title: The Washington Times

text: On January 6, 2021, after violent pro-Trump rioters stormed the United States Capitol, "The Washington Times" published a false story quoting an unidentified retired military officer claiming that the facial recognition system company XRVision had used its technology and identified two members of Antifa amid the mob. XRVision quickly denied this, sending a cease and desist to "The Washington Times", and issued a statement saying that its technology had actually identified two Neo-Nazis and a believer in the QAnon conspiracy theory and that it had not done any detection work for a retired military officer authorized to share that information. On January 7, the article was removed from the website and replaced with a corrected version. Before the correction, Representative Matt Gaetz cited the original story as proof that Antifa were partially responsible for the attack in the floor debate of the 2021 United States Electoral College vote count, and it was widely shared on social media.


title: The Washington Times

text: "The Washington Times" has at least twice published articles, one written by the ambassador of Turkey to the US and one by an attorney and lobbyist for the Turkish government, that deny the Armenian genocide.


title: The Washington Times

text: "The Washington Times" is known for promoting climate change denial. Michael E. Mann, director of the Earth System Science Center at Pennsylvania State University, characterizes the "Times" as a prominent outlet that propagates "climate change disinformation." Naomi Oreskes, Professor of the History of Science at Harvard University, and Erik M. Conway, historian of science at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology, wrote in their 2010 book "Merchants of Doubt" that the "Times" has given the public a false sense that the science of anthropogenic climate change was in dispute by giving disproportionate coverage of fringe viewpoints and by preventing scientists from rebutting coverage in the "Times". "The Washington Times" reprinted a column by Steve Milloy criticizing research of climate change in the Arctic without disclosing Milloy's financial ties to the fossil fuel industry.


title: The Washington Times

text: During the Climatic Research Unit email controversy (also known as "Climategate") in 2009 in the lead-up to the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, the "Times" wrote in an editorial: "these revelations of fudged science should have a cooling effect on global-warming hysteria and the panicked policies that are being pushed forward to address the unproven theory." Eight committees investigated the controversy and found no evidence of fraud or scientific misconduct. In 2010, the "Times" published an article claiming that February 2010 snow storms "Undermin[e] The Case For Global Warming One Flake At A Time". A 2014 "Times" editorial mocked the "global warming scam" and asserted: "The planetary thermometer hasn’t budged in 15 years. Wildfires, tornadoes, hurricanes and other ‘extreme’ weather events are at normal or below-normal levels. Pacific islands aren't submerged. There's so much ice the polar bears are celebrating." The "Times" cited a blog post in support of these claims; PolitiFact fact-checked the claims in the blog post and concluded it was "pants-on-fire" false. The "Times" later said that a NASA scientist claimed that global warming was on a "hiatus" and that NASA had found evidence of global cooling; Rebecca Leber of "The New Republic" said that the NASA scientist in question said the opposite of what the "Times" claimed. In 2015, it published a column by Congressman Lamar Smith in which he argued that the work of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration was "not good science, [but] science fiction."


title: The Washington Times

text: In 1993, "The Washington Times" published articles purporting to debunk climate change. It headlined its story about the 1997 Kyoto Protocol on climate change: "Under the deal, the use of coal, oil and other fossil fuel in the United States would be cut by more than one-third by 2002, resulting in lower standards of living for consumers and a long-term reduction in economic growth."


title: The Washington Times

text: In November 2021, a study by the Center for Countering Digital Hate described "The Washington Times" as being among "ten fringe publishers" that together were responsible for nearly 70 percent of Facebook user interactions with content that denied climate change. Facebook disputed the study's methodology.<ref name="Porterfield_11/2/2021"></ref><ref name="Toxic_Ten_11/2/2021"></ref>


title: The Washington Times

text: In the 1990s, "The Washington Times" published columns which cast doubt on the scientific consensus on the causes of ozone depletion (which had led to an "ozone hole"). It published columns disputing the science as late as 2000. In 1991, NASA scientists warned of the potential of a major Arctic ozone hole developing in the spring of 1992 due to elevated levels of chlorine monoxide in the Arctic stratosphere. However, as the Arctic winter was unusually warm, the chemical reactions needed for ozone depletion did not occur. Even though the science was not incorrect, the "Times", along with other conservative media, subsequently created a "crying wolf" narrative, where scientists were portrayed as political activists who were following an environmental agenda rather than the science. In 1992, it published an editorial saying: "This is not the disinterested, objective, just-the-facts tone one ordinarily expects from scientists... This is the cry of the apocalyptic, laying the groundwork for a decidedly non-scientific end: public policy... it would be nice if the next time NASA cries 'wolf,' fewer journalists, politicians and citizens heed the warning like sheep."


title: The Washington Times

text: In 1995, "The Washington Times" published a column by Fred Singer, who is known for promoting views contrary to mainstream science on a number of issues, where Singer referred to the science on the adverse health impact of second-hand smoke as the "second-hand smoke scare" and accused the Environmental Protection Agency of distorting data when it classified second-hand smoke as harmful. In 1995, it published an editorial titled "How not to spend science dollars" condemning a grant to the National Cancer Institute to study how political contributions from tobacco companies shape policy-making and the voting behavior of politicians.


title: The Washington Times

text: In January 2020, "The Washington Times" published two widely shared articles about the COVID-19 pandemic that suggested that the virus was created by the government of the People's Republic of China as a biological weapon. One article quoted a former Israeli intelligence officer as a source.


title: The Washington Times

text: Under Pruden's editorship (1992–2008), "The Washington Times" regularly printed excerpts from racist hard-right publications including VDARE and "American Renaissance", and from Bill White, leader of the American National Socialist Workers' Party, in its Culture Briefs section.


title: The Washington Times

text: In 2013, the "Columbia Journalism Review" reported that under Pruden's editorship "The Washington Times" was: "a forum for the racialist hard right, including white nationalists, neo-Confederates, and anti-immigrant scare mongers." Between 1998 and 2004, the "Times" covered every biennial American Renaissance conference, hosted by the white supremacist New Century Foundation. According to the "Columbia Journalism Review", "the paper's coverage of these events—which are hotbeds for holocaust deniers, neo-Nazis, and eugenicists—was stunningly one sided", and favorably depicted the conference and attendees. In 2009, journalist David Neiwert wrote that it championed, "various white-nationalist causes emanating from the neo-Confederate movement (with which, until a recent housecleaning, two senior editors had long associations.)"


title: The Washington Times

text: A page in "The Washington Times" Sunday edition was devoted to the American Civil War, on which the Confederacy was several times described with admiration. In 1993, Pruden gave an interview to the neo-Confederate magazine "Southern Partisan", which has been called "arguably the most important neo-Confederate periodical" by the Southern Poverty Law Center, where he said: "Every year I make sure that we have a story in the paper about any observance of Robert E. Lee's birthday." Pruden said, "And the fact that it falls around Martin Luther King’s birthday," to which a "Southern Partisan" interviewer interjected, "Makes it all the better," with Pruden finishing, "I make sure we have a story. Oh, yes."


title: The Washington Times

text: "The Washington Times" employed Sam Francis, a white nationalist, as a columnist and editor, beginning in 1991 after he was chosen by Pat Buchanan to take over his column. In 1995, Francis resigned or was forced out after Dinesh D'Souza reported on racist comments that Francis made at a conference hosted by "American Renaissance" the previous year. At the conference, Francis called on whites to: "reassert our identity and our solidarity, and we must do so in explicitly racial terms through the articulation of a racial consciousness as whites... The civilization that we as whites created in Europe and America could not have developed apart from the genetic endowments of the creating people."


title: The Washington Times

text: Francis was an aide to Republican Senator John East of North Carolina before joining the editorial staff of "The Washington Times" in 1986. Five years later, he became a columnist for the newspaper, and his column became syndicated.


title: The Washington Times

text: In addition to his journalistic career, Francis was an adjunct scholar at the Ludwig von Mises Institute of Auburn, Alabama.


title: The Washington Times

text: In June 1995, editor-in-chief Wesley Pruden "had cut back on Francis' column" after "The Washington Times" ran his essay criticizing the Southern Baptist Convention for its approval of a resolution which apologized for slavery. In the piece, Francis asserted that "The contrition of the Southern Baptists for slavery and racism is a bit more than a politically fashionable gesture intended to massage race relations" and that "Neither slavery' nor racism' as an institution is a sin."


title: The Washington Times

text: In September 1995, Pruden fired Francis from "The Washington Times" after conservative journalist Dinesh D'Souza, in a column in "The Washington Post", described Francis's appearance at the 1994 "American Renaissance" conference:


title: The Washington Times

text: A lively controversialist, Francis began with some largely valid complaints about how the Southern heritage is demonized in mainstream culture. He went on, however, to attack the liberal principles of humanism and universalism for facilitating "the war against the white race." At one point he described country music megastar Garth Brooks as "repulsive" because "he has that stupid universalist song "(We Shall Be Free)", in which we all intermarry." His fellow whites, he insisted, must "reassert our identity and our solidarity, and we must do so in explicitly racial terms through the articulation of a racial consciousness as whites ... The civilization that we as whites created in Europe and America could not have developed apart from the genetic endowments of the creating people, nor is there any reason to believe that the civilization can be successfully transmitted to a different people."


title: The Washington Times

text: After D'Souza's column was published, Pruden "decided he did not want the Times associated with such views after looking into other Francis writings, in which he advocated the possible deportation of legal immigrants and forced birth control for welfare mothers."


title: The Washington Times

text: I believe there are racial differences, there are natural differences between the races. I don't believe that one race is better than another. There's reasonably solid evidence for IQ differences, personality and behavior differences. I understand those things have been taken to justify segregation and white supremacy. That is not my intent.


title: The Washington Times

text: When Francis died in 2005, "The Washington Times" wrote a "glowing" obituary that omitted his racist beliefs, as well as his firing from the paper, and described him as a "scholarly, challenging and sometimes pungent writer"; in response, editor David Mastio of the conservative "Washington Examiner" wrote in an obituary: "Sam Francis was merely a racist and doesn’t deserve to be remembered as anything less." Mastio added that Francis: "led a double life by day he served up conservative, red meat that was strong but never quite out of bounds by mainstream standards; by night, unbeknownst to the "Times" or his syndicate, he pushed white supremacist ideas."


title: The Washington Times

text: The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) noted that "The Washington Times" had, by 2005, published at least 35 articles by Marian Kester Coombs, who was married to managing editor Francis Coombs. She had a record of racially incendiary rhetoric and had written for the white nationalist magazine "The Occidental Quarterly", which has been described as a "stalwart" of the alt-right movement in the United States and as a "far-right, racially obsessed US magazine." The SPLC highlighted columns written by Marian Kester Coombs in "The Washington Times", in which she asserted that the whole of human history was "the struggle of ... races"; that non-white immigration is the "importing [of] poverty and revolution" that will end in "the eventual loss of sovereign American territory"; and that Muslims in England "are turning life in this once pleasant land into a misery for its native inhabitants."


title: The Washington Times

text: In 2007 "The Washington Times"' companion news magazine "Insight on the News" (also called just "Insight") published a story which claimed that someone on the campaign staff of American presidential candidate Senator Hillary Clinton had leaked a report to one of "Insight's" reporters which said that Obama had "spent at least four years in a so-called madrassa, or Muslim seminary, in Indonesia". "Insight's" editor, Jeff Kuhner, also claimed that the source said that the Clinton campaign was "preparing an accusation that her rival Senator Barack Obama had covered up a brief period he had spent in an Islamic religious school in Indonesia when he was six." Clinton denied the allegations. When interviewed by the "New York Times", Kuhner refused to name the person said to be the reporter's source.


title: The Washington Times

text: "Insight's" story was reported on first by conservative talk radio and "Fox News Channel", and then by "The New York Times" and other major newspapers. CNN reporter John Vause visited State Elementary School Menteng 01, a secular public school which Obama had attended for one year after attending a Roman Catholic school for three, and found that each student received two hours of religious instruction per week in his or her own faith. He was told by Hardi Priyono, deputy headmaster of the school, "This is a public school. We don't focus on religion. In our daily lives, we try to respect religion, but we don't give preferential treatment." Students at Besuki wore Western clothing, and the "Chicago Tribune" described the school as "so progressive that teachers wore miniskirts and all students were encouraged to celebrate Christmas". Interviews by Nedra Pickler of the Associated Press found that students of all faiths have been welcome there since before Obama's attendance. Akmad Solichin, the vice principal of the school, told Pickler: “The allegations are completely baseless. Yes, most of our students are Muslim, but there are Christians as well. Everyone's welcome here ... it's a public school.”


title: The Washington Times

text: In 2008, "The Washington Times" published a column by Frank Gaffney that promoted the false conspiracy theories which asserted that President Barack Obama was born in Kenya and was courting the "jihadist vote." Gaffney also published pieces in 2009 and 2010 promoting the false assertion that Obama is a Muslim.


title: The Washington Times

text: In a 2009 column entitled "'Inner Muslim' at work in Cairo", Pruden wrote that President Obama was the: "first president without an instinctive appreciation of the culture, history, tradition, common law and literature whence America sprang. The genetic imprint writ large in his 43 predecessors is missing from the Obama DNA." In another 2009 column, Pruden wrote that Obama had "no natural instinct or blood impulse” for what America was about because he was “sired by a Kenyan father” and “born to a mother attracted to men of the Third World." Pruden's columns stirred controversy, leading "The Washington Times" to assign David Mastio, its deputy editor, to edit his work.


title: The Washington Times

text: In 2016, "The Washington Times" claimed that $3.6 million in federal funds were spent on a 2013 golf outing for President Obama and pro-golfer Tiger Woods which was widely reported on by the American news media in 2013. "Snopes" rated the article "mostly false", because the estimated cost included both official presidential travel and a brief vacation in Florida. The online article contained hyperlinks to other, unrelated, stories from "The Washington Times". These links' appearance were not readily distinguishable from the citation links sometimes used to support or substantiate reporting. Not included in the article were any links to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) report of expenditure for the 2013 trip, which included a detailed overview of President Obama's activities of 15 February to 18 February 2013.


title: The Washington Times

text: Rock musician Ted Nugent wrote weekly columns for "The Washington Times" between 2010 and 2012. Prior to joining the "Times", Nugent stirred controversy by referring to President Obama as a "piece of shit" and calling on him "to suck on my machine gun", and had also pledged fealty to the Confederate flag. In 2012, Nugent was visited by the Secret Service after he alluded to beheading President Obama. He said that if Obama would win re-election: "I will either be dead or in jail by this time next year." At the time, Mitt Romney's presidential campaign condemned Nugent's remarks; "Post" media critic Erik Wemple noted that there was no response by "The Washington Times". In 2014, Nugent (who had by then departed from the "Times") called Obama a "communist-educated, communist-nurtured subhuman mongrel." That February, Nugent had endorsed Greg Abbott in the Republican primary election for Texas Governor. Abbott distanced himself from Nugent saying, "This is not the kind of language I would use or endorse in any way." After being further chastised about it by Senator Rand Paul, Nugent apologized for the comment. Pruden condemned Nugent's remarks, describing Nugent as an "aging rock musician with a loose mouth who was semifamous 40 years ago." David Weigel remarked in "Slate": "That long ago? Only a year ago, he filed a special column for the "Washington Times". Before that, for a few years, he published a weekly column."


title: The Washington Times

text: Gaffney, known for his "long history of pushing extreme anti-Muslim views", wrote weekly columns for "The Washington Times" from the late 1990s to 2016. According to John Esposito, a Professor of Religion and International Affairs and of Islamic Studies at Georgetown University, Gaffney's "editorial track record in the "Washington Times" is long on accusation and short on supportive evidence." In columns for the "Times", Gaffney helped to popularize conspiracy theories that Islamic terrorists were infiltrating the Bush administration, the conservative movement and the Obama administration. In 2015, the "Times" published a column describing refugees fleeing the Syrian Civil War as an "Islamic Trojan Horse" conducting a "'jihad' by another name."


title: The Washington Times

text: The Muslim advocacy group Council on American–Islamic Relations listed "The Washington Times" among media outlets it said "regularly demonstrates or supports Islamophobic themes." In 1998, the Egyptian newspaper "Al-Ahram" wrote that its editorial policy was "rabidly anti-Arab, anti-Muslim and pro-Israel."


title: Dance-punk

text: Dance-punk (also known as disco-punk, punk-funk or techno-punk) is a post-punk subgenre that emerged in the late 1970s, and is closely associated with the disco, post-disco and new wave movements.


title: Dance-punk

text: Many groups in the post-punk era adopted a more danceable style. These bands were influenced by funk, disco, new wave, and other dance music popular at the time (as well as being anticipated by some artists from 1970s including Sparks and Iggy Pop). Influential bands from the 1980s included Talking Heads, Public Image Ltd., New Order, Gang of Four, Pigbag, the Clash, the Pop Group, Maximum Joy, Minutemen, and Red Hot Chili Peppers. New York City dance-punk included Defunkt, Material, James Chance and the Contortions, Cristina Monet, Bush Tetras, ESG, and Liquid Liquid. German punk singer Nina Hagen had an underground dance hit in 1983 with "New York / N.Y.", which mixed her searing punk (and opera) vocals with disco beats.


title: Dance-punk

text: Although dance-punk faded with the rise of New wave music in the early 1980s, it made a comeback in the late 1990s and early 2000s as part of the post-punk revival. Dance-punk bands emerged from the pop-punk and garage rock revivals of the late 1990s. Well-known are acts such as LCD Soundsystem, Clinic, Death from Above 1979, !!!, Hockey, Liars, Franz Ferdinand, Hot Hot Heat, Foals, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Bloc Party, Kasabian, You Say Party, the Faint, Arctic Monkeys, the Rapture, Shout Out Out Out Out, and Radio 4, joined by dance-oriented acts who adopted rock sounds such as Out Hud. In the early 2000s Washington, D.C. had a popular and notable punk-funk scene, inspired by Fugazi, post-punk, and go-go acts like Trouble Funk and Rare Essence, including bands like Q and Not U, Black Eyes, and Baltimore's Oxes, Double Dagger, and Dope Body. In Britain the combination of indie with dance-punk was dubbed new rave in publicity for Klaxons and the term was picked up and applied by the "NME" to bands including Trash Fashion, New Young Pony Club, Hadouken!, Late of the Pier, Test Icicles, and Shitdisco forming a scene with a similar visual aesthetic to earlier raves.


title: Mick Wingert

text: Micky R. Wingert (born July 4, 1974) is an American voice actor. He is known for his role as the voice of Master Po and Zeng in "", taking over the roles from actors Jack Black and Dan Fogler, respectively; as well as Iron Man in various Marvel productions. He also does additional voice-over work in "Kung Fu Panda", "Mass Effect 2", "", "The Technomancer", "The Princess and the Frog", "What If...?", and "The NoSleep Podcast".


title: Mick Wingert

text: Wingert has been working as a voice actor since 2004 and became a transplant to Southern California that same year. He studied theater and mass communication at California State University and began working as a voice actor for local and regional advertising. He voiced Ludwig in The Cuphead Show!


title: Mick Wingert

text: Wingert voiced Po in the TV show "". Wingert has been praised by "Kung Fu Panda" fans for his accurate impression of Jack Black. He is also the voice of Po in the "Kung Fu Panda" video games and "".


title: Mick Wingert

text: Wingert has worked as a voice actor in "The Princess and the Frog" as additional voices and "" as the A.I. for Beta Ray Bill's ship Skuttlebutt. Wingert was also cast in other video games, like "Mass Effect 2" (as well as in hundreds of radio commercials in Southern California and on TV commercials across the country).


title: Mick Wingert

text: Recently, Wingert has voiced Iron Man / Tony Stark for the "Avengers Assemble" animated series, replacing Adrian Pasdar. He has since reprised the role in "", "", "", "", "Marvel Future Avengers", "Marvel Rising", "Guardians of the Galaxy" and "Spider-Man". He also voices the character's MCU version in "What If...?"


title: Oranges and Lemons

text: "Oranges and Lemons" is a traditional English nursery rhyme, folksong, and singing game which refers to the bells of several churches, all within or close to the City of London. It is listed in the Roud Folk Song Index as No 13190. The earliest known printed version appeared c. 1744.


title: Oranges and Lemons

text: The song is used in a children's singing game with the same name, in which the players file, in pairs, through an arch made by two of the players (made by having the players face each other, raise their arms over their head, and clasp their partners' hands). The challenge comes during the final lines beginning "Here comes a chopper to chop off your head"; and on the final repetition of "chop" in the last line, the children forming the arch drop their arms to catch the pair of children currently passing through. These are then "out" and must form another arch next to the existing one. In this way, the series of arches becomes a steadily lengthening tunnel through which each set of two players has to run faster and faster to escape in time.


title: Oranges and Lemons

text: Alternative versions of the game include: children caught "out" by the last rhyme may stand behind one of the children forming the original arch, instead of forming additional arches; and children forming "arches" may bring their hands down for each word of the last line, while the children passing through the arches run as fast as they can to avoid being caught on the last word.


title: Oranges and Lemons

text: Various theories have been advanced to account for the rhyme, including: that it deals with child sacrifice; that it describes public executions; that it describes Henry VIII's marital difficulties. Problematically for these theories the last two lines, with their different metre, do not appear in the earlier recorded versions of the rhyme, including the first printed in "Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book" (c. 1744), where the lyrics are:


title: Oranges and Lemons

text: There is considerable variation in the churches and lines attached to them in versions printed in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, which makes any overall meaning difficult to establish. The final two lines of the modern version were first collected by James Orchard Halliwell in the 1840s.


title: Oranges and Lemons

text: "Oranges and Lemons" was the title of a square dance, published from the third (1657) edition onwards of "The Dancing Master". Similar rhymes naming churches and giving rhymes to their names can be found in other parts of England, including Shropshire and Derby, where they were sung on festival days on which bells would also have been rung.


title: Oranges and Lemons

text: The identity of the London churches is not always clear, but the following have been suggested, along with some factors that may have influenced the accompanying statements:


title: Oranges and Lemons

text: The tune is reminiscent of change ringing, and the intonation of each line is said to correspond with the distinct sounds of each church's bells. Today, the bells of St Clement Danes ring out the tune of the rhyme—as reported in 1940 the church's playing of the tune was interrupted during World War II due to Nazi bombing of the church during the Blitz. As is the case with almost all traditional songs, there were minor variations in the melody. Collector of British folk songs, James Madison Carpenter, recorded two versions of the song in the 1930s which are now available on the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library website: one in Garsington, Oxfordshire and another somewhere in either Yorkshire or Lincolnshire. These recordings show slight melodic and lyrical variations.


title: Oranges and Lemons

text: A setting of the full "Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book" version for choir was written by Bob Chilcott. Entitled "London Bells", it is the third movement of "Songs and Cries of London Town" (2001).


title: Oranges and Lemons

text: Benjamin Till composed music based upon the nursery rhyme which was performed in 2009 at St Mary-le-Bow, London to honour 150 years of the great bell, Big Ben.


title: Oranges and Lemons

text: The nursery rhyme appears several times in the novel "Nineteen Eighty-Four" by George Orwell. It appears in the Roald Dahl short story "A Piece of Cake," which is included in his collection "The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More". The song and its associated game feature in the 1970 British horror comedy, "Mumsy, Nanny, Sonny and Girly", as well as the novella by its screenwriter, Brian Comport. It also appears in the book "Private Peaceful" by Michael Morpurgo and its 2012 film adaption, frequently sung by the character Big Joe. The rhyme, featured in the 2017 supernatural horror film "It", was also featured in the piano music that opens and closes the film.


title: Oranges and Lemons

text: The phrase "Here Comes a Candle" was used by Fredric Brown as the title of one of his novels. A character in Neil Gaiman's "The Sandman", writer Erasmus Fry, likewise titles one of his novels "Here Comes a Candle". The album "Oranges & Lemons" by XTC takes its name from the nursery rhyme.


title: Jean, Count of Paris

text: Jean Carl Pierre Marie d'Orléans (born 19 May 1965) is the current head of the House of Orléans. Jean is the senior male descendant by primogeniture in the male-line of Louis-Philippe I, King of the French, and thus, according to the Orléanists, the legitimate claimant to the throne of France as Jean IV. Of France's three monarchist movements, Orléanism, Legitimism and Bonapartism, most royalists are Orléanists. Jean is the second son of the late Henri, Count of Paris (1933–2019) and his former wife Duchess Marie-Thérèse of Württemberg (b. 1934). With the death of his father, he has been using the style of Count of Paris since 2019.


title: Jean, Count of Paris

text: Jean d'Orléans was born on 19 May 1965 in Boulogne-Billancourt, the son of Henri of Orleans and Maria Theresa of Württemberg. He was baptized in the Catholic Church on 14 June 1965 in the Royal Chapel of Dreux. He received as godfather, his maternal uncle, Carl of Württemberg, and as godmother, his paternal aunt, Princess Chantal of Orleans.


title: Jean, Count of Paris

text: After attending the Passy-Saint-Nicolas-Buzenval, a private Catholic secondary school, he attended the Sorbonne, where he obtained a master's degree in philosophy in 1989. In 1992, he earned a master's degree in law from the Free Faculty of Law, Economics and Management of Paris. In 1994, he earned a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Azusa Pacific University in Los Angeles, California.


title: Jean, Count of Paris

text: Jean completed his national service as an officer, first taking four months of classes at the École de cavalerie in Saumur. He was assigned as an officer aspirant, and then as a second lieutenant, and has been a reserve colonel of the French Army since January 2015.


title: Jean, Count of Paris

text: After finishing his military duties, he began to work as a consultant at Lazard, then as a financial consultant at Deloitte, followed by working as a project manager at the Groupe Banque Populaire.


title: Jean, Count of Paris

text: Prince Jean was due to marry Duchess Tatjana of Oldenburg (b. 1974) in 2001. Duchess Tatjana is the youngest daughter of Duke Johann of Oldenburg (b. 1940) and his wife, Countess Ilka of Ortenburg (b. 1942). Her elder sister Eilika married Archduke Georg of Austria in 1997. However, the wedding was cancelled at the last moment because of a dispute over religious denomination: Jean's father, Henri, feared the Orléans claim to the throne would be compromised if there were to be a Protestant heir.


title: Jean, Count of Paris

text: On 29 November 2008, Henri,then Count of Paris, announced the engagement of Jean, the then Duke of Vendôme, to Maria Magdalena Philomena Juliana Johanna de Tornos y Steinhart, born in Vienna on 19 June 1977. The pair are distantly related, as both are descendants of Count Jaroslav Bořita of Martinice and his first wife, Eusebia von Sternberg (1584–1634). The civil wedding, conducted by Mayor Rachida Dati, took place on 19 March 2009 in Paris. The religious wedding was held on 2 May 2009 at the Cathédrale Notre-Dame at Senlis, with a reception at the Château de Chantilly. The bride wore a gown by Christian Lacroix and a jacket embroidered by Maison Lesage.


title: Jean, Count of Paris

text: In 2021, Jean filed a lawsuit against the Saint-Louis foundation, demanding €1 million in damages and the return of five properties, including the Château d'Amboise. In 1886, the château was bequeathed to the Institute of France by Jean's ancestor Henri d’Orléans, with the caveat that the property would never be altered by the institute. The Saint-Louis foundation was later founded by Jean's grandfather, Henri VI, Count of Paris, in 1974. Jean's lawsuit alleges that the Institute violated their contract to never alter the property, after they announced plans to transform the Pavillon d’Enghien into a €760-a-night luxury hotel, containing a spa and gastronomic restaurant. Jean had previously lived in the château from 2001 to September 2021 rent-free, but was forcefully evicted by the institute after they began to demand he pay rent, which Jean viewed as a violation of their contract.


title: Jean, Count of Paris

text: Jean believes that the people of France are "monarchist at heart" and argues that they long for a non-partisan figurehead. He has spoken in support of the Yellow vests protests in France. Jean has also expressed his opposition to same-sex marriage, having participated in the protests, as well as abortion.


title: Jean, Count of Paris

text: In May 2019, Jean met with French President Emmanuel Macron, Brigitte Macron, and Italian President Sergio Mattarella in his then-home in the Château d'Amboise.


title: Jean, Count of Paris

text: Following the death of his father, it was initially thought that Prince Jean would not assume the title of Count of Paris for several months after his father's death, and possibly not for as much as one year.


title: Jean, Count of Paris

text: Jean is a direct male-line descendant of Louis Philippe I, the last French king, who in turn was a descendant of Philippe I, Duke of Orléans, the younger brother of Louis XIV of France. Jean is also descended from Charles X of France, brother of Louis XVI; and the Bourbons of Spain, the Two Sicilies and Parma.


title: Alexei Mordashov

text: Alexey Alexandrovich Mordashov (; born 26 September 1965) is a Russian billionaire businessman. He is the main shareholder and chairman of Severstal, Russia's largest steel and mining company.


title: Alexei Mordashov

text: As of March 2022, "Bloomberg Billionaires Index" estimated Mordashov's personal net worth at US$21.2 billion, making him the second-richest person in Russia. In the Forbes ranking, which takes into account the assets of the whole family, Mordashov ranks first among Russian billionaires ($29.1B).


title: Alexei Mordashov

text: When he was 37, Forbes ordained him (along with Oprah) as a "new arrival" in the world of billionaires.


title: Alexei Mordashov

text: Mordashov was mentioned in the Panama Papers and FinCEN files leaks – a company associated with Mordashov paid for a number of Vladimir Putin's pet projects and gave generously to close Putin associates.


title: Alexei Mordashov

text: He is under sanctions due to Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. According to the EU, Rossiya Bank, which Mordashov owns a financial stake in, is the "personal bank" of the senior officials who benefitted from the annexation of Crimea.


title: Alexei Mordashov

text: Mordashov is the son of Russian parents, who were both steel mill workers. According to Mordashov, his family used welfare coupons, allowed only 200g of butter and 400g of sausages per month. He graduated with a bachelor's degree from the Leningrad Engineering-Economical Institute, currently known as ENGECON. He later gained an MBA from Northumbria University in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, in 2001. In an address to students at the European University at Saint Petersburg, Mordashov spoke about his decision to study in Leningrad rather than Moscow and the value his undergraduate studies played in his search for employment and eventual career path. Returning to Cherepovets, he started his career by joining the same steel plant where his parents had worked.


title: Alexei Mordashov

text: In 1988 he joined Cherepovetskiy Metallurgical Plant after graduation from Leningrad Engineering-Economical Institut as an economist. By 1992 he became finance director, shortly before the company was privatised. When the plant's elderly director instructed him to acquire shares to keep them out of the hands of an outsider, he formed two investment funds and, by buying up workers' shares, built a major stake in the factory. In 1996 he was appointed as CEO of the company. He went on to build a conglomerate, Severstal, acquiring steel, coal and mining companies.


title: Alexei Mordashov

text: In 2004, Mordashov started investing in US steel companies, purchasing companies in Dearborn, MI and Columbus, MS. The acquisition included the Rouge Plant in Dearborn. He received a loan from the United States Department of Energy to renovate and refurbish the manufacturing plants in Dearborn. The value of the loan, over $370 million, was revoked in 2012, after growing political tensions between the US and Russia.


title: Alexei Mordashov

text: Between 2004 and 2014, Mordashov and Severstal invested up to $3 billion in both the Dearborn and Columbus plants. In 2011 he sold a number of US assets in Ohio, Maryland and West Virginia to the Renco Group, owned by industrialist Ira Rennert. By 2014 all of Severstal's US investments had been sold for a total of $2.3 billion.


title: Alexei Mordashov

text: His company Severstal planned a multibillion-dollar project in joint venture with POSCO in eastern India. After ten years of not getting environmental and land clearances, his company opted out in 2008.


title: Alexei Mordashov

text: In autumn 2007, Mordashov purchased shares in TUI Travel. As he increased his stake to the largest single shareholder through his S-Group Travel, TUI Travel under Michael Frenzel expanded into Eastern Europe and Russia in 2008, China and India in 2009, and sold off its shipping interests, Hapag-Lloyd AG, to the "Albert Ballin Consortium" in March 2009. In 2014, he held a blocking stake of more than 25% in TUI Travel when TUI Travel was absorbed by TUI Group. In October 2018, he has a 24.9% stake in TUI Group through his S-Group Travel and has been on the TUI Group supervisory board since 2016.


title: Alexei Mordashov

text: In 2008, Mordashov, Surgutneftegas and Rossiya Bank created the National Media Group, which now owns packages in TV channels (Fifth, First, REN TV)


title: Alexei Mordashov

text: In 2011, Mordashov purchased 25% of the shares in steam turbine manufacturer, Power Machines, from Siemens. In 2013, with partner Yuri Kovalchuk, Mordashov bought 50% of Tele2 Russia, the country's 4th largest mobile phone operator.


title: Alexei Mordashov

text: In 2012, Mordashov consolidated Severstal's gold mining assets into one company, Nord Gold N.V. The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE: NORD LI). In 2013, Nord Gold was awarded a license to embark on gold exploration in Siberia. In 2017 Mordashov announced plans to delist Nordgold from the London Stock Exchange (LSE) citing unfair valuation as the reason. The LSE requires that companies have at least 25% as free float, while Mordashov owns 91% of the company.


title: Alexei Mordashov

text: Mordashov was elected as chairman of the World Steel Association in October 2012. In 2011, he was the only Russian participant in a meeting of Bilderberg Club at St Moritz, Switzerland.


title: Alexei Mordashov

text: In 2015, Mordashov stepped down as CEO, appointing former COO Vadim Larin, in his place. Mordashov would be appointed as chairman. The changes were confirmed by Severstal.


title: Alexei Mordashov

text: On 10 October 2017 Alexey Mordashov became a Commander of the Order of Merit of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.


title: Alexei Mordashov

text: On 28 February 2022, in relation to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the European Union blacklisted Mordashov and had all his assets frozen. In early March, the Italian police seized one of his yachts, the "Lady M". At that time, another one of his yachts, the "Nord", was outside the European Unions jurisdiction in the Seychelles.


title: Alexei Mordashov

text: The Pandora Papers were a collection of nearly 12 million leaked confidential financial records compiled by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. Within those records are details of how a special unit known as "Cypriot" within accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) helped Mordashov "build the offshore infrastructure of his business empire." The firm helped set up over 65 shell companies in various "secrecy jurisdictions" such as the British Virgin Islands on behalf of a holding company connected to Mordashov. Through these shell companies, Mordashov expanded his presence in the logging, coal, and media industries inside Russia.


title: Alexei Mordashov

text: Mordashov and his first wife Elena (sometimes Yelena) have a son, Ilya, and divorced in 1996. In 2001, it was revealed in a St Petersburg divorce court that he was paying only $620 a month to support his ex-wife and son, when she sued him for half of his pre-divorce property but lost the case and incurred large fees. The case was eventually settled after she took it to the European Court of Human Rights.


title: Alexei Mordashov

text: By 2001, Mordashov had married his second wife, also Elena, and had had two more sons - Kirill and Nikita.


title: Alexei Mordashov

text: In 2018-2019, for Kirill and Nikita the KN-holding company was created, to which Mordashov transferred his shares in Nordgold and TUI. In this way, the businessman hoped to transfer business experience to his sons. But in 2021, Nikita lost his share due to unsuccessful studies and leaving for military service.


title: Alexei Mordashov

text: In 2022, the ICIJ reported that Mordashov transferred most of his ownership stake in tourism conglomerate TUI to a Caribbean shell company controlled by Marina Mordashova who is reportedly the mother of some of his children.


title: Collegiate wrestling

text: Collegiate wrestling (also known as folkstyle wrestling) is the form of wrestling practiced at the college and university level in the United States. This style of wrestling, with some slight modifications, is also practiced at high school and middle school levels, and also among younger participants. The rules and style of collegiate or folkstyle wrestling differs from other styles of wrestling that are practiced around the world such as those in the Olympic Games, freestyle wrestling and Greco-Roman wrestling.


title: Collegiate wrestling

text: Women's wrestling at the US college level uses two different rulesets. The National Wrestling Coaches Association, whose women's division is now recognized by the NCAA as part of its Emerging Sports for Women program, uses the freestyle ruleset as defined by the sport's international governing body, United World Wrestling. The National Collegiate Wrestling Association, a separate governing body that conducts competition for colleges and universities parallel to but outside the scope of the NCAA, uses collegiate rules in its women's division.


title: Collegiate wrestling

text: Collegiate and freestyle wrestling, unlike Greco-Roman, also both allow the use of the wrestler's or his opponent's legs in offense and defense.


title: Collegiate wrestling

text: There are some scoring differences. For example, in collegiate wrestling, "exposure" points are not given to a wrestler for simply forcing the opponent's shoulders to quickly rotate and be exposed to the mat. Instead, for example, a wrestler must control one of the opponent's shoulders on the mat and have the opponent's other shoulder forced to the mat at an angle of 45 degrees or less for two to five seconds to score. The points generated in this situation are called "near fall" points. This shows a difference in focus: while the international styles encourage explosive action and risk, collegiate wrestling encourages and rewards control over the opponent.


title: Collegiate wrestling

text: This emphasis on control was present in collegiate wrestling from its earliest days. Since 1915, collegiate wrestling officials have recorded the time that each participant had in controlling his opponent on the mat (known as "time advantage" or "riding time"). Early on, this was the major way to determine the winner in the absence of a fall. Over time, the significance of such timekeeping has declined, and now such "time advantage" only counts for one point in college competition at the most. As in both of the international styles, a wrestler can win the match by pinning both of his opponent's shoulders or both of his opponent's scapulae (shoulder blades) to the mat.


title: Collegiate wrestling

text: In collegiate wrestling, there is an additional position to commence wrestling after the first period, and also to resume wrestling after various other situations. All three styles begin a match with both wrestlers facing each other on their feet with the opportunity given to both to score a takedown and thus gain control over the opponent. In collegiate wrestling, once a takedown is scored, the wrestler under control in the inferior (defensive or bottom) position remains there until he escapes the move, until he reverses the position, until the period ends, or until various penalty situations occur. The inferior position is one possible choice for a starting position in the second and third periods, known as the "referee's position". The referee's position is roughly analogous to the "par terre" starting position in the international wrestling styles. In the international styles, the "par terre" starting position is not utilized as often as the referee's position is in collegiate wrestling. In the two international styles, the inferior position in the "par terre" starting position is now used to penalize a wrestler who has committed an illegal act.


title: Collegiate wrestling

text: In collegiate wrestling, there is a de-emphasis on "throws", or maneuvers where the other wrestler is taken off his feet, taken through the air, and lands on his back or shoulders. This lack of emphasis on throws is another example of how collegiate wrestling emphasizes dominance or control, as opposed to the element of risk and explosive action. A legal throw in collegiate wrestling is awarded the same number of points as any other takedown. In freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling, points awarded for a wrestler's takedowns increase with the level of explosiveness seen in the throws. Well-executed throws can even win a period in the international styles, especially when a throw is of grand amplitude (a throw in which a wrestler takes an opponent off of the mat and controls his opponent so that his feet go directly above his head). In collegiate wrestling, some of the throws seen in the international styles may even be illegal, such as a full-back suplex from a rear standing position. However, many collegiate wrestlers still incorporate some throws into their repertoire of moves because a thrown opponent often lands on his back or shoulders and thus in a position more conducive to producing near fall points or securing a fall.


title: Collegiate wrestling

text: Generally, rather than lifting the opponent or throwing him for grand amplitude in order to win the period as in the international styles, the collegiate wrestler most often seeks to take his opponent down to the mat and perform a "breakdown" (that is, to get his opponent in the defensive position flat on his stomach or side). With the opponent off of his base of support (that is, off of his hands and knees), the collegiate wrestler in the offensive position would then seek to run pinning combinations, or combinations of techniques designed to secure a fall. Failing to gain a fall could still result in an advantage in riding time and potential nearfall points.


title: Collegiate wrestling

text: The defensive wrestler could counter such attempts for a takedown, or when once taken down try to escape his opponent's control or reverse control altogether. In a last-ditch attempt to foil a fall, the defensive wrestler could also "bridge" out of his opponent's control (that is, pry his head, his back, and both of his feet up from the mat and then turn toward his stomach). Overall, a collegiate wrestler in his techniques would most likely emphasize physical control and dominance over the opponent on the mat.


title: Collegiate wrestling

text: There were already wrestling styles among Native Americans varying from tribe and nation by the 15th and 16th centuries, when the first Europeans settled. The English and French who settled on the North American continent sought out wrestling as a popular pastime. Soon, there were local champions in every settlement, with contests between them on a regional level. The colonists in what would become the United States started out with something more akin to Greco-Roman wrestling, but soon found that style too restrictive in favor of a style with a greater allowance of holds.


title: Collegiate wrestling

text: The Irish were known for their "collar-and-elbow" style, a variant of jacket wrestling (which was popular across Europe), in which wrestlers at the start of the match would grasp each other by the collar with one hand and by the elbow with the other. From this position, wrestlers sought to achieve a fall. If no fall occurred, the wrestlers would continue grappling both standing on their feet and on the ground until a fall was made. Irish immigrants later brought this style to the United States where it soon became widespread.


title: Collegiate wrestling

text: The Cornish were well known for their style of wrestling (another variant of jacket wrestling), Cornish wrestling, and this style became very popular in the US, Australia, New Zealand, Britain and South Africa. Many world champions came from the US, such as Jack Carkeek.


title: Collegiate wrestling

text: Other British wrestling included the backhold styles (Cumberland Wrestling and Scottish Backhold) and what became known as "catch-as-catch-can" wrestling, which had a particular following in Great Britain and the variant developed in Lancashire had a particular effect on future freestyle wrestling in particular.


title: Collegiate wrestling

text: By the 18th century, wrestling soon became recognized as a legitimate spectator sport, despite its roughness. Among those who were well known for their wrestling techniques were several U.S. Presidents. Since "catch-as-catch-can" wrestling was very similar, it gained great popularity in fairs and festivals in the United States during the 19th century. The collar-and-elbow style was also refined by later Irish immigrants, and gained great ground because of the success of George William Flagg from Vermont, the wrestling champion of the Army of the Potomac. After the Civil War, freestyle wrestling began to emerge as a distinct sport, and soon spread rapidly in the United States. Professional wrestling also emerged in the late 19th century (not like the "sports-entertainment" seen today). By the 1880s, American wrestling became organized, with matches often being conducted alongside gymnastic meets and boxing tournaments in athletic clubs. The growth of cities, industrialization, and the closing of the frontier provided the necessary avenue for sports such as wrestling to increase in popularity.


title: Collegiate wrestling

text: In 1902, the first intercollegiate dual meet took place between Yale University and Columbia University. The Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association held its first tournament in 1905, which soon sparked many more wrestling tournaments for both college and university students and high school students. Edward Clark Gallagher, a football and track and field athlete at Oklahoma A&M College (now Oklahoma State University), launched wrestling as an official varsity sport just before World War I and with his team launched a dynasty, with undefeated matches from 1921 to 1931. In 1927, Raymond G. Clapp published the rules for collegiate wrestling, and the next year, the first NCAA Wrestling Championships took place on March 30 to 31 on the campus of Iowa State College. The rules of collegiate wrestling marked a sharp contrast to the freestyle wrestling rules of the International Amateur Wrestling Federation (IAWF) and the AAU. From then on, collegiate wrestling emerged as a distinctly American sport. College and high school wrestling grew especially after the standardization of the NCAA wrestling rules, which applied early on to both collegiate and scholastic wrestling (with high school modifications). More colleges, universities, and junior colleges began offering dual meets and tournaments, including championships and having organized wrestling seasons. There were breaks in wrestling seasons because of World War I and World War II, but in the high schools especially, state association wrestling championships sprung up in different regions throughout the 1930s and 1940s. As amateur wrestling grew after World War II, various collegiate athletic conferences also increased the number and quality of their wrestling competition, with more wrestlers making the progression of wrestling in high school, being recruited by college coaches, and then entering collegiate competition.


title: Collegiate wrestling

text: For most of the 20th century, collegiate wrestling was the most popular form of amateur wrestling in the country, especially in the Midwest and the Southwest. The 1960s and 1970s saw major developments in collegiate wrestling, with the emergence of the United States Wrestling Federation (USWF) (now known as USA Wrestling (USAW)). The USWF, with its membership of coaches, educators, and officials, became recognized eventually as the official governing body of American wrestling and as the official representative to the United States Olympic Committee, in place of the Amateur Athletic Union.


title: Collegiate wrestling

text: Collegiate wrestling teams compete in the NCAA wrestling championships every year in each of the three divisions. The NCAA awards individual championships in the 10 weight classes, as well as a team title.


title: Collegiate wrestling

text: The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is the organization that regulates collegiate wrestling. The wrestling rules developed by the NCAA are followed by each of the NCAA's three divisions. In addition, the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA), and the National Collegiate Wrestling Association (NCWA) have also adopted them, with some modifications. The NCAA generally sets the standard for weight classes for college-level dual meets, multiple duals, and tournaments. There are 10 main weight classes currently open to college-level competition, ranging from 125 lb to the Heavyweight division that ranges from 183 lb to 285 lb. Also, there is a 235 lb weight class, which only the National Collegiate Wrestling Association, the organization that governs college wrestling for institutions outside the NCAA, NAIA, and NJCAA, currently allows that ranges from 174 lb to 235 lb. The NCWA also allows eight weight classes for women ranging from 105 lb to 200 lb. A wrestler must normally have his weight assessed by a member of the institution's athletics medical staff (e.g. a physician, certified athletic trainer, or registered dietician) before the first official team practice. The weight assessed is then his minimum weight class. The athletics medical staff member and the head coach then review all of the assessed weights of the wrestling team members and certify them online at the website of the National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA). After the certification, the wrestler may not compete below that weight class and may only compete at one weight class higher than his minimum weight. If a wrestler does gain weight over his certified weight class and wrestles at two weight classes above it, he forfeits his previous lowest weight class for the one weight class below where he wrestled. If a contestant wishes to weigh-in and wrestle at only one weight class above his certified weight class and later return to his lowest certified weight class, he may do so. However, the wrestler may only return to that certified weight class according to the weight-loss plan of the National Wrestling Coaches Association. This weight loss plan takes into account potential dehydration during the wrestling season and minimum amounts of body fat. All of this has been done in order to protect the wrestler's health and safety.


title: Collegiate wrestling

text: The collegiate wrestling season customarily runs from October or November to March. Regular season competition begins in late October or early November and continues until February. Post-season competition usually continues from February to March (depending on, if individual wrestlers or teams qualify for a conference, regional, or national championship). Normally, wrestling teams from two different colleges or universities would compete in what is known as a dual meet. It is possible for there also to be a multiple dual, where more than two wrestling teams compete against each other at the same event on the same day. For example, one college wrestling team may face another wrestling team for the first dual, and then a third wrestling team for the second dual. Also, those two wrestling teams may compete against each other in a dual meet as well. Colleges and universities often compete within their particular athletic conference; though competition outside a team's conference or even outside its division within the NCAA is not uncommon.


title: Collegiate wrestling

text: Dual meets usually take place on evenings during the school week (Monday through Friday); on Saturday mornings, afternoons, or evenings; or even on Sunday mornings or afternoons during the wrestling season and begin with weigh-ins at a maximum of one hour before the meet begins. No weight allowances are made for dual meets and multiple-day dual meets. Wrestlers are also examined by a physician or a certified athletic trainer for any communicable skin diseases. If a student-wrestler does not make weight, he is ineligible for that weight class and a forfeit is scored. If there are any communicable skin diseases, it is a ground for disqualification. The wrestler's coach or athletic trainer can provide written documentation from a physician that a skin infection of a wrestler would not be communicable. The final judgement for whether a wrestler would be allowed to compete lies with the meet physician or athletic trainer on site. In all cases, after determining the sequence of weight classes for the dual meet, the referee will call the wrestlers from each team who have been designated as captains. One of the visiting captains will call a disk toss. The colored disk will then fall to the floor and determine: 1) which team has the choice of position at the start of the second period and 2) which one of the team's members is to appear first on the mat when called by the referee for each weight class. The wrestler-captain who won the disk toss may choose the even or odd weight classes. That is, he may choose the weight classes, from lowest to highest, that are numbered evenly or oddly. For example, the 125 lb, 141 lb, 157 lb, etc. weight classes would be odd, and the 133 lb, 149 lb, 165 lb, etc. weight classes would be even. This order would work in the traditional sequence until the last even weight class of 285 lb.


title: Collegiate wrestling

text: During a dual meet, the top varsity wrestlers usually compete against each other. There can also be junior varsity matches, such as in Iowa, which are rare, that would take place immediately before the varsity matches. Also, before both varsity (and junior varsity) competition, there can also be an exhibition match in one or more weight classes. The exhibition matches do not count towards the varsity (or junior varsity) team score, but such matches allow wrestlers, especially at the freshmen level, to gain more competitive experience. Wrestling matches usually proceed in each of the 10 weight classes. The order the matches occur in is determined after the weigh-ins either by a mutual decision of the coaches or by a random draw choosing a particular weight class to be featured first. In either case, the succeeding wrestling matches will follow in sequence. For example, if the 157 lb weight class competes first, the succeeding wrestling matches will follow until the heavyweight class. Then, beginning at 125 lb, the rest of the matches will follow until the 149 lb match.


title: Collegiate wrestling

text: Often, many colleges and universities in the United States will compete with their teams in what is known as a tournament. In the tournament, from eight, 16, 32, 64, 75, or more individual wrestlers/teams can compete in each bracket. This allows many schools to establish their rankings, not only for individual student-wrestlers, but also for college and university wrestling teams as a whole (e.g. a conference or regional championship, or the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships). A tournament committee usually administers the event and after individual and team entries have been verified, the officials then determine the order of the matches (called "drawing") by certain brackets (e.g. brackets of eight, 16, etc.). The tournament officials when doing this drawing take into account each wrestler's win–loss record, previous tournament placements, and other factors that indicate the wrestler's ability. With that in mind, wrestlers who are noticed as having the most superior records are bracketed so that two top-ranked superior wrestlers in each weight class do not compete against each other in an early round. This is called seeding. Tournaments are often sponsored by a college or university and are usually held on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, or over any of two days within the weekend. Admission is often charged to cover costs and make a small profit for the host. A tournament begins with weigh-ins starting two hours or less before competition begins on the first day or one hour or less before competitions begins on any subsequent day. An allowance of one pound is granted for each subsequent day of the tournament.


title: Collegiate wrestling

text: With the drawing and weigh-ins completed, wrestlers then compete in two brackets in each of the 10 weight classes. If there are not enough wrestlers to fill up the bracket in a weight class, a bye will be awarded to a wrestler who does not have to compete against another wrestler in his pairing. After taking account the number of byes, the first round in each weight class then begins. Most college wrestling tournaments are in double elimination format. The last two wrestlers in the upper (championship) bracket wrestle for first place in the finals, with the loser winning second place. In other words, a wrestler cannot place higher than third if he is knocked down to the lower (wrestle-back) bracket by losing in the championship semi-finals. This is largely the result of time constraints: one-day tournaments often last into the evening. If the winner of the wrestle-back bracket were allowed to challenge the winner of the championship bracket in the championship, the tournament could continue well past midnight before finishing.


title: Collegiate wrestling

text: After the first match of the round of 16 in a championship bracket in each weight class, the wrestle-back rounds would then commence, beginning among all of the wrestlers who lost to the winners of the round of 16. The winner of the wrestle-back finals would then win third place, with the loser winning fourth place. In tournaments where six places are awarded, the losers of the wrestle-back semi-finals would wrestle for fifth place, with the loser winning sixth place. If eight places are awarded, the losers of the wrestle-back quarterfinals would wrestle for seventh place, with the loser winning eighth place, and so on. After the championships finals, the awards ceremony usually takes place with plaques, medals, trophies, or other awards given to the individual and team winners with the highest placements. Precise rules for tournaments may vary from one event to the next.


title: Collegiate wrestling

text: Each intercollegiate athletic conference or geographic area features two or three "elite" tournaments every year. These events are by invitation only. Hence, the commonly used name for them, Invitationals. Tournament sponsors (which are usually colleges and universities, but sometimes other organizations) invite the best varsity wrestlers from their area to compete against each other. Many elite tournaments last two or even three days. For this reason, elite tournaments are often scheduled during the college's or university's winter break.


title: Collegiate wrestling

text: Between one season and the next, postseason tournaments and preseason tournaments are often held in collegiate wrestling and also in freestyle and Greco-Roman. The most active wrestlers often take part in those to sharpen their skills and techniques. Also, clinics and camps are often held for both wrestlers and their coaches to help refresh old techniques and gain new strategies. College wrestlers often serve as referees, volunteer coaches, assistants, or as counselors during many of the camps, clinics, and tournaments held during the off-season.


title: Collegiate wrestling

text: The match takes place on a thick rubber mat that is shock-absorbing to ensure safety. A large outer circle between 32 and 42 feet in diameter that designates the wrestling area is marked on the mat. The circumference line of that circle is called the boundary line. The wrestling area is surrounded by a mat area or apron (or protection area) that is at least five inches in width that helps prevent serious injury. The mat area is designated by the use of contrasting colors or a line, which is part of the wrestling area and included in bounds. The wrestlers are within bounds when any part of either wrestler is on or inside this boundary line.


title: Collegiate wrestling

text: The mat can be no thicker than four inches nor thinner than a mat with the shock-absorbing qualities of a hair-felt mat. Inside the outer circle is usually an inner circle about 10 feet in diameter, designated by the use of contrasting colors or a line, although this is no longer specified by the "NCAA Wrestling Rules and Interpretations". Wrestlers are encouraged to stay near the center of the mat within the inner circle, or else they risk being penalized for stalling (that is, deliberately attempting to slow down the action of the match). Each wrestler begins action at one of two one-inch starting lines inside the inner circle that is three feet long. Two one-inch lines close the ends of the starting lines and are marked red for the wrestler from the visiting team and green for the wrestler from the home team. The two starting lines are 10 inches apart from each other and form a rectangle in the middle of the wrestling area. This rectangle designates the starting positions for the three periods. Additional padding may be added under the mat to protect the wrestlers, especially if the wrestlers are competing on a concrete floor. All mats that are in sections are secured together.


title: Collegiate wrestling

text: Injuries and infections are not uncommon in the sport of wrestling since there is so much contact. Also, infections occur frequently due to body secretions (sweat, saliva, and blood).


title: Collegiate wrestling

text: Common ways of getting concussions are any head-to-head hits or any hits that involve a hard blow to the skull. Every year nearly 135,000 children ranging from age 5 to 18 are treated for concussions and other head injures from sports or other recreational activities. Many concussions come from sports such as wrestling, football, boxing and any other sport that risks getting hit in the head. Wearing headgear can help prevent concussions. Also wearing a frontal pad that protects the forehead and top of the head is very effective in protecting the head from a hit that may cause a concussion. Wearing a mouth piece can help prevent concussions as well.


title: Collegiate wrestling

text: Cauliflower ear is a blood clot that forms under the skin in the ear, causing there to be a large bump in the ear; the bump tends to be extremely hard. To develop cauliflower ear one must be hit in the ear many times or hit hard for it to form into a blood clot. When having cauliflower ear it is important to get the ear drained of liquid that has built up. Otherwise the ear will require surgery to return to normal shape and size. The best way to prevent cauliflower is to wear headgear. This will protect the ears from taking hard hits.


title: Collegiate wrestling

text: Knee ligament injuries are a common injury in wrestling. One common one is being injury to the Medial collateral ligament which is also known as the MCL and is located on the inside. Another common injury to the knee is on the outside Lateral Collateral Ligament which is known as the LCL. Leg or knee injuries are commonly caused by over twisting the leg outward from the middle of the body.


title: Collegiate wrestling

text: Ankle sprains and wrist sprains are common in wrestling. Ankle sprains typically occur from twisting the ankle and injuring the ligaments within the ankle. Wrist sprains occur from falling hard on the wrist and damaging the ligaments in the wrist.


title: Collegiate wrestling

text: This is caused by the inflammation of a sac in the front of the knee cap which swells up and can be painful. Preventing this can be done by wearing a knee pad to help reduce impact on the knee.


title: Collegiate wrestling

text: This is caused by overexerting. The body symptoms are fatigue, lack of motivation, losing body weight, decreased performance, depression, insomnia and immune system weakening. This can affect the athlete mentally as well as physically.


title: Collegiate wrestling

text: Taking showers regularly, wearing clean clothes for practice, and mopping the mats with an antiseptic solution will help prevent spread and growth of diseases


title: Collegiate wrestling

text: Impetigo is a highly contagious skin infection. It appears as red or yellowish bumps and sores that are clustered together which may increase in size. The sores can burst which then crust over with a yellowish or brownish scab. This infection can be spread by coming into contact with a person who has the infection. Another way to contract impetigo is by touching or using equipment or from the mats that are infected by the bacteria. If impetigo is left untreated other infections could occur which can cause serious health issues. The bumps cause no pain although they may be itchy. Once the blisters pop they crust over with a yellow brownish scab but they can still be red and itchy. The Mayo clinic states that "Classic signs and symptoms of impetigo involve red sores that quickly rupture, ooze for a few days and then form a yellowish-brown crust. The sores usually occur around the nose and mouth but can be spread to other areas of the body by fingers, clothing and towels". Impetigo comes from a bacterium known as staphylococcus aureus.


title: Collegiate wrestling

text: MRSA is an infection that has a resistance to certain antibiotics. MRSA stands for Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus, which is a form of a staph. Any athlete who develops a skin infection should be checked by doctor immediately. Also, one should resist trying to give themselves care. When treating MRSA abscesses, medical professionals tend to make an incision and drain the infected area. MRSA can become life-threatening if it reaches the blood stream or causes pneumonia; it also can cause infections on surgical sites that can cause major complications.


title: Collegiate wrestling

text: This is a fungal or yeast infection on the skin in the shape of a circle. It appears to be red and the outer ring may be slightly raised. The infection grows while in warm moist places and tends to be itchy. One can contract the infection by touching the area that is infected or items that are contaminated.


title: Collegiate wrestling

text: These lesions are all Type one infections also known specifically as Herpes simplex, Herpes Zoster, and Herpes Gladiatorial; are all types of herpes that are common in skin to skin contact sports. Type two herpes is known as herpes on the genitals which is spread through sexual contact. These lesions come from skin to skin contact or body secretions. The skin starts to develop blisters which can happen anywhere on the body. To return to any activity one must be cleared by a doctor. Herpes Simplex is the virus that causes cold sores; this virus can be spread by oral secretions and can also cause Herpes Gladiatorum. Once a person becomes infected the virus stays in the body forever and can reactivate itself anytime causing cold sores. Herpes Gladiatorum is a skin infection. It comes from the Herpes Simplex virus which causes the same lesion one has when they have a cold sore. This form of herpes is on the skin and can be spread through contact with others or sharing beverages with someone who is infected or using anything that they may have contaminated. This virus remains in your system and can reactivate itself at any time causing lesions to appear. Herpes Zoster is the virus which causes shingles and chicken pox. Once one has had the chicken pox one carries the virus forever. Once one has chicken pox the virus is inactive but, if it becomes active again, it's known as shingles.


title: Collegiate wrestling

text: A match is a competition between two individual wrestlers of the same weight class. The match consists of three periods totaling seven minutes in college matches (with an overtime round if necessary if the score is tied at the end of regulation).


title: Collegiate wrestling

text: The main official at the wrestling match is the referee, who is in full control in matters of judgement at the competition and is responsible for starting and stopping the match; observing all holds; signaling points; calling penalties such as illegal holds, unnecessary roughness, fleeing the mat, or flagrant misconduct; and finally observing a full view of and determining the fall. There can also be one assistant referee (especially at tournaments) that helps the referee with making any difficult decisions and in preventing error. Also, scorers are there to record the points of the two individual wrestlers. Finally, a match or meet timekeeper with assistant timekeepers are present to note the match time, timeouts, and time advantage and work with the scorers.


title: Collegiate wrestling

text: Each wrestler is called by the referee, steps onto the mat, and may put on a green (for the home team) or red (for the visiting team) anklet about three inches wide which the referee will use to indicate scoring. The referee then prepares the wrestlers to begin the first period.


title: Collegiate wrestling

text: The referee prepares both wrestlers for the first period by making sure each wrestler is correctly in the neutral position. The First period lasts 3 minutes long. The longest period of the match. The neutral position has the two wrestlers standing opposite each other on their feet. Each wrestler starts with his lead foot on the green or red area of the starting lines, and his other foot even with or behind the lead foot. Both wrestlers then usually slightly crouch with their arms in front of them at or above waist level. In this position, neither wrestler is in control. When the referee is certain that both wrestlers are correctly in the neutral position, he blows the whistle to begin the first period (as well as whenever wrestling is resumed, such as at the beginning of the second and third periods, when contestants resume wrestling after going out of bounds, etc.). The match commences with each wrestler attempting to "take down" his opponent. The first period in college and university matches is three minutes long.


title: Collegiate wrestling

text: The Second and third period last 2 minutes each. Where each wrestler will have their choice of position in each. If the match is not ended by a fall, technical fall, default, or disqualification, the referee then prepares both wrestlers to begin the second period. After the first period ends, one wrestler will have the choice of starting position in the second period. In dual meets, this is determined by the colored disk toss that took place before the meet began. In tournaments, the referee will toss a colored disk, with a green-colored side and a red-colored side, and the winner of that disk toss will have the choice of position. The wrestler could choose between the neutral position, or as is most commonly chosen to begin in a place called the referee's position on the mat. The referee's position has both wrestlers beginning action at the center of the mat with one wrestler (in the defensive starting position) on the bottom with his hands spread apart in front of the forward starting line and his knees spread apart behind the rear starting line with his legs held together. The other wrestler on the top (in the offensive starting position) then kneels beside him with one arm wrapped around the bottom wrestler's waist (with the palm of his hand against the opponent's navel) and the other hand on or over the back of the opponent's near elbow for control. Most often, the wrestler with the choice chooses the defensive (bottom) position because of the relative ease of scoring an escape or reversal in comparison to a near fall. The wrestler could also defer his choice to the beginning of the third period.


title: Collegiate wrestling

text: If the match is not ended by a fall, technical fall, default, or disqualification, the referee then prepares both wrestlers to begin the third period. The wrestler who did not choose the starting position for the second period now chooses the starting position. The third period is also two minutes long.


title: Collegiate wrestling

text: If the third period ends in a tie, a one-minute, sudden victory period occurs. Both wrestlers start in the neutral position. The first wrestler to score a takedown wins. Time advantage is not used in any sudden victory period.


title: Collegiate wrestling

text: If no wrestler has won by the end of the two tiebreaker periods, a second overtime round starts with a one-minute, sudden victory period, and then two 30-second tiebreaker periods for each wrestler. The wrestler who did not have the choice of position in the previous overtime round's first tiebreaker period now has the choice of position in this overtime round's first tiebreaker period. If the score remains tied after the end of the second overtime round, the wrestler who has one second or more of net time advantage from the two rounds of tiebreaker periods will be declared the winner.


title: Collegiate wrestling

text: If a winner still cannot be determined, overtime rounds that are structured like the second round of overtime take place until one wrestler scores enough points for the victory.


title: Collegiate wrestling

text: After the match is completed, regardless of the victory condition, the wrestlers will return to the center of the mat (on the 10-foot inner circle) while the referee checks with the scorer's table. Upon the referee's return to the mat, the two wrestlers shake hands, and the referee proclaims the winner by raising the winner's hand. Both contestants then return to their team benches from the mat.


title: Collegiate wrestling

text: In collegiate wrestling, points are awarded mostly on the basis of control. Control occurs when a wrestler has gained restraining power over an opponent, usually, by controlling the opponent's legs and torso. When a wrestler gains control and maintains restraining power over an opponent, he is said to be in the position of advantage. Scoring can be accomplished in the following ways:


title: Collegiate wrestling

text: On the college level in a dual meet, the wrestler not only wins the match for himself, but also gains points for his team. The number of points awarded to a team during a dual meet depends on the victory condition. It is possible for a team to lose team points in certain infractions, such as unsportsmanlike conduct, flagrant misconduct, team personnel illegally leaving the reserved zone around the mat, and unauthorized questioning of the referee by the coach.


title: Collegiate wrestling

text: In a dual meet, when all team points are totaled, the team with the most points wins the competition. In all victory cases, if there are junior varsity matches, the junior varsity and varsity competitions are scored separately. If this is the case, it is entirely possible for one participating institution to win the junior varsity dual meet and another participating institution to win the varsity dual meet. On the college level, it is possible for a dual meet to end in a tie, except in dual meet advancement tournaments, where then the tie is broken by one team point awarded to the winning team based on certain criteria.


title: Collegiate wrestling

text: In a tournament, most of the team points are scored for advancement. For example, a team winning a match in the championship bracket would be awarded one team advancement point; one-half of an advancement point would be awarded if a team won a match in the wrestle-back bracket. The corresponding team points also apply if a wrestler from the team gained a bye and then won his next match in that bracket. Two additional advancement points are for victories by fall, default, disqualification, and forfeit (including victories by medical forfeit). One and one-half additional advancement points are awarded for victories by technical fall. One additional advancement point is awarded for victories by major decision. A team could then win a certain number of placement points if its wrestlers have placed individually in the championship and wrestle-back brackets. Thus, whole teams are awarded placements (first, second, etc.) based on their total number of victories.


title: Collegiate wrestling

text: Individual placement points are also awarded. For example, in a tournament scoring eight places, the winner of a quarterfinal or a semi-final in the championship bracket (where first and second places are awarded) would win six place points. The winners of first and second place would then win four additional place points. In the wrestle-back bracket (where third and fifth places are awarded), the winner of a semi-final match, for example, would receive three place points. The winners of third, fifth, and seventh place would receive one additional place point, and so on. A more detailed account of how individual and team points are awarded for tournaments is given on pages WR-49 to WR-51 of the "2009 NCAA Wrestling Rules and Interpretations".


title: Collegiate wrestling

text: Also known as scholastic wrestling when practiced at the high school and middle (junior high) school level, collegiate wrestling differs from wrestling at the high school level in multiple aspects. Scholastic wrestling is regulated by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS). This association mandates that high school matches are to have periods of shorter length, three periods consisting of two minutes each, than collegiate matches which begin with a three-minute first period. Additionally, college wrestling uses the concept of "time advantage" or "riding time" when one wrestler is in control of the other, while high school wrestling does not.


title: Collegiate wrestling

text: According to an Athletics Participation Survey taken by the National Federation of State High School Associations, boys' wrestling ranked eighth in terms of the number of schools sponsoring teams, with 9,445 schools participating in the 2006–07 school year. Also, 257,246 boys participated in the sport during that school year, making scholastic wrestling the sixth most popular sport among high school boys. In addition, 5,048 girls participated in wrestling in 1,227 schools during the 2006–07 season. Scholastic wrestling is currently practised in 49 of the 50 states; only Mississippi does not officially sanction scholastic wrestling for high schools and middle schools. Arkansas, the 49th state to sanction high school wrestling, began scholastic wrestling competition in the 2008–09 season.


title: Collegiate wrestling

text: At younger age group tournaments in the United States, independent tournaments are often run in "folkstyle", along with freestyle and Greco-Roman styles. To differentiate this style from freestyle and Greco-Roman, the term folkstyle wrestling is a more commonly used phrase than collegiate wrestling at all age levels.


title: Muscle Shoals, Alabama

text: Muscle Shoals is the largest city in Colbert County, Alabama, United States. It is located along the Tennessee River in the northern part of the state and, as of the 2010 census, the population of Muscle Shoals was 13,146. The estimated population in 2019 was 14,575.


title: Muscle Shoals, Alabama

text: Both the city and the Florence-Muscle Shoals Metropolitan Area (including four cities in Colbert and Lauderdale counties) are commonly called "the Shoals". Northwest Alabama Regional Airport serves the Shoals region, located in the northwest section of the state.


title: Muscle Shoals, Alabama

text: Due to its strategic location along the Tennessee River, Muscle Shoals had long been territory of Native American tribes. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, as Europeans entered the area in greater number, it became a center of historic land disputes. The new state of Georgia had ambitions to anchor its western claims (to the Mississippi River) by encouraging European-American development here, but that project did not succeed.


title: Muscle Shoals, Alabama

text: Under President Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration during the Great Depression, the Tennessee Valley Authority was established to create infrastructure and jobs, resulting in electrification of a large rural area along the river. The Ford Motor Company did build and operate a plant for many years in the Listerhill community, three miles east of Muscle Shoals; it closed in 1982 as part of industrial restructuring when jobs moved out of the country.


title: Muscle Shoals, Alabama

text: Since the 1960s, the city has been known for music. Local studios and artists developed the "Muscle Shoals Sound", including FAME Studios in the late 1950s and Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in 1969.


title: Muscle Shoals, Alabama

text: There are several explanations as to how the city got its name. One is that it was named for a former natural feature of the Tennessee River, a shallow zone where mussels were gathered, and settlers named as Muscle Shoals. When the area was first settled, the distinct spelling of "mussel" to refer to the shellfish had not yet been locally adopted.


title: Muscle Shoals, Alabama

text: Like other areas along waterways, this was important to indigenous peoples for The area of Muscle Shoals was a part of the historic Cherokee hunting grounds dating to at least the early eighteenth century, if not earlier. Many Cherokee fought against the rebels during the late American Revolutionary War, hoping to expel them from their territories.


title: Muscle Shoals, Alabama

text: After the Revolution, Cherokee attitudes toward the new U.S. republic were divided, as settlers increasingly encroached on their territory. An anti-American faction, dubbed the Chickamauga, separated from more conciliatory Cherokees, and moved into present-day south-central and southeastern Tennessee. Most of this band settled along the Chickamauga River, from which their name was derived. They claimed Muscle Shoals as part of their domain. When Anglo-Americans attempted to settle the region in the 1780s and 1790s, the Chickamaugas bitterly resisted them.


title: Muscle Shoals, Alabama

text: The Upper Creek, residing in what is now north and central Alabama, also resented any European or Euro-American presence in the region. A major incident occurred in 1790, when U.S. President George Washington sent an expedition under Major John Doughty in an attempt to establish a fort and trading post at Muscle Shoals. This expedition was nearly annihilated by a Chickamauga and Creek party sent to destroy it, and the administration abandoned the project. Meanwhile, Francisco Luis Hector de Carondelet, governor of the Spanish Louisiana, was in conversations with the Indian confederation to stablish a fort in 1792.


title: Muscle Shoals, Alabama

text: Anglo-American settlers in Tennessee continued to agitate for control of this region. The site was particularly desirable, as it controlled access to fine cotton-producing land immediately to its south. In 1797, John Sevier, the first governor of Tennessee, complained to Andrew Jackson that "The prevention of a settlement at or near the Muscle Shoals is a manifest injury done the whole western country." At Sevier's behest, Jackson attempted to persuade Congress and President John Adams to fund a new expedition to take control of the site, but to no avail.


title: Muscle Shoals, Alabama

text: U.S. officials finally took control of the region in the wake of the U.S. invasion of Creek country during the War of 1812. Jackson and General John Coffee obtained cession of the land from both the Cherokee and Creek (who had continued to dispute possession) by treaty, without permission from the federal government. Secretary of War William H. Crawford refused to recognize the cession, and reconfirmed Cherokee ownership, leading to personal enmity between him and Jackson. The political struggle over the lands was eventually won by Jackson and his backers, who gained passage in Congress of the Indian Removal Act in 1830. When Jackson, as president, implemented the policy of Indian Removal, Muscle Shoals was used as a site from which to exile the Upper Creek to Indian Territory (now Oklahoma).


title: Muscle Shoals, Alabama

text: During World War I President Wilson authorized a dam on the Tennessee River just downstream of Muscle Shoals to help power nitrate plants for munitions.


title: Muscle Shoals, Alabama

text: The first plant started producing nitrates two weeks after the armistice, but the dam was not completed until 1924.


title: Muscle Shoals, Alabama

text: Meanwhile, in 1922 Henry Ford tried to buy the nitrate works and the unfinished dam. The Michigan car manufacturer and industrialist proposed leasing the uncompleted hydro-electric dam at Muscle Shoals on the Tennessee River in Alabama. The US War Department had begun the project during World War I, and engineers estimated a cost of $40 million to complete. At this time, public projects were financed either through raising taxes—which, Congress was unwilling to do at the time- or by issuing bonds. For the Muscle Shoals project, the proposal was for 30-year bonds at 4% interest.


title: Muscle Shoals, Alabama

text: Ford and his friend and fellow inventor Thomas Edison balked at the idea that the US government should have to pay $48 million in interest on top of the $40 million they would have to pay back—all for a project that would benefit the public (the argument being that the hydro-electric dam and accompanying fertilizer plants would create jobs and revitalize the area). Responding to the bond issue, Edison remarked: “Any time we wish to add to the national wealth, we are compelled to add to the national debt.” Edison and Ford hoped that a new monetary system could be created where dollar bills were issued directly to workers and manufacturer, with the money being backed by the goods they produced rather than the gold and silver held in bank vaults. Congress eventually rejected Ford's idea.


title: Muscle Shoals, Alabama

text: The project of area development based on hydroelectric power languished until the Great Depression. President Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration created the Tennessee Valley Authority in 1933 to construct needed infrastructure and install an electrical system in the rural area, using newly generated electricity from the dam complex.


title: Muscle Shoals, Alabama

text: Residents in Muscle Shoals created two studios that have worked with numerous artists to record many hit songs from the 1960s to today. These are FAME Studios, founded by Rick Hall, where Arthur Alexander, Percy Sledge, Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding and numerous others recorded; and Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, founded by the musicians known as The Swampers. They worked with Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Rod Stewart, the Rolling Stones, The Allman Brothers, and others.


title: Muscle Shoals, Alabama

text: In addition to the city being home to country music band Shenandoah, it has been a destination of numerous artists to write and record. Both FAME Studios and Muscle Shoals Sound Studio are still in operation in the city. They recorded such recent hit songs such as "Before He Cheats" by Carrie Underwood and "I Loved Her First" by Heartland, continuing the city's musical legacy. George Michael recorded an early, unreleased version of "Careless Whisper" with Jerry Wexler in Muscle Shoals in 1983. Bettye LaVette recorded her Grammy nominated album "Scene of the Crime" at FAME in 1972.


title: Muscle Shoals, Alabama

text: The original Muscle Shoals Sound Studios were located at 3614 Jackson Highway in Sheffield but that site was closed in 1979 when the studio relocated to 1000 Alabama Avenue in Sheffield. The studio in the Alabama Avenue building closed in 2005; it houses a movie production company, which also hosts tours and concerts at the venue.


title: Muscle Shoals, Alabama

text: Muscle Shoals encouraged the cross-pollination of musical styles: black artists from the area, such as Arthur Alexander and James Carr, used white country music styles in their work, and white artists from the Shoals frequently borrowed from the blues/gospel influences of their black contemporaries, creating a distinct sound.


title: Muscle Shoals, Alabama

text: Sam Phillips, founder of Sun Records, was born in and lived in the area. He stated that the Muscle Shoals radio station WLAY (AM), which played both "white" and "black" music, and where he worked as a disc jockey in the 1940s, influenced his merging of these sounds at Sun Records with Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Johnny Cash.


title: Muscle Shoals, Alabama

text: "Rolling Stone" editor David Fricke wrote that if one wanted to play a single recording that would "epitomize and encapsulate the famed Muscle Shoals Sound", that record would be "I'll Take You There" by The Staple Singers in 1972. After hearing that song, American songwriter Paul Simon phoned his manager and asked him to arrange a recording session with the musicians who had performed it. Simon was surprised to learn that he would have to travel to Muscle Shoals to work with the artists. After arriving in the small town, he was introduced to the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section ("The Swampers") who had recorded this song with Mavis Staples. Expecting black musicians (the original Rhythm Section consisted only of white musicians), and assuming that he had been introduced to the office staff, Simon politely asked to "meet the band". Once things were sorted out, Simon recorded a number of tracks with the Muscle Shoals band, including "Kodachrome" and "Loves Me Like a Rock".


title: Muscle Shoals, Alabama

text: When Bob Dylan told his record label that he intended to record Christian music, the label executives insisted that if he planned to pursue the project, he must, at least, record the work in Muscle Shoals. They believed this would provide the work "some much-needed credibility". Dylan had not previously expressed a religious attitude, and the executives feared that his new work might be taken as satirical. Recording in the Bible Belt, they thought, might avert a disaster. Dylan subsequently recorded two Christian albums at Muscle Shoals Sound Studios, "Slow Train Coming" (1979) and "Saved" (1980).


title: Muscle Shoals, Alabama

text: In the early 21st century, Florence native Patterson Hood, son of "Swamper" David Hood, found fame as a member of the alternative rock group Drive-By Truckers. Siblings and Muscle Shoals natives Angela Hacker (winner) and Zac Hacker (second place) were the top two finishing finalists on the 2007 season of "Nashville Star", a country-music singing competition. In 2008, State Line Mob, a Southern rock duo group formed by singer and songwriters Phillip Crunk (Florence native) and Dana Crunk (Rogersville native), released their first CD, "Ruckus", and won two Muscle Shoals Music Awards for 2008 for (Best New Artist) and Best New Country Album) of the year. Band of Horses recorded a portion of their album "Infinite Arms" at Muscle Shoals. Artists signed to the FAME label in 2017 include Holli Mosley, Dylan LeBlanc, Jason Isbell, Angela Hacker, Gary Nichols, and James LeBlanc.


title: Muscle Shoals, Alabama

text: Although Muscle Shoals is no longer the "Hit Recording Capital of the World" (as it was in the 1960s and 1970s), the music continues. Groups and artists include Drive-By Truckers, The Civil Wars, Dylan LeBlanc, Gary Nichols, Jason Isbell, State Line Mob, Eric "Red Mouth" Gebhardt, Fiddleworms, and BoomBox.


title: Muscle Shoals, Alabama

text: A number of rock, R&B and country music celebrities have homes in the area surrounding Muscle Shoals (Tuscumbia), or riverside estates along the Tennessee River. They may be seen performing in area nightclubs, typically rehearsing new material.


title: Muscle Shoals, Alabama

text: Sister city Florence, Alabama, is frequently referred to as "the birthplace of the Blues". W. C. Handy was born in Florence and is generally regarded as the "Father of the Blues". Every year since 1982, the W. C. Handy Music Festival is held in the Florence/Sheffield/Muscle Shoals area, featuring blues, jazz, country, gospel, rock music and R&B. The roster of jazz musicians known as the "Festival All-Stars", or as the