title: Maggie O'Farrell

text: Maggie O'Farrell, RSL (born 27 May 1972), is a novelist from Northern Ireland. Her acclaimed first novel, "After You'd Gone", won the Betty Trask Award, and a later one, "The Hand That First Held Mine", the 2010 Costa Novel Award. She has twice been shortlisted since for the Costa Novel Award: for "Instructions for a Heatwave" in 2014 and "This Must Be The Place" in 2017. She appeared in the Waterstones "25 Authors for the Future". Her memoir "I am, I am, I am: Seventeen Brushes with Death" reached the top of the "Sunday Times" bestseller list. Her novel "Hamnet" won the Women's Prize for Fiction in 2020, and the fiction prize at the 2020 National Book Critics Circle Awards.


title: Maggie O'Farrell

text: O'Farrell was born in Coleraine in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland, and grew up in Wales and Scotland. At the age of eight she was hospitalised with encephalitis and missed over a year of school. These events are echoed in "The Distance Between Us" and described in her 2017 memoir "I Am, I Am, I Am". She suffered from a pronounced stammer during her childhood and adolescence. She was educated at North Berwick High School and Brynteg Comprehensive School, and then at New Hall, University of Cambridge (now Murray Edwards College), where she read English Literature.


title: Maggie O'Farrell

text: O'Farrell has stated that well into the 1990s, being Irish in Britain could be fraught: "We used to get endless Irish jokes, even from teachers. If I had to spell my name at school, teachers would say things like, 'Oh, are your family in the IRA?’ Teachers would say this to a 12-year-old kid in front of the whole class... They thought it was hilarious to say, 'Ha ha, your dad's a terrorist'. It wasn't funny at all... I wish I could say that it's [less common today] because people are less racist, but I think it's just that there are new immigrants who are getting it now." Nevertheless, not until 2013's "Instructions for a Heatwave" did Irish subjects become part of her work.


title: Maggie O'Farrell

text: O'Farrell worked as a journalist, both in Hong Kong and as deputy literary editor of "The Independent on Sunday" in London. She also taught creative writing at the University of Warwick in Coventry and Goldsmiths College in London. She has lived in Ireland, Wales, Scotland, Hong Kong, and Italy. She now lives in Edinburgh.


title: Maggie O'Farrell

text: O'Farrell's numerous successful novels, including the Costa-Award-winning "The Hand that First Held Mine", have received widespread critical acclaim. Her books have been translated into over 30 languages. Her novel "Hamnet", based on the life of Shakespeare's family, was published in 2020. The novel makes a link between the death of eleven-year-old Hamnet and the writing of the play Hamlet.


title: Maggie O'Farrell

text: Her 2017 memoir, "I Am, I Am, I Am: Seventeen Brushes with Death", deals with a series of near-death experiences that have occurred to her and her children. It is a memoir told non-chronologically, with each chapter headed by the name of the body part affected.


title: Maggie O'Farrell

text: In 2022, she published "The Marriage Portrait", a novel based on the short life of Lucrezia de' Medici, who may or may not have been poisoned by her husband, Alfonso II, Duke of Ferrara. O'Farrell has said that she got the idea for the novel after seeing Lucrezia's portrait, attributed to Agnolo Bronzino, and from reading Robert Browning's poem, My Last Duchess, in which Lucrezia makes a brief, silent and unnamed appearance.


title: Maggie O'Farrell

text: She has also written two pictures books for children, "Where Snow Angels Go" and "The Boy Who Lost His Spark", both illustrated by Daniela Jaglenka Terrazzini.


title: Maggie O'Farrell

text: O'Farrell is married to a fellow writer, William Sutcliffe, whom she met while they were students at Cambridge; they didn't become a couple, however, until ten years or so after they graduated. They live in Edinburgh with their three children. She has said of Sutcliffe: "Will's always been my first reader, even before we were a couple, so he's a huge influence. He's brutal but you need that."


title: Maggie O'Farrell

text: One of O'Farrell's children suffers with severe allergies, the challenges of which she writes about in her memoir.


title: Maggie O'Farrell

text: O'Farrell was the invited castaway on the BBC Radio 4 programme "Desert Island Discs" on Sunday 21 March 2021.


title: Lord Great Chamberlain

text: The Lord Great Chamberlain of England is the sixth of the Great Officers of State, ranking beneath the Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal and above the Lord High Constable. The Lord Great Chamberlain has charge over the Palace of Westminster (though since the 1960s his personal authority has been limited to the royal apartments and Westminster Hall).


title: Lord Great Chamberlain

text: The Lord Great Chamberlain also has a major part to play in royal coronations, having the right to dress the monarch on coronation day and to serve the monarch water before and after the coronation banquet, and also being involved in investing the monarch with the insignia of rule.


title: Lord Great Chamberlain

text: On formal state occasions, he wears a distinctive scarlet court uniform and bears a gold key and a white staff as the insignia of his office.


title: Lord Great Chamberlain

text: The position is a hereditary one, held since 1780 in gross. At any one time, a single person actually exercises the office of Lord Great Chamberlain. The various individuals who hold fractions of the Lord Great Chamberlainship are technically each "Joint Hereditary Lord Great Chamberlain". The Joint Hereditary Lord Great Chamberlains choose one individual of the rank of a knight or higher to be the "Deputy Lord Great Chamberlain". Due to an agreement from 1912, the right to exercise the office for a given reign rotates proportionately between three families (of the then three joint office holders) to the fraction of the office held. For instance, the Marquesses of Cholmondeley hold one-half of the office, and may therefore exercise the office or appoint a deputy every alternate reign. Whenever one of the three shares of the 1912 agreement is split further, the joint heirs of this share have to agree among each other, who should be their deputy or any mechanism to determine who of them has the right to choose a deputy.


title: Lord Great Chamberlain

text: The office of Lord Great Chamberlain is distinct from the non-hereditary office of Lord Chamberlain of the Household, a position in the monarch's household. This office arose in the 14th century as a deputy of the Lord Great Chamberlain to fulfil the latter's duties in the Royal Household, but now they are quite distinct.


title: Lord Great Chamberlain

text: The House of Lords Act 1999 removed the automatic right of hereditary peers to sit in the House of Lords, but the Act provided that a hereditary peer exercising the office of Lord Great Chamberlain (as well as the Earl Marshal) be exempt from such a rule, in order to perform ceremonial functions.


title: Lord Great Chamberlain

text: The office was originally held by Robert Malet, a son of one of the leading companions of William the Conqueror. In 1133, however, King Henry I declared Malet's estates and titles forfeit, and awarded the office of Lord Great Chamberlain to Aubrey de Vere, whose son was created Earl of Oxford. Thereafter, the Earls of Oxford held the title almost continuously until 1526, with a few intermissions due to the forfeiture of some Earls for treason. In 1526, however, the fourteenth Earl of Oxford died, leaving his aunts as his heirs. The earldom was inherited by a more distant heir-male, his second cousin. The Sovereign (at that time Henry VIII) then decreed that the office belonged to the Crown, and was not transmitted along with the earldom. The Sovereign appointed the fifteenth Earl to the office, but the appointment was deemed for life and was not hereditary. The family's association with the office was interrupted in 1540, when the fifteenth earl died and Thomas Cromwell, the King's chief adviser, was appointed Lord Great Chamberlain. After Cromwell's attainder and execution later the same year, the office passed through a few more court figures, until 1553, when it was passed back to the De Vere family, the sixteenth Earl of Oxford, again as an uninheritable life appointment. Later, Queen Mary I ruled that the Earls of Oxford were indeed entitled to the office of Lord Great Chamberlain on an hereditary basis.


title: Lord Great Chamberlain

text: Thus, the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth Earls of Oxford held the position on a hereditary basis until 1626, when the eighteenth Earl died, again leaving a distant relative as heir male, but a closer one as a female heir. The House of Lords eventually ruled that the office belonged to the heir general, Robert Bertie, 14th Baron Willoughby de Eresby, who later became Earl of Lindsey. The office remained vested in the Earls of Lindsey, who later became Dukes of Ancaster and Kesteven.


title: Lord Great Chamberlain

text: In 1779, however, the fourth Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven died, leaving two sisters as female heirs, and an uncle as an heir male. The uncle became the fifth and last Duke, but the House of Lords ruled that the two sisters were jointly Lord Great Chamberlain and could appoint a Deputy to fulfil the functions of the office. The barony of Willoughby de Eresby went into abeyance between the two sisters, but the Sovereign terminated the abeyance and granted the title to the elder sister, Priscilla Bertie, 21st Baroness Willoughby de Eresby. The office of Lord Great Chamberlain, however, was divided between Priscilla and her younger sister Georgiana. Priscilla's share was eventually split between two of her granddaughters, and has been split several more times since then. By contrast, Georgiana's share has been inherited by a single male heir each time; that individual has in each case been the Marquess of Cholmondeley, a title created for Georgiana's husband.


title: Lord Great Chamberlain

text: In 1902 it was ruled by the House of Lords that the then joint office holders (the 1st Earl of Ancaster, the 4th Marquess of Cholmondeley, and the Earl Carrington, later Marquess of Lincolnshire) had to agree on a deputy to exercise the office, subject to the approval of the Sovereign. Should there be no such agreement, the Sovereign should appoint a deputy until an agreement is reached.


title: Lord Great Chamberlain

text: In 1912 an agreement was reached. The office, or right to appoint the person to exercise the office, would thereafter rotate among the three joint office holders and their heirs after them, changing at the start of each successive reign. Cholmondeley and his heirs would serve in every other reign; Ancaster and Carrington would each serve once in four reigns.


title: Lord Great Chamberlain

text: As the Cholmondeley share and the Ancaster share (held since 1983 by the Baroness Willoughby de Eresby) are not further split, each of these holders decides in his or her turn to act as Lord Great Chamberlain or to name a person who will act as Lord Great Chamberlain. The Carrington share was divided at his death among his five daughters and their heirs, and has since been further divided, with 13 people holding shares as of 2021. At accession of Charles III the turn fell to the Carrington heirs who named their cousin Rupert Carington, 7th Baron Carrington to act as Lord Great Chamberlain. (Being descended from the Earl's younger brother he himself has no share of the office.)


title: Lord Great Chamberlain

text: The fractions show the holder's share in the office, and the date they held it. The current () holders of the office are shown in bold face.


title: Shabir Ahluwalia

text: Shabir Ahluwalia (born 10 August 1979) is an Indian actor and host. He is known for portraying Abhishek Prem Mehra in "Kumkum Bhagya". Apart from this, Ahluwalia has acted in "Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi" (2002), "Kya Hadsaa Kya Haqeeqat" (2004), "Kahi To Milenge" (2002), "Kkavyanjali" (2005), "Kasamh Se" (2006), "Kasautii Zindagii Kay" (2006), "Kayamath" (2007), "Laagi Tujhse Lagan" (2011) and many more. He won the third season of "" and hosted "Nach Baliye", "Guinness World Records – Ab India Todega" and "Dancing Queen". He made his debut in Bollywood with "Shootout at Lokhandwala". His second film was "Mission Istanbul".


title: Shabir Ahluwalia

text: Shabir Ahluwalia was born on 10 August 1979 to a Sikh father and a Catholic mother in Mumbai. He has two siblings Shefali Ahluwalia and Sameer Ahluwalia. He did his schooling from St. Xavier's High School, Vile Parle. He completed his graduation from University of Maryland, College Park.


title: Shabir Ahluwalia

text: He married his girlfriend, actress Kanchi Kaul on 27 November 2011. In 2014 they had a son, and in 2016, they had another son.


title: Princess Estelle, Duchess of Östergötland

text: Princess Estelle of Sweden, Duchess of Östergötland (Estelle Silvia Ewa Mary; born 23 February 2012) is the elder child of Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel, Duke of Västergötland. She is the eldest grandchild of King Carl XVI Gustaf, and is second in line of succession to the Swedish throne, after her mother.


text: Estelle was born to Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel at 04:26 CET on 23 February 2012 at the Karolinska University Hospital in Solna. The birth was greeted by two 21-gun salutes on the island Skeppsholmen, opposite the Royal Palace in the capital Stockholm. Her names and title were announced on 24 February 2012 by her grandfather King Carl XVI Gustaf at a cabinet meeting. After the cabinet meeting, a Te Deum was held in the palace's royal chapel. Prior to the official announcement of her name and title, an error resulted in the royal website displaying the incorrect name and title – Ulrika Marianna Annika David, Duchess of Upplands Väsby, which was later removed. The staff eventually revealed the reason was that they were testing the system.


text: Estelle was baptised on 22 May 2012 at the Royal Chapel of Stockholm Palace in Stockholm, Sweden. Archbishop Anders Wejryd conducted the ceremony. Her godparents were her maternal uncle, Prince Carl Philip of Sweden; her paternal aunt, Anna Westling-Söderström; Willem-Alexander, the then-Prince of Orange; Crown Princess Mary of Denmark (for whom she was given her fourth name); and Crown Prince Haakon of Norway. She was baptised in the family's antique baptismal gown, which was first worn by Prince Gustaf Adolf when he was baptised in 1906. Her name and date of the baptism were added in embroidery to the gown. On the date of the baptism, a limited-edition prayer book titled Princess Estelle's Prayerbook (Swedish: "Prinsessan Estelles bönbok") was released and published.


text: Princess Estelle is second in the line of succession to the Swedish throne and the first female in Swedish history to be born with a right to inherit the crown that cannot be superseded by the birth of a male heir, as well as the first person in Swedish history to be born of a female heir apparent. The only two princesses of Sweden to be born first in line for the throne were heir presumptive at their birth: Christina (who eventually became queen regnant) and Hedwig Sophia (who was superseded by a younger brother).


text: As second in line to the Swedish throne, she has been in the public eye since birth. On 17 May 2014, two-year-old Estelle inaugurated a fairytale path, named in her honour as "Duchess Estelle's Fairytale Path" in Tåkern, Östergötland. At the time of her christening, she was presented with a miniature swan and certificate to the trail indicating that in the future she would perform official engagements there. She also visited Linköping Castle, where she was received by Elisabeth Nilsson, Kristina Zetterström and Ann-Catrine Hjerdt, the mayor of Linköping.


text: On 25 August 2014, Estelle started preschool at Äventyret Preschool in Danderyd Municipality, Stockholm. She started to attend the Campus Manilla School in August 2018.


text: Estelle's full title is: Her Royal Highness Princess Estelle Silvia Ewa Mary, Duchess of Östergötland.


title: Sentinel (comics)

text: The Sentinels are a fictional variety of mutant-hunting robots appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. They are typically depicted as antagonists to the X-Men.


title: Sentinel (comics)

text: The Sentinels played a large role in the 1990s and have been featured in several X-Men video games. The Sentinels are featured prominently in the 2014 film "" while simulated versions made brief appearances in the 2006 film "" and the 2016 film "". In 2009, the Sentinels were ranked as "IGN"s 38th Greatest Comic Book Villain of All Time.


title: Sentinel (comics)

text: Sentinels are programmed to locate mutants and capture or kill them. Though several types of Sentinels have been introduced, the typical Sentinel is three stories tall, is capable of flight, projects energy blasts, and can detect mutants. Pursuing genocide as the means of dealing with a threat has made the Sentinels an analogy for racial hatred and other negative types of fanaticism in Marvel stories, represent the horrific consequences of humanity's actions based on hate and ignorance, along with a caution of the risks of AI takeover.


title: Sentinel (comics)

text: Sentinels are designed to hunt mutants. While many are capable of tactical thought, only a handful are self-aware.


title: Sentinel (comics)

text: Sentinels are technologically advanced, and have exhibited a wide variety of abilities. They are armed (primarily with energy weapons and restraining devices), capable of flight, and can detect mutants at long range. They possess vast physical strength, and their bodies are highly resistant to damage. Some are able to alter their physical forms or re-assemble and reactivate themselves after they have been destroyed.


title: Sentinel (comics)

text: Some Sentinel variants have the ability to learn from their experiences, developing their defenses during an engagement. Several groups of Sentinels have been created and/or led by a single massive Sentinel called Master Mold. Some Sentinels are also equipped with an inconspicuous logic loop in case they should go rogue to convince them that they are mutants as demonstrated in the Tri-Sentinel.


title: Sentinel (comics)

text: Because of their power, sophistication, and high mass production, Sentinels are sold on the black market. Entities obtain them—often in poor condition—for their own purposes (not necessarily mutant-related).


title: Sentinel (comics)

text: The following are alternative versions of the Sentinels, which appear outside of regular Marvel canon.


title: Sentinel (comics)

text: In the "Age of Apocalypse" timeline, Bolivar Trask created the Sentinels with his wife Moira. These Sentinels are equipped with several body-mounted gun turrets, and their primary directive is to protect humans rather than to hunt mutants. They are capable of cooperating with mutants to further this mission. Later, the Sentinels are adapted by Weapon Omega to serve a reverse purpose, and now aid in the hunting of the human race.


title: Sentinel (comics)

text: In the "Days of Future Past" timeline, which takes place in an alternate future, the "Omega Sentinels" have advanced technologically and become the "de facto" rulers of the United States. The most powerful among them is Nimrod.


title: Sentinel (comics)

text: In the joke comic "Fred Hembeck Destroys the Marvel Universe", the X-Men are killed by silent, black, man-sized "Ninja Sentinels".


title: Sentinel (comics)

text: In the "Here Comes Tomorrow" future timeline, a Sentinel named Rover is Tom Skylark's companion and protector. After more than 150 years of being active, Rover has become self-aware and, possibly, capable of emotion.


title: Sentinel (comics)

text: In the "House of M" storyline, Magneto is victorious in a mutant/human war. The Sentinels are adapted by Sebastian Shaw, now the director of S.H.I.E.L.D., to serve a reverse purpose, and now aid in the hunting of sapien rebels.


title: Sentinel (comics)

text: In the MC2 timeline, Wild Thing encounters a Prime Sentinel that has accidentally been activated by a faulty microwave.


title: Sentinel (comics)

text: In the alternate reality of "X-Men: Ronin", the story is played out in Japan. A police unit called "Sentinel Force" designs, builds and pilots the robots. These are aesthetically similar to regular Sentinels, but each is subtly different from the others.


title: Sentinel (comics)

text: In the comic crossover "X-Men/Star Trek: Second Contact", the X-Men work with the crew of the "Enterprise"-E to battle Kang the Conqueror. An away team composed of Captain Picard, Deanna Troi, Nightcrawler and Colossus encounter an approximation of the "Days of Future Past" timeline, in which the Sentinels have merged with the Borg.


title: Sentinel (comics)

text: The Ultimate Marvel version of Sentinels were created by Bolivar Trask, were already in action in the "Ultimate X-Men" story arc, hunting down and killing mutants on the streets, in a program apparently openly and publicly acknowledged by the U.S. government. Later on, there were also the New Sentinels that were sixty of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s top agents in Sentinel battle armor and they were described to have enough hardware to take on a fleet of the old Sentinel models. A new breed of Sentinel robots, created by Trask under the Fenris twins' orders, was later created. After the events of the Ultimatum Wave, Nimrod Sentinels was deployed to hunt, capture or kill mutants that refused to turn themselves in. William Stryker, Jr., using Sentinel tech, later displayed an ability to summon a fleet of Sentinels after being attacked by the Shroud.


title: Stage 6 Films

text: Stage 6 Films, Inc. is an American film production label of Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions that acquires and produces feature films that are low budget and that are being released straight-to-DVD, on demand, or through streaming services. Some of their films are also being released theatrically. Once a film is finished, Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions will decide if the film will be released theatrically or on a different platform.


title: Stage 6 Films

text: Founded in 2007, the label takes its name from the location of its main office, the Stage 6 building at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, CA (originally an actual sound stage used for such films as "The Wizard of Oz").


title: Stage 6 Films

text: Stage 6 occasionally also acquires international rights to films, be it worldwide excluding the United States and/or Canada, or in major territories such as the United Kingdom and Australia. Given below is a list of films (also seen on Stage 6 Films' official website) distributed internationally by Stage 6. Films which involve Stage 6 in their domestic releases as well are excluded from the list. An asterisk (*) denotes a film co-distributed with sister studio Sony Pictures Releasing International.


title: Emmanuelle Charpentier

text: Emmanuelle Marie Charpentier (; born 11 December 1968) is a French professor and researcher in microbiology, genetics, and biochemistry. As of 2015, she has been a director at the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology in Berlin. In 2018, she founded an independent research institute, the Max Planck Unit for the Science of Pathogens. In 2020, Charpentier and American biochemist Jennifer Doudna of the University of California, Berkeley, were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for the development of a method for genome editing" (through CRISPR). This was the first science Nobel Prize ever won by two women only.


title: Emmanuelle Charpentier

text: Born in 1968 in Juvisy-sur-Orge in France, Charpentier studied biochemistry, microbiology, and genetics at the Pierre and Marie Curie University (today the Faculty of Science of Sorbonne University) in Paris. She was a graduate student at the Institut Pasteur from 1992 to 1995 and was awarded a research doctorate. Charpentier's PhD work investigated molecular mechanisms involved in antibiotic resistance. Her paternal grandfather was an Armenian who escaped to France during the Armenian genocide and met her grandmother in Marseille.


title: Emmanuelle Charpentier

text: Charpentier worked as a university teaching assistant at Pierre and Marie Curie University from 1993 to 1995 and as a postdoctoral fellow at the Institut Pasteur from 1995 to 1996. She moved to the US and worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Rockefeller University in New York from 1996 to 1997. During this time, Charpentier worked in the lab of microbiologist Elaine Tuomanen. Tuomanen's lab investigated how the pathogen "Streptococcus pneumoniae" utilizes mobile genetic elements to alter its genome. Charpentier also helped to demonstrate how "S. pneumoniae" develops vancomycin resistance.


title: Emmanuelle Charpentier

text: Charpentier worked as an assistant research scientist at the New York University Medical Center from 1997 to 1999. There she worked in the lab of Pamela Cowin, a skin-cell biologist interested in mammalian gene manipulation. Charpentier published a paper exploring the regulation of hair growth in mice. She held the position of Research Associate at the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and at the Skirball Institute of Biomolecular Medicine in New York from 1999 to 2002.


title: Emmanuelle Charpentier

text: After five years in the United States, Charpentier returned to Europe and became the lab head and a guest professor at the Institute of Microbiology and Genetics, University of Vienna, from 2002 to 2004. In 2004, Charpentier published her discovery of an RNA molecule involved in the regulation of virulence-factor synthesis in "Streptococcus pyogenes". From 2004 to 2006 she was lab head and an assistant professor at the Department of Microbiology and Immunobiology. In 2006 she became a private docent (Microbiology) and received her habilitation at the Centre of Molecular Biology. From 2006 to 2009 she worked as lab head and associate professor at the Max F. Perutz Laboratories.


title: Emmanuelle Charpentier

text: Charpentier moved to Sweden and became lab head and associate professor at the Laboratory for Molecular Infection Medicine Sweden (MIMS), at Umeå University. She held the position of group leader from 2008 to 2013 and was visiting professor from 2014 to 2017. She moved to Germany to act as department head and W3 Professor at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research in Braunschweig and the Hannover Medical School from 2013 until 2015. In 2014 she became an Alexander von Humboldt Professor.


title: Emmanuelle Charpentier

text: In 2015 Charpentier accepted an offer from the German Max Planck Society to become a scientific member of the society and a director at the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology in Berlin. Since 2016, she has been an Honorary Professor at Humboldt University in Berlin; since 2018, she is the Founding and acting director of the Max Planck Unit for the Science of Pathogens. Charpentier retained her position as visiting professor at Umeå University until the end of 2017 when a new donation from the Kempe Foundations and the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation allowed her to offer more young researchers positions within research groups of the MIMS Laboratory.


title: Emmanuelle Charpentier

text: Charpentier is best known for her Nobel-winning work of deciphering the molecular mechanisms of a bacterial immune system, called CRISPR/Cas9, and repurposing it into a tool for genome editing. In particular, she uncovered a novel mechanism for the maturation of a non-coding RNA which is pivotal in the function of CRISPR/Cas9. Specifically, Charpentier demonstrated that a small RNA called tracrRNA is essential for the maturation of crRNA.


title: Emmanuelle Charpentier

text: In 2011, Charpentier met Jennifer Doudna at a research conference and they began a collaboration. Working with Doudna's laboratory, Charpentier's laboratory showed that Cas9 could be used to make cuts in any DNA sequence desired. The method they developed involved the combination of Cas9 with easily created synthetic "guide RNA" molecules. Synthetic guide RNA is a chimera of crRNA and tracrRNA; therefore, this discovery demonstrated that the CRISPR-Cas9 technology could be used to edit the genome with relative ease. Researchers worldwide have employed this method successfully to edit the DNA sequences of plants, animals, and laboratory cell lines. Since its discovery, CRISPR has revolutionized genetics by allowing scientists to edit genes to probe their role in health and disease and to develop genetic therapies with the hope that it will prove safer and more effective than the first generation of gene therapies.


title: Emmanuelle Charpentier

text: In 2013, Charpentier co-founded CRISPR Therapeutics and ERS Genomics along with Shaun Foy and Rodger Novak.


title: Emmanuelle Charpentier

text: In 2015, "Time" magazine designated Charpentier one of the "Time" 100 most influential people in the world (together with Jennifer Doudna). Charpentier Awards are as follows:


title: Emmanuelle Charpentier

text: Nobel Prize in Chemistry, the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences, the Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine, the Gruber Foundation International Prize in Genetics, the Leibniz Prize, the Tang Prize, the Japan Prize, and the Kavli Prize in Nanoscience. She has won the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award jointly with Jennifer Doudna and Francisco Mojica.


title: Emmanuelle Charpentier

text: In 2019, Charpentier was a featured character in the play "STEM FEMMES" by Philadelphia theater company Applied Mechanics.


title: Emmanuelle Charpentier

text: In 2021, Walter Isaacson detailed the story of Jennifer Doudna and her collaboration with Charpentier leading to the discovery of CRISPR/CAS-9, in the biography "The Code Breaker:" "Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race".


title: Alex Cord

text: Alexander Viespi Jr. (May 3, 1933 – August 9, 2021), known professionally as Alex Cord, was an American actor, best known for his portrayal of Michael Coldsmith Briggs III, better known as Archangel, in 55 episodes of the television series "Airwolf" (1984–1986). Early in his career, he was credited as Alex Viespi.


title: Alex Cord

text: Cord was born to an Italian family in Floral Park, New York, the son of Marie (Paladino) and Alexander Viespi, who was in the construction business. Cord was stricken with polio at the age of 12. His family then moved to Wyoming, where doctors advised him to take up horseback riding as a therapeutic exercise. This helped him recover from the disease by the time he was 16. Cord attended New York University in New York City and the American Shakespeare Theatre at Stratford, Connecticut.


title: Alex Cord

text: In July 1960, Cord (billed under his real name) acted in a production of "The Curious Savage" in Canal Fulton, Ohio. He had a role in the 1961 episode "The Mountain Men" of the TV series "Laramie". Cord's second role came a month later as Nino Sanchez in the episode "Winter Quarters" of "Frontier Circus". In 1962, he appeared as Larry Rome in the episode "Take a Number" of the crime drama "Cain's Hundred".


title: Alex Cord

text: Cord appeared in the 1962 film "The Chapman Report", directed by George Cukor. He briefly enjoyed a leading man status on the big and small screen during the 1960s and 1970s, and starred or co-starred in mostly crime dramas, action films, and westerns.


title: Alex Cord

text: In 1963 and 1964, Cord was cast as different characters in five episodes of the series "Route 66", including the role of Michael in the two-part "Where There's a Will, There's a Way." In 1964, he played the part of Sam in the episode "If Your Grandmother Had Wheels" of "East Side/West Side". During this same period, he appeared twice on "Naked City".


title: Alex Cord

text: In 1965, Cord was cast as Jed Colbee in the episode "Survival" of "Branded". In 1966, he played the Ringo Kid in a remake of "Stagecoach", which arguably remains Cord's most heavily publicized endeavor, during which he was ballyhooed in the press as a former football player since the role was originally portrayed by minor college football player John Wayne (who had since starred in eighty Western movies, usually with his name above the title, throughout the 1930s) in John Ford's 1939 version. Cord co-starred in "The Brotherhood" with Kirk Douglas, about a Mafia figure being sent to murder his own brother.


title: Alex Cord

text: He guest-starred on the Rod Serling anthology series "Night Gallery" where he met his co-star and wife Joanna Pettet while filming the episode "Keep in Touch - We'll Think of Something". In 1974, Cord twice guest-starred on the NBC series "Born Free", and he appeared in the motion picture "Chosen Survivors".


title: Alex Cord

text: Cord is among a handful of actors to appear on both the original and revival versions of CBS's "". Cord also is known to science fiction enthusiasts for having portrayed Dylan Hunt in the failed 1973 television pilot "Genesis II," which was created by Gene Roddenberry. In 1977, he starred as the title character in the epic western "Grayeagle".


title: Alex Cord

text: In 1972, he appeared as Pete Brown in the episode "The Sodbusters" of "Gunsmoke". In 1973, he played the role of Haynes in "The Night of the Long Knives" on "The F.B.I.". From 1973 to 1976, he appeared in four episodes of "Police Story". In 1979 and 1981, he appeared twice on "The Love Boat". In 1984 Cord starred in Airwolf The Movie a two-hour pilot of the subsequent series. In 1988, Cord was cast in an episode of "Simon and Simon"; in 1988 and 1992, he appeared on "Jake and the Fatman". He also appeared in a 1988 episode of the TV series "War of the Worlds". He appeared twice in "Murder, She Wrote". In 1995, Cord played the character Larry Curtis in the episode "The Guardians" of "Walker, Texas Ranger".


title: Alex Cord

text: Cord had three children, daughter Toni Aluisa and sons Wayne Viespi and Damien Zachary Cord. Toni is the daughter of Mary Ann Hutchinson, whom Alex never married, and Wayne was the product of his first marriage. His second marriage was to actress Joanna Pettet with whom he had Damien. His third marriage was to equestrienne/author Susannah Boye-Moller Cord.


title: Alex Cord

text: Cord lived in Cooke County, Texas. Cord suggested that Robert Fuller, his friend from "Laramie", also move to Texas to raise horses. Fuller and his second wife Jennifer Savidge did relocate to Cooke County in 2004. Cord and Fuller often made appearances at western film festivals, highlighting their continuing mutual interest in "The Spirit of the Cowboy". Cord died at his home in Valley View, Texas on August 9, 2021, at the age of 88.


title: Danu (Irish goddess)

text: In Irish mythology, *Danu () is the reconstructed mother goddess of the Tuatha dé Danann (Old Irish: "The peoples of the goddess Danu"). Though primarily seen as an ancestral figure, some Victorian sources also associate her with the land.


title: Danu (Irish goddess)

text: The hypothetical nominative form of the name, "*Danu", is not found in any medieval Irish text, but is rather a reconstruction by modern scholars based on the genitive "Danann" (also spelled "Donand" or "Danand"), which is the only form attested in the primary sources (e.g. in the collective name of the Irish gods, "Tuatha dé Danann" "Tribe of the Gods of Danu"). In Irish mythology, "Anu" (sometimes written as "Anann" or "Anand") is a goddess. She may be a distinct goddess in her own right or an alternative name for Danu, in which case "Danu" could be a contraction of "*di[a] Anu" ("goddess Anu").


title: Danu (Irish goddess)

text: The etymology of the name has been a matter of much debate since the 19th century, with some earlier scholars favoring a link with the Vedic water goddess Danu, whose name is derived from the Proto-Indo-European root "*dʰenh₂-" "to run, to flow", which may also lie behind the ancient name for the river Danube, "Danuuius" – perhaps of Celtic origin, though it is also possible that it is an early Scythian loanword in Celtic.


title: Danu (Irish goddess)

text: Linguist Eric Hamp rejects the traditional etymologies in his 2002 examination of the name "Danu", and proposes instead that "*Danu" is derived from the same root as Latin "bonus" (Old Latin "duenos") from Proto-Indo-European "*dueno-" "good", via a Proto-Celtic nominative singular n-stem "*Duonū" ("aristocrat").


title: Danu (Irish goddess)

text: "Cormac's Glossary", a text that predates the "Lebor Gabala Erenn" (below), names the goddess "Anu" as the mother of the gods.


title: Danu (Irish goddess)

text: The closest figure in Irish texts to a "Danu" would then be "Danand", daughter of Delbáeth. In the "Lebor Gabála Érenn" ("The Book of the Taking of Ireland"), it is noted the "Tuatha dé Danann" get their name from Danand's three sons: Brian, Iuchar, and Iucharba. These three are called the "Gods of Dannan".


title: Danu (Irish goddess)

text: She has possible parallels with the Welsh legendary figure Dôn in the medieval tales of the "Mabinogion", whom most modern scholars consider to be a mythological mother goddess.


title: Danu (Irish goddess)

text: However, Dôn's gender is not specified in the "Mabinogion", and some medieval Welsh antiquarians presumed Dôn to be male.


title: Des Moines-class cruiser

text: The "Des Moines"-class cruisers were a trio of very large U.S. Navy heavy cruisers commissioned in 1948 and 1949. They were the last of the all-gun heavy cruisers, exceeded in size in the American navy only by the s that straddled the line between heavy cruiser and battlecruiser. Two were decommissioned by 1961 but the , served until 1975. is a museum ship in Quincy, Massachusetts; the other two were scrapped.


title: Des Moines-class cruiser

text: Derived from the heavy cruisers, they were larger, had an improved machinery layout and carried a new design of auto-loading, rapid-fire 8"/55 gun (the Mk16). The improved Mk16 guns of the main battery were the first auto-loading 8" guns fielded by the US Navy and allowed a much higher rate of fire than earlier designs, capable of sustaining eight shots per minute per barrel, about twice that previous heavy cruisers could. The auto-loading mechanism could function at any elevation, giving some anti-aircraft capability. While the secondary battery of six twin 5"/38 Mk12 DP guns was essentially unchanged from the and "Baltimore"-class cruisers, the "Des Moines" class carried a stronger battery of small-caliber anti-aircraft guns, including 12 twin 3-inch/50 Mk27 and later Mk33 guns, that were considered superior to the earlier ships' quad-mounted 40mm Bofors against contemporary airborne threats.


title: Des Moines-class cruiser

text: Twelve ships of the class were planned, but only three were completed: , and , with USS "Dallas" (CA-140) canceled when approximately 28 percent complete.


title: Des Moines-class cruiser

text: Their speed made them valuable to escort carrier groups and they were useful in showing the flag in goodwill visits. The first two were decommissioned in 1961 and 1959, respectively, but "Newport News" remained in commission until 1975, serving for a long period (1962–1968) as United States Second Fleet flagship, and providing valuable gunfire support off Vietnam from 1967 to 1973. The ship's missions included shelling targets close to the North Vietnam shoreline. In August 1972 she raided Haiphong harbor at night with other US Navy ships to shell coastal defenses, Surface-to-air missile sites and Cat Bi airfield.


title: Des Moines-class cruiser

text: "Newport News" was the last active all-gun cruiser (serving 25.5 years continuously) and the first completely air-conditioned surface ship in the U.S. Navy. "Salem" is a museum ship in Quincy, Massachusetts. "Newport News" was laid up at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard and scrapped in 1993, and "Des Moines" was scrapped in 2006–2007. "Dallas" (CA-140) and eight other ships (CA-141 through CA-143 and CA-149 through CA-153) were canceled at the end of World War II.


title: Paoli, Pennsylvania

text: Paoli ( ) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Chester County near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It is situated in portions of two townships: Tredyffrin and Willistown. At the 2010 census, it had a total population of 5,575.


title: Paoli, Pennsylvania

text: The town of Paoli grew around an inn kept in 1769 by Joshua Evans, whose father bought from William Penn in 1719 near the current site of the Paoli Post Office. Evans named his inn after General Pasquale Paoli, a Corsican, after Paoli had received the 45th and final toast at a Saint Patrick's Day celebration. The inn's location on the Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike, about 20 miles (one day's drive for a horse-drawn wagon) from Philadelphia, contributed to its success.


title: Paoli, Pennsylvania

text: On the evening of September 20, 1777, near Paoli, General Charles Grey and nearly 5,000 British soldiers launched a surprise attack on a Patriot encampment, which became known as the Battle of Paoli. Having intercepted General Washington's orders to General Wayne regarding British rearguard actions, Grey directed his troops to assault the small regiment of Americans commanded by Anthony Wayne in an area near his residence. Not wanting to lose the element of surprise, Grey ordered his troops to remove the flint from their muskets and to use only bayonets or swords to launch a surprise sneak attack on the Americans under the cover of darkness.


title: Paoli, Pennsylvania

text: With the help of a Loyalist spy who provided a secret password, "here we are and there they go" and led them to the camp, General "No-flint" Grey and the British overran several American pickets and launched their successful attack on the Continental Army camp. 201 American soldiers were killed or injured, while 71 were captured. The British suffered only 4 killed and 7 injured in comparison. Wayne's reputation was tarnished by the high casualties suffered in the battle, and he demanded a formal court-martial to clear his name. On November 1, a board of 13 officers declared that Wayne had acted with honor. The site of the battle is now part of nearby Malvern, Pennsylvania.


title: Paoli, Pennsylvania

text: The construction of the Main Line of Public Works across Pennsylvania enhanced the village's stature, as the Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad passed through it. This became the Pennsylvania Railroad, which built suburban commuter lines out from Philadelphia in the late 19th century, spurring the growth of that city's suburbs. The largest and longest of these commuter lines, the "Main Line", terminated in Paoli.


title: Paoli, Pennsylvania

text: "The Homestead," the fifteen-acre farm of Colley Wilson, on the south side of Swedesford Road, was the scene of the first annual Philadelphia Folk Festival in 1962, and remained at that site until 1965. It outgrew the space when an estimated 15,000 people attended the final year. The site has been subdivided.


title: Paoli, Pennsylvania

text: Gene Shay, a member of the Festival committee, observed after the first Festival, the site "with its spacious grassy valleys, clean running brooks, shaded hillsides and rustic barns, supplied the perfect background for all of the musical activity."


title: Paoli, Pennsylvania

text: In those few years Acts such as Pete Seeger, Judy Collins, Mississippi John Hurt, Phil Ochs, Bill Monroe, Tom Rush, Tom Paxton, rev. Gary Davis, Rambling Jack Elliott, Buffy Sainte-Marie, and The Paul Butterfield Blues Band were among the many performers.


title: Paoli, Pennsylvania

text: According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of , all of which is land. Paoli borders other towns, such as Berwyn and Malvern. These three towns belong to either the Tredyffrin/Easttown or the Great Valley school districts.


title: Paoli, Pennsylvania

text: As of the 2019 survey, there were 5,651 people, 2,552 housing units and 1,437 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 2,710.2 per square mile (1,047.3/km). There were 2,468 housing units at an average density of 1,233.0/sq mi (476.5/km). The racial makeup of the CDP was 90.93% White, 5.36% Black, 0.09% Native American, 92.64% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.39% from other races, and 0.57% from two or more races. 0.85% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.


title: Paoli, Pennsylvania

text: There were 2,361 households, of which 24.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.0% were married couples living together, 7.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 39.1% were non-families. 32.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 15.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.24 and the average family size was 2.89.


title: Paoli, Pennsylvania

text: 20.2% of the population were under the age of 18, 4.7% from 18 to 24, 31.5% from 25 to 44, 25.0% from 45 to 64, and 18.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 41 years. For every 100 females, there were 89.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 83.2 males.


title: Paoli, Pennsylvania

text: The median household income was $73,050 and the median family income was $69,519. Males had a median income of $46,536 and females $34,702. The per capita income was $30,570. 4.7% of the population and 3.6% of families were below the poverty line. 8.0% of those under the age of 18 and 4.6% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line.


title: Paoli, Pennsylvania

text: The Tredyffrin/Easttown School District serves the portions of Paoli CDP in Tredyffrin Township. The section of Paoli in Willistown Township is served by Great Valley School District.


title: Paoli, Pennsylvania

text: The portion of Paoli in T/E are divided between the zoned of Beaumont Elementary School in Easttown Township and Hillside Elementary School in Tredyffrin Township. The Great Valley elementary schools, Charlestown, K.D. Markley, Sugartown and General Wayne, all filter into Great Valley Middle School. Tredyffrin/Easttown operates two middle schools, Tredyffrin/Easttown and Valley Forge, and all district students attend Conestoga High School. Great Valley students attend Great Valley High School.


title: Paoli, Pennsylvania

text: Delaware Valley Friends School is a school for those with learning differences in Paoli. It is adjacent to Station Square, a business complex.


title: Paoli, Pennsylvania

text: The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia operates Catholic schools. St. Norbert School is in Easttown Township, and is outside of the Paoli CDP, but has a Paoli mailing address. The school was established in 1956, with the school building built the following year.


title: Paoli, Pennsylvania

text: Tredyffrin Township Libraries operates the Paoli Library within the Paoli CDP. The Paoli Library is part of the Chester County Library System.


title: Paoli, Pennsylvania

text: Paoli is served by the U.S. Route 202 freeway, U.S. Route 30 and Pennsylvania Route 252 connecting it to King of Prussia and Philadelphia. Historically, Paoli was on the Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike, which was later absorbed into the Lincoln Highway, and became US 30 still later. Many locals still call the route "Lancaster Pike".


title: Paoli, Pennsylvania

text: For generations, Paoli was the western terminus of Pennsylvania Railroad commuter trains coming from Philadelphia on the Main Line. The "Paoli Local" became iconic in the western suburbs. Amtrak's "Keystone Service" and "Pennsylvanian" trains stop at the Paoli station, but with the decline of long-distance train travel, the stops are now less frequent.


title: Paoli, Pennsylvania

text: Commuters traveling by rail within Southeastern Pennsylvania use the Paoli station, although most local trains serving Paoli now terminate in Malvern, one stop to the west. SEPTA Regional Rail's Paoli/Thorndale Line (formerly R5) commuter rail runs between Thorndale and Philadelphia both ways every 30 minutes during the week. College students and city-working suburbanites take the Paoli/Thorndale Line to school and work. Station-to-station, a trip from Paoli to Center City Philadelphia on the Paoli/Thorndale Line takes approximately 45 minutes, although some rush hour trains run directly between Paoli and 30th Street Station in under 30 minutes.


title: Paoli, Pennsylvania

text: Paoli is served by multiple SEPTA Suburban Bus routes. Local buses traverse Route 30 along the Main Line, and Paoli Pike is the main artery for buses heading to West Chester. The Route 92 bus connects Paoli to West Chester and the King of Prussia Transit Center at the King of Prussia mall. The Route 106 bus links Paoli to the other Main Line communities and the 69th Street Transportation Center. The Route 204 and Route 206 buses connect the Paoli station to Eagleview and the Great Valley Corporate Center respectively.


title: Paoli, Pennsylvania

text: In 2016, the majority of Paoli residents were found to drive alone on their way to work, while only 10.97% took public transportation.


title: Julia Grant

text: Julia Boggs Grant (née Dent; January 26, 1826 – December 14, 1902) was the first lady of the United States and wife of President Ulysses S. Grant. As first lady, she became a national figure in her own right. Her memoirs, "The Personal Memoirs of Julia Dent Grant" were published in 1975.


title: Julia Grant

text: Julia Boggs Dent was born on January 26, 1826, at White Haven plantation west of St. Louis, Missouri. Her parents were Frederick Dent (1787–1873), a slaveholding planter and merchant, and Ellen Wrenshall Dent. Frederick owned about 30 African slaves, whom he freed only when compelled by law, having previously resisted moral arguments against slaveholding.


title: Julia Grant

text: Julia, a distant maternal relative to Confederate general James Longstreet, was the fifth of eight children. In her memoirs, Julia described her childhood as "one long summer of sunshine, flowers, and smiles…"


title: Julia Grant

text: Around 1831–1836, Julia attended the Gravois School, a co-educational one-room schoolhouse in St. Louis. From age 10 to age 17, Julia attended the Misses Mauros' boarding school in St. Louis with the daughters of other affluent parents. Julia was a boarding student during the week and returned home to White Haven on weekends.


title: Julia Grant

text: The Dent family was highly social with visitors coming from among the elite class of Cincinnati, Louisville and Pittsburgh. William Clark (of Lewis and Clark) and politician Alexander McNair were family friends.


title: Julia Grant

text: As a young woman, Julia was a skilled pianist, an expert horsewoman and a voracious reader of novels.


title: Julia Grant

text: Julia was born with strabismus (more commonly known as "crossed eyes") which prevents both eyes from lining up in the same direction. When she was younger, one of the best surgeons in the country offered to perform the simple operation that would fix them. Julia was not keen on surgery, however, and declined.


title: Julia Grant

text: After her husband became president, Julia reconsidered surgery. "I never had the courage to consent, but now that my husband had become so famous I really thought it behooved me to try to look as well as possible." Ulysses objected: "Did I not see you and fall in love with you with these same eyes? I like them just as they are, and now, remember, you are not to interfere with them. They are mine and let me tell you, Mrs. Grant, you had better not make any experiments, as I might not like you half so well with any other eyes."


title: Julia Grant

text: While a student at West Point, New York, Fred Dent wrote his sister Julia about how impressed he was with a fellow student, Ulysses S. Grant. "I want you to know him, he is pure gold." In 1844, Ulysses S. Grant began visiting the Dent family. At one point her pet canary died, and Ulysses crafted a small yellow coffin and summoned eight fellow officers for an avian funeral service. In April of that year, Ulysses asked Julia to wear his class ring, as a sign of their exclusive affection. Eighteen-year-old Julia initially demurred. Grant's regiment was then ordered to Louisiana, in preparation for service in the Mexican War. Distraught at their separation, Julia had an intense dream, which she detailed to several people, that Grant would somehow return within days, wearing civilian clothes and state his intention of staying for a week. Despite the unlikeliness of the dream, Ulysses did return just as Julia had predicted and the two became engaged.


title: Julia Grant

text: In July 1848, after they had been apart for four years, Grant's regiment returned to the United States, and he took leave so that he could make wedding arrangements in St. Louis. Grant's father, Jesse Grant, refused to attend their wedding (August 22, 1848), objecting not to Julia, but to her family's owning slaves.


title: Julia Grant

text: After the Grants were married, Ulysses returned to the Army. Julia gave birth to Frederick Dent Grant in 1850 and Ulysses Simpson Grant in 1852 while her husband was dispatched to the West Coast for several years. Unhappy to be so far from his family, Ulysses resigned from the Army in 1854 and the Grants moved to a small farm called "Hardscrabble" in St. Louis.


title: Julia Grant

text: At one point, Ulysses purchased a slave from Julia's brother Fred, his old West Point roommate. Yet without explanation, when he was in debt and barely able to put food on his family's table, Grant appeared in court on March 20, 1859, and emancipated his slave rather than selling him.


title: Julia Grant

text: Ulysses became ill with malaria and was unable to run his farm. The family moved in with Julia's parents in White Haven. Once he recovered, he took a job collecting rents for a real estate firm in St. Louis, but could not earn enough money. By 1860, Grant was out of options, and he asked his father for help. He was offered a job in the family leather business, working under his two younger brothers. Earning $600 a year, he could go a long way toward getting his family out of debt, so he moved Julia and the children to Illinois.


title: Julia Grant

text: At the beginning of the Civil War, Ulysses helped organize volunteers and he soon took command of the Illinois troops. He was promoted to brigadier general and then major general. Lonely without his wife, Ulysses sent for Julia. She left the children with relatives and over the course of the Civil War she stayed with Ulysses during campaigns at Memphis, Vicksburg, Nashville and Virginia. Julia covered more than 10,000 miles in four years—and nearly 4,000 in just the first year—to be with her husband. At one point, Julia lived at Walter Place, an Antebellum mansion in Holly Springs, Mississippi. When Confederate General Earl Van Dorn raided the house, he was not permitted by the pro-Union owner to enter before she went outside. Julia's presence lifted her husband's spirits and buoyed his confidence. In 1864, when Lincoln appointed Grant commander of the Union armies, the president sent for Julia to join her husband, aware of the positive effect she had on him.


title: Julia Grant

text: Julia was thrilled with her husband's nomination for the presidency in 1868—even more than the candidate himself—and immersed herself in his campaign. She was such a major figure in her husband's bid for the presidency that after his inauguration, Ulysses S. Grant turned to his wife and said, "And now, my dear, I hope you're satisfied."


title: Julia Grant

text: After four years of war, an assassination, and an impeachment trial, Washington was ready for a little levity, and Julia obliged. She offered a full array of events and became a popular hostess. She planned lavish state dinners, where guests enjoyed expensive wines and liquors. She also received callers at informal receptions as long as the ladies wore hats and the men left their weapons at home. Although Julia spent a great deal of money, she avoided the kind of spending criticism that had been directed at Mary Todd Lincoln.


title: Julia Grant

text: Julia also sought to imbue the position of First Lady with the appropriate prestige. She believed that the position should command the same dignity and honors accorded wives of foreign leaders, and she was frustrated when the role was not publicly acknowledged. Not only did she seek added prestige for the first ladyship, but she also worked to improve the stature of the wives of the diplomatic corps, the cabinet, the Congress, and the Supreme Court.


title: Julia Grant

text: As First Lady, Julia presided over Tuesday afternoon receptions for the general public. As noted above, Julia's only requirements for these receptions were that ladies wore hats and the men left their weapons at home.


title: Julia Grant

text: On May 21, 1874, First Daughter Nellie Grant married Algernon Charles Frederick Sartoris (1851–1893), a wealthy English singer, son of Adelaide Kemble and nephew of the famous actress Fanny Kemble. It was the first grand White House wedding, and the East Room redecorated entirely for the occasion. Andrew Jackson's three chandeliers were replaced by much grander "French" models, boasting thousands of glass pieces showered over a nickel-plated framework, with gas flames shaded by cut and frosted glass shades.


title: Julia Grant

text: When the 1876 presidential election between Rutherford B. Hayes and Samuel Tilden ended in dispute, Julia saw an opportunity to extend her time in the White House. She thought her husband should remain President until the matter could be settled. She admitted that her "policy would have been to hold the fort until another election could be held." Her husband disagreed, and when Congress settled the election in favor of Hayes, Julia prepared to leave the White House.


title: Julia Grant

text: She was a staunch defender of women's rights in general and refused to allow jokes at women's expense to be told in her company. Those who questioned the capabilities or equality of women earned her wrath, as Brigham Young discovered when the First Lady grilled him about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' practice of polygamy and its negative effect on women. Yet while she believed in the abilities of women, she was not sure that women should work nor did she publicly support women's suffrage although she refused to sign an anti-suffrage petition—an obvious omission to many.


title: Julia Grant

text: Julia grew up on a plantation with slaves and as a young woman had a slave known as "Jule" or "Black Julia". It is not clear if Jule ever legally belonged to Julia. Historians still debate whether Julia's father retained legal title to the four slaves his daughter claimed to own. Julia's father insisted they leave the slaves with him when the Grants lived in the North, fearing they would escape to freedom.


title: Julia Grant

text: Jule traveled with Julia Grant throughout the war. In January 1862, Abraham Lincoln received an anonymous letter from Cairo, decrying Grant's drinking and his 'secesh' wife with her slave, but Lincoln took no action. In her memoirs, Julia recalled "When I visited the General during the war, I nearly always had Jule with me as a nurse. She came near being captured at Holly Springs."


title: Julia Grant

text: According to Julia, "Eliza, Dan, Jule, and John belonged to me up to the time of President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation", which exempted Missouri slaves from emancipation. Even after that date, Jule continued her service to Julia. In January 1864, Jule, Julia, and Julia's young son Jesse left Nashville for St. Louis. On the trip, Jule left the group. Julia later recalled. "I suppose she feared to lose her freedom if she returned to Missouri." According to Julia, Jule married soon afterwards.


title: Julia Grant

text: Julia seemed to believe that blacks were not fully equal to whites, but she refused to lend any support to white supremacists, including her brother Louis Dent. She strongly encouraged blacks on the White House domestic staff to buy land in the District while it was still cheap, in order to ensure their future financial security. She also decided to greet anyone properly dressed—regardless of race—who attended her afternoon receptions, but never questioned why blacks failed to call on her. The simple answer was that White House security prevented them from doing so.


title: Julia Grant

text: After accompanying her husband on a two-year world tour that took them to Europe, Africa, and Asia, Julia and Ulysses settled in New York City to enjoy their retirement from public life. However, all of their money was lost in an unwise investment scheme, and the Grants were reduced to poverty. Shortly afterward, Ulysses was diagnosed with the throat cancer that led to his death in 1885. In his dying days, Grant completed his "Personal Memoirs", which left Julia and their children financially secure.


title: Julia Grant

text: As a widow, Julia lived in Washington, D.C., where she wrote her own memoirs. Julia Grant was the first First Lady to write a memoir, though she was unable to find a publisher, and had been dead almost 75 years before "The Personal Memoirs of Julia Dent Grant (Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant)" was finally published in 1975. She had attended in 1897 the dedication of Grant's monumental tomb overlooking the Hudson River in New York City. She was laid to rest in a sarcophagus beside her husband. She had ended her own chronicle of their years together with a firm declaration: "the light of his glorious fame still reaches out to me, falls upon me, and warms me."


title: Julia Grant

text: While in Washington, D.C., Julia followed Dolley Madison's lead and acted as a "Queen Mother" figure. She became friends with First Ladies Frances Cleveland, Caroline Harrison, and Edith Roosevelt.


title: Julia Grant

text: She died on December 14, 1902, and is interred with her husband in General Grant's National Monument (Grant's Tomb) in New York City.


title: Li Zhanshu

text: Li Zhanshu (; born August 30, 1950) is a Chinese politician, and the current outgoing chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, the Chinese Speaker. He was the third-ranking member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, China's top decision-making body, between 2017 and 2022.


title: Li Zhanshu

text: Li began his political career in rural regions of his native Hebei province, rising through the ranks as the Communist Party Secretary of Xi'an, Governor of Heilongjiang province, and the Party Secretary of Guizhou province. In 2012, he became chief of the General Office of the Chinese Communist Party. Following the 18th Party Congress, Li became one of the top advisors to party General Secretary Xi Jinping. He is regarded by the media as a senior member of "Xi Jinping Clique", one of the main political factions within the Chinese Communist Party.


title: Li Zhanshu

text: Li was born in Pingshan County, Hebei province on August 30, 1950. He became a member of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1975. He started his career as an ordinary functionary in the capital of his home province, Shijiazhuang, working as an office worker for the Shijiazhuang commercial bureau and the Shijiazhuang party committee. In 1980, Li studied night school at Hebei Normal University. After graduating, he was promoted to Party Secretary of Wuji County (at around the same time, the party chief of neighbouring Zhengding County was Xi Jinping, current General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party).


title: Li Zhanshu

text: For the next decade, Li took on progressively senior roles in Hebei province, including deputy party chief and Commissioner of Shijiazhuang prefecture (not equivalent to mayor), head of the provincial Communist Youth League organization, Commissioner of Chengde prefecture, member of the Party Standing Committee of Hebei and Secretary-General of the provincial party committee.


title: Li Zhanshu

text: In a leaked US Diplomatic cable from 2008, Li told US diplomats that he had the "unwelcome distinction" of leading the first CYL delegation to the US following the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests.


title: Li Zhanshu

text: In 1998, Li was transferred to Shaanxi province to serve on its party leadership council and become the head of its provincial Organization Department. Beginning in January 2002, Li became the Party Secretary of Xi'an. In May, he concurrently took on the role of deputy party chief of Shaanxi province. During his term in Xi'an, Li was known to have set the goal for Xi'an to become the "best city in the western interior".


title: Li Zhanshu

text: In December 2003, Li became Deputy Party Secretary of Heilongjiang, and assumed the post of Vice Governor about a year later. At the time, outside observers classified Li as a member of the "Tuanpai", i.e., officials with a background in the Communist Youth League. On December 25, 2007, then Governor Zhang Zuoji resigned, and Li took over as acting Governor, confirmed in January 2008. In August 2010, Li became the Party Secretary of Guizhou province, taking on his first role in the top office of a province. At the time, Li was not yet a full member of the Central Committee; it was considered very rare for someone to hold office as a provincial party chief without a full seat on the Central Committee.


title: Li Zhanshu

text: In July 2012, Li was transferred to Beijing to serve as the executive deputy director of the General Office of the Chinese Communist Party, being groomed to replace Ling Jihua. He assumed office as Director of the General Office two months later.


title: Li Zhanshu

text: Li has played a major role in facilitating a strong relationship between China and Russia, and is the first General Office chief in post-Mao China to have played such an active role in foreign affairs. For example, in 2015 Li was sent as a "special envoy" of Xi Jinping to meet with Vladimir Putin in Moscow. During the 2015 Moscow Victory Day Parade held in Moscow, Li was a member of the Chinese delegation. Li was known to have accompanied Xi on the leader's various meetings with foreign guests, including on Xi's 2015 state visit to the United States. In September 2022, during a meeting with senior Russian figures, Li pledged China's "understanding and full support" in Russia's position on the issue of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. He said, "given the circumstances, Russia has taken necessary measures. China understands, and we are coordinating on various aspects." He went on to directly blame the United States and NATO for "expanding NATO directly on Russia's doorstep, threatening Russia's national security and the lives of Russian citizens."


title: Li Zhanshu

text: Li, seen as one of the most influential members of Xi Jinping's inner circle, was considered a "dark horse" candidate for the 19th Politburo Standing Committee, China's top decision-making body which took office in 2017.


title: Li Zhanshu

text: Li was an alternate member of the 16th and 17th Central Committees of the Chinese Communist Party and was a full member of the 18th Central Committee.


title: Li Zhanshu

text: Li was chosen to be a member of the 19th Politburo Standing Committee, China's top decision-making body, at the 1st Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party on 25 October 2017.


title: Li Zhanshu

text: On March 17, 2018, Li was elected as the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress.


title: Li Zhanshu

text: On September 8, 2018, Li acted as special representative to General Secretary Xi Jinping on a visit to North Korea to participate in the 70th anniversary celebrations of the founding of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.


title: Li Zhanshu

text: Regarding his work, Li claims to abide by a "three-nos" principle: they are: "no messing around with other people, no playing games, no loafing on the job."


title: Li Zhanshu

text: In November 2020, following the expulsion of 4 pro-democracy lawmakers in the Hong Kong Legislative Council, Li defended the expulsion, arguing that the decision was both "necessary" and "appropriate."


title: Li Zhanshu

text: On October 22, 2022, at the closing ceremony of the 20th National Congress of the CCP, Li was seen to prevent Hu Jintao from reading the documents on Hu's desk. Their skirmish eventually led to Hu Jintao's abrupt removal from the ceremony by Kong Shaoxun, Deputy Director of the General Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, assisted by another staff member. Witnessing the removal, Li was visibly uneasy, wiping his eyes with a handkerchief, and trying to leave his seat to support or comfort Hu, only to be stopped by Wang Huning sitting to the left of him. The removal process was closely monitored by Xi Jinping, who sat to Hu's right and summoned Kong and the staff.


title: Li Zhanshu

text: Li's eldest daughter, Li Qianxin (; born 20 June 1982), also known as Naomi Li, has been reported by Chinese-language media as being active in Hong Kong, and is one of the Vice-Chairs of the Hua Jing Society, a youth organization promoting mainland-Hong Kong cooperation. Li Qianxin reportedly bought a townhouse in Hong Kong's Stanley Beach for $15 million in 2013.


title: Li Zhanshu

text: According to a New York Times investigation, Li Qianxin bought a 4-story property at 6 Stanley Beach Road in the Southern District of Hong Kong Island in 2013 for US$15 million through Century Joy Holdings Ltd., a company registered in Hong Kong with Li Qianxin as the sole director, and incorporated in the British Virgin Islands. In October 2019, when "The New York Times" contacted her regarding a scandal involving Deutsche Bank and their illicit hiring practices, she dissolved Century Joy Holdings Ltd. within a matter of hours. Li Qianxin was found to have pushed Deutsche Bank to hire her younger sister, who was deemed unqualified for the bank's corporate communications team, but received the job offer anyway.


title: Li Zhanshu

text: Her husband, Chua Hwa Por (; born 17 May 1985), was also part of the report. Chua owned a racehorse called Limitless, and also took over a company named Tai United in early 2017, when he was appointed as chairman. Under his supervision, Tai United bought a large share in the Peninsula Hotel, as well as the entire 79th floor of a Hong Kong skyscraper (reported earlier by SCMP to be at The Center). Chua stepped down from Tai United shortly afterwards in July 2017, when "Next Magazine" reported on the purchases and Chua's potential ties to Li Qianxin's father, Li Zhanshu. In January 2018, Chua then sold the majority of his Tai United shares.


title: Li Zhanshu

text: Together, Li Qianxin and Chua jointly own another company, named Chua & Li Membership. Li Qianxin and Chua both had listed the 6 Stanley Beach Road unit as their residence until early 2020, when Li Qianxin changed her address to another apartment Chua owns in Hong Kong, located on the 60th floor of a building.


title: Li Zhanshu

text: Also according to the investigation, Li Qianxin joined networks such as the Hua Jing Society in Hong Kong, a group that networks princelings and tycoons.


title: Witness (Better Call Saul)

text: "Witness" is the second episode of the third season of the AMC television series "Better Call Saul", the spinoff series of "Breaking Bad". The episode aired on April 17, 2017 on AMC in the United States. Outside of the United States, the episode premiered on streaming service Netflix in several countries.


title: Witness (Better Call Saul)

text: Chuck McGill converses with David Brightbill, a private investigator who is playing solitaire. After turning down the lantern that illuminates the room, Chuck stares out the window.


title: Witness (Better Call Saul)

text: Mike Ehrmantraut observes the two individuals he followed from his house give the tracking device from his car to a courier. He follows the courier, who eventually arrives at Los Pollos Hermanos. Mike's monitor shows that the tracker remains stationary.


title: Witness (Better Call Saul)

text: Francesca Liddy arrives at Wexler-McGill for a job interview. Jimmy McGill wants her to start immediately as their new receptionist since he has a new commercial airing soon and needs her to field incoming calls. After the ad airs, Jimmy coaches Francesca through two calls, one of which is from Mike. Jimmy agrees to meet Mike the next morning.


title: Witness (Better Call Saul)

text: Mike tasks Jimmy with observing the interior of Los Pollos Hermanos when the courier arrives. After the courier disposes of his trash, Jimmy inspects the bin. The owner of the restaurant, Gus Fring, appears and asks if Jimmy needs help. Jimmy pretends he lost his watch in the trash and Gus helps find it. Jimmy tells Mike he saw nothing suspicious. As they drive away, Gus is outside and looks up knowingly.


title: Witness (Better Call Saul)

text: Victor later drives away from the restaurant. Mike follows him, with Mike’s monitor indicating the tracking device is in Victor's car. When the tracker is stationary, Mike finds a ringing cell phone placed atop his gas cap in the middle of the road. He picks up the phone and answers it.


title: Witness (Better Call Saul)

text: Ernesto tells Kim Wexler he heard Jimmy's taped confession. Kim tells Jimmy that Chuck taped him. She realizes Chuck cannot use the confession in court and suggests that Jimmy wait for Chuck to make the first move so they can determine his intent, but Jimmy angrily drives away.


title: Witness (Better Call Saul)

text: Several days later, Howard Hamlin sneaks to the back door of Chuck’s house and Chuck lets him in. Chuck reveals he intentionally allowed Ernesto to hear the tape, knowing he would tell Kim and Jimmy. Chuck predicts Jimmy will break into his house to destroy the tape, enabling him to have Jimmy arrested. As Chuck guessed, Jimmy kicks in the door and expresses anger that Chuck tricked him by playing to Jimmy’s concern for Chuck's health. Jimmy destroys the tape and Howard and David make their presence known. They declare themselves witnesses, enabling Chuck to report Jimmy to the police.


title: Witness (Better Call Saul)

text: The episode was directed by the series creator Vince Gilligan and was written by executive producer Thomas Schnauz, who previously wrote the season 2 episode "Fifi".


title: Witness (Better Call Saul)

text: This episode features the return of three "Breaking Bad" cast members: Giancarlo Esposito (Gus Fring), Tina Parker (Saul's secretary Francesca Liddy), and Jeremiah Bitsui (Gus's henchman Victor). In a Q&A with AMC, Esposito expressed excitement on his return into the "Breaking Bad" world saying "I'm extremely excited. I'm over the moon. I love this family of filmmakers a great deal. I know "Better Call Saul" is a little bit of a different show than "Breaking Bad" was and I love the success it's had. It has such wonderful talent in the show. Bob Odenkirk is just stellar. Obviously the opportunity to tell some of the backstory of Gus and how he rose to power and how he came to be is always something I've wanted to explore in a very subtle way in the right venue." He also distinguished the show's version of Gus from the original show describing his character as "a little fresher, a little less jaded. The time period alone takes us to a time where his look may be little bit different. I wanted him to be little more hopeful, a little more energetic, maybe not as definitive in some of his actions because he's a Gus that we've never met before."


title: Witness (Better Call Saul)

text: The episode received critical acclaim, with some praising the return of "Breaking Bad" antagonist Gus Fring. On Rotten Tomatoes, the episode holds a perfect 100% rating with an average score of 9.09/10, based on 13 reviews. The site's consensus reads, '"Witness" marks the long-awaited arrival of a fan favorite character—and ends on an explosive note that leaves viewers clamoring for more.'


title: Witness (Better Call Saul)

text: The episode received four Primetime Emmy Award nominations including Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series for Gilligan, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for Jonathan Banks, Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Comedy or Drama Series (One-Hour), and Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Drama Series.


title: Darren Chen

text: Kuan Hong (, born 15 January 1995), also known as Darren Chen, is a Taiwanese actor and model. He is best known for his roles in "Meteor Garden" (2018), "My Unicorn Girl", and "The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty" (2020).


title: Darren Chen

text: Darren Chen was born on January 15, 1995 in Taipei, Taiwan. He graduated from the Taipei Municipal Heping High School.


title: Darren Chen

text: In 2016, Chen made his acting debut as Lin Yutang in the youth fantasy web series "Proud of Love" and its sequel.


title: Darren Chen

text: In 2017, Chen was cast in the role of Huaze Lei by Angie Chai in the 2018 adaptation of "Meteor Garden", based on the Japanese shōjo manga series written by Yoko Kamio.


title: Darren Chen

text: He appeared in Harper's Bazaar China with his "Meteor Garden" costars Dylan Wang, Connor Leong, and Caesar Wu in the November issue. The series was first broadcast in Hunan TV in 9 July 2018, and Chen rose to fame. The same year was confirmed to make his big screen debut with a guest appearance in the romance comedy film "Oversize Love".


title: Darren Chen

text: In 2019, Chen was cast in his first leading role in the historical mystery drama "The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty", produced by Jackie Chan. The series premiered on iQiyi on April 1, 2020. The same year, he starred in the youth sports drama "My Unicorn Girl".


title: Imidacloprid

text: Imidacloprid is a systemic insecticide belonging to a class of chemicals called the neonicotinoids which act on the central nervous system of insects. The chemical works by interfering with the transmission of stimuli in the insect nervous system. Specifically, it causes a blockage of the nicotinergic neuronal pathway. By blocking nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, imidacloprid prevents acetylcholine from transmitting impulses between nerves, resulting in the insect's paralysis and eventual death. It is effective on contact and via stomach action. Because imidacloprid binds much more strongly to insect neuron receptors than to mammal neuron receptors, this insecticide is more toxic to insects than to mammals.


title: Imidacloprid

text: From 1999 through , imidacloprid was the most widely used insecticide in the world. Although it is now off patent, the primary manufacturer of this chemical is Bayer CropScience (part of Bayer AG). It is sold under many names for many uses; it can be applied by soil injection, tree injection, application to the skin of the plant, broadcast foliar, ground application as a granular or liquid formulation, or as a pesticide-coated seed treatment. Imidacloprid is widely used for pest control in agriculture. Other uses include application to foundations to prevent termite damage, pest control for gardens and turf, treatment of domestic pets to control fleas, protection of trees from boring insects, and in preservative treatment of some types of lumber products.


title: Imidacloprid

text: When used on plants, imidacloprid, which is systemic, is slowly taken up by plant roots and slowly translocated up the plant via xylem tissue.


title: Imidacloprid

text: The estimated annual use of the compound in US agriculture is mapped by the US Geological Service and shows an increasing trend from its introduction in 1994 to 2014 when it reached . However, use from 2015 to 2019 dropped following concerns about the effect of neonicotinoid chemicals on pollinating insects. In May 2019, the Environmental Protection Agency revoked approval for a number of products containing imidacloprid as part of a legal settlement, although some formulations continue to be available.


title: Imidacloprid

text: When used on trees, it can take 30–60 days to reach the top (depending on the size and height) and enter the leaves in high enough quantities to be effective. Imidacloprid can be found in the trunk, the branches, the twigs, the leaves, the leaflets, and the seeds. Many trees are wind pollinated. But others such as fruit trees, linden, catalpa, and black locust trees are bee and wind pollinated and imidacloprid would likely be found in the flowers in small quantities. Higher doses must be used to control boring insects than other types.


title: Imidacloprid

text: On January 21, 1986, a patent was filed and granted on May 3, 1988, for imidacloprid in the United States (U.S. Pat. No. 4,742,060) by Nihon Tokushu Noyaku Seizo K.K. of Tokyo, Japan.


title: Imidacloprid

text: On March 25, 1992, Miles, Inc. (later Bayer CropScience) applied for registration of imidacloprid for turfgrass and ornamentals in the United States. On March 10, 1994, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approved the registration of imidacloprid.


title: Imidacloprid

text: On January 26, 2005, the Federal Register notes the establishment of the '(Pesticide Tolerances for) Emergency Exemptions' for imidacloprid. It use was granted to "Hawaii (for the) use (of) this pesticide on bananas(,) and the States of Minnesota, Nebraska, and North Dakota to use (of) this pesticide on sunflower(s)".


title: Imidacloprid

text: Imidacloprid is a systemic insecticide, belonging to the class of chloronicotinyl neonicotinoid insecticides. It works by interfering with the transmission of nerve impulses in insects by binding irreversibly to specific insect nicotinic acetylcholine receptors.


title: Imidacloprid

text: As a systemic pesticide, imidacloprid translocates or moves easily in the xylem of plants from the soil into the leaves, fruit, pollen, and nectar of a plant. Imidacloprid also exhibits excellent translaminar movement in plants and can penetrate the leaf cuticle and move readily into leaf tissue.


title: Imidacloprid

text: Since imidacloprid is efficacious at very low levels (nanogram and picogram), it can be applied at lower concentrations (e.g., 0.05–0.125 lb/acre or 55–140 g/ha) than other insecticides. The availability of imidacloprid and its favorable toxicity package as compared to other insecticides on the market in the 1990s allowed the EPA to replace more toxic insecticides including the acetylcholinesterase inhibitors, the organophosphorus compounds, and methylcarbamates.


title: Imidacloprid

text: The main routes of dissipation of imidacloprid in the environment are aqueous photolysis (half-life = 1–4 hours) and plant uptake. The major photometabolites include imidacloprid desnitro, imidacloprid olefine, imidacloprid urea, and five minor metabolites. The end product of photodegradation is 6-chloronicotinic acid (6-CNA) and ultimately carbon dioxide. Since imidacloprid has a low vapor pressure, it normally does not volatilize readily.


title: Imidacloprid

text: Although imidacloprid breaks down rapidly in water in the presence of light, it remains persistent in water in the absence of light. It has a water solubility of .61 g/L, which is relatively high. In the dark, at pH between 5 and 7, it breaks down very slowly, and at pH 9, the half-life is about 1 year. In soil under aerobic conditions, imidacloprid is persistent with a half-life of the order of 1–3 years. On the soil surface the half-life is 39 days. Major soil metabolites include imidacloprid nitrosimine, imidacloprid desnitro and imidacloprid urea, which ultimately degrade to 6-chloronicotinic acid, CO, and bound residues. 6-Chloronicotinic acid is recently shown to be mineralized via a nicotinic acid (vitamin B) pathway in a soil bacterium.


title: Imidacloprid

text: In soil, imidacloprid strongly binds to organic matter. When not exposed to light, imidacloprid breaks down slowly in water, and thus has the potential to persist in groundwater for extended periods. However, in a survey of groundwater in areas of the United States which had been treated with imidacloprid for the emerald ash borer, imidacloprid was usually not detected. When detected, it was present at very low levels, mostly at concentrations less than 1 part per billion (ppb) with a maximum of 7 ppb, which are below levels of concern for human health. The detections have generally occurred in areas with porous rocky or sandy soils with little organic matter, where the risk of leaching is high — and/or where the water table was close to the surface.


title: Imidacloprid

text: Based on its high water solubility (0.5-0.6 g/L) and persistence, both the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Pest Management Regulatory Agency in Canada consider imidacloprid to have a high potential to run off into surface water and to leach into ground water and thus warn not to apply it in areas where soils are permeable, particularly where the water table is shallow.


title: Imidacloprid

text: According to standards set by the environmental ministry of Canada, if used correctly (at recommended rates, without irrigation, and when heavy rainfall is not predicted), imidacloprid does not characteristically leach into the deeper soil layers despite its high water solubility (Rouchaud et al. 1994; Tomlin 2000; Krohn and Hellpointner 2002). In a series of field trials conducted by Rouchaud et al. (1994, 1996), in which imidacloprid was applied to sugar beet plots, it was consistently demonstrated that no detectable leaching of imidacloprid to the 10–20 cm soil layer occurred. Imidacloprid was applied to a corn field in Minnesota, and no imidacloprid residues were found in sample column segments below the 0–15.2 cm depth segment (Rice et al. 1991, as reviewed in Mulye 1995).


title: Imidacloprid

text: However, a 2012 water monitoring study by the state of California, performed by collecting agricultural runoff during the growing seasons of 2010 and 2011, found imidacloprid in 89% of samples, with levels ranging from 0.1 to 3.2 µg/L. 19% of the samples exceeded the EPA threshold for chronic toxicity for aquatic invertebrates of 1.05 µg/L. The authors also point out that Canadian and European guidelines are much lower (0.23 µg/L and 0.067 µg/L, respectively) and were exceeded in 73% and 88% of the samples, respectively. The authors concluded that "imidacloprid commonly moves offsite and contaminates surface waters at concentrations that could harm aquatic invertebrates".


title: Imidacloprid

text: The effects of imidacloprid on human health depend on the dose, duration, and frequency of exposure. The effects may also depend on the health of a person and environmental factors. People who might orally ingest acute amounts would experience emesis, diaphoresis, drowsiness and disorientation. This would need to be intentional since a large amount would need to be ingested to experience a toxic reaction.


title: Imidacloprid

text: Based on laboratory rat studies, imidacloprid is rated as "moderately toxic" on an acute oral basis to mammals and low toxicity on a dermal basis by the World Health Organization and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (class II or III, requiring a "Warning" or "Caution" label). It is rated as an "unlikely" carcinogen and as weakly mutagenic by the U.S. EPA (group E). It is not listed for reproductive or developmental toxicity, but is listed on EPA's Tier 1 Screening Order for chemicals to be tested under the Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program (EDSP). Tolerances for imidacloprid residues in food range from 0.02 mg/kg in eggs to 3.0 mg/kg in hops.


title: Imidacloprid

text: Imidacloprid and its nitrosoimine metabolite (WAK 3839) have been well studied in rats, mice and dogs.


title: Imidacloprid

text: In dogs the LD is 450 mg/kg of body weight (i.e., in any sample of medium-sized dogs weighing , half of them would be killed after consuming 5,850 mg of imidacloprid, or about th of an ounce). The acute inhalation LD in rats was not reached at the greatest attainable concentrations, 69 milligrams per cubic meter of air as an aerosol, and 5,323 mg a.i./m of air as a dust.


title: Imidacloprid

text: In mammals, the primary effects following acute high-dose oral exposure to imidacloprid are mortality, transient cholinergic effects (dizziness, apathy, locomotor effects, labored breathing) and transient growth retardation. Exposure to high doses may be associated with degenerative changes in the testes, thymus, bone marrow and pancreas. Cardiovascular and hematological effects have also been observed at higher doses.


title: Imidacloprid

text: The primary effects of longer term, lower-dose exposure to imidacloprid are on the liver, thyroid, and body weight (reduction). Low- to mid-dose oral exposures have been associated with reproductive toxicity, developmental retardation and neurobehavioral deficits in rats and rabbits. Imidacloprid is neither carcinogenic in laboratory animals nor mutagenic in standard laboratory assays.


title: Imidacloprid

text: Imidacloprid is acutely toxic to honeybees: its LD ranges from 5 to 70 nanograms per bee. Honeybee colonies vary in their ability to metabolize toxins, which explains this wide range. Imidacloprid is more toxic to bees than the organophosphate dimethoate (oral LD 152 ng/bee) or the pyrethroid cypermethrin (oral LD 160 ng/bee). The toxicity of imidacloprid to bees differs from most insecticides in that it is more toxic orally than by contact. The contact acute LD is 0.024 µg active ingredient per bee.


title: Imidacloprid

text: In laboratory studies, sublethal levels of imidacloprid have been shown to impair navigation, foraging behavior, feeding behavior, and olfactory learning performance in honeybees ("Apis mellifera"). In general, however, despite the fact that many laboratory studies have shown the potential for neonicotinoid toxicity, the majority of field studies have found only limited or no effects on honeybees.


title: Imidacloprid

text: In bumblebees, exposure to 10 ppb imidacloprid reduces natural foraging behaviour, increases worker mortality and leads to reduced brood development. The probable mechanism is that the mevalonate pathway is substantially downregulated by the chronic imidacloprid exposure, which can help to explain the imidacloprid impairment of the cognitive functions.


title: Imidacloprid

text: In bobwhite quail ("Colinus virginianus"), imidacloprid was determined to be moderately toxic with an 14-day LD of 152 mg a.i./kg. It was slightly toxic in a 5-day dietary study with an acute oral LC of 1,420 mg a.i./kg diet, a NOAEC of < 69 mg a.i./kg diet, and a LOAEC = 69 mg a.i./kg diet. Exposed birds exhibited ataxia, wing drop, opisthotonos, immobility, hyperactivity, fluid-filled crops and intestines, and discolored livers. In a reproductive toxicity study with bobwhite quail, the NOAEC = 120 mg a.i./kg diet and the LOAEC = 240 mg a.i./kg diet. Eggshell thinning and decreased adult weight were observed at 240 mg a.i./kg diet.


title: Imidacloprid

text: Imidacloprid is highly toxic to four bird species: Japanese quail, house sparrow, canary, and pigeon. The acute oral LD for Japanese quail ("Coturnix coturnix") is 31 mg a.i./kg bw with a NOAEL = 3.1 mg a.i./kg. The acute oral LD for house sparrow ("Passer domesticus") is 41 mg a.i./kg bw with a NOAEL = 3 mg a.i./kg and a NOAEL = 6 mg a.i./kg. The LDs for pigeon ("Columba livia") and canary ("Serinus canaria") are 25–50 mg a.i./kg. Mallard ducks are more resistant to the effects of imidacloprid with a 5-day dietary LC of > 4,797 ppm. The NOAEC for body weight and feed consumption is 69 mg a.i./kg diet. Reproductive studies with mallard ducks showed eggshell thinning at 240 mg a.i./kg diet.


title: Imidacloprid

text: According to the European Food Safety Authority, imidacloprid poses a potential high acute risk for both herbivorous and insectivorous birds. Chronic risk has not been well established.


title: Imidacloprid

text: A 2014 observational study conducted in the Netherlands correlated declines in some bird populations with environmental imidacloprid residues, although it stopped short of concluding that the association was causal.


title: Imidacloprid

text: Imidacloprid is highly toxic on an acute basis to aquatic invertebrates, with EC values = 0.037 - 0.115 ppm. It is also highly toxic to aquatic invertebrates on a chronic basis (effects on growth and movement): NOAEC/LOAEC = 1.8/3.6 ppm in daphnids; NOAEC = 0.001 in "Chironomus" midge, and NOAEC/LOAEC = 0.00006/0.0013 ppm in mysid shrimp.


title: Imidacloprid

text: Its toxicity to fish is relatively low; however, the EPA has requested review of secondary effects on fish with food chains that include sensitive aquatic invertebrates. Research published in 2018 demonstrated accumulation of imidacloprid in the blood of rainbow trout, contradicting claims from Bayer that persistence (bioaccumulation) does not occur with imidacloprid.


title: Imidacloprid

text: Imidacloprid has been shown to turn off some genes that some rice varieties use to produce defensive chemicals. While imidacloprid is used for control of the brown planthopper and other rice pests, there is evidence that imidacloprid actually increases the susceptibility of the rice plant to planthopper infestation and attacks.


title: Imidacloprid

text: Imidacloprid has been shown to increase the rate of photosynthesis in upland cotton temperatures above 36 degrees Celsius.


title: Imidacloprid

text: In the mid to late 1990s, French beekeepers reported a significant loss of bees, which they attributed to the use of imidacloprid. In 1999, the French Minister of Agriculture suspended the use of imidacloprid on sunflower seeds and appointed a team of expert scientists to examine the impact of imidacloprid on bees. In 2003, this panel issued a report which concluded that imidacloprid posed a significant risk to bees. In 2004, the French Minister of Agriculture suspended the use of imidacloprid as a seed treatment for sunflowers and maize (corn). Certain imidacloprid seed treatments were also temporarily banned in Italy, following preliminary monitoring studies that identified correlations between bee losses and the use of neonicotinoid pesticides.


title: Imidacloprid

text: In January 2013, a European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) report concluded that neonicotinoids posed an unacceptably high risk to bees: "A high acute risk to honey bees was identified from exposure via dust drift for the seed treatment uses in maize, oilseed rape and cereals. A high acute risk was also identified from exposure via residues in nectar and/or pollen." The EFSA also identified a number of gaps in the scientific evidence and were unable to finalize risk assessments for some uses authorized in the European Union (EU). Following the report, EU member states voted to restrict the use of the three main neonics, including imidacloprid, for seed treatment, soil application (granules) and foliar treatment in crops attractive to bees.


title: Imidacloprid

text: In February 2018, the European Food Safety Authority published a further report concluding that neonicotinoids posed a serious danger to bees. In April 2018, the member states of the EU decided to ban the neonicotinoids for all outdoor uses.


title: Imidacloprid

text: On July 1, 2022, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States will ban commercial sales of imidacloprid and other neonicotinoids acetamiprid, clothianidin, dinotefuran, thiacloprid, and thiamethoxam to the general public for all outdoor uses. Licensed dealers will be able to sell only to pesticide-licensed and certified individuals. The states of Maryland, Connecticut and Vermont also restrict use of neonicotinoid pesticides.


title: Imidacloprid

text: Among others, imidacloprid is sold under the brand names: Confidor (Bayer CropScience India), Marathon (OHP, US).


title: That's My Jam

text: That's My Jam is an American music game show. Hosted by Jimmy Fallon, the series is based on the music-themed segments of "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon". It premiered on NBC with a preview episode on November 29, 2021, ahead of its timeslot premiere on January 3, 2022. In February 2022, the series was renewed for a second season.


title: That's My Jam

text: On March 13, 2019, it was announced that NBC had made a 10-episode order for "That's My Jam", a variety game show which would feature celebrities competing in music-themed challenges inspired by those seen on its late-night talk show "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon." On January 11, 2020, it was announced that Fallon would host the series (marking his first primetime series for NBC), which was slated to premiere after the closing ceremonies of the 2020 Summer Olympics. However due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Olympics were postponed to 2021, while NBC slated different programming to air after the closing ceremonies instead.


title: That's My Jam

text: On October 28, 2021, it was announced that the series would premiere on January 3, 2022 as part of NBC's midseason lineup, with a special preview episode airing on November 29 featuring Kelly Clarkson, Ariana Grande, John Legend, and Blake Shelton of "The Voice".


title: That's My Jam

text: On February 7, 2022, NBC renewed the series for a second season, which will premiere on March 7, 2023.


title: That's My Jam

text: The game features celebrity teams competing in music-themed challenges, some of which adapted from recurring segments on "The Tonight Show", such as "Mixtape Medley Showdown", "Slay It, Don't Spray It", and "Wheel of Musical Impressions".


title: That's My Jam

text: On August 24, 2022, it was announced that a UK adaptation, hosted by Mo Gilligan and broadcast on the BBC, would be filmed entirely in Los Angeles. The series premiered on December 17, 2022.


title: Thilakan

text: Palappurathu Kesavan Surendranatha Thilakan (15 July 1935 – 24 September 2012) was an Indian film and stage actor who appeared in over 200 Malayalam films. Thilakan was known for his elaborate method acting, realistic and spontaneous appearances. He is considered by many to be one of the greatest Indian actors of all time.


title: Thilakan

text: Thilakan was the second of the six children of Palapurath T. S. Keshavan (1904–1972) and Devayani (1912–2010). Thilakan was born in Plankamon, Ayroor Panchayat in the present-day Pathanamthitta district of Kerala. He had his primary education from Asan Pallikoodam, Manikkal and St. Louis Catholic School, Nalamvayal and Sree Narayana College, Kollam. Thilakan lived in Plankamon until he started acting in films for which he moved to Ernakulam.