title: Pike County shootings

text: On November 14, Pike County Sheriff Charles Reader issued a statement urging people with knowledge of the killings to come forward. He followed up with a second statement threatening to arrest anyone who may be obstructing the investigation, including relatives, family friends, and neighbors. Reacting to the second statement, Dana Rhoden's father, Leonard Manley, said that he "held nothing back" during the investigation. Following his reelection to the position of sheriff, Reader reiterated this belief and added that people may be scared of providing information.


title: Pike County shootings

text: On January 20, 2017, DeWine, on behalf of the Ohio Victims of Crime Compensation Program, denied a request by family member David Weisel to recover lost compensation related to the massacre.


title: Pike County shootings

text: On May 12, 2017, a SWAT team from the Franklin County Sheriff's Office raided a Pike County home approximately 10 miles from the site of the murders. Police originally stated they were searching for suspects in the murders; however, it was later clarified they were looking for evidence in the case and not suspects. Police also searched an Adams County property once owned and recently sold by Edward "Jake" Wagner, an ex-boyfriend of victim Hanna Rhoden and father of her 3-year-old daughter, but not the father of her 4-day-old daughter who was unharmed during the killings. Rhoden was only 13 years old when their sexual relationship began.


title: Pike County shootings

text: On June 20, 2017, Ohio police announced that they were seeking additional information on Jake Wagner, as well as his parents Billy and Angela and brother George. The family was living in Alaska at that time and police wanted to learn of interactions that members of the public had with the family, specifically conversations pertaining to vehicles, firearms and ammunition.


title: Pike County shootings

text: On November 13, 2018, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine announced that George "Billy" Wagner and Angela Wagner and their sons, Edward ("Jake") and George, had been arrested and charged with planning and carrying out the murders. The suspects were all members of the Wagner-Newcomb family from South Webster:


title: Pike County shootings

text: Also arrested were the mother of Angela Wagner, Rita Newcomb, 65, of South Webster, and Fredericka Wagner, the mother of Billy Wagner. They were charged with perjury and obstructing justice for allegedly misleading investigators; Newcomb also was charged with forging custody documents to cover up the crimes. Charges against Fredericka Wagner were dismissed.


title: MG 08

text: The "Maschinengewehr" 08, or MG 08, was the German Army's standard machine gun in World War I and is an adaptation of Hiram S. Maxim's original 1884 Maxim gun. It was produced in a number of variants during the war. The MG 08 served during World War II as a heavy machine gun in many German infantry divisions, although by the end of the war it had mostly been relegated to second-rate fortress units.


title: MG 08

text: The "Maschinengewehr" 08 (or MG 08)—so-named after 1908, its year of adoption—was a development of the license made "Maschinengewehr" 01. The firing rate depends on the lock assembly used and averages 500 rounds per minute for the Schloss 08 and 600 rounds per minute for the Schloss 16. The gun used 250-round fabric belts of 7.92×57mm ammunition. It was water-cooled, using a jacket around the barrel that held approximately of water. Using a separate attachment sight with range calculator for indirect fire, the MG 08 could be operated from cover. Additional telescopic sights were also developed and used in quantity during the war.


title: MG 08

text: The MG 08, like the Maxim gun, operated on the basis of short barrel recoil and a toggle lock. Once cocked and fired the MG 08 would continue firing rounds until the trigger was released or until all available ammunition was expended. Its practical range was estimated at some up to an extreme range of when firing the "S Patrone". The MG 08 was mounted on a sled mount ("") that was ferried between locations either on carts or else carried above men's shoulders in the manner of a stretcher.


title: MG 08

text: Pre-war production was by "Deutsche Waffen und Munitionsfabriken" (DWM) in Berlin and by the government Spandau arsenal (so the gun was often referred to as the "Spandau MG 08"). When the war began in August 1914, 4,411 MG 08s were available to battlefield units. Production at numerous factories was markedly ramped up during wartime. In 1914, some 200 MG 08s were produced each month, by 1916—once the weapon had established itself as the pre-eminent defensive battlefield weapon—the number had increased to 3,000; and in 1917 to 14,400 per month.


title: MG 08

text: The German Rifle Commission began firing tests of the Maxim gun at Zorndorf in 1889. In 1892, Ludwig Loewe's company signed a seven-year contract with Hiram Maxim for production of the gun in Berlin. The Imperial German Navy ordered Maxim guns from Loewe in 1894. The Navy deployed them on the decks of ships and for use in amphibious warfare. In 1896, Loewe founded a new subsidiary, the "Deutsche Waffen- und Munitionsfabriken" (DWM), to handle production. The agreement with Maxim concluded in 1898 and DWM received orders from Austria-Hungary, Argentina, Switzerland and Russia.


title: MG 08

text: The Imperial German Army first considered using the Maxim gun as an artillery weapon The German light infantry "Jäger" troops began trials of the gun in 1898. The Guards Corps, XVI Corps and XVI Corps made more experiments in 1899. The tests produced a recommendation of independent six-gun detachments to march with the cavalry, with the guns mounted on carriages pulled by horses.


title: MG 08

text: The Army purchased the modified MG 99 and MG 01 versions of the Maxim gun from DWM in limited quantities. The MG 99 introduced the sled mount that would remain standard in the MG 08. The MG 01 added lightweight spoked wheels, making possible the pushing and pulling of the weapon. The MG 01 was also exported to Chile and Bulgaria. By 1903, the German Army had 11 machine-gun detachments serving with cavalry divisions.


title: MG 08

text: Criticisms of the MG 01 stressed its limited mobility and inability to keep up with the cavalry. The DWM and Spandau Arsenal developed the design further, decreasing weight by 7.7 kg, adding a detachable gun shield, an option for an optical sight, and removing the wheels. The result was the MG 08, which went into production at Spandau in 1908.


title: MG 08

text: The German Army observed the effectiveness of the Maxim gun in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905, many of them German exports. With the importance of the machine gun apparent, the Army asked for additional funding from the Reichstag to increase the supply of machine guns. After criticism of the request from Socialist deputies, the Army's demand for six guns per regiment was reduced to six guns per brigade in 1907. The Army Bill of 1912 finally gave the Army its demanded six guns per regiment. On 3 August 1914, soon after the outbreak of World War I, the Army had 4,411 MG 08s, along with 398 MG 01s, 18 MG 99s and two MG 09s.


title: MG 08

text: At the onset of World War I, Germany developed an aerodynamically refined bullet intended for machine gun use. This full metal jacket s.S. ("schweres Spitzgeschoß", "heavy spitzer bullet") boat tail projectile was loaded in the "s.S. Patrone". The "s.S. Patrone" had an extreme range of approximately . From its 1914 introduction the "s.S. Patrone" was mainly issued for aerial combat and as of 1918 in the later stages of World War I to infantry machine gunners.


title: MG 08

text: Training was regulated by the Field Service Regulations of 1908, providing the German Army six years to train with the guns before the outbreak of World War I.


title: MG 08

text: The MG 08/15 was the "rather misguided attempt" at a lightened and thus more portable light machine gun from the standard MG 08, produced by "stepping-down" the upper rear and lower forward corners of the original MG 08's rectangular-outline receiver and breech assembly, and reducing the cooling jacket's diameter to . It was tested as a prototype in 1915 by a team of weapon designers under the direction of an "Oberst", Friedrich von Merkatz; this became the MG 08/15.


title: MG 08

text: The MG 08/15 had been designed around the concept of portability, such as the French Chauchat, which meant that the firepower of a machine gun could be taken forward conveniently by assaulting troops, and moved between positions for tactical fire support; as such, the MG 08/15 was to be manned by two trained infantrymen, a shooter and an ammo bearer. In the attack the weapon would be fired on the move (marching fire) while on the defense the team would make use of the bipod from the prone position. To accomplish that, the MG 08/15 had a short bipod rather than a heavy four-legged sled mount, plus a wooden gunstock and a pistol grip. At the MG 08/15 had minimal weight savings over the MG 08, being "a cumbersome beast to use in the assault." Intended to provide increased mobility of infantry automatic fire, it nevertheless remained a bulky water-cooled weapon that was quite demanding on the crews and never on par with its rivals, the Chauchat and the Lewis Gun. Accurate fire was difficult to achieve and usually in short bursts only. The fabric ammunition belts were prone to stretching and there were cartridge extraction problems when they were wet.


title: MG 08

text: It was first introduced in battle during the French Second Battle of the Aisne ("Chemin des Dames" offensive) in April 1917. Deployment in increasingly large numbers with all front line infantry regiments continued in 1917 and during the German offensives of the spring and summer of 1918.


title: MG 08

text: There were other, less prominent, German machine guns in WWI that showed more promising understanding of tactical firepower; such as the air-cooled 7.92 mm Bergmann MG 15nA which weighed "a more manageable 13kg," had a bipod mount and was fed from a 200-round metal-link belt contained in an assault drum instead of fabric belts. Despite its qualities, it was overshadowed by the production volumes of the MG 08/15 and exiled to secondary fronts, being largely relegated to use in limited numbers on the Italian Front. The Bergmann MG 15nA was also used by the "Asien-Korps" in Sinai, Mesopotamia and Palestine. Being air-cooled, the Bergmann MG 15nA's barrel would overheat after 250 rounds of sustained fire. Other light machine guns would maintain the water-cooling system, such as the Dreyse MG 10 and MG 15; with an air-cooled version produced just before the war, known as the "Dreyse-Muskete" or the MG 15.


title: MG 08

text: Despite such developments, the MG 08/15 remained by far the most common German machine gun deployed in World War I, reaching a full allocation of six guns per company (72 guns per regiment) in 1918. By that time, there were four times as many MG 08/15 light machine guns than heavy MG 08 machine guns in each infantry regiment. To attain this goal, about 130,000 MG 08/15 were manufactured during World War I, most of them by the Spandau and Erfurt government arsenals. The heavy weight remained a problem though and a "futile attempt" to solve this problem was a late-war air-cooled version of the MG 08/15, designated as the "MG 08/18"; but it was only 1 kg lighter than the MG 08/15. The MG 08/18's barrel was heavier and it could not be quickly changed; inevitably overheating was a problem. It was battlefield tested in small numbers during the last months of the war. As noted, "the Maxim Gun was not a sound basis for an LMG."


title: MG 08

text: The designation 08/15 lives on as an idiom in colloquial German, "nullachtfünfzehn" (, pronounced "Null-acht-fünfzehn"), being used even today as a term to denote something totally ordinary and lacking in originality or specialness.


title: MG 08

text: A lightened air-cooled version of the original water-cooled rectangular pattern-receiver MG 08 infantry automatic ordnance, the lMG 08, was developed by the Spandau arsenal as a rigidly mounted aircraft machine gun and went into production in 1915, in single-gun mounts, for use on the E.I through the E.III production versions of the Fokker Eindecker. A lower case letter "L" beginning the prefix meant "luftgekühlt" (air-cooled) rather than "Luft" (air).


title: MG 08

text: The lMG 08s were later used in pairs by the time of the introduction of the Fokker D.III and Albatros D.I biplane fighters in 1916, as fixed and synchronized cowling guns firing through the propeller. The Parabellum MG14 built by DWM was a lighter (22 lbs) and quite different, air-cooled Maxim system gun with a very high rate of fire (600-700 rounds/min). It was introduced in 1915, and was, but not without serious problems on occasion (as noted by Otto Parschau), prototyped on Parschau's own A.16/15 Fokker A.III "green machine" monoplane with the Fokker "Stangensteuerung" gun synchronizer, received back with the synchronized Parabellum by Parschau on May 30, 1915 and first used in quantity as the synchronized forward-firing armament on the five examples of the Fokker M.5K/MG "Eindecker" production prototype aircraft, and soon afterwards served as a flexible aircraft observer's gun for rear defense.


title: MG 08

text: The initial model of the air-cooled "Spandau" lMG 08 front-firing cowling machine guns had lost the stocks, grips, and bipods of the infantry MG 08s to adapt it to a fixed, forward-firing mount forward of an aircraft's cockpit, with gun synchronization allowing safe firing through a spinning propeller's arc. The 105 mm diameter cylindrical sheet metal water jacket used for the infantry's MG 08, an important support member for the barrel, was initially over-lightened with cooling slots, with fourteen rows of such slots completely surrounding and running the whole length of the jacket's circumferential sheetmetal.


title: MG 08

text: These alternated between seven rows of nine "oblong" slots, alternating with seven more intervening rows of eight slots and twin round holes fore and aft of the slots apiece. Because of the important physical reinforcement provided by the cooling jacket on the MG 08 series of guns, the excessive slotting of the initial model of the air-cooled lMG 08 — amounting to slightly over 50% of the total area of the cylindrical cooling jacket's original circumferential sheetmetal — rendered the gun as too fragile, to the point of making it impossible to fit the muzzle booster that the water-cooled infantry MG 08 guns could be fitted with.


title: MG 08

text: The later models of lMG 08 air-cooled machine gun variously "tweaked" the amount of slotting of the barrel by reducing the amount of sheet metal removed from it in minor ways through at least two or three trial formats, and eventually in the final versions produced, had the slotting omitted at the extreme ends of the cooling jacket's cylindrical member, with a 13 cm wide area of solid sheet metal at the breech end, and a 5 cm wide solid area at the muzzle end, giving the resultant gun much more rigidity. The lMG 08 also retained unchanged the rectangular rear receiver and breech assembly of the water-cooled MG 08 infantry weapon.


title: MG 08

text: Later, the MG 08's receiver would be lightened by being "stepped down" at its upper-rear and lower-forward corners as the more refined and lighter weight LMG 08/15 version was developed, using the same airframe mounting geometry as the earlier ordnance to allow interchangeability between the earlier lMG 08 and later LMG 08/15 models, with the still well-perforated cooling jacket reduced to a 92.5 mm diameter. The LMG 08/15 was introduced in 1917.


title: MG 08

text: The lMG 08 and LMG 08/15 guns were always used on fixed-wing aircraft, as fixed forward-aimed synchronized firing ordnance initially in single mounts for Germany's 1915-16 era Fokker Eindecker and Halberstadt D.II "scout" single-seat fighters, and by 1916 in dual mounts, first appearing on the mass-produced examples of Robert Thelen's Albatros D.I and D.II fighters in late 1916, and singly on German "C-class" armed two-seat observation aircraft for synchronized forward-firing armament. The usual ammunition load for fighters was for longer, 500 round, belts, one for each gun.


title: MG 08

text: A device, occasionally fitted to the rear surface of the later LMG 08/15's receiver backplate, told the pilot how much ammunition was left to fire. Later on a significant upgrade to the gun's aerial usability was the fitting of the Klingstrom device on the right side of the receiver, which allowed the gun to be cocked and loaded with one hand from the cockpit. Various cocking/charging handle styles evolved with a simplified distinctive long handled cocking/charging device finally becoming preferred late in the war.


title: MG 08

text: LMG 08/15's used the 30mm "two hole" ammunition belts of the flexible Parabellum MG14 machine gun rather than the wider "three hole" belts of the MG 08/15 water-cooled infantry weapon. It is possible that these belts were used as they were a bit lighter and less bulky than the wider "three hole" ground gun belts and certainly made for standardization which would have been easier for the armorers and in addition allowed for smaller and lighter "tubes" or "chutes" that guided the empty belts into storage containers in the aircraft after firing.


title: MG 08

text: It is a common misconception that the tubes or chutes coming out of the fixed mounted aviation LMG 08/15 fixed guns were for expended cartridge cases. In actuality these attachments were for guiding the empty cartridge belts into a container inside the fuselage of the aircraft so that the belts would not interfere with the operation of the aircraft. As the entire MG 08 "Spandau" family of German machine guns ejected their empty cartridge cases forward through a round hole in the receiver's lower forward surface, immediately under the aft end of the barrel's cylindrical cooling-jacket (as can be clearly seen on many videos), these cartridge cases were guided out of the aircraft (except on Martin Kreutzer-designed Fokker biplane fighter aircraft, and the Fokker fighters designed by Kreutzer's successor Reinhold Platz) through tubes from under the barrel to the bottom of the fuselage. With Fokker designed aircraft following the Eindecker, the cartridge cases were ejected without tubes from the receiver hole directly into open trays that guided the tumbling cartridge cases backward and sideways onto the sloped fuselage decking, which then streamed down past the cockpit on either side. These trays are clearly visible in photographs but have rarely been recognized for their purpose.


title: MG 08

text: Hermann Göring, who flew both the Fokker Dr.I and Fokker D.VII was so annoyed with the case tumbling out in front of him that he had deflectors made on his aircraft to ensure the empty cartridge cases did not find their way into his cockpit. On photographs of Göring's aircraft these plates, seen only on his aircraft, are very prevalent and have even been recognized in scale models of his aircraft copying his particular planes, but even then most historians have failed to recognize their purpose. Both empty belt guides and trays were attached directly to the machine guns rather than to the aircraft. In the famous film showing Australian officers handling the LMG 08/15s from Baron von Richthofen's crashed triplane, the Fokker type belt tubes/chutes and empty cartridge trays can be clearly seen still attached to the guns.


title: MG 08

text: More than 23,000 examples of the LMG 08/15 and an unknown number of the lMG 08 were produced during World War I.


title: MG 08

text: A variant chambered in the same 13.2 x 92 mm SR round as the Mauser Anti-Tank Rifle was introduced in 1918. Designated MG 18 TuF (), it was issued in limited numbers in late World War I.


title: MG 08

text: Based on the commercial MG09, in 1935, the Chinese began to produce the derivative Type 24 Heavy machine gun, which was not based solely on German drawings and introduced several improvements and new features.


title: MG 08

text: The Type 24 Heavy machine gun, first introduced to the National Revolutionary Army in 1935, designed to replace the original MG 08. It was the standard heavy machine gun for all Nationalists, Communists, and Warlords from 1935. They were usually made in the Hanyang Arsenal. Like the original MG 08, because of transportation difficulties, the M1917 Browning machine gun and other machine guns slowly replaced the Type 24 for the NRA after the Chinese Civil War. The PM M1910, and the SG-43 Goryunov (or Type 53/57 Machine gun) slowly replaced the Type 24 Heavy machine gun after the Chinese Civil War, but it was kept in service with the PLA, KPA and the NVA until the 1960s during the Vietnam War.


title: MG 08

text: The Type 24 heavy machine gun's tripod resembles the tripod of the MG 08. This gun is not able to be mounted on sledge mounts. When aiming at enemy infantry, it usually comes with a muzzle disk. When used as an anti-aircraft gun, it uses a metal pole to make the tripod higher and usually does not come with a muzzle disk. The gun's receiver is similar to the MG 08's gun body. Like the original MG 08, it needs a crew of four.


title: MG 08

text: The Type 24 heavy machine gun is chambered with the 7.92×57mm Mauser round, the standard Chinese military rifle cartridge of Nationalist China.


title: MG 08

text: After the Chinese Civil War, People's Republic of China militia and reserve units converted a number of Type 24 HMG into the 7.62×54mmR Russian cartridge. They were used for training or as filming prop, and never entered service.


title: People's Choice Awards

text: The People's Choice Awards is an American awards show, recognizing people in entertainment, voted online by the general public and fans. The show has been held annually since 1975, with the winners originally determined using Gallup Polls until a switch to online voting in 2005.


title: People's Choice Awards

text: The awards were created by Bob Stivers, who produced the first show in 1975. The first awards recognized "The Sting" as Favorite Picture of 1974, Barbra Streisand as the year's Favorite Film Actress, and John Wayne as its Favorite Film Actor. So far, Ellen DeGeneres is the most awarded person, with a total of 20 awards.


title: People's Choice Awards

text: In 1982, Stivers sold the People's Choice Awards to Procter & Gamble Productions (P&G); under P&G, the ceremony was broadcast by CBS, and Procter & Gamble's brands held exclusive national advertising time across the entire telecast.


title: People's Choice Awards

text: In April 2017, the E! network announced that they had acquired the People's Choice Awards. The ceremony was shifted from its previous January scheduling to November, to reduce its proximity to the busier months of awards season. For 2021 and 2022, the ceremony was also simulcast by E!'s sister broadcast network NBC.


title: People's Choice Awards

text: The award categories have varied over the years. For example, the 16th People's Choice Awards had categories including Favorite All-Around Movie ("Batman"), and both a Favorite Movie Actor (Tom Cruise) and a World Favorite Movie Actor (Dustin Hoffman). At the 23rd People's Choice Awards, Rob Reiner was named the People's Choice Awards Honoree. More recently, the 32nd People's Choice Awards (broadcast in January 2006) included categories such as Favorite On-Screen Match-Up (Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson in "Wedding Crashers"), Favorite Leading Lady (Reese Witherspoon), Favorite Tour (U2), and an award named after a Procter & Gamble brand: Nice 'n Easy Fans Favorite Hair (Faith Hill). In 2008, the People's Choice Awards introduced a new category: Favorite Sci-Fi Show. The nominees were "Stargate Atlantis", "Battlestar Galactica", and "Doctor Who". "Stargate Atlantis" was the first recipient of the award.


title: People's Choice Awards

text: In the 20th century, the awards were based on results from Gallup polls. Each year, Gallup took a survey of different categories for favorite actor, actress, movie, artist, television program or group. The scope was unlimited—the public could choose whomever or whatever it liked. The results of the annual survey were announced in the form of the People's Choice Awards. Since polls have margins of error, many years' awards have had ties in at least one category, when Gallup declared that the voting was so close that a single winner could not be chosen. For instance, in 2003, both "Spider-Man" and "" were recognized as Favorite Motion Picture.


title: People's Choice Awards

text: The winners of the 31st People's Choice Awards (on January 9, 2005) were decided by online voting rather than Gallup polls. The nominees submitted for Internet voting were selected using an unpublished process involving editors at "Entertainment Weekly", the show's production team and a panel of pop culture fans.


title: People's Choice Awards

text: The nominees for the 32nd People's Choice Awards were determined by the web research company Knowledge Networks, which took a nationally representative sample of men and women ages 18 to 54, with and without Internet access, to come up with the nominees. After being presented with a list of candidates determined by national ratings averages, box office grosses and album sales, they had the option to write in their favorites. Knowledge Networks recruits its panel by using a RDD phone recruitment method and provides a web TV and Internet access to households without Internet access enabling them to infer back to the entire population.


title: People's Choice Awards

text: The nominees for the 2010 People's Choice Awards were determined by the media research company Visible Measures, which specializes in measuring Internet video audience behavior. The announcement of this partnership stated, "For the first time ever, the People's Choice Awards has incorporated Internet video viewing data into the initial nominee selection process, depending on Visible Measures True Reach metrics to objectively measure online video popularity. [...] Visible Measures worked with the People's Choice Awards to determine each potential nominees' popularity on a True Reach basis, a unique measure of the total audience that has been exposed to an online video campaign – regardless of how widely the campaign spreads or where it appears. To measure True Reach, Visible Measures deploys a robust and patented set of technologies with the goal of capturing the universe of Internet video viewership data in near real-time."


title: John Ashcroft

text: John David Ashcroft (born May 9, 1942) is an American lawyer, lobbyist and former politician who served as the 79th U.S. Attorney General in the George W. Bush administration from 2001 to 2005. A former U.S. Senator from Missouri and the 50th Governor of Missouri, he later founded the Ashcroft Group, a Washington D.C. lobbying firm.


title: John Ashcroft

text: Ashcroft previously served as Auditor of Missouri (1973–1975) and Attorney General of Missouri (1977–1985). As Missouri Governor (1985–1993), he was elected for two consecutive terms (a historical first for a Republican candidate in the state). He also served one term as a U.S. Senator from Missouri (1995–2001). Ashcroft had early appointments in Missouri state government and was mentored by John Danforth. He has written several books about politics and ethics. Since 2011 he sits on the board of directors for the private military company Academi (formerly Blackwater) and is a professor at the Regent University School of Law, a conservative Christian institution affiliated with televangelist Pat Robertson; he has also been a member of the Federalist Society.


title: John Ashcroft

text: His son, Jay Ashcroft, is also a politician, serving as Secretary of State of Missouri since January 2017.


title: John Ashcroft

text: Ashcroft was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Grace P. (née Larsen) and James Robert Ashcroft. The family later lived in Willard, Missouri, where his father was a minister in an Assemblies of God congregation in nearby Springfield, served as president of Evangel University (1958–74), and jointly as President of Central Bible College (1958–63). His mother was a homemaker, whose parents had emigrated from Norway. His paternal grandfather was an Irish immigrant.


title: John Ashcroft

text: Ashcroft graduated from Hillcrest High School in 1960. He attended Yale University, where he was a member of the St. Elmo Society, graduating in 1964. He received a Juris Doctor from the University of Chicago Law School (1967).


title: John Ashcroft

text: After law school, Ashcroft briefly taught Business Law and worked as an administrator at Southwest Missouri State University. During the Vietnam War, he was not drafted because he received six student draft deferments and one occupational deferment because of his teaching work.


title: John Ashcroft

text: In 1972, Ashcroft ran for a congressional seat in southwest Missouri in the Republican primary election, narrowly losing to Gene Taylor. After the primary, Missouri Governor Kit Bond appointed Ashcroft to the office of State Auditor, which Bond had vacated when he became governor.


title: John Ashcroft

text: In 1974, Ashcroft was narrowly defeated for election to that post by Jackson County County Executive George W. Lehr. He had argued that Ashcroft, who is not an accountant, was not qualified to be the State Auditor.


title: John Ashcroft

text: Missouri Attorney General John Danforth, who was then in his second term, hired Ashcroft as an assistant state attorney general. During his service, Ashcroft shared an office with future U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas (and in 2001, as it would come to pass, Justice Thomas would administer Ashcroft's oath of office as U.S. attorney general).


title: John Ashcroft

text: In 1976, Danforth was elected to the U.S. Senate, and Ashcroft was elected to replace him as state attorney general. He was sworn in on December 27, 1976. In 1980, Ashcroft was re-elected with 64.5 percent of the vote, winning 96 of Missouri's 114 counties.


title: John Ashcroft

text: In 1983, Ashcroft wrote the leading "amicus curiae" brief in the U.S. Supreme Court Case "Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc.", supporting the use of video cassette recorders for time shifting of television programs.


title: John Ashcroft

text: Ashcroft was elected governor in 1984 and re-elected in 1988, becoming the first (and to date only) Republican in Missouri history elected to two consecutive terms.


title: John Ashcroft

text: In 1984, his opponent was the Democratic Lieutenant Governor Ken Rothman. The campaign was so negative on both sides that a reporter described the contest as "two alley cats [scrapping] over truth in advertising". In his campaign ads, Ashcroft showed the contrast between his rural-base and the supporters of his urban-based opponent from St. Louis. Democrats did not close ranks on primary night. The defeated candidate Mel Carnahan endorsed Rothman. In the end, Ashcroft won 57 percent of the vote and carried 106 counties—then the largest Republican gubernatorial victory in Missouri history.


title: John Ashcroft

text: In 1988, Ashcroft won by a larger margin over his Democratic opponent, Betty Cooper Hearnes, the wife of the former governor Warren Hearnes. Ashcroft received 64 percent of the vote in the general election—the largest landslide for governor in Missouri history since the U.S. Civil War.


title: John Ashcroft

text: In 1994 Ashcroft was elected to the U.S. Senate from Missouri, again succeeding John Danforth, who retired from the position. Ashcroft won 59.8% of the vote against Democratic Congressman Alan Wheat. As Senator:


title: John Ashcroft

text: In 1998, Ashcroft briefly considered running for U.S. president; but on January 5, 1999, he decided that he would seek re-election to his Senate seat in the 2000 election and not run for president.


title: John Ashcroft

text: In the Republican primary, Ashcroft defeated Marc Perkel. In the general election, Ashcroft faced a challenge from Governor Mel Carnahan.


title: John Ashcroft

text: In the midst of a tight race, Carnahan died in an airplane crash three weeks prior to the election. Ashcroft suspended all campaigning after the plane crash. Because of Missouri state election laws and the short time to election, Carnahan's name remained on the ballot. Lieutenant Governor Roger B. Wilson became governor upon Carnahan's death. Wilson said that should Carnahan be elected, he would appoint his widow, Jean Carnahan, to serve in her husband's place; Mrs. Carnahan stated that, in accordance with her late husband's goal, she would serve in the Senate if voters elected his name. Following these developments, Ashcroft resumed campaigning.


title: John Ashcroft

text: Carnahan won the election 51% to 49%. No one had ever posthumously won election to the Senate, though voters had on at least three occasions chosen deceased candidates for the House of Representatives. Ashcroft remains the only U.S. Senator defeated for re-election by a dead person.


title: John Ashcroft

text: In December 2000, following his Senatorial defeat, Ashcroft was chosen for the position of U.S. attorney general by president-elect George W. Bush. He was confirmed by the Senate by a vote of 58 to 42, with most Democratic senators voting against him, citing his prior opposition to using forced busing to achieve desegregation, and their opposition to Ashcroft's opposition to abortion. At the time of his appointment he was known to be a member of the Federalist Society.


title: John Ashcroft

text: In May 2001, the FBI revealed that they had misplaced thousands of documents related to the investigation of the Oklahoma City bombing. Ashcroft granted a 30-day stay of execution for Timothy McVeigh, the man sentenced to death for the bombing.


title: John Ashcroft

text: In July 2001, Ashcroft began flying exclusively by private jet. When questioned about this decision, the Justice Department explained that this course of action had been recommended based on a “threat assessment” made by the FBI. Neither the Bureau, nor the Justice Department would identify the specific nature of the threat, who made it, or when it happened. The CIA were unaware of any specific threats against Cabinet members. Ashcroft is the only Cabinet appointee who travels on a private jet, excluding the special cases of Interior and Energy who have responsibilities which require chartered jets.


title: John Ashcroft

text: After the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, Ashcroft was a key administration supporter of passage of the USA Patriot Act. One of its provisions, Section 215, allows the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to apply for an order from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to require production of "any tangible thing" for an investigation. This provision was criticized by citizen and professional groups concerned about violations of privacy. Ashcroft referred to the American Library Association's opposition to Section 215 as "hysteria" in two separate speeches given in September 2003. While Attorney General, Ashcroft consistently denied that the FBI or any other law enforcement agency had used the Patriot Act to obtain library circulation records or those of retail sales. According to the sworn testimony of two FBI agents interviewed by the 9/11 Commission, Ashcroft ignored warnings of an imminent al-Qaida attack.


title: John Ashcroft

text: In January 2002, the partially nude female statue of the "Spirit of Justice" in the Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building, where Ashcroft held press conferences, was covered with blue curtains. Department officials long insisted that the curtains were put up to improve the room's use as a television backdrop and that Ashcroft had nothing to do with it. Ashcroft's successor, Alberto Gonzales, removed the curtains in June 2005. Ashcroft also held daily prayer meetings.


title: John Ashcroft

text: In March 2004, the Justice Department under Ashcroft ruled President Bush's domestic intelligence program illegal. Shortly afterward, he was hospitalized with acute gallstone pancreatitis. White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales and Chief of Staff Andrew Card Jr. went to Ashcroft's bedside in the hospital intensive-care unit, to persuade the incapacitated Attorney General to sign a document to reauthorize the program. Acting Attorney General James Comey alerted FBI Director Robert Mueller III of this plan, and rushed to the hospital, arriving ahead of Gonzales and Card, Jr. Ashcroft, "summoning the strength to lift his head and speak", refused to sign. Attempts to reauthorize the program were ended by President Bush when Ashcroft, Comey and Mueller threatened to resign.


title: John Ashcroft

text: Following accounts of the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse scandal in Iraq, one of the Torture memos was leaked to the press in June 2004. Jack Goldsmith, then head of the Office of Legal Counsel, had already withdrawn the Yoo memos and advised agencies not to rely on them. After Goldsmith was forced to resign because of his objections, Attorney General Ashcroft issued a one paragraph opinion re-authorizing the use of torture.


title: John Ashcroft

text: Ashcroft pushed his U.S. attorneys to pursue voter fraud cases. However, the U.S. attorneys struggled to find any deliberate voter fraud schemes, only finding individuals who made mistakes on forms or misunderstood whether they were eligible to vote.


title: John Ashcroft

text: Following George W. Bush's re-election, Ashcroft resigned, which took effect on February 3, 2005, after the Senate confirmed White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales as the next attorney general. Ashcroft said in his hand-written resignation letter, dated November 2, "The objective of securing the safety of Americans from crime and terror has been achieved."


title: John Ashcroft

text: In May 2005, Ashcroft laid the groundwork for a strategic consulting firm, The Ashcroft Group, LLC. He started operation in the fall of 2005 and as of March 2006 had twenty-one clients, turning down two for every one accepted. In 2005 year-end filings, Ashcroft's firm reported collecting $269,000, including $220,000 from Oracle Corporation, which won Department of Justice approval of a multibillion-dollar acquisition less than a month after hiring Ashcroft. The year-end filing represented, in some cases, only initial payments.


title: John Ashcroft

text: According to government filings, Oracle is one of five Ashcroft Group clients that seek help in selling data or software with security applications. Another client, Israel Aircraft Industries International, is competing with Seattle's Boeing Company to sell the government of South Korea a billion dollar airborne radar system.


title: John Ashcroft

text: In March 2006, Ashcroft positioned himself as an "anti-Abramoff". In an hour-long interview, Ashcroft used the word "integrity" scores of times. In May 2006, based on conversations with members of Congress, key aides and lobbyists, "The Hill" magazine listed Ashcroft as one of the top 50 "hired guns" (lobbyists) that K Street had to offer.


title: John Ashcroft

text: By August 2006, Ashcroft's firm reportedly had 30 clients, many of which made products or technology aimed at homeland security. About a third of its client list were not disclosed on grounds of confidentiality. The firm also had equity stakes in eight client companies. It reportedly received $1.4 million in lobbying fees in the past six months, a small fraction of its total earnings.


title: John Ashcroft

text: After the proposed merger of Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. and XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc., Ashcroft offered the firm his consulting services, according to a spokesman for XM. The spokesman said XM declined Ashcroft's offer. Ashcroft was subsequently hired by the National Association of Broadcasters, which is strongly opposed to the merger.


title: John Ashcroft

text: In 2011, Ashcroft became an “independent director” on the board of Xe Services (now Academi), the controversial private military company formerly known as Blackwater (Nisour Square massacre), which faced scores of charges related to weapons trafficking, unlawful force, and corruption had named Ted Wright as CEO in May 2011. Wright hired a new governance chief to oversee ethical and legal compliance and established a new board composed of former government officials, including former White House counsel Jack Quinn and Ashcroft. In December 2011, Xe Services rebranded to Academi to convey a more "boring" image.


title: John Ashcroft

text: The firm also has a law firm under its umbrella, called the Ashcroft Law Firm. In December 2014, the law firm was hired by convicted Russian arms trafficker Viktor Bout to overturn his 2011 conviction.


title: John Ashcroft

text: In June 2017, Ashcroft was hired by the government of Qatar to carry out a compliance and regulatory review of Qatar's anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing framework, to help challenge accusations of supporting terrorism by its neighbors, following a regional blockade, as well as claims by U.S. President Donald Trump.


title: John Ashcroft

text: In June 2018, Ashcroft was reportedly hired by Najib Razak among other top U.S lawyers to defend him in the 1MDB scandal, back in 2016. According to the document, the firm was hired to provide legal advice and counsel to Najib regarding "improper actions by third parties to attempt to destabilise the government of Malaysia". Although it is unsure whether Najib will retain the services of Ashcroft on the issue due to the United States Department of Justice's probe into 1MDB.


title: John Ashcroft

text: In July 2002, Ashcroft proposed the creation of Operation TIPS, a domestic program in which workers and government employees would inform law enforcement agencies about suspicious behavior they encounter while performing their duties. The program was widely criticized from the beginning, with critics deriding the program as essentially a Domestic Informant Network along the lines of the East German Stasi or the Soviet KGB, and an encroachment upon the First and Fourth amendments. The United States Postal Service refused to be a party to it. Ashcroft defended the program as a necessary component of the ongoing War on Terrorism, but the proposal was eventually abandoned.


title: John Ashcroft

text: Ashcroft proposed a draft of the Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003, legislation to expand the powers of the U.S. government to fight crime and terrorism, while simultaneously eliminating or curtailing judicial review of these powers for incidents related to domestic terrorism. The bill was leaked and posted to the Internet on February 7, 2003.


title: John Ashcroft

text: On May 26, 2004, Ashcroft held a news conference at which he said that intelligence from multiple sources indicated that the terrorist organization, al Qaeda, intended to attack the United States in the coming months. Critics suggested he was trying to distract attention from a drop in the approval ratings of President Bush, who was campaigning for re-election.


title: John Ashcroft

text: Groups supporting individual gun ownership praised Ashcroft's support through DOJ for the Second Amendment. He said specifically, "the Second Amendment protects an individual's right to keep and bear arms," expressing the position that the second amendment expresses a right.


title: John Ashcroft

text: In 2009 in "Ashcroft v. al-Kidd", the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco found that Ashcroft could be sued and held personally responsible for the wrongful detention of Abdullah al-Kidd. The American citizen was arrested at Dulles Airport in March 2003 on his way to Saudi Arabia for study. He was held for 15 days in maximum security in three states, and 13 months in supervised release, to be used as a material witness in the trial of Sami Omar Al-Hussayen. (The latter was acquitted of all charges of supporting terrorism). Al-Kidd was never charged and was not called as a witness in the Al-Hussayen case.


title: John Ashcroft

text: The panels court described the government's assertions under the USA Patriot Act (2001) as "repugnant of the Constitution". In a detailed and at times passionate opinion, Judge Milan Smith likened allegations against al-Kidd as similar to the repressive practices of the British Crown that sparked the American Revolution. He wrote that the government asserts it can detain American citizens "not because there is evidence that they have committed a crime, but merely because the government wishes to investigate them for possible wrongdoing". He called it "a painful reminder of some of the most ignominious chapters of our national history".


title: John Ashcroft

text: Abdullah Al-Kidd was held in a maximum security prison for 16 days, and in supervised release for 13 months. Al-Kidd was born Lavoni T. Kidd in 1973 in Wichita, Kansas. When he converted to Islam as a student at the University of Idaho, where he was a prominent football player, he changed his name. He asserts that Ashcroft violated his civil liberties as an American citizen, as he was treated like a terrorist and not allowed to consult an attorney. Al-Kidd's lawyers say Ashcroft, as US attorney general, encouraged authorities after 9/11 to arrest potential suspects as material witnesses when they lacked probable cause to believe the suspects had committed a crime.


title: John Ashcroft

text: The US Supreme Court agreed on October 18, 2010, to hear the case. On May 31, 2011, the US Supreme Court unanimously overturned the lower court's decision, saying that al-Kidd could not personally sue Ashcroft, as he was protected by limited immunity as a government official. A majority of the justices held that al-Kidd could not have won his case on the merits, because Ashcroft did not violate his Fourth Amendment rights.


title: John Ashcroft

text: Ashcroft has been a proponent of the War on Drugs. In a 2001 interview on "Larry King Live," Ashcroft stated his intention to increase efforts in this area. In 2003, two nationwide investigations code-named Operation Pipe Dream and Operation Headhunter, which targeted businesses selling drug paraphernalia, mostly for cannabis use, resulted in a series of indictments.


title: John Ashcroft

text: Tommy Chong, a counterculture icon, was one of those charged, for his part in financing and promoting Chong Glass/Nice Dreams, a company started by his son Paris. Of the 55 individuals charged as a result of the operations, only Chong was given a prison sentence after conviction (nine months in a federal prison, plus forfeiting $103,000 and a year of probation). The other 54 individuals were given fines and home detentions. While the DOJ denied that Chong was treated any differently from the other defendants, critics thought the government was trying to make an example of him. Chong's experience as a target of Ashcroft's sting operation is the subject of Josh Gilbert's feature-length documentary "a/k/a Tommy Chong", which premiered at the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival. In a pre-sentencing brief, the Department of Justice specifically cited Chong's entertainment career as a consideration against leniency.


title: John Ashcroft

text: When Karl Rove was being questioned in 2005 by the FBI over the leak of a covert CIA agent's identity in the press (the Valerie Plame affair), Ashcroft was allegedly briefed about the investigation. The Democratic U.S. Representative John Conyers described this as a "stunning ethical breach that cries out for an immediate investigation." Conyers, the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, asked, in a statement, for a formal investigation of the time between the start of Rove's investigation and John Ashcroft's recusal.


title: John Ashcroft

text: Since his service in government, Ashcroft has continued to oppose proposals for physician-assisted suicide, which some states have passed by referendums. When interviewed about it in 2012, when a case had reached the US Supreme Court after California voters had approved a law to permit it under regulated conditions, he said,


title: John Ashcroft

text: I certainly believe that people who are in pain should be helped and assisted in every way possible, that the drugs should be used to mitigate their pain but I believe the law of the United States of America which requires that drugs not be used except for legitimate health purposes.


title: John Ashcroft

text: In 2015, Human Rights Watch called for the investigation of Ashcroft "for conspiracy to torture as well as other crimes."


title: John Ashcroft

text: Ashcroft is a member of the Assemblies of God church. He is married to Janet E. Ashcroft and has three children with her. His son, Jay, is the Missouri Secretary of State.


title: John Ashcroft

text: Ashcroft had long enjoyed inspirational music and singing. In the 1970s, he recorded a gospel record entitled "Truth: Volume One, Edition One", with the Missouri legislator Max Bacon, a Democrat.


title: John Ashcroft

text: With fellow U.S. senators Trent Lott, Larry Craig, and Jim Jeffords, Ashcroft formed a barbershop quartet called The Singing Senators. The men performed at social events with other senators. Ashcroft performed the Star Spangled Banner before the National Hockey League all-star game in St. Louis in 1988.


title: John Ashcroft

text: Ashcroft composed a paean titled "Let the Eagle Soar," which he sang at the Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in February 2002. Ashcroft has written and sung a number of other songs. He has collected these on compilation tapes, including "In the Spirit of Life and Liberty" and "Gospel (Music) According to John". In 1998, he wrote a book with author Gary Thomas titled "Lessons from a Father to His Son".


title: John Ashcroft

text: Ashcroft was given an honorary doctorate before giving the commencement at Toccoa Falls College in 2018.


title: Heart of Glass (song)

text: "Heart of Glass" is a song by the American new wave band Blondie, written by singer Debbie Harry and guitarist Chris Stein. It was featured on the band's third studio album, "Parallel Lines" (1978), and was released as the album's third single in January 1979 and reached number one on the charts in several countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom.


title: Heart of Glass (song)

text: In December 2004, "Rolling Stone" ranked the song number 255 on its list of the 500 greatest songs of all time. It was ranked at number 259 when the list was updated in April 2010 and at number 138 in their 2021 update. "Slant Magazine" placed it at number 42 on their list of the greatest dance songs of all time and "Pitchfork" named it the 18th best song of the 1970s.


title: Heart of Glass (song)

text: "Heart of Glass" ranked at number 66 in the UK's official list of biggest selling singles of all-time, with sales of 1.32 million copies. It was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame as a recording of "qualitative or historical significance" in 2015. Harry herself stated that "Heart of Glass" was, along with "Rapture," the song she was proudest of having written.


title: Heart of Glass (song)

text: Harry and Stein sold their future royalties to the song, and the rest of Blondie's catalog, to Hipgnosis Songs Fund, in 2020.


title: Heart of Glass (song)

text: Debbie Harry and Chris Stein wrote an early version of "Heart of Glass", called "Once I Had a Love", in 1974–75. This earlier version was initially recorded as a demo in 1975. The song had a slower, funkier sound with a basic disco beat. For this reason the band referred to it as "The Disco Song". This original version was inspired by The Hues Corporation's hit disco song "Rock the Boat" (1974). The song was re-recorded in a second demo with the same title in 1978, when the song was made a bit more pop-oriented. Harry said that "'Heart of Glass' was one of the first songs Blondie wrote, but it was years before we recorded it properly. We'd tried it as a ballad, as reggae, but it never quite worked", and that "the lyrics weren't about anyone. They were just a plaintive moan about lost love." It was only when the band met with producer Mike Chapman to start work on "Parallel Lines" that Harry recalled Chapman "asked us to play all the songs we had. At the end, he said: 'Have you got anything else?' We sheepishly said: 'Well, there is this old one.' He liked it – he thought it was fascinating and started to pull it into focus."


title: Heart of Glass (song)

text: Exactly who decided to give the song a more pronounced disco vibe is subject to differing recollections. On some occasions, the producer Mike Chapman has stated that he convinced Harry and Stein to give the song a disco twist. On other occasions, Chapman has credited Harry with the idea. As a band, Blondie had experimented with disco before, both in the predecessors to "Heart of Glass" and in live cover songs that the band played at shows. Bassist Gary Valentine noted that the set list for early Blondie shows often included disco hits such as "Honey Bee" or "My Imagination".


title: Heart of Glass (song)

text: In an interview published in the February 4, 1978, edition of "NME", Debbie Harry expressed her affinity for the Euro disco music of Giorgio Moroder, stating that "It's commercial, but it's good, it says something... that's the kind of stuff that I want to do". A notable example of this type of musical experimentation occurred when Blondie covered Donna Summer's "I Feel Love" at the Blitz Benefit on May 7, 1978. In his history of CBGB, music writer Roman Kozak described this event: "When Blondie played for the Johnny Blitz benefit in May, 1978, they surprised everyone with a rendition of Donna Summer's 'I Feel Love'. It was arguably the first time in New York, in the middle of the great rock versus disco split, that a rock band had played a disco song. Blondie went on to record 'Heart of Glass,' other groups recorded other danceable songs, and dance rock was born."


title: Heart of Glass (song)

text: The song was ultimately given the disco orientation that made the song one of the best-known Blondie recordings. For the single release the track was remixed by Chapman, with the double-tracked bass drum even more accentuated.


title: Heart of Glass (song)

text: In reflecting on the development of "Heart of Glass" from its earliest incarnations until the recorded version on "Parallel Lines", Chris Stein noted that the earliest versions had a basic conventional disco beat, but that the recorded version incorporated the electronic sound of Euro disco, stating that "The original arrangement of 'Heart of Glass'—as on the [1975] Betrock demos—had doubles on the high-hat cymbals, a more straight-ahead disco beat. When we recorded it for "Parallel Lines" we were really into Kraftwerk, and we wanted to make it more electronic. We weren't thinking disco as we were doing it; we thought it was more electro-European."


title: Heart of Glass (song)

text: The "Parallel Lines" version (as well as most others) contained some rhythmic features that were very unusual for the disco context, which typically follows a strict four-beats-per-measure pattern for maximum danceability. The instrumental interludes in "Heart of Glass", in contrast, consist of (seven-beat) phrases, with exception to the last phrase and subsequent reprises of each interlude, which resolve back to eight beats per phrase.


title: Heart of Glass (song)

text: "Heart of Glass" was recorded at the Record Plant in New York City in June 1978. The production of "Heart of Glass" was discussed in detail by Richard Allinson and Steve Levine on the BBC Radio 2 radio program "The Record Producers" that was aired on May 25, 2009. As explained in the program, the production of "Heart of Glass" was built around the use of a Roland CR-78 drum machine. The CR-78 was first introduced in 1978, the same year that "Parallel Lines" was recorded, and the use of this device on "Heart of Glass" was, according to the program, among the earliest uses of this device in popular music. As the program explained, it was also very unusual to use a drum machine in the context of a rock band.


title: Heart of Glass (song)

text: In deciding to use the CR-78 for "Heart of Glass", the choice was made to combine the sound of the drum machine with the sound of actual drumming. This reflected the hybrid nature of the song, the combination of a drum machine that was typically used in the context of dance music with the actual drum sound that was a traditional aspect of rock recordings. In combining these elements, the sound of the drum machine was first recorded on an individual track. To synchronize the actual drum play with the drum machine, the drums were also recorded on separate tracks, with the bass drum recorded separately from the rest of the drums.


title: Heart of Glass (song)

text: Having combined the drums with the drum machine, another important feature of the CR-78 was that it could be used to send a trigger pulse to the early polyphonic synthesizers. This trigger pulse feature was also used on "Heart of Glass". The trigger pulse created by the CR-78 became a distinctive electronic/synth element of the song. The additional synthesizer portions of the song were played separately.


title: Heart of Glass (song)

text: Other electronic musical instruments used in the track include the Roland SH-5 and Minimoog synthesizers. Due to the lack of music sequencers, they recorded three different parts using the SH-5 and Minimoog.


title: Heart of Glass (song)

text: For the guitars, each guitar part was again recorded on separate tracks. For the vocals, a single track and a double track of Debbie Harry's voice were combined into a single vocal recording.


title: Heart of Glass (song)

text: In an interview in the magazine that is part of the collector's edition for the ninth Blondie studio album "Panic of Girls", Debbie Harry explained that band members Chris Stein and Jimmy Destri had purchased the CR-78 from a music store on 47th Street in Manhattan, and that this is how the device had become part of the production of "Heart of Glass": "Chris and Jimmy were always going over to 47th Street where all the music stores were, and one day they came back with this little rhythm box, which went 'tikka tikka tikka'... And the rest is history!" Stein also credited Destri with influencing the song's sound, saying he "had a lot to do with how the record sounds... It was Jimmy who brought in the drum machine and a synthesiser. Synchronising them was a big deal at the time. It all had to be done manually, with every note and beat played in real time rather than looped over."


title: Heart of Glass (song)

text: A 5:50 version of "Heart of Glass" was first released as a 12-inch single in December 1978. Some radio stations in the United States were reluctant to play the song because of the "pain in the ass" lyric, so an edited 7-inch single was released in January 1979. The original album version was released as a single in the UK where the BBC bleeped out the word "ass". Debbie Harry told "The Guardian", "At first, the song kept saying: 'Once I had a love, it was a gas. Soon turned out, it was a pain in the ass.' We couldn't keep saying that, so we came up with: 'Soon turned out, had a heart of glass.' We kept one 'pain in the ass' in – and the BBC bleeped it out for radio."


title: Heart of Glass (song)

text: The single reached number one on the singles charts in the US and the UK. In the US, the single was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America in April 1979, representing sales of one million copies. In the UK, it was certified Platinum by the British Phonographic Industry in February 1979, also for sales of one million copies. It was also certified double platinum in Australia.


title: Heart of Glass (song)

text: Despite its overall popularity, "Heart of Glass" was not a hit in New York City's traditional discothèques such as Studio 54, Xenon and Crisco Disco, and reached only No. 58 in "Billboard"s Disco Top 80 chart. One of the first rock/disco fusion hits, it was more popular in rock-oriented nightclubs such as Hurrah and the Mudd Club.


title: Heart of Glass (song)

text: "Cash Box" said it is a "synthesizer-based song" that should get Blondie recognized and that "Deborah Harry's vocals are shimmering and inviting." "Billboard", "Paste" and "The Guardian" all named "Heart of Glass" as Blondie's best song.


title: Heart of Glass (song)

text: At the time, Blondie was one of the bands at the forefront of New York's growing new wave music scene and were accused of "selling out" for releasing a disco song. According to Harry, "Heart of Glass" made the band pariahs in the eyes of many of their fellow musicians in the New York music scene. The band was accused of pandering to the mainstream that many punk/new wave bands at the time were actively rebeling against. She also said, "People got nervous and angry about us bringing different influences into rock. Although we'd covered 'Lady Marmalade' and 'I Feel Love' at gigs, lots of people were mad at us for 'going disco' with 'Heart of Glass'... Clem Burke, our drummer, refused to play the song live at first. When it became a hit, he said: 'I guess I'll have to.'" Chris Stein was unrepentant about the song's disco sound, saying, "As far as I was concerned, disco was part of R&B, which I'd always liked."


title: Heart of Glass (song)

text: Despite the controversy, the song was a huge hit and helped propel Blondie from cult group to mainstream icons. The band itself has acknowledged the success of the song in helping their careers and has downplayed criticism of the song, pointing out that they always experimented with different styles of music and that "Heart of Glass" was their take on disco. The band itself has jokingly taken to referring to the song as "The Disco Song" in interviews. The band also credits the TV sitcom about a radio station, "WKRP in Cincinnati", which played the song on one of their episodes and gave it critical exposure. In gratitude, the band gave the series' producers a Gold record for the song and it can be seen in the bullpen scenes from the second season to the series' conclusion.


title: Heart of Glass (song)

text: The "Heart of Glass" promotional video was directed by Stanley Dorfman. Contrary to popular belief, it was not filmed at the Studio 54 nightclub; Chris Stein said that "in the video, there's a shot of the legendary Studio 54, so everyone thought we shot the video there, but it was actually in a short-lived club called the Copa or something". The video begins with footage of New York City at night before joining Blondie on stage. Then, the video alternates between close-ups of Debbie Harry's face as she lip-syncs and mid-distance shots of the entire band. Harry said, "For the video, I wanted to dance around but they told us to remain static, while the cameras moved around. God only knows why. Maybe we were too clumsy."


title: Heart of Glass (song)

text: In the video Harry wears a silver asymmetrical dress designed by Stephen Sprouse. To create the dress, Sprouse photo-printed a picture of television scan lines onto a piece of fabric, and then, according to Harry, "put a layer of cotton fabric underneath and a layer of chiffon on top, and then the scan-lines would do this op-art thing." The popularity of the song helped Sprouse's work earn a lot of exposure from the media. Harry also said that the T-shirts used by the male members of the band in the video were made by herself.


title: Heart of Glass (song)

text: "Draped in a sheer, silver Sprouse dress," Kris Needs summarized while writing for "Mojo Classic", "Debbie sang through gritted teeth, while the boys cavorted with mirror balls". Studying Harry's attitude in the "effortlessly cool" video, musician and writer Pat Kane felt she "exuded a steely confidence about her sexual impact... The Marilyn do has artfully fallen over, and she's in the funkiest of dresses: one strap across her shoulder, swirling silks around about her. Her iconic face shows flickers of interest, amidst the boredom and ennui of the song's lyrics." Kane also noted that the band members fooling around with disco balls, "taking the mickey out of their own disco fixation." Reviewing the "Greatest Hits: Sound & Vision" DVD for "Pitchfork", Jess Harvell wrote that while "owning your own copy of 'Heart of Glass' may not seem as cool [anymore]... there's the always luminous Deborah Harry, who would give boiling asparagus an erotic charge, all while looking too bored to live."


title: Heart of Glass (song)

text: The first official remix of "Heart of Glass", by Shep Pettibone, appeared on the 1988 Blondie/Debbie Harry remix compilation "Once More into the Bleach" and was a single in some territories. A 1995 remix by Diddy, from the Blondie compilation "", reached no. 15 on the UK Singles Chart.


title: Heart of Glass (song)

text: Picking up on their similarities, the Hood Internet's ABX created a mashup of "Heart of Glass" and Arcade Fire's new wave-infused "Sprawl II" of 2010. (Harry later joined Arcade Fire in live performances of both songs at the Coachella Festival.)


title: Heart of Glass (song)

text: Blondie rerecorded the song for the 2014 compilation album "Greatest Hits Deluxe Redux", part of the two-disc set "Blondie 4(0) Ever", which marked the 40th anniversary of the band forming.


title: Heart of Glass (song)

text: In 1988, singer Billy Mackenzie delivered "The Glamour Chase", the fourth studio album by the Associates to his record company WEA/Warner who rejected the record. However, they decided to release Mackenzie's cover of "Heart of Glass" as a single. It reached number 56 on the UK Singles chart and was put on "Popera: The Singles Collection".


title: Heart of Glass (song)

text: A mashup by Daft Beatles (mashup producer Jonas Crabtree) titled "Crabtree Remix" was issued as a single in 2016. It combines elements of "Heart of Glass" and the Naxos recording of the second movement of the Violin Concerto by Philip Glass. Elisabeth Moss said in an interview for Refinery29 that she discovered the "Crabtree Remix" while making a playlist to prepare for the role and played it to the show's director Reed Morano. "Reed decided to put in the show during the protest scene, which is the perfect place for it. That song gives me chills just talking about it." The series' costume designer Ane Crabtree also cites the "Crabtree Remix" as an inspiration for creating the iconic Handmaid's look: "Lizzy Moss introduced me to the Philip Glass/Blondie mashup 'Heart of Glass' by Daft Beatles. Listening to it over and over again led to me designing the head gear for the Handmaids".


title: Heart of Glass (song)

text: In 2014, the Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bündchen went into the recording studio with French music producer and DJ Bob Sinclar to record a cover version of Blondie's "Heart of Glass" for H&M. She is credited on the single by her mononym Gisele. The song is Gisele's and Sinclar's charity single for the H&M 2014 campaign. Bündchen spoke to the fashion trade magazine "Women's Wear Daily" about the opportunity of working with Sinclar on "Heart of Glass" stating: "I never in a million years thought that I would record a song and to work with a producer like Bob." A year earlier, she had recorded and released a cover version of the Kinks' "All Day and All of the Night" as her contribution to the H&M 2013 charity campaign.


title: Heart of Glass (song)

text: The "Heart of Glass" single was issued on the Ultra Records label and was officially released on April 29, 2014. The new version turned out to be an international hit charting in a great number of European singles charts including France at number 31, reaching number 73 in Germany, peaking at number 28 in Poland, number 27 in Spain, number 31 in Hungary, number 63 in Austria and at number 16 in Belgium. All proceeds from the song are to go towards helping to raise funds for UNICEF. The radio edit single version is available on iTunes.


title: Heart of Glass (song)

text: The "Heart of Glass" music video by Gisele and Bob Sinclar shows her dancing on a beach. The video also features Bündchen's vocal rendition of the song as the supermodel poses in sexy beachwear. The music video made its premiere on the morning television show "Good Morning America".


title: Heart of Glass (song)

text: American singer Miley Cyrus performed a cover of the song at the 2020 iHeartRadio Music Festival on September 19, 2020. The live performance was released as a single on September 29, 2020, following a high demand from fans. "Heart of Glass" was included on her seventh studio album "Plastic Hearts".


title: Heart of Glass (song)

text: Hunter Harris of "Vulture" called the performance "a throaty, formidable delight". The cover elicited praise from Blondie themselves, with them stating "We think Miley Cyrus nailed it" on their social media.


title: Corentin Tolisso

text: Corentin Tolisso (born 3 August 1994) is a French professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for Ligue 1 club Lyon and the France national team.


title: Corentin Tolisso

text: A graduate of the Lyon academy, Tolisso made his professional debut for the club in 2013, playing 160 matches and scoring 29 goals. He joined Bayern Munich for €41.5 million in the summer of 2017, a record for a transfer to a German club, before returning to Lyon in 2022.


title: Corentin Tolisso

text: Tolisso represented France at various youth levels before making his senior debut in 2017. He was part of their squad that won the 2018 FIFA World Cup, also featuring at UEFA Euro 2020.


title: Corentin Tolisso

text: Tolisso started out with local clubs near his birthplace of Tarare and hometown of Amplepuis. Before becoming a tough-tackling, probing midfielder, he used to play as a forward. Tolisso even scored a hat-trick in a 4–4 draw against his future club Olympique Lyonnais at the age of 11. He then signed up for Lyon's academy in 2007 at the age of 13.


title: Corentin Tolisso

text: On 10 August 2013, manager Rémi Garde handed Tolisso his debut for the club, bringing him on as 92nd minute substitute in a 4–0 Ligue 1 home win over Nice, but he could not even touch the ball for once as the referee blew the whistle few seconds later. He made his European club competition debut on 24 October 2013, featuring in a 1–0 win over HNK Rijeka in the group stage of the 2013–14 UEFA Europa League. A week later, Tolisso signed his first professional contract with the club, penning a deal until 2017. On 9 March 2014, he scored his first senior career goal with an injury time (in the 94th minute) winner to give Lyon a 2–1 Ligue 1 away win over Bordeaux. Tolisso was used as a utility player for the majority of the season, operating at right back in place of Mouhamadou Dabo and later in central midfield following injuries to Yoann Gourcuff and Gueïda Fofana.


title: Corentin Tolisso

text: The continued absence of Fofana and subsequent injury to Clément Grenier afforded Tolisso the opportunity to enjoy more first team action with Lyon in the following season. During the 2014–15 season he featured in every Ligue 1 match for the side, netting seven goals. At the end of the season Tolisso and teammates Nabil Fekir and Anthony Lopes were rewarded with improved contracts, penning new deals with the club until 2020. He continued his fine form into the 2015–16 Ligue 1 season where he netted five goals and set up six assists as Lyon ended the Ligue 1 season as runners-up to Paris Saint-Germain.


title: Corentin Tolisso

text: Tolisso's form in the previous season earned him numerous suitors from around Europe and in July 2016 he was subject to a €37.5 million bid from Serie A side Napoli. He turned down the move and reaffirmed his commitment to Lyon, however, citing his affection for the club and belief in their progress as his reasons for staying at the club.


title: Corentin Tolisso

text: He made his first appearance of the season in the 2016 Trophée des Champions on 6 August 2016 where Lyon were beaten 4–1 by reigning Ligue 1 champions Paris Saint-Germain. Tolisso himself found the back of the net in the 87th minute but the goal proved to be no more than a consolation. Tolisso scored his first Ligue 1 goal of the season on 27 August, opening the scoring in a 4–2 away loss to Dijon, and his first ever goal (in the 13th minute) in a UEFA club competition on 14 September in a 3–0 UEFA Champions League group stage home win over Dinamo Zagreb.


title: Corentin Tolisso

text: On 2 October 2016, with regular captain Maxime Gonalons and vice-captain Alexandre Lacazette injured, Tolisso was handed the armband in their stead and captained Lyon in the first ever Rhône derby against Saint-Étienne at Lyon's new stadium, Parc Olympique Lyonnais. In the return fixture on 5 February, Tolisso received the first red card of his career after being sent off for a foul on Fabien Lemoine in stoppage-time. Just moments before Tolisso's expulsion, Lyon teammate Rachid Ghezzal had been sent off as well for a challenge on the same player. The ill-discipline shown in Lyon's loss to Saint-Étienne prompted club president Jean-Michel Aulas to announce that both players would be severely punished for their actions. Tolisso remained a constant fixture in the side, however, and ended the 2016–17 season with a return of 14 goals and seven assists in 47 appearances across all competitions for Lyon. He was also named in the UEFA Europa League squad of the season.


title: Corentin Tolisso

text: On 14 June 2017, Bundesliga side Bayern Munich secured the signing of Tolisso on a five-year deal from Lyon for an initial transfer fee of €41.5 million, plus up to €6 million in potential bonuses. The fee was the largest ever received by Lyon from the sale of a player, though this record was again broken on 5 July 2017 by the transfer of Alexandre Lacazette to Arsenal for a fee of €53 million. It was also a Bundesliga and Bayern record for a signing, surpassing the previous record of €40 million that the club spent in buying Javi Martínez from Athletic Bilbao in August 2012.


title: Corentin Tolisso

text: He made his debut for the club on 5 August, starting in a penalty shoot-out victory over Borussia Dortmund which saw Bayern crowned Supercup champions. He then scored on his Bundesliga debut on 18 August, netting Bayern's second goal in a 3–1 win over Bayer Leverkusen. On 5 December 2017, with qualification to the Champions League knockout stages already secured, Tolisso netted a brace in Bayern's final group match to earn the club a 3–1 win over PSG; though the result was not enough to see Bayern claim top spot. On 3 April 2018, he scored a thumping long-range goal to double the lead in a 4–0 away victory over SC Freiburg.


title: Corentin Tolisso

text: On 7 April, Tolisso equalised as Bayern came from behind to defeat FC Augsburg 4–1 and win the league title with five games remaining.


title: Corentin Tolisso

text: Tolisso started the season as a World Cup champion after winning the title with France. On Matchday 3 in the Bundesliga, Tolisso ruptured a cruciate ligament in his right knee in a 3–1 victory against Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday, September 15. Following the injury, French national team coach Didier Deschamps was convinced that Tolisso will "come back as strong, if not even stronger". He also believes that the 2019 season will be "much better for you". During Bayern's winter trip training in January 2019 in Doha, Qatar, Tolisso was reported to be able to jog on an anti-gravity treadmill without any problems. He was set to return to the pitch in March 2019, which, according to Bayern Munich coach Niko Kovač, was "earlier than expected".


title: Corentin Tolisso

text: He made a total of 28 appearances and scored four goals in the 2019–20 treble winning season. He came on as a second half substitute in the UCL final in a 1–0 win over Paris Saint-Germain.


title: Corentin Tolisso

text: On 21 October 2020, Tolisso scored a stunning goal in a 4–0 win against Atlético Madrid in the first match of the 2020–21 UEFA Champions League group stages.


title: Corentin Tolisso

text: Though born in France, and having represented the nation at various youth levels, including the U21 side with whom he was the captain, Tolisso was also eligible to represent Togo through his paternal lineage. In 2016, Togo manager Claude Le Roy revealed that he would try to convince Tolisso to represent the nation instead of France. Tolisso had previously acknowledged his ties to Togo but was loyal to France, stating that "I was born here and grew up here."


title: Corentin Tolisso

text: Having previously represented France at various youth levels, Tolisso was called up to the senior squad for the first time to face Luxembourg and Spain in March 2017. He made his debut on 28 March 2017 against the latter, starting the game and being replaced by Thomas Lemar in the 80th minute of a 2–0 friendly home loss.


title: Corentin Tolisso

text: On 17 May 2018, he was called up to the 23-man French squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. He played for the first 78 minutes and was later subbed off in a 2–1 victory over Australia in their first group stage match on 16 June. Tolisso did not play the last two group stage matches against Peru and Denmark. On 30 June, he replaced Blaise Matuidi in the 75th minute in a 4–3 victory over Argentina in the round of 16 match. On 6 July, Tolisso started the quarter-final match against Uruguay and provided an assist to Antoine Griezmann's goal which saw France advance following a 2–0 victory. He was subbed on to replace Matuidi in the 86th minute in a 1–0 semi-final victory over Belgium on 10 July. On 15 July, Tolisso appeared in the 73rd minute, again replacing Matuidi, as France defeated Croatia 4–2 in the final, to win their second World Cup title. On 17 November 2019, Tolisso scored his first goal for France in a 2–0 win against Albania, during the UEFA Euro 2020 qualification.


title: Justina Valentine

text: Justina Valentine is an American rapper, singer, songwriter and television personality from Passaic County, New Jersey, best known for her singles "Candy Land" featuring rapper Fetty Wap, "All The Way" and "Unbelievable". She is also known as a cast member on the improv comedy show "Wild 'N Out" (2016–present).


title: Justina Valentine

text: Valentine was born in Passaic County, New Jersey. She is of Italian descent. She grew up in a family of musicians and did theatre and dance as a child. Valentine always had a love for hip hop and R&B. In 2006, she started recording her own music.


title: Justina Valentine

text: Valentine released her first mixtape "Route 80" in 2012. The singles "Bubble Gum" and "Hip-hop Joan Jett" became popular hits on YouTube. Valentine released the EP "Valentine" in 2013, debuting at number 38 on the iTunes R&B charts. On July 8, 2014, the singer released her second mixtape, "Red Velvet". In 2016, she released her studio album, "Scarlet Letter". In 2017, Valentine released a third mixtape, "Feminem," described as a homage to the rapper Eminem. She released the album "Favorite Vibe" in 2019, which debuted in the top 30 hip hop charts and gained over a million streams in its first two weeks. "Favorite Vibe" was shortly followed by the album "Infrared" in 2020, which debuted in the top 5 on the iTunes charts. "Infrared" is described as "an infusion of classic hip hop and R&B, with a pop sensibility."


title: Justina Valentine

text: In 2016, Valentine was added to the cast of season 8 of "Wild 'N Out" on MTV (later VH1) and has been a member of the cast for every successive season since. As of season 17, she is the longest running female cast member to appear on the show.


title: Justina Valentine

text: Valentine competed on season 1 of the reality series special for MTV's "The Challenge" titled ", which premiered on November 21, 2017". Valentine made it to the finale, finishing as a runner-up alongside fellow "Stars" UFC fighter Michelle Waterson and "The Bachelorette Season 10" winner Josh Murray. In 2019, Valentine hosted the two-part reunion of "".


title: Justina Valentine

text: In November 2018, Valentine was selected to co-host a relaunched version of the MTV dating game show "Singled Out" alongside rapper and fellow "Wild 'N Out" cast member Conceited that aired exclusively on the network's YouTube channel.


title: Justina Valentine

text: In August 2019, Valentine and fellow "Wild 'N Out" cast member Chico Bean stated that Sebastian Maniscalco was Valentine's "second freaking cousin".


title: Justina Valentine

text: In 2021, Valentine began appearing weekly alongside Nick Cannon on his syndicated daytime talk show, "Nick Cannon", during "The Rap Up" and other segments.


title: Justina Valentine

text: In February 2022, she became the third host of the iHeartRadio and MTV podcast series "MTV's Women of Wild 'N Out," alongside co-hosts B. Simone and Pretty Vee.


title: Justina Valentine

text: Valentine has also gained prominence as a social media personality on TikTok where she actively posts content. As of September 2022, her account (@justinavalentine) has amassed over 10 million followers and over 200 million likes.


title: Justina Valentine

text: Valentine's eclectic music style infuses hip hop with elements of other genres. She has had charting singles and major radio airplay.


title: Centaurea cyanus

text: Centaurea cyanus, commonly known as cornflower or bachelor's button, is an annual flowering plant in the family Asteraceae native to Europe. In the past, it often grew as a weed in cornfields (in the broad sense of "corn", referring to grains, such as wheat, barley, rye, or oats), hence its name. It is now endangered in its native habitat by agricultural intensification, particularly by over-use of herbicides. However, "Centaurea cyanus" is now also naturalised in many other parts of the world, including North America and parts of Australia through introduction as an ornamental plant in gardens and as a seed contaminant in crop seeds.


title: Centaurea cyanus

text: "Centaurea cyanus" is an annual plant growing to 40–90 cm tall, with grey-green branched stems. The leaves are lanceolate and 1–4 cm long. The flowers are most commonly an intense blue colour and arranged in flowerheads (capitula) of 1.5–3 cm diameter, with a ring of a few large, spreading ray florets surrounding a central cluster of disc florets. The blue pigment is protocyanin, which in roses is red. Fruits are approx. 3.5 mm long with 2–3 mm long pappus bristles. It flowers all summer.


title: Centaurea cyanus

text: "Centaurea cyanus" is native to temperate Europe, but is widely naturalized outside its native range. It has been present in Britain and Ireland as an archaeophyte (ancient introduction) since the Iron Age. In the United Kingdom, it has declined from 264 sites to just 3 sites in the last 50 years. In reaction to this, the conservation charity Plantlife named it as one of 101 species it would actively work to bring 'back from the brink'.


title: Centaurea cyanus

text: In the County Clare (VC H9) in Ireland, "Centaurea cyanus" is recorded in arable fields as very rare and almost extinct, while in the North-East of Ireland, it was abundant before the 1930s.


title: Centaurea cyanus

text: "Centaurea cyanus" is a diploid flower (2n = 24). The genetic diversity within populations is high, although there could be a future decline in diversity due to population fragmentation and intensive agriculture. In general, "Centaurea cyanus" is a self-incompatible species. However, selfing still occurs occasionally, but results in inbreeding depression.


title: Centaurea cyanus

text: Several cultivars of "Centaurea cyanus" with varying pastel colours, including pink and purple, have been selected for ornamental purposes. The species is also grown for the cutflower industry in Canada for use by florists. Doubled blue cultivars (such as 'Blue Boy' or 'Blue Diadem') are most commonly used for this purpose, but white, pink, lavender and black (actually a very dark maroon) cultivars are also used, albeit to a lesser extent.


title: Centaurea cyanus

text: As for all ornamental plants, important goals of "Centaurea cyanus" breeding include the induction of phenotypic variation (e.g. in flower coloration, size and shape, foliage characteristics or plant height), higher flower yield, resistance to pests and diseases as well as tolerance to abiotic stress (e.g., extreme temperatures, drought or salinity).


title: Centaurea cyanus

text: "Centaurea cyanus" is considered a noxious weed in arable crops, especially cereals and rapeseed. In winter wheat, one plant per m can cause a yield loss of up to 30 kg / ha. "Centaurea cyanus" produces around 800 seed per plant, which are either shed shortly before the harvest of cereals, or they are threshed together with the cereal grains, contributing to the further spread of the species by the harvesting machinery and contaminated seed. The occurrence of "Centaurea cyanus" strongly decreased during the last decades due to improved seed cleaning, more intensive nitrogen fertilization and herbicide use. However, "Centaurea cyanus" has become more common in cropland due to an increase in crop rotations dominated by winter cereals and rapeseed and the use of more selective herbicides with a low effectiveness against "Centaurea cyanus". In addition, the emergence of resistance against the herbicide class of sulfonylureas has been reported recently. Due to its strong roots, "Centaurea cyanus" is difficult to control mechanically in spring.


title: Centaurea cyanus

text: The pollen of "Centaurea cyanus" is used by several different insect species. Insects of the orders Hymenoptera and Diptera are particularly attracted by the flower. As "Centaurea cyanus" is a self-incompatible species, it needs external pollination. The nectar of "Centaurea cyanus" is very sweet with a sugar content of 34%. Due to its high sugar production of up to 0.2 mg sugar per day and flower, the species is highly appreciated by beekeepers.


title: Centaurea cyanus

text: "Centaurea cyanus" was found to produce volatiles attracting "Microplitis mediator", which is a major parasitoid of the cabbage moth ("Mamestra brassicae"), which is the most important pest of cabbage ("Brassica oleracea") in central Europe. Planting "Centaurea cyanus" in cabbage fields as a companion plant was thus suggested as an alternative to the widespread use of insecticides to control "Mamestra brassicae". Field experiments showed that planting "Centaurea cyanus" in cabbage fields at a density of 1 plant / m can result in a significant increase in parasitation of "Mamestra brassicae" larvae, predation of "Mamestra brassicae" eggs (e.g. by carabid beetles or spiders) and ultimately cabbage yield.


title: Centaurea cyanus

text: "Centaurea cyanus" requires full sun and neutral (pH 6.6–7.5) to mildly alkaline (pH 7.6–7.8), moist and well-drained soil. However, "Centaurea cyanus" is quite tolerant to drought once established.


title: Centaurea cyanus

text: For summer-blooming plants, sowing should be executed in late spring. In moderate climates, however, it is also possible to sow Centaurea cyanus in early fall. In this case, plants will already start to flower in the following spring. Recommended spacing between plants is approx. 20 to 30 cm. "Centaurea cyanus" can germinate from up to 10 cm depth, but the best result is obtained at 1 cm sowing depth. Germination occurs quickly after sowing.


title: Centaurea cyanus

text: High phosphorus fertilization in mid-summer will increase flower production. Mulching is recommended to prevent drying out of the soil and exposure of the root system to the sun.


title: Centaurea cyanus

text: In general, "Centaurea cyanus" is not very susceptible to pests and plant diseases. However, it may be affected by stem rot and stem rust if grown too tightly or by powdery mildew. Furthermore, aphids and leafhoppers can cause relevant damage to "Centaurea cyanus".


title: Centaurea cyanus

text: Seeds are harvested either by hand or, in an agricultural setting, with a seed harvesting machine. On average there are 97,000 seeds in a pound of cornflower seeds.


title: Centaurea cyanus

text: A seed harvesting machine is more efficient than collecting the seeds by hand, but it is costly. The main principle of such a machine is that it brushes the ripe seeds off the plant and creates a cross flow fan action that generates sufficient air velocity to hold and gather the seeds into the seed bunker.


title: Centaurea cyanus

text: Deadheading will encourage the plant to produce more blooms. Cornflowers are often used for ornamental purposes and by cutting them, up to their third leaves, they will produce more blooms and grow a bigger stem.


title: Centaurea cyanus

text: The flowers of "Centaurea cyanus" can be eaten raw, dried or cooked. Dried petals are used in foods, including in spices. Their main purpose is to add colour to food. There are cheeses or oils that contain raw petals. Petals can also be added to salads, drinks, or desserts for garnishing purposes in raw or dried form.


title: Centaurea cyanus

text: Dried petals are also used in teas and other beverages. Blue cornflower petals are sometimes one of the ingredients in Lady Grey tea.


title: Centaurea cyanus

text: "Centaurea cyanus" is used as an ornamental plant. There are varieties with blue, white, purple, pink or even black petals.


title: Centaurea cyanus

text: The blue color of "Centaurea cyanus" is due to protocyanin, an anthocyanin pigment that is also found in roses. Different anthocyanins derived from "Centaurea cyanus" are used as natural additives in food products, such as yoghurts.


title: Centaurea cyanus

text: "Centaurea cyanus" contains a wide range of pharmacologically active compounds, such as flavonoids, anthocyanins and aromatic acids. Especially the flower head finds application in herbal medicine, but leaves and seeds are also used for pharmacological purposes, albeit to a lesser extent.


title: Centaurea cyanus

text: In particular, extracts from the flower heads have anti-inflammatory properties used in the treatment of minor ocular inflammations. Antioxidant properties are high due to ascorbic acid and phenolic compounds. Furthermore, extracts of the flower head and vegetative parts of the plant were shown to have gastroprotective effects due to their content of quercetin, apigenin and caffeic acid derivates.


title: Centaurea cyanus

text: "Centaurea cyanus" has been evaluated for phytoremediation of soils contaminated with lead. Inoculation of the contaminated soil with "Glomus spp." (fungus) and "Pseudomonas spp." (bacterium) would significantly enhance the biomass production and lead uptake of "Centaurea cyanus".


title: Centaurea cyanus

text: In folklore, cornflowers were worn by young men in love; if the flower faded too quickly, it was taken as a sign that the man's love was not returned.


title: Centaurea cyanus

text: The blue cornflower was one of the national symbols of Germany. This is partly due to the story that when Queen Louise of Prussia was fleeing Berlin and pursued by Napoleon's forces, she hid her children in a field of cornflowers and kept them quiet by weaving wreaths for them from the flowers. The flower thus became identified with Prussia, not least because it was the same color as the Prussian military uniform. After the unification of Germany in 1871, it went on to become a symbol of the country as a whole. For this reason, in Austria the blue cornflower is a political symbol for pan-German and rightist ideas. It was worn as a secret symbol identifying members of the then-illegal NSDAP in Austria in the 1930s. Members of the Freedom Party wore it at the openings of the Austrian parliament since 2006. After the last general election 2017 they replaced it with the edelweiss.


title: Centaurea cyanus

text: It was also the favourite flower of Louise's son Kaiser Wilhelm I. Because of its ties to royalty, authors such as Theodor Fontane have used it symbolically, often sarcastically, to comment on the social and political climate of the time.


title: Centaurea cyanus

text: The cornflower is also often seen as an inspiration for the German Romantic symbol of the Blue Flower.


title: Centaurea cyanus

text: Due to its traditional association with Germany, the cornflower has been made the official symbol of the annual German-American Steuben Parade.


title: Centaurea cyanus

text: The blue cornflower has been the national flower of Estonia since 1969 and symbolizes daily bread to Estonians. It is also the symbol of the Estonian Conservative People's Party.


title: Centaurea cyanus

text: It is also the symbol of the Finnish National Coalition Party, and the Liberal People's Party of Sweden, where it has since the dawn of the 20th century been a symbol for social liberalism.


title: Centaurea cyanus

text: It is the official flower of the Swedish province of Östergötland and the school flower of Winchester College and also of Dulwich College, where it is said to have been the favourite flower of the founder, Edward Alleyn.


title: Centaurea cyanus

text: In France the is the symbol of the 11 November 1918 armistice and, as such, a common symbol for veterans (especially the now defunct poilus of World War I), similar to the Remembrance poppies worn in the United Kingdom and in Canada.


title: Centaurea cyanus

text: A blue cornflower was used by Corning Glass Works for the initial release of Corning Ware Pyroceram cookware. Its popularity in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Australia was so high that it became the symbol of Corning Glass Works.


title: Downing Street

text: Downing Street is a street in Westminster in London that houses the official residences and offices of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Situated off Whitehall, it is long, and a few minutes' walk from the Houses of Parliament. Downing Street was built in the 1680s by Sir George Downing.


title: Downing Street

text: For more than three hundred years, it has held the official residences of both the First Lord of the Treasury, the office now synonymous with that of the Prime Minister, and the Second Lord of the Treasury, the office held by the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The Prime Minister's official residence is 10 Downing Street, and the Chancellor's official residence is Number 11. The government's Chief Whip has an official residence at Number 12. In practice, these office-holders may live in different flats; the current Chief Whip actually lives at Number 9. The houses on the south side of the street were demolished in the 19th century to make way for government offices now occupied by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.


title: Downing Street

text: The term "Downing Street" is also used as a metonym for the Prime Minister or the British Government more generally.


title: Downing Street

text: The street was built in the 1680s by Sir George Downing, 1st Baronet, on the site of a mansion, Hampden House. It is not known what was on the site before the mansion, but there is evidence of a brewhouse called 'The Axe', owned by the Abbey of Abingdon.


title: Downing Street

text: Downing was a soldier and diplomat who served under Oliver Cromwell and King Charles II, and who invested in properties and acquired considerable wealth. In 1654, he purchased the lease on land east of St James's Park, adjacent to the House at the Back, and within walking distance of Parliament. Downing planned to build a row of townhouses "for persons of good quality to inhabit". However, the Hampden family had a lease which prevented their construction for 30 years. When the Hampden lease expired, Downing received permission to build further west to take advantage of recent developments. The new warrant issued in 1682 reads: "Sir George Downing ... [is authorised] to build new and more houses further westward on the grounds granted him by the patent of 1663/4 Feb. 23. The present grant is by reason that the said Cockpit or the greater part thereof is since demolished; but it is to be subject to the proviso that it be not built any nearer than 14 feet of the wall of the said Park at the West end thereof."


title: Downing Street

text: Between 1682 and 1684, Downing built the cul-de-sac of two-storey townhouses with coach-houses, stables and views of St James's Park. How many he built is not clear; most historians say 15, others say 20. The addresses changed several times; Number 10 was numbered 5 for a while, and was renumbered in 1787. Downing employed Sir Christopher Wren to design the houses. Although large, they were put up quickly and cheaply on soft soil with shallow foundations. The fronts had facades with lines painted on the surface imitating brick mortar. Winston Churchill wrote that Number 10 was "shaky and lightly built by the profiteering contractor whose name they bear".


title: Downing Street

text: The upper end of the Downing Street cul-de-sac closed access to St James's Park, making the street quiet and private. An advertisement in 1720 described it as "a pretty open Place, especially at the upper end, where are four or five very large and well-built Houses, fit for Persons of Honour and Quality; each House having a pleasant Prospect into St James's Park, with a Tarras Walk". The houses had several distinguished residents. The Countess of Yarmouth lived at Number 10 between 1688 and 1689, Lord Lansdowne from 1692 to 1696 and the Earl of Grantham from 1699 to 1703. The diarist James Boswell took rooms in Downing Street during his stay in London during 1762–63 at a rent of £22 per annum. He records having dealings with prostitutes in the adjacent park.


title: Downing Street

text: Downing probably never lived in his townhouses. In 1675, he retired to Cambridge, where he died a few months after the houses were completed. His portrait hangs in the entrance foyer of the modern Number 10.


title: Downing Street

text: Downing College, Cambridge was founded in 1800, under the terms of the will of Sir George Downing, 3rd Baronet (died 1749). A door from Number 10 is in use in the college.


title: Downing Street

text: The houses between Number 10 and Whitehall were acquired by the government and demolished in 1824 to allow the construction of the Privy Council Office, Board of Trade and Treasury offices. In 1861, the houses on the south side of Downing Street were replaced by purpose-built government offices for the Foreign Office, India Office, Colonial Office, and the Home Office.


title: Downing Street

text: There used to be a public house, the Rose and Crown, in Downing Street. In 1830 the tenant was a Mr Dixon.