title: Google Glass

text: Other than the touchpad, Google Glass can be controlled using just "voice actions". To activate Glass, wearers tilt their heads 30° upward (which can be altered for preference) or simply tap the touchpad, and say "O.K., Glass." Once Glass is activated, wearers can say an action, such as "Take a picture", "Record a video", "Hangout with [person/Google+ circle]", "Google 'What year was Wikipedia founded?'", "Give me directions to the Eiffel Tower", and "Send a message to John" (many of these commands can be seen in a product video released in February 2013). For search results that are read back to the user, the voice response is relayed using bone conduction through a transducer that sits beside the ear, thereby rendering the sound almost inaudible to other people.


title: Google Glass

text: Augmedix developed an app for the wearable device that allows physicians to live-stream the patient visit and claims it will eliminate electronic health record problems, possibly saving them up to 15 hours a week and improving record quality. The video stream is passed to remote scribes in HIPAA secure rooms where the doctor-patient interaction is transcribed, ultimately allowing physicians to focus on the patient. Hundreds of users were evaluating the app as of mid-2015.


title: Google Glass

text: In July 2013, Lucien Engelen commenced research on the usability and impact of Google Glass in the health care field. As of August 2013, Engelen, based at Singularity University and in Europe at Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, was the first healthcare professional in Europe to participate in the Glass Explorer program. His research on Google Glass (starting August 9, 2013) was conducted in operating rooms, ambulances, a trauma helicopter, general practice, and home care as well as the use in public transportation for visually or physically impaired. Research included taking pictures, videos streaming to other locations, dictating operative log, having students watch the procedures and tele-consultation through Hangout. Engelen documented his findings in blogs, videos, pictures, on Twitter, and on Google+, with research ongoing as of that date.


title: Google Glass

text: In June 2014, Google Glass' ability to acquire images of a patient's retina ("Glass Fundoscopy") was publicly demonstrated for the first time at the Wilmer Clinical Meeting at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine by Dr. Aaron Wang and Dr. Allen Eghrari. This technique was featured on the cover of the Journal for Mobile Technology in Medicine for January 2015. Doctors Phil Haslam and Sebastian Mafeld demonstrated the first application of Google Glass in the field of interventional radiology. They demonstrated how Google Glass could assist a liver biopsy and fistulaplasty, and the pair stated that Google Glass has the potential to improve patient safety, operator comfort, and procedure efficiency in the field of interventional radiology.


title: Google Glass

text: In 2015, IOS Press published "Clinical and Surgical Applications of Smart Glasses" a research article written by a team at the Columbia University Medical Center Department of Neurosurgery's Cerebrovascular Laboratory. Under Neurosurgeon Dr. Sander E. Connolly, Stefan Mitrasinovic, Elvis Camacho, Nirali Trivedi, and others analyzed Google Glass's useful applications including hands-free photo and video documentation, telemedicine, Electronic Health Record retrieval and input, rapid diagnostic test analysis, education, and live broadcasting.


title: Google Glass

text: In 2017, Swiss researchers assessed in a randomized controlled trial the adherence of emergency team leaders to the American Heart Association's (AHA) Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS) guidelines by adapting and displaying them in Google Glasses during simulation-based pediatric cardiac arrest scenarios.


title: Google Glass

text: On June 20, 2013, Rafael J. Grossmann, a Venezuelan doctor practicing in the U.S., was the first surgeon to demonstrate the use of Google Glass during a live surgical procedure. In August 2013, Google Glass was used at Wexner Medical Center at Ohio State University. Surgeon Dr. Christopher Kaeding used Google Glass to consult with a distant colleague in Columbus, Ohio. A group of students at The Ohio State University College of Medicine also observed the operation on their laptop computers. Following the procedure, Kaeding stated, "To be honest, once we got into the surgery, I often forgot the device was there. It just seemed very intuitive and fit seamlessly."


title: Google Glass

text: On June 21, 2013, doctor Pedro Guillen, chief of trauma service of Clínica CEMTRO of Madrid, also broadcast a surgery using Google Glass. In July 2014, the startup company Surgery Academy, in Milan, Italy, launched a remote training platform for medical students. The platform is a MOOC that allows students to join any operating theater thanks to Google Glass worn by surgeon. Also in July 2014, This Place released an app, MindRDR, to connect Glass to a Neurosky EEG monitor to allow people to take photos and share them to Twitter or Facebook using brain signals. It is hoped this will allow people with severe physical disabilities to engage with social media.


title: Google Glass

text: In Australia, during January 2014, Melbourne tech startup Small World Social collaborated with the Australian Breastfeeding Association (ABA) to create the first hands-free breastfeeding Google Glass application for new mothers. The application, named Breastfeeding Through Glass, allowed mothers to nurse their baby while viewing instructions about common breastfeeding issues (latching on, posture) or call a lactation consultant via a secure Google Hangout, who could view the issue through the mother's Google Glass camera.


title: Google Glass

text: The trial lasted 7 weeks, commencing on March 1 and ending on April 13, 2014. There were five mothers and their newborn babies in the trial, fifteen volunteer counselors from ABA, and seven project team members from Small World Social. The counselors were located in five States across Australia. The counselors were certified in lactation consultation, and located as far from the mothers as Perth, Western Australia, 3,500 kilometres away. While physically distant from the mothers, the counselors provided support using video calls with Google Glass, live on demand.


title: Google Glass

text: According to media commentary, the breastfeeding project demonstrated the potential of wearable devices to provide ways for communities to deliver health and family support services across vast distances. The demonstrated positive uses of such devices contrasted widespread criticism over privacy concerns which such devices. An article on "Motherboard" stated, "Google Glass, whether warranted or not, endures its fair share of criticism, largely because a lot of initial use cases have been, well, kinda creepy. So it's great to instead see Glass being used for uniquely positive ends, as it is with the Australian Breastfeeding Association's Breastfeeding Support Project." Other journalists and commentators also called the trial beneficial and an innovative application wearable technologies. ABC journalist/presenter Penny Johnston of the radio program "Babytalk" remarked:


title: Google Glass

text: In May 2014, Small World Social and ABA won the Gold Questar Award in the Emerging Media: App section, for the Breastfeeding with Google Glass App. In June 2014, Small World Social's Breastfeeding Support Project was awarded the Questar Best of Category Grand Prize For Emerging Media, which is given to the top 5% of entries.


title: Google Glass

text: ABA is optimistic about the future of wearable technologies supporting their work. Small World Social commenced a trial in the US in June 2014.


title: Google Glass

text: In 2014, Voice of America Television Correspondent Carolyn Presutti and VOA Electronics Engineer Jose Vega began a web project called VOA & Google Glass, which explored the technology's potential uses in journalism. This series of news stories examined the technology's live reporting applications, including conducting interviews and covering stories from the reporter's point of view. On March 29, 2014, American a cappella group Pentatonix partnered with Voice of America when lead singer Scott Hoying wore Glass in the band's performance at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., during the band's worldwide tour—the first use of Glass by a lead singer in a professional concert.


title: Google Glass

text: In the fall of 2014, The University of Southern California conducted a course called Glass Journalism, which explored the device's application in journalism.


title: Google Glass

text: The WWF as of mid-2014 used Google Glass and UAVs to track various animals and birds in the jungle, which may be the first use of the device by a non-profit, non-governmental organization (NGO).


title: Google Glass

text: In 2014, the International Olympic Committee Young Reporters program took Google Glass to the Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic Games and put them on a number of athletes from different disciplines to explore novel point of view filmmaking.


title: Google Glass

text: A visually impaired dancer, Benjamin Yonattan, used Google Glass to overcome his chronic vision condition. In 2015, Yonattan performed on the reality television program "America's Got Talent".


title: Google Glass

text: Concerns have been raised by various sources regarding the intrusion on privacy, and the etiquette and ethics of using the device in public and recording people without their permission. Google co-founder, Sergey Brin, claims that Glass could be seen as a way to become even more isolated in public, but the intent was quite the opposite: Brin views checking social media as a constant "nervous tic", which is why Glass can notify the user of important notifications and updates and does not obstruct the line of sight.


title: Google Glass

text: Additionally, there is controversy that Google Glass would cause security problems and violate privacy rights. Organizations like the FTC Fair Information Practice work to uphold privacy rights through Fair Information Practice Principles (FIPPS), which are guidelines representing concepts that concern fair information practice in an electronic marketplace.


title: Google Glass

text: Privacy advocates are concerned that people wearing such eyewear may be able to identify strangers in public using facial recognition, or surreptitiously record and broadcast private conversations. The "Find my Face" feature on Google+ functions to create a model of your face, and of people you know, in order to simplify tagging photos. However, the only current app that can identify strangers is called MORIS (Mobile Offender Recognition and Identification System), and is a $3,000 iPhone app used by police officers.


title: Google Glass

text: Some companies in the US have posted anti-Google Glass signs in their establishments. In July 2013, prior to the official release of the product, Stephen Balaban, co-founder of software company Lambda Labs, circumvented Google's facial recognition app block by building his own, non-Google-approved operating system. Balaban then installed face-scanning Glassware that creates a summary of commonalities shared by the scanned person and the Glass wearer, such as mutual friends and interests. Also created was Winky, a program that allows a Google Glass user to take a photo with a wink of an eye, while Marc Rogers, a principal security researcher at Lookout, discovered that Glass can be hijacked if a user could be tricked into taking a picture of a malicious QR code, demonstrating the potential to be used as a weapon in cyberwarfare.


title: Google Glass

text: In February 2013, a Google+ user noticed legal issues with Glass and posted in the Glass Explorers community about the issues, stating that the device may be illegal to use according to the current legislation in Russia and Ukraine, which prohibits use of spy gadgets that can record video, audio or take photographs in an inconspicuous manner.


title: Google Glass

text: Concerns were also raised in regard to the privacy and security of Glass users in the event that the device is stolen or lost, an issue that was raised by a US congressional committee. As part of its response to the committee, Google stated that a locking system for the device is in development. Google also reminded users that Glass can be remotely reset. Police in various states have also warned Glass wearers to watch out for muggers and street robbers.


title: Google Glass

text: Lisa A. Goldstein, a freelance journalist who was born deaf, tested the product on behalf of people with disabilities and published a review on August 6, 2013. In her review, Goldstein states that Google Glass does not accommodate hearing aids and is not suitable for people who cannot understand speech. Goldstein also explained the limited options for customer support, as telephone contact was her only means of communication.


title: Google Glass

text: Several facilities have banned the use of Google Glass before its release to the general public, citing concerns over potential privacy-violating capabilities. Other facilities, such as Las Vegas casinos, banned Google Glass, citing their desire to comply with Nevada state law and common gaming regulations that ban the use of recording devices near gambling areas. On October 29, 2014, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) announced a ban on wearable technology including Google Glass, placing it under the same rules as mobile phones and video cameras.


title: Google Glass

text: There have also been concerns over potential eye pain caused by users new to Glass. These concerns were validated by Google's optometry advisor Dr. Eli Peli of Harvard, though he later partly backtracked due to the controversy that ensued from his remarks.


title: Google Glass

text: Concerns have been raised by cyber forensics experts at the University of Massachusetts who have developed a way to steal smartphone and tablet passwords using Google Glass. The specialists developed a software program that uses Google Glass to track finger shadows as someone types in their password. Their program then converts the touchpoints into the keys they were touching, allowing them to catch the passcodes.


title: Google Glass

text: Another concern regarding the camera application raises controversy to privacy. Some people are concerned about how the product has the capability of recording during events such as conversations. The device sets off a light to indicate that it is recording but many speculate that there will be an app to disable this.


title: Google Glass

text: Concerns have also been raised on operating motor vehicles while wearing the device. On July 31, 2013 it was reported that driving while wearing Google Glass was likely to be banned in the UK, being deemed careless driving, therefore a fixed penalty offense, following a decision by the Department for Transport.


title: Google Glass

text: In the US, West Virginia state representative Gary G. Howell introduced an amendment in March 2013 to the state's law against texting while driving that would include bans against "using a wearable computer with head mounted display". In an interview, Howell stated, "The primary thing is a safety concern, it [the glass headset] could project text or video into your field of vision. I think there's a lot of potential for distraction."


title: Google Glass

text: In October 2013, a driver in California was ticketed for "driving with monitor visible to driver (Google Glass)" after being pulled over for speeding by a San Diego Police Department officer. The driver was reportedly the first to be fined for driving while wearing a Google Glass. While the judge noted that "Google Glass fell under 'the purview and intent' of the ban on driving with a monitor", the case was thrown out of court due to lack of proof the device was on at the time.


title: Google Glass

text: In November 2014, Sawyer et al., from the University of Central Florida and the US Air Force Research Laboratory, published the results of comparative study in a driving simulator. Subjects were asked to use either Google Glass or a smartphone-based messaging interface and were then interrupted with an emergency event. The Glass-delivered messages served to moderate but did not eliminate distracting cognitive demands. A potential passive cost to drivers merely wearing the Glass was also observed. Messaging using either device impaired driving as compared to driving without multi-tasking.


title: Google Glass

text: In February 2014, a woman wearing Google Glass claimed she was verbally and physically assaulted at a bar in San Francisco after a patron confronted her while she was showing off the device, allegedly leading a man accompanying her to physically retaliate. Witnesses suggested that patrons were upset over the possibility of being recorded.


title: Google Glass

text: Under the Google Glass terms of service for the Glass Explorer pre-public release program, it specifically states, "You may not resell, loan, transfer, or give your device to any other person. If you resell, loan, transfer, or give your device to any other person without Google's authorization, Google reserves the right to deactivate the device, and neither you nor the unauthorized person using the device will be entitled to any refund, product support, or product warranty."


title: Google Glass

text: "Wired" commented on this policy of a company claiming ownership of its product after it had been sold, saying: "Welcome to the New World, one in which companies are retaining control of their products even after consumers purchase them." Others pointed out that Glass was not for public sale at all, but rather in private testing for selected developers, and that not allowing developers in a closed beta to sell to the public is not the same as banning consumers from reselling a publicly released device.


title: Google Glass

text: For the developer Explorer units version 2, RAM was expanded to 2 GB and prescription frames were made available:


title: Google Glass

text: The Google Glass Enterprise Edition improves upon previous editions with the following specifications:


title: Google Glass

text: The Google Glass Enterprise Edition 2 improves upon previous editions with the following specifications:


title: Barry Sonnenfeld

text: Barry Sonnenfeld (born April 1, 1953) is an American filmmaker and television director. He originally worked as a cinematographer for the Coen brothers before directing films such as "The Addams Family" (1991) and its sequel "Addams Family Values" (1993), "Get Shorty" (1995), the "Men in Black" trilogy (1997–2012), and "Wild Wild West" (1999).


title: Barry Sonnenfeld

text: Sonnenfeld was born and raised in New York City, the son of Irene "Kelly" (Kellerman), an art teacher, and Sonny Sonnenfeld, a lighting salesman, educator, and architectural lighting designer. He was raised in a Jewish family. After he received his bachelor's degree from Hampshire College, he graduated from New York University Film School in 1978.


title: Barry Sonnenfeld

text: He began working on pornographic films before starting work as director of photography on the Oscar-nominated "In Our Water" (1982). Then Joel Coen and Ethan Coen hired him for "Blood Simple" (1984). This film began his collaboration with the Coen brothers, who used him for their next two pictures, "Raising Arizona" (1987) and "Miller's Crossing" (1990). He also worked with Danny DeVito on "Throw Momma from the Train" (1987) and Rob Reiner on "When Harry Met Sally..." (1989) and "Misery" (1990).


title: Barry Sonnenfeld

text: Sonnenfeld gained his first work as a director from Paramount Pictures on "The Addams Family", a box-office success released in November 1991. Its sequel, "Addams Family Values" (1993), was not as successful at the box office, but he received critical acclaim for his fourth directorial outing, "Get Shorty" (1995). Produced by Jersey Films and based on a novel by Elmore Leonard, the film won a Golden Globe for John Travolta (Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical). The film was also entered into the 46th Berlin International Film Festival. Following Tim Burton and the Coen brothers, Sonnenfeld's films would tell stories about unusual and unorthodox people who are into the unexpected and the strange. His films would often use his trademark filmmaking techniques such as his unusual camera angles, offbeat dialogue and, in certain films, strange behavior and weird creatures.


title: Barry Sonnenfeld

text: In 1996, Steven Spielberg asked him to direct "Men in Black" (1997). Starring Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith, the film was a critical and financial success. In 1998, Jon Peters asked him to direct "Wild Wild West" (1999). Starring Smith and Kevin Kline, the film was a critical and financial flop. He also directed the comedy "Big Trouble" (2002), after which he made his most successful film sequel to that point, "Men in Black II" (2002). He is also a contributing editor for "Esquire". He also co-produced (alongside his partner Barry Josephson) the 2007 film "Enchanted" for Walt Disney Pictures that starred Amy Adams. In 2008, Sonnenfeld earned an Emmy for directing "Pushing Daisies". Sonnenfeld returned for "Men in Black 3"; released in 2012, the third installment received positive reviews and became the highest-grossing film in the series worldwide. In 2007, his Right Coast production company has been signed with Sony.


title: Barry Sonnenfeld

text: His memoir, "Barry Sonnenfeld, Call Your Mother: Memoirs of a Neurotic Filmmaker", was published by Hachette Books in 2020.


title: Barry Sonnenfeld

text: In 1999, he was unhurt in a plane crash at Van Nuys Airport, when his business jet veered off the runway upon landing, crashing into five parked planes.


title: Barry Sonnenfeld

text: He is working on new projects, among them include "Things a Man Should Never Do Past 30": a single-camera comedy from executive producer/director Sonnenfeld, the Tannenbaum Company and Sony Pictures Television. The project mostly is based on the personal experiences of "Esquire" writer David Katz and "Esquire" editor at large A. J. Jacobs. The show is about a man working at a men's magazine who is reluctant to embrace adulthood and his friend who is an immersion journalist. Al Higgins ("Malcolm in the Middle") is set to serve as showrunner/head writer if the project is picked up.


title: Barry Sonnenfeld

text: He has become attached to a movie adaptation of "The Spellman Files" by Lisa Lutz, about a family of private investigators. Sonnenfeld will direct the movie adaptation of the fantasy novel "Gil's All Fright Diner" in partnership with DreamWorks Animation. He is also developing a sitcom for ABC, "Funny in Farsi", based on the book of the same name.


title: Barry Sonnenfeld

text: In 2012, it was stated that he was appointed to direct "Lore", an adaptation based on the comic by T.P. Louise and Ashley Wood of the same name. But, in 2013, Indie director Dave Green has signed on to replace Barry Sonnenfeld as director, Sonnenfeld will take part as executive producer on the project.


title: Barry Sonnenfeld

text: Barry is also in talks with Warner Bros. to make a live action film adaptation of the DC Comics characters, The Metal Men. Sonnenfeld also agreed to direct the "Beverly Hills Cop" pilot for CBS and serve as an executive producer as well. However, Paramount Pictures dropped the idea in favor of a directed by Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah.


title: Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Charles VI (; ; 1 October 1685 – 20 October 1740) was Holy Roman Emperor and ruler of the Austrian Habsburg monarchy from 1711 until his death, succeeding his elder brother, Joseph I. He unsuccessfully claimed the throne of Spain following the death of his relative, Charles II. In 1708, he married Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, by whom he had his four children: Leopold Johann (who died in infancy), Maria Theresa (the last direct Habsburg sovereign), Maria Anna (Governess of the Austrian Netherlands), and Maria Amalia (who also died in infancy).


title: Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Four years before the birth of Maria Theresa, faced with his lack of male heirs, Charles provided for a male-line succession failure with the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713. The Emperor favoured his own daughters over those of his elder brother and predecessor, Joseph I, in the succession, ignoring the decree he had signed during the reign of his father, Leopold I. Charles sought the other European powers' approval. They demanded significant terms, among which were that Austria close the Ostend Company. In total, Great Britain, France, Saxony-Poland, the Dutch Republic, Spain, Venice, States of the Church, Prussia, Russia, Denmark, Savoy-Sardinia, Bavaria, and the Diet of the Holy Roman Empire recognised the sanction. France, Spain, Saxony-Poland, Bavaria and Prussia later reneged. Charles died in 1740, sparking the War of the Austrian Succession, which plagued his successor, Maria Theresa, for eight years.


title: Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Archduke Charles (baptized "Carolus Franciscus Josephus Wenceslaus Balthasar Johannes Antonius Ignatius"), the second son of the Emperor Leopold I and of his third wife, Princess Eleonore Magdalene of Neuburg, was born on 1 October 1685. His tutor was Anton Florian, Prince of Liechtenstein.


title: Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Following the death of Charles II of Spain, in 1700, without any direct heir, Charles declared himself King of Spain—both were members of the House of Habsburg. The ensuing War of the Spanish Succession, which pitted France's candidate, Philip, Duke of Anjou, Louis XIV of France's grandson, against Austria's Charles, lasted for almost 14 years. The Kingdom of Portugal, Kingdom of England, Scotland, Ireland and the majority of the Holy Roman Empire endorsed Charles's candidature. Charles III, as he was known, disembarked in his kingdom in 1705, and stayed there for six years, only being able to exercise his rule in Catalonia, until the death of his brother, Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor; he returned to Vienna to assume the imperial crown. Not wanting to see Austria and Spain in personal union again, the new Kingdom of Great Britain withdrew its support from the Austrian coalition, and the war culminated with the Treaties of Utrecht and Rastatt three years later. The former, ratified in 1713, recognised Philip as King of Spain; however, the Kingdom of Naples, the Duchy of Milan, the Austrian Netherlands and the Kingdom of Sardinia – all previously possessions of the Spanish—were ceded to Austria. To prevent a union of Spain and France, Philip was forced to renounce his right to succeed his grandfather's throne. Charles was extremely discontented at the loss of Spain, and as a result, he mimicked the staid Spanish Habsburg court ceremonial, adopting the dress of a Spanish monarch, which, according to British historian Edward Crankshaw, consisted of "a black doublet and hose, black shoes and scarlet stockings".


title: Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Charles's father and his advisors went about arranging a marriage for him. Their eyes fell upon Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, the eldest child of Louis Rudolph, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. She was held to be strikingly beautiful by her contemporaries. On 1 August 1708, in Barcelona, Charles married her by proxy. She gave him two daughters that survived to adulthood, Maria Theresa and Maria Anna.


title: Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor

text: When Charles succeeded his brother in 1711, he was the last male Habsburg heir in the direct line. Since Habsburg possessions were subject to Salic law, barring women from inheriting in their own right, his own lack of a male heir meant they would be divided on his death. The Pragmatic Sanction of 19 April 1713 abolished male-only succession in all Habsburg realms and declared their lands indivisible, although Hungary only approved it in 1723.


title: Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Charles had three daughters, Maria Theresa (1717–1780), Maria Anna (1718–1744) and Maria Amalia (1724–1730) but no surviving sons. When Maria Theresa was born, he disinherited his nieces and the daughters of his elder brother Joseph, Maria Josepha and Maria Amalia. It was this act that undermined the chances of a smooth succession and obliged Charles to spend the rest of his reign seeking to ensure enforcement of the Sanction from other European powers.


title: Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Charles had a number of sexual relationships with male courtiers, including his Master of the Horse, Prince Schwarzenberg, and a hunter's boy. The love of his life was Michael Joseph, Count Althann, a groom of the bedchamber, whom he called "my only heart, my comfort...my soul mate", and with whom he slept regularly. Althann's death in 1722, after a friendship of nineteen years, devastated him.


title: Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Charles agreed to a demand from Britain that he close a trading company, (the Ostend Company), which was based in the Austrian Netherlands and that he himself founded in 1722. However, by 1735 he had secured approvals from key states, most importantly the Imperial Diet, which in theory bound all its members including Prussia and Bavaria.


title: Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Other signatories included Britain, France, the Dutch Republic, Spain, Russia, Denmark and Savoy-Sardinia but subsequent events underlined Eugene of Savoy's comment that the best guarantee was a powerful army and full Treasury. His nieces were married to the rulers of Saxony and Bavaria, both of whom ultimately refused to be bound by the decision of the Imperial Diet and despite publicly agreeing to the Pragmatic Sanction in 1735, France signed a secret treaty with Bavaria in 1738 promising to back the 'just claims' of Charles Albert of Bavaria.


title: Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor

text: In the first part of his reign, the empire continued to expand; success in the Austro-Turkish War (1716–1718), adding Banat to Hungary, and establishing direct Austrian rule over Serbia and Oltenia (Lesser Wallachia). This extended Austrian rule to the lower Danube.


title: Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor

text: The War of the Quadruple Alliance (1718–1720) followed. It too ended in an Austrian victory; by the Treaty of The Hague (1720), Charles swapped Sardinia, which went to the Duke of Savoy, Victor Amadeus, for Sicily, the largest island in the Mediterranean, which was harder to defend than Sardinia. The treaty also recognised Philip V of Spain's younger son, Don Carlos (the future Charles III of Spain), as heir to the Duchy of Parma and Grand Duchy of Tuscany; Charles had previously endorsed the succession of the incumbent Grand Duke's daughter, Anna Maria Luisa, Electress Palatine.


title: Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Peace in Europe was shattered by the War of the Polish Succession (1733–1738), a dispute over the throne of Poland between Augustus of Saxony, the previous King's elder son, and Stanisław Leszczyński. Austria supported the former, France the latter; thus, a war broke out. By the Treaty of Vienna (1738), Augustus ascended the throne, but Charles had to give the Kingdom of Naples to Don Carlos, in exchange for the much smaller Duchy of Parma.


title: Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor

text: The issue of Charles's elder daughter's marriage was raised early in her childhood. She was first betrothed to Léopold Clément of Lorraine, who was supposed to come to Vienna and meet Maria Theresa. Instead, he died of smallpox in 1723, which upset Maria Theresa. Léopold Clément's younger brother, Francis Stephen, then came to Vienna to replace him. Charles considered other possibilities (such as Don Carlos) before announcing the engagement to Francis. At the end of the War of the Polish Succession, France demanded that Francis surrender the Duchy of Lorraine (his hereditary domain), to Stanisław Leszczyński, the deposed King of Poland, who would bequeath it to France at his death. Charles compelled Francis to renounce his rights to Lorraine and told him: "No renunciation, no archduchess." Francis complied; he was married to Maria Theresa in February 1736, and Lorraine devolved to Stanisław in July 1737.


title: Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor

text: In 1737, the Emperor embarked on another Turkish War in alliance with Russia. Unlike the previous Austro-Turkish War, it ended in a decisive Austrian defeat. Much of the territory gained in 1718 (except for the Banat) was lost. Popular discontent at the costly war reigned in Vienna; Francis of Lorraine, Maria Theresa's husband, was dubbed a French spy by the Viennese. The war not only revealed the sorry state of the Austrian army, but also the weakness of the imperial state itself, which did not have the financial strength to sustain a long war without the subsidies of its allies.


title: Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor

text: At the time of Charles's death, the Habsburg lands were saturated in debt; the exchequer contained a mere 100,000 florins; and desertion was rife in Austria's sporadic army, spread across the Empire in small, ineffective barracks. Contemporaries expected that Hungary would wrench itself from the Habsburg yoke upon his death.


title: Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Despite the predicaments faced by Charles, the territorial extent of his Habsburg lands was at its greatest since the days of his cognatic ancestor Emperor Charles V, reaching the Southern Mediterranean and including the Duchy of Milan.


title: Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor

text: The Emperor, after a hunting trip across the Hungarian border in "a typical day in the wettest and coldest October in memory", fell seriously ill at the Favorita Palace, Vienna, and he died on 20 October 1740 in the Hofburg. In his "Memoirs" Voltaire wrote that Charles's death was caused by consuming a meal of death cap mushrooms. Charles's life opus, the Pragmatic Sanction, was ultimately in vain. Maria Theresa was forced to resort to arms to defend her inheritance from the coalition of Prussia, Bavaria, France, Spain, Saxony and Poland—all party to the sanction—who assaulted the Austrian frontier weeks after her father's death. During the ensuing War of the Austrian Succession, Maria Theresa saved her crown and most of her territory but lost the mineral-rich Duchy of Silesia to Prussia and the Duchy of Parma to Spain.


title: Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor

text: Emperor Charles VI has been the main motif of many collectors' coins and medals. One of the most recent samples is high value collectors' coin the Austrian Göttweig Abbey commemorative coin, minted on 11 October 2006. His portrait can be seen in the foreground of the reverse of the coin.


title: XYY syndrome

text: XYY syndrome, also known as Jacobs syndrome, is an aneuploid genetic condition in which a male has an extra Y chromosome. There are usually few symptoms. These may include being taller than average, acne, and an increased risk of learning disabilities. The person is generally otherwise normal, including typical rates of fertility.


title: XYY syndrome

text: The condition is generally not inherited from a person's parents but rather occurs as a result of a random event during sperm development. Diagnosis is by a chromosomal analysis, but most of those affected are not diagnosed within their lifetime. There are 47 chromosomes, instead of the usual 46, giving a 47,XYY karyotype.


title: XYY syndrome

text: Treatment may include speech therapy or extra help with schoolwork, but outcomes are generally good. The condition occurs in about 1 in 1,000 male births. Many people with the condition are unaware that they have it. The condition was first described in 1961.


title: XYY syndrome

text: People with the 47,XYY karyotype have an increased growth rate from early childhood, with an average final height approximately 7 cm (3") above expected final height. In Edinburgh, Scotland, eight 47,XYY boys born 1967–1972 and identified in a newborn screening programme had an average height of 188.1 cm (6'2") at age 18—their fathers' average height was 174.1 cm (5'8"), their mothers' average height was 162.8 cm (5'4"). The increased gene dosage of three X/Y chromosome pseudoautosomal region (PAR1) SHOX genes has been postulated as a cause of the increased stature seen in all three sex chromosome trisomies: 47,XXX, 47,XXY, and 47,XYY.


title: XYY syndrome

text: Severe acne was noted in a very few early case reports, but dermatologists specializing in acne now doubt the existence of a relationship with 47,XYY.


title: XYY syndrome

text: Prenatal testosterone levels are normal in 47,XYY males. Most 47,XYY males have normal sexual development and have normal fertility.


title: XYY syndrome

text: In contrast to the other common sex chromosome aneuploidies—47,XXX and 47,XXY (Klinefelter syndrome)—the average IQ scores of 47,XYY boys identified by newborn screening programs were not reduced compared to the general population. In a summary of six prospective studies of 47,XYY boys identified by newborn screening programmes, twenty-eight 47,XYY boys had an average 100.76 verbal IQ, 108.79 performance IQ, and 105.00 full-scale IQ. In a systematic review including two prospective studies of 47,XYY boys identified by newborn screening programs and one retrospective study of 47,XYY men identified by screening men over 184 cm (6'") in height, forty-two 47,XYY boys and men had an average 99.5 verbal IQ and 106.4 performance IQ.


title: XYY syndrome

text: In prospective studies of 47,XYY boys identified by newborn screening programs, the IQ scores of 47,XYY boys were usually slightly lower than those of their siblings. In Edinburgh, fifteen 47,XYY boys with siblings identified in a newborn screening program had an average 104.0 verbal IQ and 106.7 performance IQ, while their siblings had an average 112.9 verbal IQ and 114.6 performance IQ.


title: XYY syndrome

text: Approximately half of 47,XYY boys identified by newborn screening programs had learning difficulties—a higher proportion than found among siblings and above-average-IQ control groups. In Edinburgh, 54% of 47,XYY boys (7 of 13) identified in a newborn screening program received remedial reading teaching compared to 18% (4 of 22) in an above-average-IQ control group of 46,XY boys matched by their father's social class. In Boston, USA 55% of 47,XYY boys (6 of 11) identified in a newborn screening program had learning difficulties and received part-time resource room help compared to 11% (1 of 9) in an above-average-IQ control group of 46,XY boys with familial balanced autosomal chromosome translocations.


title: XYY syndrome

text: Developmental delays and behavioral problems are also possible, but these characteristics vary widely among affected boys and men, are not unique to 47,XYY and are managed no differently from in 46,XY males. Aggression is not seen more frequently in 47,XYY males.


title: XYY syndrome

text: Patients with Jacobs syndrome have been shown to have a higher risk of developing certain diseases such as asthma, seizure problems, and tremors. Some 47,XYY patients have been found to have genitourinary malformations. These include cryptorchidism, hypoplastic scrotum, microphallus, and hypospadias. These men could be diagnosed with infertility as a result of oligospermia or sperm chromosomal abnormalities. According to certain psychological studies, these patients may probably have problems with impulse control and emotional regulation. Increased testosterone levels were found to be correlated with an increased risk of aggressive behavior in incarcerated males with 47,XYY syndrome. 47,XYY is not inherited, but usually occurs as a random event during the formation of sperm cells. An incident in chromosome separation during anaphase II (of meiosis II) called nondisjunction can result in sperm cells with an extra copy of the Y-chromosome. If one of these atypical sperm cells contributes to the genetic makeup of a child, the child will have an extra Y-chromosome in each of the body's cells.


title: XYY syndrome

text: In some cases, the addition of an extra Y-chromosome results from nondisjunction during cell division during a post-zygotic mitosis in early embryonic development. This can produce 46,XY/47,XYY mosaics.


title: XYY syndrome

text: 47,XYY syndrome is not usually diagnosed until learning issues are present. The syndrome is diagnosed in an increasing number of children prenatally by amniocentesis and chorionic villus sampling in order to obtain a chromosome karyotype, where the abnormality can be observed.


title: XYY syndrome

text: It is estimated that only 15–20% of children with 47,XYY syndrome are ever diagnosed. Of these, approximately 30% are diagnosed prenatally. For the rest of those diagnosed after birth, around half are diagnosed during childhood or adolescence after developmental delays are observed. The rest are diagnosed after any of a variety of symptoms, including fertility problems (5%) have been seen.


title: XYY syndrome

text: Around 1 in 1,000 boys are born with a 47,XYY karyotype. The incidence of 47,XYY is not known to be affected by the parents' ages.


title: XYY syndrome

text: In April 1956, "Hereditas" published the discovery by cytogeneticists Joe Hin Tjio and Albert Levan at Lund University in Sweden that the normal number of chromosomes in diploid human cells was 46—not 48 as had been believed for the preceding thirty years. In the wake of the establishment of the normal number of human chromosomes, 47,XYY was the last of the common sex chromosome aneuploidies to be discovered, two years after the discoveries of 47,XXY, 45,X, and 47,XXX in 1959. Even the much less common 48,XXYY had been discovered in 1960, a year before 47,XYY.


title: XYY syndrome

text: Screening for those X chromosome aneuploidies was possible by noting the presence or absence of "female" sex chromatin bodies (Barr bodies) in the nuclei of interphase cells in buccal smears, a technique developed a decade "before" the first reported sex chromosome aneuploidy. An analogous technique to screen for Y-chromosome aneuploidies by noting supernumerary "male" sex chromatin bodies was not developed until 1970, a decade "after" the first reported sex chromosome aneuploidy.


title: XYY syndrome

text: The first published report of a man with a 47,XYY karyotype was by internist and cytogeneticist Avery Sandberg and colleagues at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center (then known as Roswell Park Memorial Institute) in Buffalo, New York in 1961. It was an incidental finding in a normal 44-year-old, 6 ft. [183 cm] tall man of average intelligence who was karyotyped because he had a daughter with Down syndrome. Only a dozen isolated 47,XYY cases were reported in the medical literature in the four years following the first report by Sandberg.


title: XYY syndrome

text: Then, in December 1965 and March 1966, "Nature" and "The Lancet" published the first preliminary reports by British cytogeneticist Patricia Jacobs and colleagues at the MRC Human Genetics Unit at Western General Hospital in Edinburgh of a chromosome survey of 315 male patients at State Hospital in Carstairs, Lanarkshire—Scotland's only special security hospital for developmentally disabled people —that found nine patients, ages 17 to 36, averaging almost 6 ft. in height (avg. 5'11", range: 5'7" to 6'2"), had a 47,XYY karyotype, and mischaracterized them as aggressive and violent criminals. Over the next decade, almost all published XYY studies were on height-selected, institutionalized XYY males.


title: XYY syndrome

text: In January 1968 and March 1968, "The Lancet" and "Science" published the first U.S. reports of tall, institutionalized XYY males by Mary Telfer, a biochemist, and colleagues at the Elwyn Institute. Telfer found five tall, developmentally disabled XYY boys and men in hospitals and penal institutions in Pennsylvania, and since four of the five had at least moderate facial acne, reached the erroneous conclusion that acne was a defining characteristic of XYY males. After learning that convicted mass murderer Richard Speck had been karyotyped, Telfer not only incorrectly assumed the acne-scarred Speck was XYY, but reached the false conclusion that Speck was the archetypical XYY male—or "supermale" as Telfer referred to XYY males outside of peer-reviewed scientific journals.


title: XYY syndrome

text: In April 1968, "The New York Times"—using Telfer as a main source—introduced the XYY genetic condition to the general public in a three-part series on consecutive days that began with a Sunday front-page story about the planned use of the condition as a mitigating factor in two murder trials in Paris and Melbourne—and falsely reported that Richard Speck was an XYY male and that the condition would be used in an appeal of his murder conviction. The series was echoed the following week by articles—again using Telfer as a main source—in "Time" and "Newsweek", and six months later in "The New York Times Magazine".


title: XYY syndrome

text: In December 1968, the "Journal of Medical Genetics" published the first XYY review article—by Michael Court Brown, director of the MRC Human Genetics Unit—which reported no overrepresentation of XYY males in nationwide chromosome surveys of prisons and hospitals for developmentally disabled and mentally ill people in Scotland, and concluded that studies confined to institutionalized XYY males may be guilty of selection bias, and that long-term longitudinal prospective studies of newborn XYY boys were needed.


title: XYY syndrome

text: In May 1969, at the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association, Telfer and her Elwyn Institute colleagues reported that case studies of the institutionalized XYY and XXY males they had found convinced them that XYY males had been falsely stigmatized and that their behavior may not be significantly different from chromosomally normal 46,XY males.


title: XYY syndrome

text: In June 1969, the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Center for Studies of Crime and Delinquency held a two-day XYY conference in Chevy Chase, Maryland. In December 1969, with a grant from the NIMH Center for Studies of Crime and Delinquency, cytogeneticist Digamber Borgaonkar at Johns Hopkins Hospital began a chromosome survey of (predominantly African-American) boys ages 8 to 18 in all Maryland institutions for delinquent, neglected, or mentally ill juveniles, which was suspended from February–May 1970 due to an American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) lawsuit about the lack of informed consent. Concurrently, through 1974, psychologist John Money at Johns Hopkins Hospital experimented on thirteen XYY boys and men (ages 15 to 37) in an unsuccessful attempt to treat their history of behavior problems by chemical castration using high-dose Depo-Provera—with side-effects of weight gain (avg. 26 lbs.) and suicide.


title: XYY syndrome

text: In the late 1960s and early 1970s, screening of consecutive newborns for sex chromosome abnormalities was undertaken at seven centers worldwide: in Denver (Jan 1964–1974), Edinburgh (Apr 1967–Jun 1979), New Haven (Oct 1967–Sep 1968), Toronto (Oct 1967–Sep 1971), Aarhus (Oct 1969–Jan 1974, Oct 1980–Jan 1989), Winnipeg (Feb 1970–Sep 1973), and Boston (Apr 1970–Nov 1974). The Boston study, led by Harvard Medical School child psychiatrist Stanley Walzer at Children's Hospital, was unique among the seven newborn screening studies in that it only screened newborn "boys" (non-private-ward newborn boys at the Boston Hospital for Women) and was funded in part by grants from the NIMH Center for Studies of Crime and Delinquency. The Edinburgh study was led by Shirley Ratcliffe who focused her career on it and published the results in 1999.


title: XYY syndrome

text: In December 1969, Lore Zech at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm first reported intense fluorescence of the A T-rich distal half of the long arm of the Y chromosome in the nuclei of metaphase cells treated with quinacrine mustard. In April 1970, Peter Pearson and Martin Bobrow at the MRC Population Genetics Unit in Oxford and Canino Vosa at the University of Oxford reported fluorescent "male" sex chromatin bodies in the nuclei of interphase cells in buccal smears treated with quinacrine dihydrochloride, which could be used to screen for Y chromosome aneuploidies like 47,XYY.


title: XYY syndrome

text: In June 1970, "The XYY Man" was published—the first of seven Kenneth Royce spy novels whose fictional tall, intelligent, nonviolent XYY hero was a reformed expert cat burglar recruited by British intelligence for dangerous assignments—and later adapted into a thirteen-episode British summer television series broadcast in 1976 and 1977. In other fictional television works, a January 1971 episode "By the Pricking of My Thumbs ..." of the British science fiction TV series "Doomwatch" featured an XYY boy expelled from school because his genetic condition led him to be falsely accused of nearly blinding another boy, a November 1993 episode "Born Bad" of the American police procedural TV series "Law & Order" portrayed a 14-year-old XYY sociopathic murderer, and the May 2007 season finale episode "Born To Kill" of the American police procedural TV series "" depicted a 34-year-old XYY serial killer. The false stereotype of XYY boys and men as violent criminals has also been used as a plot device in the horror films "Il gatto a nove code" in February 1971 (dubbed into English as "The Cat o' Nine Tails" in May 1971) and "Alien 3" in May 1992.


title: XYY syndrome

text: In December 1970, at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), its retiring president, geneticist H. Bentley Glass, cheered by the legalization of abortion in New York, envisioned a future where pregnant women would be required by the government to abort XYY "sex deviants". Mischaracterization of the XYY genetic condition was quickly incorporated into high school biology textbooks and medical school psychiatry textbooks, where misinformation still persists decades later.


title: XYY syndrome

text: In 1973, child psychiatrist Herbert Schreier at Children's Hospital told Harvard Medical School microbiologist Jon Beckwith of Science for the People that he thought Walzer's Boston XYY study was unethical; Science for the People investigated the study and filed a complaint with Harvard Medical School about the study in March 1974. In November 1974, Science for the People went public with their objections to the Boston XYY study in a press conference and a "New Scientist" article alleging inadequate informed consent, a lack of benefit (since no specific treatment was available) but substantial risk (by stigmatization with a false stereotype) to the subjects, and that the unblinded experimental design could not produce meaningful results regarding the subjects' behavior. In December 1974, the Harvard Standing Committee on Medical Research issued a report supporting the Boston XYY study and in March 1975, the faculty voted 199–35 to allow continuation of the study. After April 1975, screening of newborns was discontinued—changes to informed consent procedures and pressure from additional advocacy groups, including the Children's Defense Fund, having led to the discontinuation of the last active U.S. newborn screening programs for sex chromosome abnormalities in Boston and Denver.


title: XYY syndrome

text: In August 1976, "Science" published a retrospective cohort study by Educational Testing Service psychologist Herman Witkin and colleagues that screened the tallest 16% of men (over 184 cm (6'0") in height) born in Copenhagen from 1944 to 1947 for XXY and XYY karyotypes, and found an increased rate of minor criminal convictions for property crimes among sixteen XXY and twelve XYY men may be related to the lower intelligence of those with criminal convictions, but found no evidence that XXY or XYY men were inclined to be aggressive or violent.


title: XYY syndrome

text: The March of Dimes sponsored five international conferences in June 1974, November 1977, May 1981, June 1984, and June 1989 and published articles from the conferences in book form in 1979, 1982, 1986, and 1991 from seven longitudinal prospective cohort studies on the development of over 300 children and young adults with sex chromosome abnormalities identified in the screening of almost 200,000 consecutive births in hospitals in Denver, Edinburgh, New Haven, Toronto, Aarhus, Winnipeg, and Boston from 1964 to 1975. These seven studies—the only unbiased studies of unselected individuals with sex chromosome abnormalities—have replaced the older, biased studies of institutionalized individuals in understanding the development of individuals with sex chromosome abnormalities.


title: XYY syndrome

text: In May 1997, "Nature Genetics" published the discovery by Ercole Rao and colleagues of the X/Y chromosome pseudoautosomal region (PAR1) SHOX gene, haploinsufficiency of which leads to short stature in Turner syndrome (45,X). It was subsequently postulated that the increased gene dosage of three SHOX genes leads to tall stature in the sex chromosome trisomies 47,XXX, 47,XXY, and 47,XYY.


title: XYY syndrome

text: In July 1999, "Psychological Medicine" published a case-control study by Royal Edinburgh Hospital psychiatrist Michael Götz and colleagues that found an increased rate of criminal convictions among seventeen XYY men identified in the Edinburgh newborn screening study compared to an above-average-IQ control group of sixty XY men, which multiple logistic regression analysis indicated was mediated mainly through lowered intelligence.


title: XYY syndrome

text: In June 2002, the "American Journal of Medical Genetics" published results from a longitudinal prospective cohort Denver Family Development Study led by pediatrician and geneticist Arthur Robinson, which found that in fourteen prenatally diagnosed 47,XYY boys (from high socioeconomic status families), IQ scores available for six boys ranged from 100 to 147 with a mean of 120. For the eleven of fourteen boys with siblings, in nine instances their siblings were stronger academically, but in one case the subject was performing equal to, and in another case superior to, his siblings.


title: XYY syndrome

text: Some medical geneticists question whether the term "syndrome" is appropriate for this condition because many people with this karyotype appear normal.


title: Geography of the United States

text: The term 'United States', when used in the geographical sense, refers to the contiguous United States, the state of Alaska, the island state of Hawaii, the five insular territories of Puerto Rico, Northern Mariana Islands, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and American Samoa, and minor outlying possessions. The United States shares land borders with Canada and Mexico and maritime borders with Russia, Cuba, The Bahamas, and other countries, in addition to Canada and Mexico. The northern border of the United States with Canada is the world's longest bi-national land border.


title: Geography of the United States

text: From 1989 through 1996, the total area of the US was listed as (land + inland water only). The listed total area changed to in 1997 (Great Lakes area and coastal waters added), to in 2004, to in 2006, and to in 2007 (territorial waters added). Currently, the CIA "World Factbook" gives , the United Nations Statistics Division gives , and the "Encyclopedia Britannica" gives (Great Lakes area included but not coastal waters). These sources consider only the 50 states and the Federal District and exclude overseas territories. The US has the 2nd largest Exclusive Economic Zone of .


title: Geography of the United States

text: By total area (water as well as land), the United States is either slightly larger or smaller than the People's Republic of China, making it the world's third or fourth largest country. China and the United States are smaller than Russia and Canada in total area, but are larger than Brazil. By land area only (exclusive of waters), the United States is the world's third largest country, after Russia and China, with Canada in fourth.


title: Geography of the United States

text: Whether the US or China is the third largest country by total area depends on two factors: (1) The validity of China's claim on Aksai Chin and Trans-Karakoram Tract (both these territories are also claimed by India, so are not counted); and (2) How the US calculates its surface area. Since the initial publishing of the World Factbook, the CIA has updated the total area of the United States several times.


title: Geography of the United States

text: The United States shares land borders with Canada (to the north) and Mexico (to the south), and a territorial water border with Russia in the northwest, and two territorial water borders in the southeast between Florida and Cuba, and Florida and the Bahamas. The contiguous forty-eight states are otherwise bounded by the Pacific Ocean on the west, the Atlantic Ocean on the east, and the Gulf of Mexico to the southeast. Alaska borders the Pacific Ocean to the south and southwest, the Bering Strait to the west, and the Arctic Ocean to the north, while Hawaii lies far to the southwest of the mainland in the Pacific Ocean.


title: Geography of the United States

text: Forty-eight of the states are in the single region between Canada and Mexico; this group is referred to, with varying precision and formality, as the "contiguous United States", and as the "Lower 48". Alaska, which is included in the term "continental United States", is located at the northwestern end of North America.


title: Geography of the United States

text: The capital city, Washington, District of Columbia, is a federal district located on land donated by the state of Maryland. (Virginia had also donated land, but it was returned in 1849.) The United States also has overseas territories (Insular areas) with varying levels of autonomy and organization: in the Caribbean the territories of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands (formerly the Danish Virgin Islands, purchased by the US at the beginning of WW2), and in the Pacific the inhabited territories of American Samoa, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, along with a number of uninhabited island territories. Some of the territories acquired were a part of United States imperialism, or to gain access to the east.


title: Geography of the United States

text: Nearly all of the United States is in the northern hemisphere—the exceptions are American Samoa and Jarvis Island.


title: Geography of the United States

text: The eastern United States has a varied topography. A broad, flat coastal plain lines the Atlantic and Gulf shores from the Texas-Mexico border to New York City, and includes the Florida peninsula. This broad coastal plain and barrier islands make up the widest and longest beaches in the United States, much of it composed of soft, white sands. The Florida Keys are a string of coral islands that reach the southernmost city on the United States mainland (Key West). Areas further inland feature rolling hills, mountains, and a diverse collection of temperate and subtropical moist and wet forests. Parts of interior Florida and South Carolina are also home to sandhill communities. The Appalachian Mountains form a line of low mountains separating the eastern seaboard from the Great Lakes and the Mississippi Basin. New England features rocky seacoasts and rugged mountains with peaks up to 6200 feet and valleys dotted with rivers and streams. Offshore Islands dot the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. A recent global remote sensing analysis suggested that there were 6,622 km² of tidal flats in the United States, making it the 4th ranked country in terms of tidal flat area.


title: Geography of the United States

text: The five Great Lakes are located in the north-central portion of the country, four of them forming part of the border with Canada; only Lake Michigan is situated entirely within United States. The southeast United States, generally stretching from the Ohio River southwards, includes a variety of warm temperate and subtropical moist and wet forests, as well as warm temperate and subtropical dry forests nearer the Great Plains in the west of the region. West of the Appalachians lies the lush Mississippi River basin and two large eastern tributaries, the Ohio River and the Tennessee River. The Ohio and Tennessee Valleys and the Midwest consist largely of rolling hills, interior highlands and small mountains, jungly marsh and swampland near the Ohio River, and productive farmland, stretching south to the Gulf Coast. The Midwest also has a vast amount of cave systems.


title: Geography of the United States

text: The Great Plains lie west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains. A large portion of the country's agricultural products are grown in the Great Plains. Before their general conversion to farmland, the Great Plains were noted for their extensive grasslands, from tallgrass prairie in the eastern plains to shortgrass steppe in the western High Plains. Elevation rises gradually from less than a few hundred feet near the Mississippi River to more than a mile high in the High Plains. The generally low relief of the plains is broken in several places, most notably in the Ozark and Ouachita Mountains, which form the U.S. Interior Highlands, the only major mountainous region between the Rocky Mountains and the Appalachian Mountains.


title: Geography of the United States

text: The Great Plains come to an abrupt end at the Rocky Mountains. The Rocky Mountains form a large portion of the Western U.S., entering from Canada and stretching nearly to Mexico. The Rocky Mountain region is the highest region of the United States by average elevation. The Rocky Mountains generally contain fairly mild slopes and wider peaks compared to some of the other great mountain ranges, with a few exceptions (such as the Teton Mountains in Wyoming and the Sawatch Range in Colorado). The highest peaks of the Rockies are found in Colorado, the tallest peak being Mount Elbert at . In addition, instead of being one generally continuous and solid mountain range, it is broken up into a number of smaller, intermittent mountain ranges, forming a large series of basins and valleys.


title: Geography of the United States

text: West of the Rocky Mountains lies the Intermontane Plateaus (also known as the Intermountain West), a large, arid desert lying between the Rockies and the Cascades and Sierra Nevada ranges. The large southern portion, known as the Great Basin, consists of salt flats, drainage basins, and many small north–south mountain ranges. The Southwest is predominantly a low-lying desert region. A portion known as the Colorado Plateau, centered around the Four Corners region, is considered to have some of the most spectacular scenery in the world. It is accentuated in such national parks as Grand Canyon, Arches, Mesa Verde and Bryce Canyon, among others. Other smaller Intermontane areas include the Columbia Plateau covering eastern Washington, western Idaho and northeast Oregon and the Snake River Plain in Southern Idaho.


title: Geography of the United States

text: The Intermontane Plateaus come to an end at the Cascade Range and the Sierra Nevada. The Cascades consist of largely intermittent, volcanic mountains, many rising prominently from the surrounding landscape. The Sierra Nevada, further south, is a high, rugged, and dense mountain range. It contains the highest point in the contiguous 48 states, Mount Whitney (). It is located at the boundary between California's Inyo and Tulare counties, just west-northwest of the lowest point in North America at the Badwater Basin in Death Valley National Park at below sea level.


title: Geography of the United States

text: These areas contain some spectacular scenery as well, as evidenced by such national parks as Yosemite and Mount Rainier. West of the Cascades and Sierra Nevada is a series of valleys, such as the Central Valley in California and the Willamette Valley in Oregon. Along the coast is a series of low mountain ranges known as the Pacific Coast Ranges.


title: Geography of the United States

text: Alaska contains some of the most dramatic scenery in the country. Tall, prominent mountain ranges rise up sharply from broad, flat tundra plains. On the islands off the south and southwest coast are many volcanoes. Hawaii, far to the south of Alaska in the Pacific Ocean, is a chain of tropical, volcanic islands, popular as a tourist destination for many from East Asia and the mainland United States.


title: Geography of the United States

text: The territories of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands encompass a number of tropical isles in the northeastern Caribbean Sea. In the Pacific Ocean the territories of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands occupy the limestone and volcanic isles of the Mariana archipelago, and American Samoa (the only populated US territory in the southern hemisphere) encompasses volcanic peaks and coral atolls in the eastern part of the Samoan Islands chain.


title: Geography of the United States

text: The geography of the United States varies across its immense area. Within the continental U.S., eight distinct physiographic divisions exist, though each is composed of several smaller physiographic subdivisions. These major divisions are:


title: Geography of the United States

text: The Atlantic coast of the United States is low, with minor exceptions. The Appalachian Highland owes its oblique northeast–southwest trend to crustal deformations which in very early geological time gave a beginning to what later came to be the Appalachian mountain system. This system had its climax of deformation so long ago (probably in Permian time) that it has since then been very generally reduced to moderate or low relief. It owes its present-day altitude either to renewed elevations along the earlier lines or to the survival of the most resistant rocks as residual mountains. The oblique trend of this coast would be even more pronounced but for a comparatively modern crustal movement, causing a depression in the northeast resulting in an encroachment of the sea upon the land. Additionally, the southeastern section has undergone an elevation resulting in the advance of the land upon the sea.


title: Geography of the United States

text: While the Atlantic coast is relatively low, the Pacific coast is, with few exceptions, hilly or mountainous. This coast has been defined chiefly by geologically recent crustal deformations, and hence still preserves a greater relief than that of the Atlantic. The low Atlantic coast and the hilly or mountainous Pacific coast foreshadow the leading features in the distribution of mountains within the United States.


title: Geography of the United States

text: The east coast Appalachian system, originally forest covered, is relatively low and narrow and is bordered on the southeast and south by an important coastal plain. The Cordilleran system on the western side of the continent is lofty, broad and complicated having two branches, the Rocky Mountain System and the Pacific Mountain System. In between these mountain systems lie the Intermontane Plateaus. Both the Columbia River and Colorado River rise far inland near the easternmost members of the Cordilleran system, and flow through plateaus and intermontane basins to the ocean. Heavy forests cover the northwest coast, but elsewhere trees are found only on the higher ranges below the Alpine region. The intermontane valleys, plateaus and basins range from treeless to desert with the most arid region being in the southwest.


title: Geography of the United States

text: The Laurentian Highlands, the Interior Plains and the Interior Highlands lie between the two coasts, stretching from the Gulf of Mexico northward, far beyond the national boundary, to the Arctic Ocean. The central plains are divided by a hardly perceptible height of land into a Canadian and a United States portion. It is from the United States side, that the great Mississippi system discharges southward to the Gulf of Mexico. The upper Mississippi and some of the Ohio basin is the semi-arid prairie region, with trees originally only along the watercourses. The uplands towards the Appalachians were included in the great eastern forested area, while the western part of the plains has an arid climate supporting only scanty native plant life, and in the south it is practically barren.


title: Geography of the United States

text: Due to its large size and wide range of geographic features, the United States contains examples of nearly every global climate. The climate is subtropical in the Southern United States, continental in the north, tropical in Hawaii and southern Florida, polar in Alaska, semiarid in the Great Plains west of the 100th meridian, Mediterranean in coastal California and arid in the Great Basin and the Southwest. Its comparatively favorable agricultural climate contributed (in part) to the country's rise as a world power, with infrequent severe drought in the major agricultural regions, a general lack of widespread flooding, and a mainly temperate climate that receives adequate precipitation.


title: Geography of the United States

text: The main influence on U.S. weather is the polar jet stream which migrates northward into Canada in the summer months, and then southward into the US in the winter months. The jet stream brings in large low pressure systems from the northern Pacific Ocean that enter the US mainland over the Pacific Northwest. The Cascade Range, Sierra Nevada, and Rocky Mountains pick up most of the moisture from these systems as they move eastward. Greatly diminished by the time they reach the High Plains, much of the moisture has been sapped by the orographic effect as it is forced over several mountain ranges.


title: Geography of the United States

text: Once it moves over the Great Plains, uninterrupted flat land allows it to reorganize and can lead to major clashes of air masses. In addition, moisture from the Gulf of Mexico is often drawn northward. When combined with a powerful jet stream, this can lead to violent thunderstorms, especially during spring and summer. Sometimes during winter these storms can combine with another low pressure system as they move up the East Coast and into the Atlantic Ocean, where they intensify rapidly.


title: Geography of the United States

text: These storms are known as Nor'easters and often bring widespread, heavy rain, wind, and snowfall to New England. The uninterrupted grasslands of the Great Plains also lead to some of the most extreme climate swings in the world. Temperatures can rise or drop rapidly and winds can be extreme, and the flow of heat waves or Arctic air masses often advance uninterrupted through the plains.


title: Geography of the United States

text: The Great Basin and Columbia Plateau (the Intermontane Plateaus) are arid or semiarid regions that lie in the rain shadow of the Cascades and Sierra Nevada. Precipitation averages less than . The Southwest is a hot desert, with temperatures exceeding for several weeks at a time in summer. The Southwest and the Great Basin are also affected by the monsoon from the Gulf of California from July to September, which brings localized but often severe thunderstorms to the region.


title: Geography of the United States

text: Much of California consists of a Mediterranean climate, with sometimes excessive rainfall from October–April and nearly no rain the rest of the year. In the Pacific Northwest rain falls year-round, but is much heavier during winter and spring. The mountains of the west receive abundant precipitation and very heavy snowfall. The Cascades are one of the snowiest places in the world, with some places averaging over of snow annually, but the lower elevations closer to the coast receive very little snow.


title: Geography of the United States

text: Florida has a subtropical climate in the northern part of the state and a tropical climate in the southern part of the state. Summers are wet and winters are dry in Florida. Annually much of Florida, as well as the deep southern states, are frost-free. The mild winters of Florida allow a massive tropical fruit industry to thrive in the central part of the state, making the US second to only Brazil in citrus production in the world.


title: Geography of the United States

text: Another significant (but localized) weather effect is lake-effect snow that falls south and east of the Great Lakes, especially in the hilly portions of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and on the Tug Hill Plateau in New York. The lake effect dumped well over of snow in the area of Buffalo, New York throughout the 2006–2007 winter. The Wasatch Front and Wasatch Range in Utah can also receive significant lake effect accumulations from the Great Salt Lake.


title: Geography of the United States

text: In northern Alaska, tundra and arctic conditions predominate, where the temperature has fallen as low as . On the other end of the spectrum, Death Valley, California once reached , the highest temperature ever recorded on Earth.


title: Geography of the United States

text: On average, the mountains of the western states receive the highest levels of snowfall on Earth. The greatest annual snowfall level is at Mount Rainier in Washington, at ; the record there was in the winter of 1971–72. This record was broken by the Mt. Baker Ski Area in northwestern Washington which reported of snowfall for the 1998–99 snowfall season. Other places with significant snowfall outside the Cascade Range are the Wasatch Mountains in Utah, the San Juan Mountains in Colorado, and the Sierra Nevada in California.


title: Geography of the United States

text: In the east, the region near the Great Lakes and the mountains of the Northeast receive the most snowfall, although such snowfall levels do not near snowfall levels in the western United States. Along the northwestern Pacific coast, rainfall is greater than anywhere else in the continental U.S., with Quinault Rainforest in Washington having an average of . Hawaii receives even more, with measured annually in the Big Bog, in Maui. Pago Pago Harbor in American Samoa is the rainiest harbor in the world (because of the 523 meter Rainmaker Mountain). The Mojave Desert, in the southwest, is home to the driest locale in the U.S. Yuma, Arizona, has an average of of precipitation each year.


title: Geography of the United States

text: In central portions of the U.S., tornadoes are more common than anywhere else on Earth and touch down most commonly in the spring and summer. Deadly and destructive hurricanes occur almost every year along the Atlantic seaboard and the Gulf of Mexico. The Appalachian region and the Midwest experience the worst floods, though virtually no area in the U.S. is immune to flooding. The Southwest has the worst droughts; one is thought to have lasted over 500 years and to have hurt Ancestral Pueblo peoples. The West is affected by large wildfires each year.


title: Geography of the United States

text: The United States is affected by a variety of natural disasters yearly. Although drought is rare, it has occasionally caused major disruption, such as during the Dust Bowl (1931–1942). Farmland failed throughout the Plains, entire regions were substantially depopulated, and dust storms ravaged the land.


title: Geography of the United States

text: The Great Plains and Midwest, due to the contrasting air masses, see frequent severe thunderstorms and tornado outbreaks during spring and summer with around 1,000 tornadoes occurring each year. The strip of land from north Texas north to Kansas and Nebraska and east into Tennessee is known as Tornado Alley, where many houses have tornado shelters and many towns have tornado sirens due to the very frequent tornado formations in the region.


title: Geography of the United States

text: Hurricanes are another natural disaster found in the US, which can hit anywhere along the Gulf Coast or the Atlantic Coast as well as Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean. Particularly at risk are the central and southern Texas coasts, the area from southeastern Louisiana east to the Florida Panhandle, peninsular Florida, and the Outer Banks of North Carolina, although any portion of the coast could be struck. The U.S. territories and possessions in the Caribbean, such as Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, are also vulnerable to hurricanes due to their location in the Caribbean Sea.


title: Geography of the United States

text: Hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30, with a peak from mid-August through early October. Some of the more devastating hurricanes have included the Galveston Hurricane of 1900, Hurricane Andrew in 1992, Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Maria in 2017.


title: Geography of the United States

text: Hurricanes (known as cyclones in the Pacific Ocean) fail to landfall on the Pacific Coast of the United States due to water temperatures being too cool to sustain them. However, the remnants of tropical cyclones from the Eastern Pacific occasionally impact the western United States, bringing moderate to heavy rainfall.


title: Geography of the United States

text: Occasional severe flooding is experienced. There was the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, the Great Flood of 1993, and widespread flooding and mudslides caused by the 1982–83 El Niño event in the western United States. Flooding is still prevalent, mostly on the Eastern Coast, during hurricanes or other inclement weather, for example in 2012, when Hurricane Sandy devastated the region. Localized flooding can, however, occur anywhere, and mudslides from heavy rain can cause problems in any mountainous area, particularly the Southwest. Large stretches of desert shrub in the west can fuel the spread of wildfires. The narrow canyons of many mountain areas in the west and severe thunderstorm activity during the summer lead to sometimes devastating flash floods as well, while nor'easter snowstorms can bring activity to a halt throughout the Northeast (although heavy snowstorms can occur almost anywhere).


title: Geography of the United States

text: The West Coast of the continental United States makes up part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, an area of heavy tectonic and volcanic activity that is the source of 90% of the world's earthquakes. The American Northwest sees the highest concentration of active volcanoes in the United States, in Washington, Oregon and northern California along the Cascade Mountains. There are several active volcanoes located in the islands of Hawaii, including Kilauea in ongoing eruption since 1983, but they do not typically adversely affect the inhabitants of the islands. There has not been a major life-threatening eruption on the Hawaiian islands since the 17th century. Volcanic eruptions can occasionally be devastating, such as in the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens in Washington.


title: Geography of the United States

text: The Ring of Fire makes California and southern Alaska particularly vulnerable to earthquakes. Earthquakes can cause extensive damage, such as the 1906 San Francisco earthquake or the 1964 Good Friday earthquake near Anchorage, Alaska. California is well known for seismic activity, and requires large structures to be earthquake resistant to minimize loss of life and property. Outside of devastating earthquakes, California experiences minor earthquakes on a regular basis.


title: Geography of the United States

text: There have been about 100 significant earthquakes annually from 2010 to 2012. Past averages were 21 a year. This is believed to be due to the deep disposal of wastewater from fracking. None has exceeded a magnitude of 5.6, and no one has been killed.


title: Geography of the United States

text: Other natural disasters include: tsunamis around Pacific Basin, mud slides in California, and forest fires in the western half of the contiguous U.S. Although drought is relatively rare, it has occasionally caused major economic and social disruption, such as during the Dust Bowl (1931–1942), which resulted in widespread crop failures and dust storms, beginning in the southern Great Plains and reaching to the Atlantic Ocean.


title: Geography of the United States

text: The United States holds many areas for the use and enjoyment of the public. These include national parks, national monuments, national forests, wilderness areas, and other areas. For lists of areas, see the following articles:


title: Geography of the United States

text: In terms of human geography, the United States is inhabited by a diverse set of ethnicities and cultures.


title: The Seven Basic Plots

text: The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories is a 2004 book by Christopher Booker containing a Jung-influenced analysis of stories and their psychological meaning. Booker worked on the book for thirty-four years.


title: The Seven Basic Plots

text: The meta-plot begins with the "anticipation stage", in which the hero is called to the adventure to come. This is followed by a "dream stage", in which the adventure begins, the hero has some success, and has an illusion of invincibility. However, this is then followed by a "frustration stage", in which the hero has his first confrontation with the enemy, and the illusion of invincibility is lost. This worsens in the "nightmare stage", which is the climax of the plot, where hope is apparently lost. Finally, in the "resolution", the hero overcomes his burden against the odds.


title: The Seven Basic Plots

text: The key thesis of the book: "However many characters may appear in a story, its real concern is with just one: its hero. It is the one whose fate we identify with, as we see them gradually developing towards that state of self-realization which marks the end of the story. Ultimately it is in relation to this central figure that all other characters in a story take on their significance. What each of the other characters represents is really only some aspect of the inner state of the hero himself."


title: The Seven Basic Plots

text: Definition: The protagonist sets out to defeat an antagonistic force (often evil) that threatens the protagonist and/or protagonist's homeland.


title: The Seven Basic Plots

text: Examples: Perseus, Theseus, "Beowulf", "Dracula", "The War of the Worlds", "Nicholas Nickleby", "The Guns of Navarone", "Seven Samurai" ("The Magnificent Seven"), James Bond, "Jaws", "", "Naruto".


title: The Seven Basic Plots

text: Definition: The poor protagonist acquires power, wealth, and/or a mate, loses it all and gains it back, growing as a person as a result.


title: The Seven Basic Plots

text: Examples: "Cinderella", "Aladdin", "Jane Eyre", "A Little Princess", "Great Expectations", "David Copperfield", "Moll Flanders", "The Red and the Black", "The Prince and the Pauper", "The Ugly Duckling", "The Gold Rush", "The Jerk".


title: The Seven Basic Plots

text: Definition: The protagonist and companions set out to acquire an important object or to get to a location. They face temptations and other obstacles along the way.


title: The Seven Basic Plots

text: Examples: "The Iliad", "The Pilgrim's Progress", "The Lord of the Rings", "King Solomon's Mines", "The Divine Comedy", "Watership Down", "The Aeneid", "Raiders of the Lost Ark", "Monty Python and the Holy Grail".


title: The Seven Basic Plots

text: Definition: The protagonist goes to a strange land and, after overcoming the threats it poses or learning important lessons unique to that location, they return with experience.


title: The Seven Basic Plots

text: Examples: "Ramayana", "Odyssey", "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland", "Goldilocks and the Three Bears", Orpheus, "The Time Machine", "Peter Rabbit", "The Hobbit", "Brideshead Revisited", "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner", "Gone with the Wind", "The Third Man", "The Lion King", "Back to the Future", "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe", "Gulliver's Travels", "Peter Pan", "The Epic of Gilgamesh".


title: The Seven Basic Plots

text: Definition: Light and humorous character with a happy or cheerful ending; a dramatic work in which the central motif is the triumph over adverse circumstance, resulting in a successful or happy conclusion.


title: The Seven Basic Plots

text: Booker stresses that comedy is more than humor. It refers to a pattern where the conflict becomes more and more confusing, but is at last made plain in a single clarifying event. The majority of romance films fall into this category.


title: The Seven Basic Plots

text: Examples: "The Wasps", "Aurularia", "The Arbitration", "A Midsummer Night's Dream", "Much Ado About Nothing", "Twelfth Night", "The Taming of the Shrew", "The Alchemist", "Bridget Jones's Diary", "Four Weddings and a Funeral", "The Big Lebowski".


title: The Seven Basic Plots

text: Definition: The protagonist is a hero with a major character flaw or great mistake which is ultimately their undoing. Their unfortunate end evokes pity at their folly and the fall of a fundamentally good character.


title: The Seven Basic Plots

text: Examples: "Anna Karenina", "Bonnie and Clyde", "Carmen", "Citizen Kane", "John Dillinger", "Jules et Jim", "Julius Caesar", "Macbeth", "Madame Bovary", "Oedipus Rex", "The Picture of Dorian Gray", "Romeo and Juliet", "Hamilton", "The Great Gatsby", "Hamlet".


title: The Seven Basic Plots

text: Definition: An event forces the main character to change their ways and often become a better individual.


title: The Seven Basic Plots

text: Examples: "Pride and Prejudice", "The Frog Prince", "Beauty and the Beast", "The Snow Queen", "A Christmas Carol", "The Secret Garden", "Peer Gynt", "Groundhog Day".


title: The Seven Basic Plots

text: The third event in a series of events becomes "the final trigger for something important to happen." This pattern appears in childhood stories, like "Goldilocks and the Three Bears", "Cinderella", and "Little Red Riding Hood".


title: The Seven Basic Plots

text: In adult stories, the Rule of Three conveys the gradual resolution of a process that leads to transformation. This transformation can be downwards as well as upwards.


title: The Seven Basic Plots

text: Some have celebrated the book's audacity and breadth; for example, the author and essayist Fay Weldon wrote the following: "This is the most extraordinary, exhilarating book. It always seemed to me that 'the story' was God's way of giving meaning to crude creation. Booker now interprets the mind of God, and analyzes not just the novel – which will never to me be quite the same again – but puts the narrative of contemporary human affairs into a new perspective. If it took its author a lifetime to write, one can only feel gratitude that he did it." Beryl Bainbridge, Richard Adams, Ronald Harwood, and John Bayley also spoke positively of the work, while philosopher Roger Scruton described it as a "brilliant summary of story-telling".


title: The Seven Basic Plots

text: Others have dismissed the book on grounds that Booker is too rigid in fitting works of art to the plot types above. For example, novelist and literary critic Adam Mars-Jones wrote, "[Booker] sets up criteria for art, and ends up condemning "Rigoletto", "The Cherry Orchard", Wagner, Proust, Joyce, Kafka and Lawrence—the list goes on—while praising "Crocodile Dundee", "E.T." and "Terminator 2"". Similarly, Michiko Kakutani in "The New York Times" writes, "Mr. Booker evaluates works of art on the basis of how closely they adhere to the archetypes he has so laboriously described; the ones that deviate from those classic patterns are dismissed as flawed or perverse – symptoms of what has gone wrong with modern art and the modern world."


title: The Thomas Crown Affair (1999 film)

text: The Thomas Crown Affair is a 1999 American romantic heist film directed by John McTiernan, written by Leslie Dixon and Kurt Wimmer and is a remake of the 1968 film of the same name. Its story follows Thomas Crown, a billionaire who steals a painting from an art gallery and is pursued by an insurance investigator with the two falling in love. It stars Pierce Brosnan, Rene Russo, and Denis Leary.


title: The Thomas Crown Affair (1999 film)

text: The film was produced by United Artists and Irish DreamTime and was released on August 6, 1999. It grossed $14.6 million during its opening weekend and $124.3 million worldwide, against a budget of $48 million. It received generally positive reviews from critics.


title: The Thomas Crown Affair (1999 film)

text: Thieves infiltrate the Metropolitan Museum of Art inside an actual Trojan horse, preparing to steal an entire gallery of paintings, but are apprehended. In the confusion, billionaire Thomas Crown – the crime's secret mastermind – steals Monet's painting of "San Giorgio Maggiore at Dusk". NYPD Detective Michael McCann heads the investigation into the theft of the $100 million artwork, with the unwelcome assistance of insurance investigator Catherine Banning.


title: The Thomas Crown Affair (1999 film)

text: Crown lends a Pissarro to fill the Monet's space in the museum and falls under Banning's suspicion. She persuades McCann to begin surveillance of Crown, deducing that the wealthy playboy is motivated not by money but the sheer thrill of the crime. Banning accepts Crown's invitation to dinner. Before the date, Crown's therapist correctly speculates that he has found "a worthy adversary" in Banning.


title: The Thomas Crown Affair (1999 film)

text: At dinner, Banning has a copy of Crown's keys made; she and her team search his home and discover the Monet, which is revealed to be a taunting imitation painted over a copy of "Poker Sympathy" from the "Dogs Playing Poker" series. Banning confronts Crown and the two give in to their mutual attraction, spending a passionate night together.


title: The Thomas Crown Affair (1999 film)

text: Banning and Crown continue their cat-and-mouse game and their trysts, despite McCann's surveillance. Accompanying Crown on a trip to Martinique, Banning realizes he is preparing to run but rejects his offer to join him when the time comes. McCann presents Banning with photographs of Crown with another woman, Anna, complicating her feelings toward the case and her prime suspect. Banning and McCann discover that the fake Monet is in fact an expert forgery that could only have been painted by someone with access to the original; they visit the likeliest forger, Heinrich Knutzhorn, in prison, to no avail, although his body language suggests to them that he recognizes the work.


title: The Thomas Crown Affair (1999 film)

text: Later, Banning finds Crown packing his belongings with Anna. He promises Banning his interest lies with her alone, stating that Anna works for him but he would be compromising her to define the nature of their association. Crown offers to return the Monet by putting it back on the wall of the museum, and gives Banning a time and place to meet him when he's finished. Tearfully, Banning leaves and informs McCann.


title: The Thomas Crown Affair (1999 film)

text: The following day, the police stake out the museum, waiting to arrest Crown. Banning learns from McCann that the fake Monet was painted by Anna; the imprisoned forger Knutzhorn is her father, a former business partner of Crown, who became her guardian. Crown arrives and advertises his position in the lobby. The police soon realize that Crown expected Banning to turn him in and that he has set up another plot. Before the police can apprehend him, Crown quickly blends into the crowd, aided by lookalikes in bowler hats à la Magritte's "The Son of Man". Evading the officers, Crown releases smoke bombs and pulls a fire alarm, setting off the museum's fire sprinklers. His donated Pissarro, hanging in the Monet's place, is washed clean by the sprinklers to reveal the real Monet.


title: The Thomas Crown Affair (1999 film)

text: Crown's game is made clear: upon stealing the Monet, Crown had Anna forge the Pissarro over it and "returned" it to the museum. However, Crown has now vanished with another painting--one that Banning had told him she would have selected over the Monet. With the Monet recovered, Banning considers her role in the case concluded; the second missing painting is not covered by her employer. McCann briefly stops Banning to press her for anything she might know, but admits he has since stopped caring whether or not they catch Crown and bids her farewell. Banning then races to meet Crown at the rendezvous, but finds only a bowler-hatted courier who delivers to her the newly-stolen painting. Devastated, Banning has the painting sent to McCann and boards a flight back to London. In her seat after takeoff, she begins to cry when a hand from the row behind extends to her a handkerchief and offers her comfort. Recognizing the passenger's thinly-disguised voice, she turns to find Crown sitting behind her, and the two are passionately reunited.


title: The Thomas Crown Affair (1999 film)

text: Dunaway played the Catherine Banning role in the 1968 original. However, the character's name was Vicki Anderson.


title: The Thomas Crown Affair (1999 film)

text: At first, director John McTiernan was unavailable for the project. Pierce Brosnan and his fellow producers considered several directors (including Mike Newell, Andrew Davis, Roger Donaldson) before returning to their original choice. McTiernan then received the script and added his own ideas to the production.


title: The Thomas Crown Affair (1999 film)

text: After McTiernan signed on to the project, he changed the theme of the central heist and a number of key scenes. McTiernan felt that contemporary audiences would be less forgiving of Thomas Crown if he staged two armed bank robberies for fun as McQueen did in the original, rather than if he staged an unarmed art heist. He wrote the heist based on the Trojan horse theme and on a technical failure of thermal cameras. McTiernan also deemed a polo match that was used in the original and had been rewritten into the new script to be clichéd, and he wanted a scene that conveyed more action and excitement, not just wealth. He substituted a catamaran race, in which Brosnan performed his own stunts.


title: The Thomas Crown Affair (1999 film)

text: There are a number of echo references to the original 1968 version of the film. The most obvious is the casting of Faye Dunaway as Crown's psychiatrist; Dunaway portrayed insurance investigator Vicki Anderson in the original. In the remake, "The Windmills of Your Mind" plays during the ballroom scene, as background music in a couple of other scenes, and during the credits at the end; the song earned an Oscar for the original film. Both films share a nearly identical scene with Crown playing high-stakes golf, and in both films Crown pilots a glider for recreation.


title: The Thomas Crown Affair (1999 film)

text: Filming took place in several parts of New York City, including Central Park. The corporate headquarters of Lucent Technologies stood in for Crown's suite of offices. Due to the impossibility of filming scenes at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (the producers' request was "respectfully declined"), the production crew made their own museum on a soundstage. Artisans were hired to create a realistic look to the set. Another scene was filmed in a different city landmark: the main research library of the New York Public Library.


title: The Thomas Crown Affair (1999 film)

text: The glider scenes were shot at Ridge Soaring Gliderport and Eagle Field in Pennsylvania and at Corning-Painted Post Airport in New York. The two glider aero-tow shots were taken from film shot at different airports with different tow planes. The initial takeoff was photographed at the Harris Hill Soaring Center located at the National Soaring Museum in Elmira, NY. The glider pilot was Thomas L. Knauff, a world record holder, and a member of the US Soaring Hall of Fame.


title: The Thomas Crown Affair (1999 film)

text: A number of McTiernan's vehicles then appear in the next sequence, as well as his farm. The tractor in the background after the glider lands belongs to McTiernan, while the dark green Shelby Mustang that Crown drives on Martinique was originally intended to be used for Arnold Schwarzenegger's character in 1993's "Last Action Hero," and was retrieved from the director's garage for this film. The six-wheeled Jeep was built specifically for the film. The house used as Crown's Caribbean getaway is owned by one of the 30 original families who settled in Martinique in the 17th century. The scenes around it, like the beach, are a montage of various other parts of Martinique, including St Pierre and the Lamentin airport.


title: The Thomas Crown Affair (1999 film)

text: The paintings, copies of which were supplied by "Troubetzkoy Paintings" in New York, appearing in the film are:


title: The Thomas Crown Affair (1999 film)

text: The soundtrack was composed by Bill Conti and arranged by Jack Eskew. It features a variety of jazz arrangements which harken back to the original film's version. In addition, the film ends with a reprise of the Academy Award-winning song "Windmills of Your Mind" sung by Sting. Throughout the film, Nina Simone's recording of "Sinnerman" (from the album "Pastel Blues", 1965) is used in segments. Mostly the non-vocal parts are used (hand-clapping and piano riffs), but in the final scenes, where Crown returns to the scene of the crime, Simone sings ""Oh sinnerman, where are you gonna run to?""


title: The Thomas Crown Affair (1999 film)

text: "The Thomas Crown Affair" premiered on July 27, 1999, and was theatrically released in the United States on August 6, 1999, by United Artists and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.


title: The Thomas Crown Affair (1999 film)

text: "The Thomas Crown Affair" was released on DVD in the LaserDisc format on January 4, 2000, in the United States by MGM Home Entertainment. The DVD includes comments from director John McTiernan. When the film was broadcast on TBS, the Pepsi One logo on the can, from which Banning drinks, had to be deleted.


title: The Thomas Crown Affair (1999 film)

text: "The Thomas Crown Affair" grossed $69,305,181 at the United States box office and a further $55,000,000 in other territories, totaling $124,305,181 worldwide against a budget of $48 million.


title: The Thomas Crown Affair (1999 film)

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 70% based on 102 reviews, with an average rating of 6.4/10. The site's consensus states: "Sleek, stylish, and painlessly diverting, "The Thomas Crown Affair" is a remake of uncommon charm." On Metacritic the film has a score of 72% based on reviews from 23 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".