Perhaps the most famous and enigmatic skull was allegedly discovered in 1924 by Anna Mitchell-Hedges, adopted daughter of British adventurer and popular author F.A. Mitchell-Hedges. It is the subject of a video documentary made in 1990, "Crystal Skull of Lubaantun". It was examined and described by Smithsonian researchers as "very nearly a replica of the British Museum skullalmost exactly the same shape, but with more detailed modeling of the eyes and the teeth."


title: Crystal skull

text: Mitchell-Hedges claimed that she found the skull buried under a collapsed altar inside a temple in Lubaantun, in British Honduras, now Belize. As far as can be ascertained, F.A. Mitchell-Hedges himself made no mention of the alleged discovery in any of his writings on Lubaantun. Others present at the time of the excavation recorded neither the skull's discovery nor Anna's presence at the dig. Recent evidence has come to light showing that F.A. Mitchell-Hedges purchased the skull at a Sotheby's auction in London on October 15, 1943, from London art dealer Sydney Burney. In December 1943, F.A. Mitchell-Hedges disclosed his purchase of the skull in a letter to his brother, stating plainly that he acquired it from Burney.


title: Crystal skull

text: The skull is made from a block of clear quartz about the size of a small human cranium, measuring some high, long and wide. The lower jaw is detached. In the early 1970s it came under the temporary care of freelance art restorer Frank Dorland, who claimed upon inspecting it that it had been "carved" with total disregard to the natural crystal axis, and without the use of metal tools. Dorland reported being unable to find any tell-tale scratch marks, except for traces of mechanical grinding on the teeth, and he speculated that it was first chiseled into rough form, probably using diamonds, and the finer shaping, grinding and polishing was achieved through the use of sand over a period of 150 to 300 years. He said it could be up to 12,000 years old. Although various claims have been made over the years regarding the skull's physical properties, such as an allegedly constant temperature of 70 °F (21 °C), Dorland reported that there was no difference in properties between it and other natural quartz crystals.


title: Crystal skull

text: While in Dorland's care the skull came to the attention of writer Richard Garvin, at the time working at an advertising agency where he supervised Hewlett-Packard's advertising account. Garvin made arrangements for the skull to be examined at Hewlett-Packard's crystal laboratories in Santa Clara, California, where it was subjected to several tests. The labs determined only that it was not a composite as Dorland had supposed, but that it was fashioned from a single crystal of quartz. The laboratory test also established that the lower jaw had been fashioned from the same left-handed growing crystal as the rest of the skull. No investigation was made by Hewlett-Packard as to its method of manufacture or dating.


title: Crystal skull

text: As well as the traces of mechanical grinding on the teeth noted by Dorland, Mayanist archaeologist Norman Hammond reported that the holes (presumed to be intended for support pegs) showed signs of being made by drilling with metal. Anna Mitchell-Hedges refused subsequent requests to submit the skull for further scientific testing.


title: Crystal skull

text: The earliest published reference to the skull is the July 1936 issue of the British anthropological journal "Man", where it is described as being in the possession of Sydney Burney, a London art dealer who was said to have owned it since 1933, and from whom evidence suggests F.A. Mitchell-Hedges purchased it.


title: Crystal skull

text: F. A. Mitchell-Hedges mentioned the skull only briefly in the first edition of his autobiography, "Danger My Ally" (1954), without specifying where or by whom it was found. He merely claimed that "it is at least 3,600 years old and according to legend it was used by the High Priest of the Maya when he was performing esoteric rites. It is said that when he willed death with the help of the skull, death invariably followed". All subsequent editions of "Danger My Ally" omitted mention of the skull entirely.


title: Crystal skull

text: In a 1970 letter Anna also stated that she was "told by the few remaining Maya that the skull was used by the high priest to will death." For this reason, the artifact is sometimes referred to as "The Skull of Doom". Anna Mitchell-Hedges toured with the skull from 1967 exhibiting it on a pay-per-view basis. Somewhere between 1988 and 1990 she toured with the skull. She continued to grant interviews about the artifact until her death.


title: Crystal skull

text: In her last eight years, Anna Mitchell-Hedges lived in Chesterton, Indiana, with Bill Homann, whom she married in 2002. She died on April 11, 2007. Since that time the Mitchell-Hedges Skull has been owned by Homann. He continues to believe in its mystical properties.


title: Crystal skull

text: In November 2007, Homann took the skull to the office of anthropologist Jane MacLaren Walsh, in the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History for examination. Walsh carried out a detailed examination of the skull using ultraviolet light, a high-powered light microscope, and computerized tomography. Homann took the skull to the museum again in 2008 so it could be filmed for a Smithsonian Networks documentary, "Legend of the Crystal Skull," and on this occasion, Walsh was able to take two sets of silicone molds of surface tool marks for scanning electron microscope (SEM) analysis. The SEM micrographs revealed evidence that the crystal had been worked with a high speed, hard metal rotary tool coated with a hard abrasive, such as diamond. Walsh's extensive research on artifacts from Mexico and Central America showed that pre-contact artisans carved stone by abrading the surface with stone or wooden tools, and in later pre-Columbian times, copper tools, in combination with a variety of abrasive sands or pulverized stone. These examinations led Walsh to the conclusion that the skull was probably carved in the 1930s, and was most likely based on the British Museum skull which had been exhibited fairly continuously from 1898.


title: Crystal skull

text: In the National Geographic Channel documentary, "The Truth Behind the Crystal Skulls", forensic artist Gloria Nusse performed a forensic facial reconstruction over a replica of the skull. According to Nusse, the resulting face had female and European characteristics. As it was hypothesized that the Crystal Skull was a replica of an actual human skull, the conclusion was that it could not have been created by ancient Americans.


title: Crystal skull

text: The largest of the three skulls sold by Eugène Boban to Alphonse Pinart (sometimes called the Paris Skull), about high, has a hole drilled vertically through its center. It is part of a collection held at the Musée du Quai Branly, and was subjected to scientific tests carried out in 2007–08 by France's national Centre de recherche et de restauration des musées de France ("Centre for Research and Restoration of the Museums in France", or C2RMF). After a series of analyses carried out over three months, C2RMF engineers concluded that it was "certainly not pre-Columbian, it shows traces of polishing and abrasion by modern tools." Particle accelerator tests also revealed occluded traces of water that were dated to the 19th century, and the Quai Branly released a statement that the tests "seem to indicate that it was made late in the 19th century."


title: Crystal skull

text: In 2009 the C2RMF researchers published results of further investigations to establish when the Paris skull had been carved. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis indicated the use of lapidary machine tools in its carving. The results of a new dating technique known as quartz hydration dating (QHD) demonstrated that the Paris skull had been carved later than a reference quartz specimen artifact, known to have been cut in 1740. The researchers conclude that the SEM and QHD results combined with the skull's known provenance indicate it was carved in the 18th or 19th century.


title: Crystal skull

text: The "Smithsonian Skull", Catalogue No. A562841-0 in the collections of the Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, was mailed to the Smithsonian Institution anonymously in 1992, and was claimed to be an Aztec object by its donor and was purportedly from the collection of Porfirio Diaz. It is the largest of the skulls, weighing and is high. It was carved using carborundum, a modern abrasive. It has been displayed as a modern fake at the National Museum of Natural History.


title: Crystal skull

text: Some individuals believe in the paranormal claim that crystal skulls can produce a variety of miracles. Anna Mitchell-Hedges claimed that the skull she allegedly discovered could cause visions and cure cancer, that she once used its magical properties to kill a man, and that in another instance, she saw in it a premonition of the John F. Kennedy assassination.


title: Crystal skull

text: In the 1931 play "The Satin Slipper" by Paul Claudel, King Philip II of Spain uses "a death's head made from a single piece of rock crystal," lit by "a ray of the setting sun," to see the defeat of the Spanish Armada in its attack on the Kingdom of England.


title: Crystal skull

text: Claims of the healing and supernatural powers of crystal skulls have had no support in the scientific community, which has found no evidence of any unusual phenomena associated with the skulls nor any reason for further investigation, other than the confirmation of their provenance and method of manufacture.


title: Crystal skull

text: Another novel and historically unfounded speculation ties in the legend of the crystal skulls with the completion of the previous Maya calendar "b'ak'tun"-cycle on December 21, 2012, claiming the re-uniting of the thirteen mystical skulls will forestall a catastrophe allegedly predicted or implied by the ending of this calendar (see 2012 phenomenon). An airing of this claim appeared (among an assortment of others made) in "The Mystery of the Crystal Skulls", a 2008 program produced for the Sci Fi Channel in May and shown on Discovery Channel Canada in June. Interviewees included Richard Hoagland, who attempted to link the skulls and the Maya to life on Mars, and David Hatcher Childress, proponent of lost Atlantean civilizations and anti-gravity claims.


title: Crystal skull

text: Crystal skulls are also referred to by author Drunvalo Melchizedek in his book "Serpent of Light". He writes that he came across indigenous Mayan descendants in possession of crystal skulls at ceremonies at temples in the Yucatán, which he writes contained souls of ancient Mayans who had entered the skulls to await the time when their ancient knowledge would once again be required.


title: Crystal skull

text: The alleged associations and origins of crystal skull mythology in Native American spiritual lore, as advanced by neoshamanic writers such as Jamie Sams, are similarly discounted. Instead, as Philip Jenkins notes, crystal skull mythology may be traced back to the "baroque legends" initially spread by F.A. Mitchell-Hedges, and then afterwards taken up:


title: Crystal skull

text: By the 1970s, the crystal skulls [had] entered New Age mythology as potent relics of ancient Atlantis, and they even acquired a canonical number: there were exactly thirteen skulls.


title: Crystal skull

text: None of this would have anything to do with North American Indian matters, if the skulls had not attracted the attention of some of the most active New Age writers.


title: Taobao

text: Taobao () is a Chinese online shopping platform. It is headquartered in Hangzhou and is owned by Alibaba. According to Alexa rank, it is the eighth most-visited website globally in 2021. Taobao.com was registered on April 21, 2003 by Alibaba Cloud Computing (Beijing) Co., Ltd.


title: Taobao

text: Taobao Marketplace facilitates consumer-to-consumer retail by providing a platform for small businesses and individual entrepreneurs to open online stores that mainly cater to consumers in Chinese-speaking regions (Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan) and abroad, which is made payable by online accounts. Its stores usually offer an express delivery service.


title: Taobao

text: Sellers are able to post goods for sale either through a fixed price or an auction. Auctions make up a small percentage of transactions, whereas the majority of the products are new merchandise sold at fixed prices. Taobao users usually read feedback and compare items from multiple shops. Taobao's popular payment platform is Alibaba's Alipay


title: Taobao

text: With over 1 billion product listings as of 2016, the combined transaction volume of Taobao Marketplace and Tmall.com reached 3 trillion yuan in 2017.


title: Taobao

text: eBay acquired Eachnet, China's online auction leader at the time, for US$180 million. It became a major contender in the Chinese consumer e-commerce market. To counter eBay's expansion, Taobao offered free listings to sellers. It introduced instant messaging for facilitating buyer-seller communication and an escrow-based payment tool: Alipay. Taobao became mainland China's market leader within two years. Its market share grew from 8% to 59% between 2003 and 2005, while eBay China dropped from 79% to 36%. eBay shut down its Chinese site in 2006.


title: Taobao

text: In October 2010, Taobao beta-launched eTao as an independent search engine for online shopping to provide and merchant information from a number of major consumer e-commerce websites in China. Online shoppers would be able to use the site to compare prices across sellers. According to the Alibaba Group web site, eTao offers products from Amazon China, Dangdang, Gome, Yihaodian, Nike China and Vancl, as well as Taobao and Tmall.


title: Taobao

text: In June 2011, Jack Ma, executive chairman and former chief executive officer of Alibaba Group, announced that Taobao would split into three different companies: Taobao Marketplace (a consumer-to-consumer platform), Tmall.com (a business-to consumer platform, then called Taobao Mall), and eTao (a search engine for online shopping). The move was said to be necessary for Taobao to “meet competitive threats that emerged in the past two years during which the Internet and e-commerce landscape has changed dramatically.”


title: Taobao

text: On 29 April 2013, Alibaba announced an investment of US$586 million in Sina Weibo. According to Reuters, the deal “should drive more web traffic to Alibaba's Taobao Marketplace”. On August 1, 2013, Alibaba launched Weibo for Taobao, which allows users to link Sina Weibo accounts with Taobao accounts.


title: Taobao

text: Taobao's mascot is a dialogue bubble, which represents its corporate culture. Ma introduced Taobao to the outside world by stating, "We are the ant army." Ma once organized more than 2,000 employees to gather at a gymnasium to celebrate the 5th anniversary of the founding ceremony. At the party, Taobao employees waved the Taobao mascot — the flag of "ants." At the end of the celebration that lasted for four hours, all the employees stood hand-in-hand, singing "If you do not experience wind and rain, you cannot see the rainbow. The ants that be organized together can beat the elephant."


title: Taobao

text: A good way to investigate a Taobao shop is by clicking the shop's rating icon. For Tmall.com shops, people click the stars to view their ratings. Taobao users usually read feedback and compare items from multiple shops. Feedback can be genuine or artificial, requiring users to make their own judgments. Feedback can be posted by competitors.


title: Taobao

text: Every trade deal includes a section of customer feedback. Shop owners often put effort to maximize positive comments. Negotiations may happen between sellers and consumers over their satisfaction ratings.


title: Taobao

text: Taobao uses search tools and other functions to understand user demands. Customers are asked to complete surveys that ask:


title: Taobao

text: Taobao Marketplace offers various features and services to create a better user experience for online shoppers and retailers. In January 2010, it launched the Taobao app, created by independent developers through the Taobao Open Platform, to be downloaded by consumers in Taobao App Store.


title: Taobao

text: In March 2010, it introduced the Taobao Data Cube platform, which gives small businesses access to its aggregate consumer transactions data for insight into industry trends.


title: Taobao

text: In June 2010, it partnered with Wasu Media Internet Limited to launch Taohua, a digital entertainment products platform, and interactive digital television shopping, that are operated by a joint-venture formed by the two companies.


title: Taobao

text: Weitao is a private shopping assistant/blog for Taobao/Tmall customers. It is a micro-blogging feature for brands and merchants on its e-commerce sites Taobao and Tmall.


title: Taobao

text: Launched in 2004, Alipay () is an escrow-based online payment platform. It is the preferred payment solution for Taobao Marketplace. It is the most widely used third-party online payment solution in China. To ensure safe transactions, Alipay uses an escrow system through which payment is only released to the seller once the buyer has received goods in satisfactory condition. According to the Alibaba Group website, Alipay partners with multiple financial institutions as well as Visa and MasterCard to facilitate payments in China and abroad.


title: Taobao

text: Alipay systems are separate for different groups of users. For instance, Alipay users may send and receive funds if they have an account that have a credit card issued in China, whereas users with other cards may only use Alipay to pay for goods or services from Taobao. This has proven problematic for international users, as they are unable to receive refunds not issued via the Taobao system.


title: Taobao

text: Regulatory changes issued by the People's Bank of China (Central Bank of China) are set to alter the Chinese online payment ecosystem. Top-tier digital payment services such as WeChat Pay and Alipay transferred all relevant transaction data to appropriate agencies starting June 30, 2018.


title: Taobao

text: AliExpress was created in April 2010 as an international retailing website. People who live overseas can use the service to purchase items from Chinese manufacturers online.


title: Taobao

text: Taobao Marketplace allows buyer and seller to communicate prior to the purchase through its embedded proprietary instant chat program, named AliWangWang ().


title: Taobao

text: In February 2016, 3 expats living in Shanghai launched Baopals, a shopping platform that translates Taobao and Tmall into English so that foreigners living in China can access of its products and services. Over 2.4 million items have been sold on the platform.


title: Taobao

text: In Dec. 2009, Taobao, together with Hunan TV, set up Happy Taobao, Inc for television shopping. Hunan TV launched an entertainment series called "Happy Taobao", while Taobao Marketplace created channels and independent websites.


title: Taobao

text: In 2018, Alibaba launched the streaming service named Alibaba Live. This service was created with the goal of allowing online retailers to market their products utilizing social shopping. This has seen significant growth in popularity and success, with the 84 stores using this service reporting $7.4 million in 2020 sales. Taobao stated that they predict live-streaming on their platform will generate over 500 billion sales transactions.Taobao Live now has over 10,000 weblebrities promoting a wide range of items including as cosmetics, apparel, cuisine, and numerous electrical gadgets. Taobao Live's daily sales have already surpassed $3 billion.


title: Taobao

text: Alibaba promotes a new style of live streaming, called cūnbō (村播), that features rural sellers. Taobao has given them their own category in the app, with the purpose of making it easier for these rural sellers to find customers and followers on the platform.


title: Taobao

text: Singles' Day (also known as the Double eleven shopping carnival, as in 11/11) is the largest Chinese online shopping day. It takes place on 11 November each year. It takes the advantages of the Chinese singles day that was created by Chinese university students to celebrate their bachelordom. After the event was launched, it obtained widespread attention, attracting other e-commerce companies to imitate this model.


title: Taobao

text: Singles day grew rapidly since its introduction in 2009. 2009 sales reached RMB50 million (￡5.68 million):<ref name="Review of Sales Value on Double 11: 2009-2013 Read more: https://www.chinainternetwatch.com/10400/review-sales-value-double-11-2009-2013/#ixzz5ABnxGZPl"></ref> Sales grew rapidly thereafter:


title: Taobao

text: In 2016, Alibaba introduced the T-mall double eleven party, inviting celebrities who took part in a Victoria's Secret show. At the 2017 party, Jack Ma launched his film "Gong Shou Dao" (Defend the Homeland with Kungfu).


title: Taobao

text: Because of the huge trading volume and income in Singles Day, Taobao launched another promotional activity on December 12 (12/12), drove record trading every year thereafter.


title: Taobao

text: On March 29, 2016, Alibaba Group CEO Daniel Zhang pointed out three strategic directions for Taobao: more community-based, more content-enabled, and local adapted.


title: Taobao

text: Taobao extensively uses shopping strategies such as data personalizing, customer loyalties, video broadcasting and the focused demand of a single community to build stages for sellers to display their commodities. It is constructing a new ecosystem from content production, to content propagation, and content consumption with Alibaba's cooperating internet platforms, including Youku, Weibo, Alimama and Alifilms.


title: Taobao

text: Taobao applies a search tool named 'adaptive agents'. An adaptive agent picks up signals from consumers’ purchase records, including categories, brands, functions and colors etc.; The search engine involves the scanning of a particular bar code. Taobao tracks customers' purchasing history and reorganizes it into selections that the buyer is likely to be attracted to.


title: Taobao

text: An adaptive agent works by updating prior models using new data via Bayes' theorem (Laplace's method). The possibility of the occurrence of a certain event can be estimated through the frequency of its occurrence in the past. The ranking of a product or a page can be determined by the combination of its prior information plus its posterior data of click transaction.


title: Taobao

text: The popularity of Taobao's searching model is based on the calculation of correlation rate and quality scores:


title: Taobao

text: Taobao automatically classifies product text and images and uses tags to match. Semantic search solves the correlation problem that keyword texts cannot solve, such as images, complex texts, and ambiguous texts. Semantic search is a recommendation system that presents customers with similar items that consumers might not find when searching one keyword. Entity tagging and other classifications are used.


title: Taobao

text: In September 2013, Taobao launched its Southeast Asian site. A translation feature is available for major languages in Southeast Asia.


title: Taobao

text: In August 2017, the company removed controversial vendors offering personalised messages featuring African children over concerns of child exploitation. Some Chinese Taobao vendors claimed that their promotional videos featuring African children were "charity activity" in which most of the profits goes to the children. However the situation proved more complicated after a photographer contacted by the Beijing Youth Daily said "the children only received snacks or a few dollars as reward", indicating that there was legitimate child exploitation.


title: Taobao

text: In 2019, Taobao removed all items related to the Houston Rockets in response to the organization's general manager Daryl Morey posting a tweet about Hong Kong.


title: Taobao

text: In October 2020 amid rising geopolitical tensions between Taipei and Beijing, Taobao announced that it would exit the Taiwanese market after the Taiwanese government ordered the company to re-register as being backed by China or to leave the island if they don't.


title: Taobao

text: The mobile app of Taobao was banned in India (along with other Chinese apps) on 2 September 2020 by the government, the move came amid the 2020 China-India skirmish.


title: Taobao

text: In 2022, the Office of the United States Trade Representative named Taobao on its list of Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy.


title: Taobao

text: Taobao Marketplace had more than 5 million registered users as of June 2013 and hosted more than 80 million product listings. It facilitated approximately RMB 200 billion in gross merchandise volume in 2009. In September 2013, Taobao ranked 12th overall in Alexa's internet rankings. For the year ending March 31, 2013, the combined gross merchandise volume (GMV) of Taobao and Tmall.com combined exceeded RMB 1 trillion. As of 2021, Taobao was the 8th most visited website in the world and the 5th most visited website in China.


title: James (band)

text: James are an English rock band from Manchester, who were formed in 1982. They had popularity throughout the 1990s, with four top 10s on the UK Singles Chart and nine top 10s on the UK Albums Chart. The band's best-known singles include "Come Home", "Sit Down", "She's a Star" and "Laid", which also became a hit on American college radio.


title: James (band)

text: Following the departure of lead singer Tim Booth in 2001, the band became inactive, but reunited in January 2007 and have gone on to produce a further seven albums. Live performance has continually remained a central part of the band's output. As of 2010, the band had sold more than 25 million albums worldwide.


title: James (band)

text: James were formed in 1982 in Whalley Range, Manchester, when Paul Gilbertson persuaded his friend Jim Glennie to buy a bass guitar and form a band with him. Their line-up solidified when Gavan Whelan joined on drums. They played a string of gigs under the names Venereal and the Diseases and Volume Distortion before settling on the name of Model Team International, then shortened to Model Team. They performed mostly improvised material derived from jam sessions, supporting The Fall at an early gig at Manchester Polytechnic. Vocalists and other musicians drifted rapidly in and out of their line-up until the band encountered Tim Booth at a student disco. Gilbertson invited him to the band's scout hut in Withington to join the band as a dancer; he was soon promoted to lead singer. After a brief period under the name Tribal Outlook, the band renamed themselves James in August 1982. A gig at the Haçienda caught the attention of Tony Wilson of Factory Records. He offered James an album deal with Factory, but the band, by now a settled live act, were worried about tarnishing their material in the studio and settled instead for a three-track EP. Their debut release, the "Jimone EP", was recorded at Strawberry Studios, Stockport, in August 1983 and released on Factory Records in September. It led to the band providing support for The Smiths between February and April 1985 on the Meat is Murder tour. The Smiths covered James's "What's The World" track during this tour.


title: James (band)

text: Although they were now being touted as the "next big thing", several complex issues slowed their progress. Gilbertson's drug problems presented the band with no choice but to ask him to leave. Booth and Glennie had joined a sect named Lifewave that imposed many restrictions on their lifestyle and threatened the band's stability. The band's second EP, "James II", was released over a year after the first and accompanied by a feature on the cover of the "NME", Gilbertson having been replaced by the band's guitar tutor Larry Gott. The first two EPs would later be collected as "Village Fire". Reviews were once again positive, and Factory were eager for James to record an album with it, but the band believed Factory were purely image-based and left the label, striking a deal with Sire Records.


title: James (band)

text: Their third release, the "Sit Down EP" (no relation to the song of that name) came out in February 1986 and was followed by their debut album, "Stutter," in July of that year. The album reached number 68 in the UK Albums Chart. Low on money and lacking coverage and promotion, the band recorded their second album, "Strip-mine", attempting a more conventional song structure in an attempt to please Sire. The album almost went unreleased, but after a slight remix to sound more radio-friendly, Sire released it in September 1988, over a year after its initial completion. However the album only reached number 90. After finding a clause for ending their contract, the band left Sire.


title: James (band)

text: James had by this point earned themselves a reputation as a live act and had built a solid fanbase. Sales of James T-shirts were particularly successful in Manchester even before they reached the Top 40. James financed the production of a live album "One Man Clapping" with a bank loan and the help of Rough Trade Records. The album went to number 1 in the indie charts, reinvigorating media interest in the band.


title: James (band)

text: In November 1988, drummer Whelan became involved in an on-stage fight with Booth and was asked to leave the band. He was replaced by David Baynton-Power a few months later. During the following year James greatly expanded their line-up and sound palette by hiring three new members: guitarist-violinist-percussionist Saul Davies (whom Gott recruited from an amateur blues night), keyboard player Mark Hunter, and onetime Diagram Brothers/ Dislocation Dance / The Cotton Singers Pale Fountains trumpeter/percussionist Andy Diagram (the latter a noted avant-garde musician). This new seven-piece line-up went into the studio to record the third James album.


title: James (band)

text: New singles "Sit Down" and "Come Home" became strong hits in the independent charts, and the latter featured on the compilation album "Happy Daze". The album "Gold Mother" was intended to be released on Rough Trade but the owner of the label, Geoff Travis, believed James could only reach an audience of 20,000 to 30,000. The band believed they had more potential than this and bought the rights to the album from Rough Trade. A successful winter tour in 1989 attracted a deal with Fontana Records, and the band ended a difficult decade on an optimistic note.


title: James (band)

text: "Gold Mother" was released in June 1990 just as the 'Madchester' movement, with its wave of popular Manchester-based indie bands, brought James to public attention and won them mainstream recognition. Singles "How Was It for You," the remixed "Come Home" and "Lose Control" all made the Top 40, and the band's newfound success was re-affirmed when they played two sold-out dates at the Manchester G-Mex at the end of the year. In March 1991, the popularity of "Sit Down" led to a re-recorded version being released as a single, which reached number 2 in the UK Singles Chart. "Gold Mother" was re-released to include "Sit Down" and previous single "Lose Control", and the album sold ten times more copies than Travis originally predicted. The song became one of the biggest-selling singles of the year.


title: James (band)

text: The band members spent the rest of the year recording their next album, "Seven", which was released in February 1992. It reached number 2 in the UK Albums Chart (its lead single, "Sound", had followed "Sit Down" into the top 10 a few months earlier) and earned the band some recognition in the US as they embarked on their first Stateside tour. The band's activities culminated in a sold-out show to 30,000 people at the Alton Towers theme park in July, broadcast live on BBC Radio 1, following which Andy Diagram left the group.


title: James (band)

text: In 1993, James were invited on an acoustic tour of the US supporting Neil Young at a series of natural outdoor venues in the autumn. They returned to England refreshed and ready to record their new album with Brian Eno, whom they had originally approached to produce "Stutter" but who had been unavailable at the time. Eno set about bringing out the ambience in James's music, and took them through a recording process that the band later described as a "journey of self-discovery". The process resulted in not one but two albums: the "song" album "Laid" and the experimental "Wah Wah", which showcased the band's improvised jams recorded on the spot then mixed by Eno. Booth's vocals were then added to the results.


title: James (band)

text: "Laid" was released in September 1993 to positive reviews. As well as being a success in the UK, the album also broke the band in the US, shipping over 600,000 copies and charting at number 72 in the "Billboard" 200, propelled by the popularity of its risqué title track on US college radio. The band spent most of 1994 touring the States. "Wah Wah" was eventually released in September 1994 to a lukewarm reception.


title: James (band)

text: The recording of the follow-up album faced difficulties from the start. Two key members of the James organisation resigned: guitarist and key composer Larry Gott (who left the group in order to spend more time with his family) and manager Martine McDonagh (who had had a sometimes fraught romantic relationship with Booth, resulting in a son, Ben). Booth announced that he also wished to take a break in order to record an album with Angelo Badalamenti. In 1995 the band discovered they owed a £250,000 tax bill.


title: James (band)

text: Determined to continue despite the setbacks, the band set up studio in Baynton-Power's house. Former Sharkboy guitarist Adrian Oxaal was drafted in to replace Gott on guitar, while Booth returned periodically from the States to add his vocals. 1996 saw the release of Booth's album with Badalamenti ("Booth and the Bad Angel"). The new James album, "Whiplash", followed in February 1997. The album proved a successful comeback, reaching the UK top 10, as did the single "She's a Star".


title: James (band)

text: The band toured to promote the album, recruiting Michael Kulas as rhythm guitarist while in the States. Booth suffered a neck injury while dancing on stage in the US, resulting in a series of tour dates being cancelled as he underwent emergency surgery, and the band being offered a place instead on the Lollapalooza tour. In March 1998, a greatest hits album, "The Best Of", was released, compiling all the band's hits since their signing to Fontana. The album reached number 1 in the UK Albums Chart, and sold-out tours throughout the year followed.


title: James (band)

text: The band then returned to the studio to begin work on their next album, "Millionaires", which was released in October 1999. The album did not reach the phenomenal sales level predicted, but still entered the UK Album charts at number 2, and sold over 150,000 copies.


title: James (band)

text: After the disappointing performance of "Millionaires" the band chose to start anew in their approach to their next album, working with Eno once again. They spent most of 2000 recording the album; writing the songs, then performing them live before actually recording them. They embarked on a small-scale tour in the autumn of that year on which their set lists consisted almost entirely of new material. The album, "Pleased To Meet You", was released in July 2001. The album's artwork featured a composite image of the faces of all the band members to create a new person. The album reached only number 11, the lowest position for a James studio album since their signing to Fontana.


title: James (band)

text: Shortly after their last album release, James reached the end of their contract, and Tim Booth announced he was leaving the band to concentrate on other projects of his own. They played a farewell tour of the UK at the end of the year. Their final hometown gig, at the Manchester Evening News arena on 7 December, was recorded for a live CD and DVD, "Getting Away With It... Live". Past members Larry Gott and Andy Diagram rejoined them for the tour, and Brian Eno also joined them onstage at London's Wembley Arena during the tour. The albums "Gold Mother", "Laid", and "Whiplash" (each containing bonus tracks) were re-released by Mercury Records the following year, as well as a B-sides compilation entitled "B-Sides Ultra".


title: James (band)

text: A planned compilation of material from the band's Factory and Sire years was announced in 2001, but the album, "Strange Dancing", was never released. The first two James albums, "Stutter" and "Strip-mine", were re-pressed in June 2007, but without any additional rarities.


title: James (band)

text: Booth continued as a solo artist in 2004 with the release of his solo album "Bone", co-written and produced by Lee Muddy Baker.


title: James (band)

text: A new compilation album, "The Collection" was released in late 2004, and "Seven – The Live Concert" (a DVD version of a previously released video) in 2005.


title: James (band)

text: In January 2007 singer Tim Booth's personal website announced that "Tim will be rejoining James in early 2007 for a series of live shows to be announced very soon". At the same time, James's old website was replaced by a new domain holder at wearejames.com. The site confirmed the line-up as that which recorded the album "Laid": Booth, Gott, Glennie, Davies, Hunter and Baynton-Power. Booth confirmed in interviews that he became convinced to rejoin the band after meeting up with Glennie and Gott the previous November for a jamming session, out of which new songs were born.


title: James (band)

text: The initial five dates of the tour were expanded to seven on the day tickets went on sale (26 January) due to high demand; the whole tour had sold out by close of business. The tour took place during late April 2007, and was followed later in the year by more live shows, including festival appearances at T in the Park and V Festival. The band also appeared at Summercase, Barcelona's top music concert in Spain during July 2007. Andy Diagram also rejoined the band as trumpet player during the festival tour. April saw the release of a new compilation album, "Fresh as a Daisy — The Singles", accompanied by a DVD compilation of all the band's promo videos.


title: James (band)

text: The new album "Hey Ma" was released on 7 April 2008, peaking at number 10 on the UK album charts, and a three-week tour to promote the album commenced on 10 April 2008. An arena tour of the UK called "We Are Sound" followed in December, on which two new songs ("Porcupine" and "Look Away") were previewed as tasters for a new studio album. A live album with a selection of songs recorded during the 2008 spring tour was exclusively sold at the merchandise stalls of the "We Are Sound" tour. "Live in 2008" was limited to 5000 copies.


title: James (band)

text: The band announced plans to release two mini-albums by April 2010. "The Night Before" was released on 19 April, although its follow-up, "The Morning After", was released later than expected, on 2 August 2010. Following the release of "The Night Before", the band embarked on a UK tour, the Mirrorball Tour, premièring songs from the album. Another UK tour took place in December. Both this tour and the US release of both mini-albums together as a 2-CD set called "The Morning After The Night Before". A 19-date North American tour began in September to promote the combined album as well as showcase the songs before the UK tour.


title: James (band)

text: At the beginning of 2011, Tim Booth announced that he was working on some new solo material, although James remained active, participating in the Lollapalooza festival in Chile. The band appeared at The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on 13 and 20 April in Indio, California and Hard Rock Calling 2011 on 24 June in Hyde Park, London, where they were joined by Kaiser Chiefs and headline act The Killers. Towards the end of 2011, James signalled a departure from their previous touring style, with the announcement of a series of dates in October and November of that year including an orchestra and a choir. This short, ten date tour saw James performing their back catalogue accompanied by the Orchestra of the Swan and the Manchester Consort Choir.


title: James (band)

text: James's first new album in six years, "La Petite Mort," was released on 2 June 2014 along with a promo single "Moving On". In July 2014, the band headlined on the Castle Stage for Camp Bestival at Lulworth Castle in Dorset and announced a ten date UK tour starting on 10 November, preceded by an 11 October headlining of the entertainment at the Rugby league Super League grand final at Old Trafford, performing a set before the game and in the half time show.


title: James (band)

text: They toured again in 2015, playing some shows without Larry Gott, who was taking a break from touring: Adrian Oxaal re-joined the band for the duration of the tour, subsequently replacing Gott in the active lineup. Keyboard technician Ron Yeadon, formerly of Unkle Bob, also appeared on stage, singing backing vocals; he later joined the band as a backing vocalist. In 2016, the album "Girl at the End of the World" was released, with an accompanying tour – building up to the band's planned appearance opening 2016's Glastonbury Festival (the Other Stage) and later taking a top spot at the festival in September.


title: James (band)

text: In May 2018, James released a four-song EP, "Better Than That," that reached number 1 of the Vinyl Singles Chart, and embarked on a sold-out UK tour to promote it. During this tour, they also previewed a few songs from their following album, "Living in Extraordinary Times", released on 3 August 2018. Percussionist and backing vocalist Deborah Knox-Hewson joined the band during the tour, replacing Ron Yeadon. She left the band shortly after the album's release and was replaced by Chloe Alper.


title: James (band)

text: The band's 16th studio album, "All the Colours of You", was released on 4 June 2021 on new label Virgin Music Label & Artists Services. The album has eleven tracks and was produced by Jacknife Lee.


title: Roe Messner

text: Ronald Roe Messner (born August 1, 1935) is an American building contractor who has built more than 1,700 churches, including several megachurches.


title: Roe Messner

text: Having divorced his first wife, he married televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker in 1993 after her divorce from husband and PTL Club founder Jim Bakker.


title: Roe Messner

text: Messner grew up in Waldron, Kansas, on the Kansas-Oklahoma border. He founded Messner Construction in Andover, Kansas, and began building churches.


title: Roe Messner

text: Roe Messner gained fame with the construction of Heritage USA in 1978 at the behest of Jim Bakker. In 1987, he and his first wife, Ruth Ann, wrote a book titled "Building for the Master". He reportedly played a behind-the-scenes role in the downfall of the PTL Club. He was reportedly the person who produced the money for the $265,000 payment to Jessica Hahn to cover up a sexual assault. Messner later billed PTL for work never completed on the Jerusalem Amphitheater at Heritage USA.


title: Roe Messner

text: Revelations of the payoff invited scrutiny of Bakker's finances, prompting him to be charged with fraud. In the Bakkers' fraud trial, Messner testified for Bakker's defense, saying that Jerry Falwell had attempted to take over PTL and its associated cable television network by dispatching Messner to the Bakker home in Palm Springs, California, to make an offer to "keep quiet".


title: Roe Messner

text: According to Messner's testimony, Tammy wrote the offer on her stationery, listing a $300,000-a-year lifetime salary for Jim, $100,000 a year for Tammy, a house, and a year's worth of free phone calls and health insurance. However, Messner said Bakker wrote on it: "I'm not making any demands on PTL. I'm not asking for anything." Falwell has denied making any offer. In the messy bankruptcy of PTL, Messner was listed as the single biggest creditor of PTL with an outstanding claim of $14 million. In court papers, the new operators accused Messner of $5.3 million in inflated or phony billings to PTL.


title: Roe Messner

text: Messner divorced his first wife in 1993. At about the same time, Tammy Faye divorced Bakker. Messner and Tammy Faye were married in and lived in Rancho Mirage, California.


title: Roe Messner

text: In 1996, Roe was convicted of bankruptcy fraud, having claimed to owe nearly $30 million to over 300 creditors in 1990. As he faced sentencing in 1996, he said he could not afford to treat his prostate cancer because he lacked health insurance. He was sentenced to and served 27 months in prison.


title: Roe Messner

text: Messner and Tammy Faye moved to the gated community of Loch Lloyd, Missouri, a suburb of Kansas City, in 2007. Tammy Faye died from cancer on July 20 that year; her last public appearance was a taped interview on CNN from their home the day before. Her ashes were interred in the Messner family plot in Waldron, immediately next to Messner's mother.


title: Roe Messner

text: Roe Messner himself is known to have received a diagnosis of prostate cancer in the past, though he told Larry King that his doctors had told him that he would not die from the disease.


title: Roe Messner

text: Messner is reported to have been the biggest church builder in the United States. On August 7, 2007, he told Larry King that he had built 1,784 churches in 47 states. Messner supervised construction of the churches but was not the architect. He has designed and/or built over 1,800 churches in all 50 states.