title: Halo Wars

text: In 2004, the Microsoft-owned Ensemble Studios—developers of the "Age of Empires" strategy series—began work on the game that would become "Halo Wars". The studio confirmed in April 2006 that it was working on a console-based RTS. CEO Tony Goodman said, "We're giving RTS games on the console a shot. We actually spent a whole year just trying to reconstruct how the controls would work on an RTS game." Without revealing the title, Goodman described the game as being shorter and more visceral than their previous projects.


title: Halo Wars

text: "Halo Wars" was originally not a "Halo" series title. Ensemble spent 12 to 18 months working on the control scheme, using the "Age of Mythology" engine. The development team hacked an "Age of Mythology" expansion, "", and used it as a prototype for control experiments. Ensemble found that managing "Age of Mythology"s resources, units, and buildings was too difficult with the console's controller. "The answer [to making a PC-style strategy game for a console] is actually hidden in the question," Jason Pace, Microsoft Game Studio's lead producer, told "The New Zealand Herald". "It's something we believe has held strategy games back from succeeding on the console: you can't effectively bring a PC-style strategy game to the console because the fundamental game mechanic is tied to the mouse and keyboard input devices. It's not a question of just changing the control scheme to be gamepad friendly—you need to adapt the underlying strategy mechanic to make sense with the new input device." Senior designer Justin Rouse said that the team kept the controls from the research they had conducted, but scrapped the rest in favor of "build[ing] from the floor up what we need[ed]: the basics, the core of a strategy game." With the goal of making "the first great strategy game on the console", Ensemble streamlined gameplay mechanics; the game's single resource is produced at each base site, which allows players to quickly cycle through their bases instead of micromanaging multiple resources at many locations.


title: Halo Wars

text: Once the developers were satisfied with the controls, they presented their project to Microsoft, who suggested that it be turned into a "Halo" game. Bungie was reportedly not happy about this development. Ensemble's Founder, Tony Goodman, stated in a 2012 interview that Bungie saw the move as "the whoring out of our franchise"


title: Halo Wars

text: Although Ensemble had to re-create all of Bungie's assets from scratch, Bungie had produced a large amount of reference material for the "Halo" film adaptation that the "Halo Wars" team used for inspiration. Another reference point was art from the "Halo" first-person shooters; however, as the art was from a forward perspective and "Halo Wars" takes place from a bird's-eye view, the team exaggerated shapes to make the units recognizable. Lead designer Graeme Devine noted that the Warthog Jeep is "actually jumping three times as high as it does in "Halo", and it goes four times faster than it does in "Halo", and all these things—but it looks the same. Very different, between look and accuracy." To ensure artistic continuity between "Halo Wars" and previous games in the series, Ensemble created a set of guidelines for their artists to follow; for example, the Covenant were to retain their curvy, organic look, while the Forerunner and UNSC were to keep the same geometry angles. UNSC structures and units were given a green tint, with gold specular highlights. The Covenant were textured with a repeating honeycomb pattern, with small blue lights against a purple base color.


title: Halo Wars

text: Devine described the challenge of developing "Halo Wars" as "getting "Halo" fans to play a realtime strategy game, and getting realtime strategy fans to play a "Halo" game." "Fans of the [first-person shooter] series have very strong expectations for how a "Halo" games looks, feels and plays. "Halo" is all about heroic action to save humanity, mega-battles across the galaxy, visceral, highly-tuned combat and heart-pounding tension," Pace said. These themes were considered fundamental to the "Halo" experience, and so Ensemble tried to replicate them for "Halo Wars". Early in play tests, the developers watched devoted "Halo" fans play the game; their feedback led to the development of special abilities, which, according to Devine, enhanced the "Halo" feel. Ensemble initially considered making the Flood a playable race, but this idea did not progress beyond the concept stage. According to Devine, this was largely because the Flood would have needed to be similar to "StarCraft"s Zerg, in order to maintain balance with the UNSC and Covenant. This did not match the Flood's role as "the single scariest thing in the galaxy".


title: Halo Wars

text: Because of the Master Chief's large role in previous games, significant effort was expended on the Spartan units. Lead designer Dave Pottinger said the design team "started out just accepting and embracing the fact that the Spartans have to be the coolest unit in the game. If they're not, it's not going to meet the "Halo" fans' expectations." To position the Spartans as "kingmakers" in gameplay, the team gave them what it considered to be the "coolest" unit ability: hijacking enemy vehicles. The developers hoped players would become attached to individual Spartans in the campaign and gave each one an individual name; skirmish units were left nameless. The character design of the Spartans was meant to emphasize their relative inexperience and the setting of the game, which takes place decades before the events of the main trilogy. Devine commented on the Spartans' look:


title: Halo Wars

text: ... We felt because it was 20 years earlier, these are much younger Spartans. They aren't quite as experienced as Master Chief, and we looked a lot at combat infantry going into actual wars, and typically at the beginning of a war, especially the Vietnam War, if you look at the infantry, they're all loaded up. They have all the backpacks on, they have all the belts on, every single bit of armor is there, and they're carrying around lots of armor. At the end of the war, they've lost it all and just carry what they need. This is all they have. So if you look at our Spartans, they have more pieces of armor on going into the war. They have more markings on there, more pieces of armor. They've still got the belts on, they're still carrying around everything.


title: Halo Wars

text: Ensemble expanded the "Halo" universe during the game's development, in order to create enough units to give players strategic options. Among the new units was the Gorgon, a biped mech that used weapons called Needlers to destroy light aircraft. However, Ensemble later realized that the Gorgon invalidated a rule they had established: "anything with two legs that walks" was an infantry unit. Instead, the team added a new aircraft called the Vampire. The UNSC, meanwhile, lacked a melee unit to match the Covenant's hand-to-hand power. Ensemble considered using the original, less advanced Spartan Mark I suits of armor, in keeping with "Halo" lore, but once added these units were indistinguishable from Spartans in appearance. Instead, they created a lumbering, mechanized unit called the Cyclops, a nod to "Age of Mythology".


title: Halo Wars

text: Time constraints prevented many elements from appearing in the final game. One such missing feature was a fatality system by which Spartans or Covenant leaders could inflict massive damage on large groups of units. Pottinger said that the animations, while interesting, did not mesh with the fast-paced combat of "Halo Wars" and raised balance concerns. Other elements based on "Halo" fiction did not work in a strategy game. Although more than 100 people worked on the project, which cost tens of millions of dollars, a Covenant campaign was never realized because of a lack of manpower and money.


title: Halo Wars

text: "Halo Wars" was officially announced at Microsoft's X06 media briefing on September 27, 2006, with a pre-rendered trailer created by Blur Studio. The trailer depicts a group of Warthog vehicles searching for missing soldiers. Covenant Elites ambush the patrol and a battle ensues involving human and Covenant vehicles and infantry. The trailer ends with the arrival of Spartan reinforcements. GameSpy listed the trailer in its top 25 video game cinematic moments, because it showed "the world of "Halo" on a much grander scale".


title: Halo Wars

text: "Halo Wars" was exhibited at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in 2007 and 2008. Devine narrated the soundtrack for a video shown at E3 2007, which was later made available on the Xbox Live Marketplace. This video described the game's controls, user interface, vehicles, special weapons, and new units. It also showed a UNSC base consisting of an airbase, vehicle depot, missile silo, and other buildings. IGN, "Next Generation", and "PC World" ranked "Halo Wars" as one of the most anticipated showings at E3.


title: Halo Wars

text: On September 10, 2008, Ensemble Studios announced that it would close after "Halo Wars" completion. Ensemble founder Tony Goodman and other employees announced the formation of a new studio, Robot Entertainment, shortly before the game's release; another group of ex-staff created Bonfire Studios. Robot announced that, while developing new intellectual property, it would support "Halo Wars" and "Age of Empires" through a partnership with Microsoft Game Studios.


title: Halo Wars

text: "Halo Wars" music was composed by Stephen Rippy, the composer for all of the "Age of Empires" games. Rippy wanted to write new material while maintaining continuity by reusing iconic elements of the "Halo" trilogy's music, written by Martin O'Donnell and partner Michael Salvatori. Consultation with O'Donnell and Salvatori finished before Rippy became involved in the project, but the composer sent a compact disc of his work to O'Donnell halfway through the writing process. Before starting work on "Halo Wars", Rippy listened to previous "Halo" soundtracks and searched for useful material in discarded Ensemble projects; "I'm a big fan of both cataloging that stuff and stealing from it without remorse," Rippy said. "Sometimes you don't know what you've got until you really, really need it." Rippy and audio lead Kevin McMullan examined O'Donnell's tracks to identify elements to reuse in "Halo Wars". Foregoing his usual method of writing melodies before determining the method of sound production, Rippy built melodies around synthesizer patches or drum loops. He felt that scoring for science fiction was a change of pace from his previous work, which was written for historical settings.


title: Halo Wars

text: Rippy began writing music for the game in April 2007. "Some of the plot points of Halo Wars revolve around discovery, and I think that was my favorite idea to write to—that sense of, 'no one's seen this before,'" he said. The first two tracks combined repurposed elements from past projects with his efforts to convey the "Halo" sound. "Flollo" contained musical ideas Rippy had experimented with since his last project, "". "Bad Here Day" was the first piece in which he tried to incorporate the ""Halo" sound". Rippy felt it important to avoid repeating too many old themes because he wanted the game to have its own identity; however, he wanted to continue to incorporate choir and piano, elements he believed to be integral to the sound of previous "Halo" games. In adherence to an Ensemble Studios tradition, the tracks are often named after coined phrases and inside jokes, rather than in-game events.


title: Halo Wars

text: By the end of 2007, Rippy had completed all of the gameplay music, including end credits, battle themes, and ambient world tracks. In the game's skirmish mode, the music reflects the environment rather than the warring factions. To ensure that the character of the music changed depending on the environment, he followed self-imposed rules; one environment could feature guitars, but not piano, for instance. To musically unify each world, he added a short introductory piece containing common elements. In contrast with the skirmish mode, the campaign mode contains different recurring melodies for each major character and the human ship "Spirit of Fire". Rippy's most intensive work period was January 2008, when he began writing music for the game's cinematics; by this point, he had been working on the score for nine months. Rippy finished the score by February 2008, and, after three months, all tracks were ready to be recorded.


title: Halo Wars

text: Although the previous live orchestrations for "Halo" games were performed by the Northwest Sinfonia in Seattle, Washington, Rippy chose the FILMharmonic Orchestra of Prague to record "Halo Wars" music. Rippy had been in Prague attending recording sessions for "" and loved both the city and the sound the orchestra produced. The lower cost of recording in Eastern Europe was an additional benefit. The March 10–15 recording sessions involved 24 vocalists and 45 instrumentalists; choir and string sections were later overdubbed to enlarge the sound. In all, roughly 65 minutes of "Halo Wars" 75-minute score were recorded in Prague. The final touches and production took place in Seattle; O'Donnell attended one of the mixing sessions.


title: Halo Wars

text: Rippy used the Audiokinetic Wwise pipeline to create dynamic music that changes with the action in the game. Although Rippy used Wwise's tools only for dynamic music, they made audio system setup much easier than in previous Ensemble games. For each battle sequence, the musical cue was divided into sections and mixed differently for each section. "When a cue is triggered, an intro plays and then the game randomly picks between all of those elements for as long as the battle continues," Rippy explained. "Once it's over, an outro plays and then it's back to the regular "world" music. It was an interesting way to work, and I'd like to push it further if there's an opportunity in the future."


title: Halo Wars

text: Four tracks from "Halo Wars" were included as a preview on a bonus DVD bundled with "Halo Trilogy—The Complete Original Soundtracks", a December 2008 compilation of previous "Halo" music. The tracks were mixed in Dolby Digital 5.1-channel Surround Sound and packaged with video of recording sessions and the "Five Long Years" trailer. The soundtrack was released on February 17 as a standalone compact disc and as a digital download. AOL Radio secured the exclusive rights to premiere the soundtrack early, playing a new track at the beginning of every hour.


title: Halo Wars

text: The pre-release playable demo for "Halo Wars" was first mentioned in the October 2007 issue of "Official Xbox Magazine", and it became available for download on February 5, 2009; redemption codes for early access were given starting January 29. According to Microsoft, the game demo was downloaded by more than 2 million Xbox Live Gold members in the first five days, and set a record for most demo downloads on the service.


title: Halo Wars

text: In addition to the standard retail version, a Limited Collector's Edition of "Halo Wars" was made available. To attract "Halo 3"s player base, Microsoft bundled early access to the Mythic Map Pack, a collection of three "Halo 3" multiplayer maps, with the collector's edition. A 48-page, half-size hardcover graphic novel was also included; titled "Halo Wars: Genesis", it was created by Phil Noto, Graeme Devine, and Eric Nylund. It explores the background stories of Anders, the Arbiter, Forge and Cutter. Other bonuses included a unique in-game vehicle, trading cards, and a "Spirit of Fire" patch. Players who pre-ordered the game from certain retailers received a special in-game Warthog vehicle with flame decals. GameStop announced that on February 28, 2009, one thousand stores in the United States would hold "Halo Wars" tournaments, and two thousand GameStop stores held midnight releases for the game. European markets sold a "Best of "Halo"" bundle of "Halo Wars", "Halo 3" and an Xbox 360.


title: Halo Wars

text: On release, "Halo Wars" reached second place on the United Kingdom weekly sales charts behind "Killzone 2". "Halo Wars" reached only 16.7% of "Halo 3"s first-week sales, but it outsold "" threefold, making it the fastest-selling console strategy game. The following week, "Halo Wars"s sales were ranked fifth. In Australia, "Halo Wars" weekly sales ranked highest, ahead of "Killzone 2". By March 12, the limited edition and standard version were ranked second and third, respectively, on the United States Xbox 360 sales charts, behind "". Gamasutra attributed the surge in "Halo 3" sales to the release of "Halo Wars"; the former was fourth in the United States and second in Australia in sales of Xbox 360 games, and reappeared on the list of top 20 United States console games for February.


title: Halo Wars

text: Before the game's release, industry analyst Michael Pachter estimated that "Halo Wars" would sell 2 million units. On March 19, 2009, Microsoft announced that the game had sold 1 million units and that players had spent 118 total years of time in online skirmish matches. According to NPD Group's March sales figures, "Halo Wars" sold 639,000 copies in the U.S. through March, making it the third best-selling game in the market.


title: Halo Wars

text: In June 2016, Microsoft announced "Halo Wars: Definitive Edition"—an enhanced version of the game—for Windows and Xbox One. Development of the "Definitive Edition" was handled by Behaviour Interactive. It was made available on December 20, 2016 as part of the Ultimate Edition version of "Halo Wars 2".


title: Halo Wars

text: After Ensemble's closing, Robot Entertainment announced that it was developing downloadable content (DLC) for "Halo Wars". Pottinger described support as ongoing rather than a one-time effort and compared it to Bungie's post-launch additions to "Halo 3". He stated that Robot would also work on balance issues, bug fixes, and other patches.


title: Halo Wars

text: The first DLC package, Strategic Options, added three new multiplayer modes. "Keepaway" is similar to capture the flag; in it, players try to capture and hold Forerunner units. In "Tug-of-war", players earn points by fielding large armies and destroying enemy units. In "Reinforcement", players receive units as reinforcements, rather than training them at bases. The amount of available resources and reactors determines which types of units are deployed and the upgrades they can earn. Strategic Options was released on May 19, 2009, after a patch that addressed software bugs and game balance issues. The update garnered criticism for its small size (2 megabytes) and high price (800 Microsoft Points). Pottinger responded on the "Halo Wars" forums that the game modes were small downloads "because they are rules. There is some new content, but it's obviously a different type of content compared to a map." Robot released a second DLC package on July 21, 2009. The DLC, dubbed "Historic Battles", contains four additional maps and four new Xbox Live achievements.


title: Halo Wars

text: "Halo Wars" garnered generally positive reviews. The game has an average of 82/100 on aggregate web site Metacritic. Critics were split on whether "Halo Wars" was a successful console translation of the RTS genre. GameSpy's Allen Rausch argued that, as "" showed that first-person shooters could work on consoles, "Halo Wars" "is an RTS ... on a console ... and it works". Tom Price of TeamXbox said that gamers have been waiting a long time for a console RTS "to get it right", and "Halo Wars" did so; reviewers for "Official Xbox Magazine" credited Ensemble with creating a strategy game that felt "absolutely at home on the console", rather than a "poorly shoehorned ... port" of a PC game with clumsy controls. 1UP's Thierry Nguyen was neutral about whether it was a good RTS game or "Halo" title, but called it a "solid beginning towards what could be a really good console RTS". Digital Trends' Scott Steinberg said that, while not perfect, "Halo Wars" made a strong case for the viability of RTS on consoles; "There's certainly the potential to have PC holdouts seriously reconsidering hoisting the controller." Peter Hartlaub of the "San Francisco Chronicle" offered a dismissive summation of the game as "a remedial game—real-time strategy for dummies", and stated that the game offered relatively little innovation when compared to other "Halo" titles.


title: Halo Wars

text: Reviewers generally praised "Halo Wars"s controls. Critics who were less experienced RTS players, such as Darren Zenko of the "Toronto Star", appreciated the streamlined RTS experience. In contrast, critics such as Luke Anderson of GameSpot said that the game lacked the depth necessary to attract more seasoned RTS players. Some critics were frustrated by the lack of control features—specifically, the ability to create and manage groups of units, the lack of hotkeys, the inability to set rally points for different units, and the need to return to the base to adjust production. Nguyen wrote that "finesse maneuvers ... are more difficult to pull off than they should be". Brett Molina of "USA Today" said that experts would find the action oversimplified, but that the game "is an excellent choice for fans of the Halo universe and players new to real-time strategy". Reviewers for GameSpy, G4tv, and Eurogamer stated that the controls worked well mainly because the developers omitted features to make most options quickly available; for example, limiting base construction to select areas made sure players could easily find their buildings.


title: Halo Wars

text: Reviewers considered the factions balanced. Eurogamer's Kieron Gillen commented that the Covenant was harder to master, especially because the campaign served as a tutorial for the UNSC, but no similar introduction was available for the Covenant. However, he said the two sides were "authentically different", and each offered its own challenges to players. Some critics, such as Nick Cowen of "The Daily Telegraph", wished that the Flood was a playable faction; in contrast, Ryan Geddes of IGN disliked the Flood and appreciated their exclusion. Will Porter of IGN UK enjoyed the rock-paper-scissors RTS mechanics, but said that "since the game is singularly crap at indicating which units are rocks and which scissors," players had to learn which units were best via trial and error, an issue that was more prevalent with the Covenant.


title: Halo Wars

text: The game's plot was well received. Reviewers praised the game's cinematics and voice acting. Geddes said the story was good, but not on par with those of Bungie's "Halo" games, and that most of the characters were stereotypical and somewhat unlikable. Critics noted that for a strategy game, the campaign was rather short, with only 15 missions; Nate Ralph of "Wired" completed each in fewer than 40 minutes. Jon Wilcox of Total Video Games wrote "there's an ebb and flow" to the gameplay, with "lengthy chapters cut with shorter punchy ones or time-based missions, all together creating a surprisingly compelling experience". Wilcox said the additions of performance-based medals added replay value to the campaign. Price said that, although the story and mission structure of the game was fairly standard, levels that were "rote" in other RTS games seemed more substantial in "Halo Wars". Reviewers such as Geddes, Wilcox, and Patrick Kolan of IGN UK said that the lack of a Covenant campaign was an unfortunate omission.


title: Halo Wars

text: Publications judged the multiplayer aspect of the game well. Wilcox noted that, although the multiplayer mode "added [nothing] new [to RTS games], at the very least it's a solid experience that expands the longevity of "Halo Wars"." Adam Biessener of "Game Informer" wrote that "Halo Wars" gameplay was better against human players, as campaign "gimmicks" and poor artificial intelligence were not an issue. "The Mirror"s Kevin Lynch found fault with the "limited" variety of game modes.


title: Halo Wars

text: Critics generally agreed that Ensemble re-created the "Halo" universe's aesthetic well. Gillen said knowledge of the game universe could alleviate some issues of player ignorance regarding units' actions: "It's not just the geek thrill of seeing a Scarab in action—it's that you understand what the Scarab means on the battlefield (trouble)," he wrote. "We know which characters are best against tanks, and which are probably best in special vehicles." Nguyen said that, although the core units meshed well, the inclusion of Ensemble-developed units gave "Halo Wars" the feeling of a generic science-fiction title. While giving the game a mixed review, Anderson said that the authentic-looking units and environments went a long way to integrating the game with the rest of the series. Wilcox commented that with the "Halo"-inspired menu system and Rippy's score, "before the campaign even begins, the message is clear: this is still very much a "Halo" game." Overall, "Halo Wars" was judged a fitting final game for Ensemble.


title: Halo Wars

text: On August 4, 2015, Microsoft announced "Halo Wars 2", developed by Creative Assembly with assistance from 343 Industries. The game was released February 21, 2017 for the Xbox One and Windows 10.


title: Albert Woolson

text: Albert Henry Woolson (February 11, 1850 – August 2, 1956) was the last known surviving member of the Union Army who served in the American Civil War; he was also the last surviving Civil War veteran on either side whose status is undisputed. At least three men who outlived Woolson claimed to be Confederate veterans, but one has been debunked and the other two are unverified. The last surviving Union soldier to see combat was James Hard (1843–1953).


title: Albert Woolson

text: Woolson was born in Antwerp, New York, to Willard P. Woolson (1811–1862) and Caroline Baldwin (ca. 1822–unknown). He claimed to be born on February 11, 1847, but his entry in the 1850 United States Census lists him as born in 1850. Entries in the later census records and in the 1905 Minnesota State Census support the conclusion that he was born in 1850.


title: Albert Woolson

text: His father, Willard Woolson, enlisted in the Union Army. Willard was wounded at the Battle of Shiloh and was transported to an Army hospital in Windom, Minnesota, where he would die of his wounds. Albert and his mother moved to Windom to accompany Willard. Albert enlisted as a drummer boy in Company C, 1st Minnesota Heavy Artillery Regiment on October 10, 1864, becoming the company's drummer. However, the company never saw action, and Albert Woolson was discharged on September 7, 1865.


title: Albert Woolson

text: Woolson returned to Minnesota, where he lived the rest of his life. He was a carpenter and later a member of the Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.), a powerful political organization made up of Civil War veterans where he became senior vice commander in chief in 1953.


title: Albert Woolson

text: In his final days, he lived at 215 East Fifth Street in Duluth, Minnesota. Woolson died at St. Luke's Hospital in Duluth on August 2, 1956, at what was then thought to be the age of 109, of a "recurring lung congestion condition". He was twice widowed and was survived by six daughters and two sons. Woolson was buried with full military honors by the National Guard at Park Hill Cemetery.


title: Albert Woolson

text: The American people have lost the last personal link with the Union Army ... His passing brings sorrow to the hearts of all of us who cherished the memory of the brave men on both sides of the War Between the States.


title: Albert Woolson

text: Woolson and fellow drummer-boy Frank Mayer marched together, both aged 99, in the Memorial Day Parade in May 1949, to lay a wreath at the tomb of General Grant in New York City.


title: Albert Woolson

text: "Life" magazine ran a seven-page article upon the death of Albert Woolson, in the August 20, 1956, issue. The article included much information about the G.A.R., with pictures or drawings of several encampments (conventions). Also included were photos of the last three living Confederate soldiers (status and age disputed): William Lundy, 108; Walter Williams, 113; and John Salling, 110.


title: Albert Woolson

text: In mid-2006, new census research indicated that Albert Woolson was actually 106 years old, being listed as less than one year old in the 1850 census. Previous research in 1991 had suggested he was only a year younger than claimed (108 instead of 109), although this does not affect his veteran status.


title: Albert Woolson

text: After his death, the Grand Army of the Republic was dissolved because Woolson was its last surviving member.


title: Albert Woolson

text: Some of Albert’s artifacts are on display at the Veterans Memorial Hall gallery, a program of St. Louis County Historical Society, in the St. Louis County Depot in downtown Duluth, Minnesota.


title: Albert Woolson

text: In 1956 a monument of Woolson was erected in Gettysburg as a memorial to the Grand Army of the Republic. A twin statue is on display outside the St. Louis County Depot in downtown Duluth, Minnesota.


title: Debtors' prison

text: A debtors' prison is a prison for people who are unable to pay debt. Until the mid-19th century, debtors' prisons (usually similar in form to locked workhouses) were a common way to deal with unpaid debt in Western Europe. Destitute people who were unable to pay a court-ordered judgment would be incarcerated in these prisons until they had worked off their debt via labour or secured outside funds to pay the balance. The product of their labour went towards both the costs of their incarceration and their accrued debt. Increasing access and lenience throughout the history of bankruptcy law have made prison terms for unaggravated indigence obsolete over most of the world.


title: Debtors' prison

text: Since the late 20th century, the term "debtors' prison" has also sometimes been applied by critics to criminal justice systems in which a court can sentence someone to prison over willfully unpaid criminal fees, usually following the order of a judge. For example, in some jurisdictions within the United States, people can be held in contempt of court and jailed after willful non-payment of child support, garnishments, confiscations, fines, or back taxes. Additionally, though properly served civil duties over private debts in nations such as the United States will merely result in a default judgment being rendered "in absentia" if the defendant willfully declines to appear by law, a substantial number of indigent debtors are legally incarcerated for the crime of failing to appear at civil debt proceedings as ordered by a judge. In this case, the crime is not indigence, but disobeying the judge's order to appear before the court. Critics argue that the "willful" terminology is subject to individual "mens rea" determination by a judge, rather than statute, and that since this presents the potential for judges to incarcerate legitimately indigent individuals, it amounts to a de facto "debtors' prison" system.


title: Debtors' prison

text: During Europe's Middle Ages, debtors, both men and women, were locked up together in a single, large cell until their families paid their debt. Debt prisoners often died of diseases contracted from other debt prisoners. Conditions included starvation and abuse from other prisoners. If the father of a family was imprisoned for debt, the family business often suffered while the mother and children fell into poverty. Unable to pay the debt, the father often remained in debtors' prison for many years. Some debt prisoners were released to become serfs or indentured servants (debt bondage) until they paid off their debt in labor.


title: Debtors' prison

text: Imprisonment for debt was also practised in Islam. Debtors who refused to pay their debts could be detained for several months in order to exert pressure on them. If they proved insolvent, they were released before being placed under legal guardianship.


title: Debtors' prison

text: Article 1 of Protocol 4 of the European Convention on Human Rights prohibits the imprisonment of people for breach of a contract. Turkey has signed but never ratified Protocol 4.


title: Debtors' prison

text: France allows for "contrainte par corps", now denominated "contrainte judiciaire", for money owed to the State by solvent debtors aged from 18 to 65; its length is limited following the amount of the debt and aims to pressure the debtor to pay his debts, consequently the owed money stays owed to the State.


title: Debtors' prison

text: In the late Middle Ages, and at the beginning of the modern era, public law was codified in Germany. This served to standardize the coercive arrest ("Pressionshaft"), and got rid of the many arbitrary sanctions that were not universal. In some areas (like Nürnberg) the debtor could sell or redistribute their debt.


title: Debtors' prison

text: In most of the cities, the towers and city fortifications functioned as jails. For certain sanctions there were designated prisons, hence some towers being called debtors' prison ("Schuldturm"). The term "Schuldturm", outside of the Saxon constitution, became the catchword for public law debtors' prison.


title: Debtors' prison

text: In the early modern era, the debtor's detainment or citizen's arrest remained valid in Germany. Sometimes it was used as a tool to compel payment, other times it was used to secure the arrest of an individual and ensure a trial against them in order to garnish wages, replevin or a form of trover. This practice was particularly disgraceful to a person's identity, but had different rules than criminal trials. It was more similar to the modern enforcement of sentences ("Strafvollzug") e.g. the debtor would be able to work off their debt for a certain number of days, graduated by how much they owed.


title: Debtors' prison

text: In Dutch law "gijzeling" (litt.: take in as hostage) can be ordered by a judge when people refuse to (appear as) witness, or don't pay off their fines or debts. The imprisonment does not cancel the due amount and interest.


title: Debtors' prison

text: In England, during the 18th and 19th centuries, 10,000 people were imprisoned for debt each year. A prison term did not alleviate a person's debt, however; an inmate was typically required to repay the creditor in-full before being released. In England and Wales, debtors' prisons varied in the amount of freedom they allowed the debtor. With a little money, a debtor could pay for some freedoms; some prisons allowed inmates to conduct business and to receive visitors; others (including the Fleet and King's Bench Prisons) even allowed inmates to live a short distance outside the prison—a practice known as the 'Liberty of the Rules'—and the Fleet even tolerated clandestine 'Fleet Marriages'.


title: Debtors' prison

text: Life in these prisons, however, was far from pleasant, and the inmates were forced to pay for their keep. Samuel Byrom, son of the writer and poet John Byrom, was imprisoned for debt in the Fleet in 1725, and in 1729 he sent a petition to his old school friend, the Duke of Dorset, in which he raged against the injustices of the system. Some debtor prisoners were even less fortunate, being sent to prisons with a mixture of vicious criminals and petty criminals, and many more were confined to a single cell.


title: Debtors' prison

text: The father of the English author Charles Dickens was sent to one of these prisons (the Marshalsea), which were often described in Dickens's novels. He became an advocate for debt prison reform, and his novel "Little Dorrit" dealt directly with this issue.


title: Debtors' prison

text: The Debtors' Act of 1869 limited the ability of the courts to sentence debtors to prison, but it did not entirely prohibit them from doing so. Debtors who had the means to pay their debt, but did not do so, could still be incarcerated for up to six weeks, as could those who defaulted on debts to the court. Initially, there was a significant reduction in the number of debtors imprisoned following the passage of the 1869 Act. By 1870, the total number of debtors imprisoned decreased by almost 2,000, dropping from 9,759 in 1869 to 6,605 in 1870. However, by 1905 that number had increased to 11,427.


title: Debtors' prison

text: Some of London's debtors' prisons were the Coldbath Fields Prison, Fleet Prison, Giltspur Street Compter, King's Bench Prison, Marshalsea Prison, Poultry Compter, and Wood Street Counter. The most famous was the Clink prison, which had a debtor's entrance in Stoney Street. This prison gave rise to the British slang term for being incarcerated in any prison, hence "in the clink". Its location also gave rise to the term for being financially embarrassed, "stoney broke".


title: Debtors' prison

text: Imprisonment for the non-payment of debt was competent at Scots common law, but the effect of imprisonment for such stood in marked contrast to the position in England even after the execution of the Treaty of Union in 1707. As Viscount Dunedin observed in 1919, it was 'in direct contradistinction to the view of the law in England, that imprisonment was in no sense a satisfaction of the debt'; the purpose for imprisonment for debt was not to discharge the obligation to pay, but rather to act as a compulsitor to force the debtor into revealing any hidden assets. The Scots law allowing the imprisonment of debtors was grounded in large part by an Act of Sederunt of 23 November 1613, which introduced the process of 'horning' whereby the creditor would demand the payment of the debt by a certain date. If the debtor did not satisfy the payment of the debt within this stipulated time-period, the creditor could have the debtor 'put to the horn' by a messenger-at-arms. The execution of horning would have to be registered in the General Register of Hornings in Edinburgh. On registration, a warrant for the arrest of the debtor could then be issued. The formal process of 'horning' was not formally abolished until the passing of s.89 of the Debtors (Scotland) Act 1987 (c 18), though in practice imprisonment for the non-payment of debts had ceased to be relevant in Scotland since the passing of s.4 of the Debtors (Scotland) Act 1880 (c 34). Imprisonment remains competent in cases in which a court order, or order "ad factum praestandum" is breached by a debtor.


title: Debtors' prison

text: While imprisonment for debt was competent in Scots law, it was provided that debtors who were within the bounds of Holyrood Park (the whole of which was deemed a sanctuary) were exempt, and accordingly, till the abolition of imprisonment for debt, many debtors lived in lodgings within the bounds of the park. Such people were subject to the Bailie of the Park, who had power, in certain cases, to imprison them himself, in the Abbey Jail.


title: Debtors' prison

text: Ιmprisonment for debts, whether to the tax office or to a private bank, was still practiced until January 2008, when the law changed after imprisonment for unpaid taxes, as well as other debts to the government or to the social security office, was declared unconstitutional after having been practiced for 173 years; imprisonment was, however, still retained for debts to private banks. The situation regarding imprisonment (προσωποκράτηση (prosōpokrátēsē): custody) for debts to the government is still unclear, as courts continue to have this ability for criminal acts.


title: Debtors' prison

text: The Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881, as amended, contains provisions for criminal penalties, including imprisonment, if someone defaults on a debt or a payment obligation.


title: Debtors' prison

text: Section 28A of the Securities and Exchange Board of India Act, 1992 (As amended by the Securities Laws(Amendment) Act, 2014) contains provisions for penalties, including imprisonment, for failure to pay back investors or the authorities.


title: Debtors' prison

text: In India, courts have been known to jail financial defaulters as a way to coerce them to pay back their victims or the government. For example, in the case of Subrata Roy, his bail was conditional on him paying back huge amounts to the investors or the regulators.


title: Debtors' prison

text: An eighteenth century debtors' prison is found within the Castellania in Valletta, Malta, now used as offices by the Ministry for Health. It remained in use as a prison until the nineteenth century. In line with the European Convention Act, no person is to be deprived of his liberty because of the incapability to fulfill a contractual obligation.


title: Debtors' prison

text: Debtors in the United Arab Emirates, including Dubai, are imprisoned for failing to pay their debts. This is a common practice in the country. Banks are not sympathetic to the debtors once they are in prison, so many just choose to leave the country where they can negotiate for settlements later. The practice of fleeing UAE to avoid arrest because of debt defaults is considered a viable option to customers who are unable to meet their obligations.


title: Debtors' prison

text: Many Colonial American jurisdictions established debtors' prisons using the same models used in Great Britain. James Wilson, a signatory to the Declaration of Independence, spent some time in a debtors' prison while still serving as an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. Fellow signatory Robert Morris spent three years, from 1798 to 1801, in the Prune Street Debtors' Prison, Philadelphia Henry Lee III, better known as Henry "Light-Horse" Lee, a Revolutionary War general and father of Robert E. Lee, was imprisoned for debt between 1808 and 1809 where he made use of his time by writing "Memoirs of the War".


title: Debtors' prison

text: Debtors' prisons were prevalent throughout the United States up until the mid-1800s. Economic hardships following the War of 1812 with Great Britain helped swell prison populations with simple debtors. This resulted in significant attention being given to plights of the poor and most dependent jailed under the widespread practice, possibly for the first time. Increasing disfavor over debtors' prisons along with the advent and early development of U.S. bankruptcy laws led states to begin restricting imprisonment for most civil debts. At that time growing use of the poorhouse and poor farm were also seen as institutional alternatives for debtors' prisons. The United States ostensibly eliminated the imprisonment of debtors under federal law in 1833


title: Debtors' prison

text: While the United States no longer has brick and mortar debtors' prisons, or "gaols for debtors" of private debts, the term "debtor's prison" in modern times sometimes refers to the practice of imprisoning indigent criminal defendants for matters related to either a fine or a fee imposed in criminal judgments. To what extent a debtor will actually be prosecuted varies from state to state. This modern use of the term debtors' prison arguably has its start with precedent rulings in 1970, 1971 and 1983 by the U.S. Supreme Court, and passage of the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1978.


title: Debtors' prison

text: In 1970, the Court ruled in "Williams v. Illinois" that extending a maximum prison term because a person is too poor to pay fines or court costs violates the right to equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment. During 1971 in "Tate v. Short", the Court found it unconstitutional to impose a fine as a sentence and then automatically convert it into "a jail term solely because the defendant is indigent and cannot forthwith pay the fine in full." And in the 1983 ruling for "Bearden v. Georgia," the Court ruled that the Fourteenth Amendment bars courts from revoking probation for a failure to pay a fine without first inquiring into a person's ability to pay and considering whether there are adequate alternatives to imprisonment.


title: Debtors' prison

text: A year-long study released in 2010 of fifteen states with the highest prison populations by the Brennan Center for Justice, found that all fifteen states sampled have jurisdictions that arrest people for failing to pay debt or appear at debt-related hearings. The study identified four causes that lead to debtors' prison type arrests for debts:


title: Debtors' prison

text: In an article in "The American Conservative", Michael Shindler argues that another factor responsible for debtors' prison type arrests is that "Whereas indigent defendants have a Sixth Amendment right to a court-appointed lawyer in criminal cases involving incarceration, indigent debtors in state and local courts have no one to defend them against the error and abuse that characterizes debt collection litigation." Similarly, Shindler writes, regarding explicitly illegal debtors' prison type arrests ordered by local judges,"the reason these officials engage in this sort of excessive behavior is often due to ignorance."


title: Debtors' prison

text: In a 2019 report by the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law argues that debtors' prisons are likely to appear in states like Arkansas where many people live in poverty and are unable to pay fines and fees, where poor record-keeping exacerbates challenges faced by defendants and where arrest warrants and drivers license suspensions make it even harder for people to pay off court-imposed debt.


title: Debtors' prison

text: In 2014, National Public Radio (NPR) reported that there were still cases of judges imprisoning people who have not paid court fees. The American Civil Liberties Union has been challenging such policies since 2009.


title: Debtors' prison

text: In September, 2015, in the town of Bowdon, Georgia, a sitting municipal judge, Richard A. Diment, was surreptitiously recorded threatening defendants with jail time for traffic violations if they did not provide immediate payment. The incidents caused the Bowdon Municipal Court to be closed for a month in order to implement changes in policy.


title: Debtors' prison

text: In 1963 Article 1 of the Protocol No. 4 to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms "No one shall be deprived of his liberty merely on the ground of inability to fulfil a contractual obligation."


title: Debtors' prison

text: In 1976 Article 11 of the ICCPR – International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights – came into effect stating, "No one shall be imprisoned merely on the ground of inability to fulfill a contractual obligation."


title: Debtors' prison

text: This international treaties contradicts many domestic laws of ratified states which allows for civil jail.


title: Bigg Boss (Hindi season 7)

text: Bigg Boss 7 also known as Bigg Boss: Jannat Ka Wow Aur Jahannam Ka Aaw Dekhege Saath Saath or simply Bigg Boss: Saath Saat is the seventh season of the Indian reality TV series "Bigg Boss" which aired on TV channel Colors TV from 15 September 2013, with Salman Khan returning as the host for the fourth time and this season is longer than its predecessor, "Bigg Boss 6" and lasted for 15 weeks (104 days) concluding on Saturday, 28 December 2013. The seventh season was launched with the tagline- 'Jannat Ka Wow Aur Jahannam Ka Aaw Dekhege Saath Saath'. The show started airing on 15 September.


title: Bigg Boss (Hindi season 7)

text: The series was won by Indian model and actress Gauahar Khan on 28 December 2013. While Tanishaa Mukerji was runner-up, Ajaz Khan remained 3rd and Sangram Singh remained 4th.


title: Bigg Boss (Hindi season 7)

text: The season had a realistic eye logo having hell and heaven in the background. The eye featured eyelashes made of fire, red iris and black pupil having white veins in reddish sclera.


title: Bigg Boss (Hindi season 7)

text: The contestants were initially divided into two separate sections of the house, one called "Heaven" and the other "Hell." The "Heaven" side of the house included the pool and considerably more luxuries, while residents of the "Hell" side lacked running water and a kitchen of their own. Inmates in "Hell" were forced to rely on the housemates in the "Heaven" side for food and to use a tap outdoors for water. This was revealed to the housemates on launch night, and entrants Tanishaa and Andy were tasked with dividing them into households.


title: Bigg Boss (Hindi season 7)

text: As long as the division lasted, inmates were not permitted to cross the boundaries or, except for food, share items between the two sides. On the 31st day, the "Hell" facility was demolished and all remaining contestants moved to "Heaven."


title: Bigg Boss (Hindi season 7)

text: The series was first broadcast in India on network Colors beginning 15 September 2013. The series was also broadcast in Pakistan on ARY Digital beginning 21 September 2013 and in the United Kingdom on Colors UK on 15 September 2013.


title: Bigg Boss (Hindi season 7)

text: The Bigg Boss Warden was a new feature for season seven. She monitored inmates and kept them on time.


title: Berkshires

text: The Berkshires () are a highland geologic region located in the western parts of Massachusetts and northwest Connecticut. The term "Berkshires" is normally used by locals in reference to the portion of the Vermont-based Green Mountains that extend south into western Massachusetts; the portion extending further south into northwestern Connecticut is grouped with the Connecticut portion of the Taconic Mountains and referred to as either the Northwest Hills or Litchfield Hills.


title: Berkshires

text: Also referred to as the Berkshire Highlands, Berkshire Hills, Berkshire Mountains, and Berkshire Plateau, the region enjoys a vibrant tourism industry based on music, arts, and recreation. Geologically, the mountains are a range of the Appalachian Mountains.


title: Berkshires

text: The term "The Berkshires" has overlapping but non-identical political, cultural, and geographic definitions.


title: Berkshires

text: Politically, Berkshire County, Massachusetts, was formed as a governmental unit in 1761. It includes the western extremity of the state, with its western boundary bordering New York and its eastern boundary roughly paralleling the watershed divide separating the Connecticut River watershed from the Housatonic River and Hoosic River watersheds. However, like most other counties in Massachusetts, the active governmental role of Berkshire County has been abolished, so has no legal or governmental function.


title: Berkshires

text: Culturally, the term "Berkshires" includes all of the highland region in western Massachusetts west of the Connecticut River and lower Westfield River. The cultural region also includes the Taconic Mountains bordering New York, which are geologically distinct from the Berkshires orogeny. Southwest Vermont and the Taconic region of New York are occasionally grouped with the Berkshires cultural region.


title: Berkshires

text: Sir Francis Bernard, the royal governor (in office 1760–1769), named the area "Berkshire" to honor his home county in England.


title: Berkshires

text: Geologically and physically, the Berkshires are the southern continuation of the Green Mountains of Vermont, distinct from them only by their lower average elevation and by virtue of what side of the border they fall on. In physical geography, the Berkshires extend from the Housatonic River and Hoosic River valleys in western Massachusetts, to the Connecticut River valley in north-central Massachusetts, and to the foot of the lower Westfield River valley in south-central Massachusetts. In Connecticut, where they are referred to as the Litchfield Hills, they extend east from the upper Housatonic River valley in the northwest part of the state.


title: Berkshires

text: Geologically, the Berkshires are bordered on the west by the Taconic Mountains, the south by the Hudson Highlands, and to the east, they are bordered by the Metacomet Ridge. They are on the average lower and less prominent than the Green Mountains of Vermont, and form a broad, dissected plateau punctuated by hills and peaks and cut by river valleys. The Berkshires topography gradually diminishes in profile and elevation from west to east and from north to south, except where rivers have cut deep gorges and sharp bluff faces into the Berkshire plateau.


title: Berkshires

text: The Berkshires and related Green Mountains formed over half a billion years ago when Africa collided with North America, pushing up the Appalachian Mountains and forming the bedrock of the Berkshires. Erosion over hundreds of millions of years wore these mountains down to the hills that we see today.


title: Berkshires

text: The average regional elevation of the Berkshires ranges from about . One of the high points is Spruce Mountain, at . The highest point in the Berkshires physiographic region is Crum Hill, , in the town of Monroe.


title: Berkshires

text: The Housatonic River, Hoosic River, Westfield River, and Deerfield River watersheds drain the Berkshire region in Massachusetts; in Connecticut the main river drainages are the Farmington River, the Naugatuck River, the Shepaug River, and the Housatonic River.


title: Berkshires

text: The largest municipalities associated with the Berkshires cultural region include Pittsfield, North Adams, Great Barrington, Williamstown, Stockbridge, Lee, and Lenox, Massachusetts.


title: Berkshires

text: During the American Revolution a Continental Army force under Henry Knox brought captured cannons from Fort Ticonderoga by ox-drawn sleds south along the west bank of the Hudson River from the fort to Albany, where he then crossed the Hudson. Knox and his men continued east through the Berkshires and finally arrived in Boston. This feat, known as the "Noble train of artillery", was accomplished in the dead of winter, 1775–1776.


title: Berkshires

text: The Berkshires is also home to Hancock Shaker Village, which is the oldest continuously working farm in the Berkshires of Western Massachusetts. Hancock Shaker Village is a landmark destination of 750 acres, 20 historic Shaker buildings, and over 22,000 Shaker artifacts. On the National Historic Register, it is one of the most comprehensively interpreted Shaker sites in the world.


title: Berkshires

text: Similarly, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Massachusetts (Griffith et al. 1994) has defined six ecoregions within this area: Taconic Mountains, Western New England Marble Valleys, Lower Berkshire Hills, Berkshire Highlands, Vermont Piedmont, and Berkshire Transition. Each region is distinct from the others, providing a unique habitat assemblage.


title: Berkshires

text: Much of the Hoosic and Housatonic River valleys have underlying bedrock limestone and marble which contribute to calcareous wetlands unique in Massachusetts. The alkaline pH waters support a diversity of plants and animals intolerant of more acidic waters, some of which are state-listed rare or endangered. Combined with the rich mesic forests ranging from the northern hardwood to the taiga or sub-alpine, the Berkshires have a valuable, biologically diverse ecosystem.


title: Berkshires

text: The classic study of the vegetation of the Berkshire Highlands was Egler's 1940 monograph, covering the flora of an area stretching roughly from Pittsfield, Massachusetts, in the west to Hatfield, Massachusetts, in the east, and from Goshen, Connecticut, in the south to the Vermont border in the north.


title: Berkshires

text: Today, efforts are being made by many organizations to preserve and manage this region for biological diversity and sustainable human development.


title: Berkshires

text: The Berkshires have numerous trails, including part of the Appalachian Trail, large tracts of wilderness and parks Berkshire Botanical Garden and Hebert Arboretum The area includes Bash Bish Falls, the tallest waterfall in Massachusetts.


title: Berkshires

text: The Berkshire region is noted as a center for the visual and performing arts, many institutions which are associated with Williams College. The art museums include the Norman Rockwell Museum, the Clark Art Institute, the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (Mass MoCA), Berkshire Museum, Hancock Shaker Village, and the Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA). Performing-arts institutions in the Berkshires include Tanglewood Music Center and Boston University Tanglewood Institute in Lenox, the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra; the Bang on a Can Summer Festival for contemporary music in North Adams; Shakespeare & Company in Lenox; summer stock theatre festivals such as the Williamstown Theatre Festival in Williamstown, Barrington Stage Company in Pittsfield, the Berkshire Theatre Festival in Stockbridge, and Berkshire Playwrights Lab in Great Barrington; and America's first and longest-running dance festival, Jacob's Pillow, in the town of Becket.


title: Ain't

text: The word "ain't" is a contraction for "am not", "is not", "are not", "has not", "have not" in the common English language vernacular. In some dialects "ain't" is also used as a contraction of "do not", "does not" and "did not". The development of "ain't" for the various forms of "to be not", "to have not" and "to do not" occurred independently, at different times. The usage of "ain't" for the forms of "to be not" was established by the mid-18th century and for the forms of "to have not" by the early 19th century.


title: Ain't

text: The usage of "ain't" is a continuing subject of controversy in English. "Ain't" is commonly used by many speakers in oral and informal settings, especially in certain regions and dialects. Its usage is often highly stigmatized and it can be used by the general public as a marker of low socio-economic or regional status or education level. Its use is generally considered non-standard by dictionaries and style guides except when used for rhetorical effect.


title: Ain't

text: "Ain't" has several antecedents in English, corresponding to the various forms of "to be not" and "to have not" that "ain't" contracts. The development of "ain't" for "to be not" and "to have not" is a "diachronic coincidence"; in other words, they were independent developments at different times.


title: Ain't

text: Amn't as a contraction of "am not" is known from 1618. As the "mn" combination of two nasal consonants is disfavoured by many English speakers, the "m" of amn't began to be elided, reflected in writing with the new form "an't". Aren't as a contraction for "are not" first appeared in 1675. In non-rhotic dialects, "aren't" lost its ""r"" sound, and began to be pronounced as "an't".


title: Ain't

text: An't (sometimes a'n't) arose from "am not" and "are not" almost simultaneously. "An't" first appears in print in the work of English Restoration playwrights. In 1695 "an't" was used as a contraction of "am not", in William Congreve's play "Love for Love": "I can hear you farther off, I an't deaf". But as early as 1696 Sir John Vanbrugh uses "an't" to mean "are not" in "The Relapse": "Hark thee shoemaker! These shoes an't ugly, but they don't fit me".


title: Ain't

text: "An't" for "is not" may have developed independently from its use for "am not" and "are not". "Isn't" was sometimes written as "in't" or "en't", which could have changed into "an't". "An't" for "is not" may also have filled a gap as an extension of the already-used conjugations for "to be not". Jonathan Swift used "an't" to mean "is not" in Letter 19 of his Journal to Stella (1710–13): "It an't my fault, 'tis Patrick's fault; pray now don't blame Presto."


title: Ain't

text: "An't" with a long "a" sound began to be written as "ain't", which first appears in writing in 1749. By the time "ain't" appeared, "an't" was already being used for "am not", "are not" and "is not". "An't" and "ain't" coexisted as written forms well into the nineteenth century—Charles Dickens used the terms interchangeably, as in Chapter 13, Book the Second of "Little Dorrit" (1857): "'I guessed it was you, Mr Pancks", said she, 'for it's quite your regular night; ain't it? ... An't it gratifying, Mr Pancks, though; really?'". In the English lawyer William Hickey's memoirs (1808–1810), "ain't" appears as a contraction of "aren't"; "thank God we're all alive, ain't we..."


title: Ain't

text: Han't or ha'n't, an early contraction for "has not" and "have not", developed from the elision of the "s" of "has not" and the "v" of "have not". "Han't" appeared in the work of English Restoration playwrights, as in "The Country Wife" (1675) by William Wycherley: "Gentlemen and Ladies, han't you all heard the late sad report / of poor Mr. Horner." Much like "an't", "han't" was sometimes pronounced with a long "a", yielding hain't. With H-dropping, the "h" of "han't" or "hain't" gradually disappeared in most dialects and became "ain't".


title: Ain't

text: "Ain't" as a contraction for "has not/have not" first appeared in dictionaries in the 1830s and appeared in 1819 in "Niles' Weekly Register": "Strike! Why I ain't got nobody here to strike..." Charles Dickens likewise used "ain't" to mean "haven't" in Chapter 28 of "Martin Chuzzlewit" (1844): ""You ain't got nothing to cry for, bless you! He's righter than a trivet!""


title: Ain't

text: Like with "an't", "han't" and "ain't" were found together late into the nineteenth century, as in Chapter 12 of Dickens' "Our Mutual Friend": "'Well, have you finished?' asked the strange man. 'No,' said Riderhood, 'I ain't'...'You sir! You han't said what you want of me.'"


title: Ain't

text: "Ain't" meaning "didn't" is widely considered a feature unique to African-American Vernacular English, although it can be found in some dialects of Caribbean English as well. It may function not as a true variant of "didn't", but as a creole-like tense-neutral negator (sometimes termed "generic "ain't""). Its origin may have been due to approximation when early African-Americans acquired English as a second language; it is also possible that early African-Americans inherited this variation from colonial European-Americans and later kept the variation when it largely passed out of wider usage. Besides the standard construction "ain't got", "ain't" is rarely attested for the present-tense constructions "do not" or "does not".


title: Ain't

text: Linguistically, "ain't" is formed by the same rule that English speakers use to form "aren't" and other contractions of auxiliary verbs. Linguists consider usage of "ain't" to be grammatical, as long as its users convey their intended meaning to their audience. In other words, a sentence such as "She ain't got no sense" is grammatical because it generally follows a native speaker's word order, and because a native speaker would recognize the meaning of that sentence. Linguists draw a distinction, however, between grammaticality and acceptability: what may be considered grammatical across all dialects may nevertheless be considered not acceptable in certain dialects or contexts. The usage of "ain't" is socially unacceptable in some situations.


title: Ain't

text: Functionally, "ain't" has operated in part to plug what is known as the "amn't gap" – the anomalous situation in standard English whereby there are standard contractions for other forms of "to be not" ("aren't" for "are not", and "isn't" for "is not"), but no standard contraction for "am not". Historically, "ain't" has filled the gap where one might expect "amn't", even in contexts where other uses of "ain't" were disfavored. Standard dialects that regard "ain't" as non-standard often substitute "aren't" for "am not" in tag questions (e.g., "I'm doing okay, "aren't I"?"), while leaving the "amn't gap" open in declarative statements.


title: Ain't

text: "Ain't" has been called "the most stigmatized word in the language", as well as "the most powerful social marker" in English. It is a prominent example in English of a shibboleth – a word used to determine inclusion in or exclusion from, a group.


title: Ain't

text: Historically, this was not the case. For most of its history, "ain't" was acceptable across many social and regional contexts. Throughout the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, "ain't" and its predecessors were part of normal usage for both educated and uneducated English speakers and was found in the correspondence and fiction of, among others, Jonathan Swift, Lord Byron, Henry Fielding and George Eliot. For Victorian English novelists William Makepeace Thackeray and Anthony Trollope, the educated and upper classes in 19th century England could use "ain't" freely, but in familiar speech only. "Ain't" continued to be used without restraint by many upper middle class speakers in southern England into the beginning of the 20th century.


title: Ain't

text: "Ain't" was a prominent target of early prescriptivist writers. In the 18th and early 19th centuries, some writers began to propound the need to establish a "pure" or "correct" form of English. Contractions in general were disapproved of, but "ain't" and its variants were seen as particularly "vulgar". This push for "correctness" was driven mainly by the middle class, which led to an incongruous situation in which non-standard constructions continued to be used by both lower and upper classes, but not by the middle class. The reason for the strength of the proscription against "ain't" is not entirely clear.


title: Ain't

text: The strong proscription against "ain't" in standard English has led to many misconceptions, often expressed jocularly (or ironically), as ""ain't" ain't a word" or ""ain't" ain't in the dictionary." "Ain't" is listed in most dictionaries, including the "Oxford Dictionary of English" and Merriam-Webster. However, Oxford states "it does not form part of standard English and should never be used in formal or written contexts" and Merriam-Webster states it is "widely disapproved as non-standard and more common in the habitual speech of the less educated".


title: Ain't

text: "Webster's Third New International Dictionary", published in 1961, went against then-standard practice when it included the following usage note in its entry on : "though disapproved by many and more common in less educated speech, used orally in most parts of the U.S. by many cultivated speakers esp. in the phrase "ain't I"." Many commentators disapproved of the dictionary's relatively permissive attitude toward the word, which was inspired, in part, by the belief of its editor, Philip Gove, that "distinctions of usage were elitist and artificial".


title: Ain't

text: "Ain't" is found throughout the English-speaking world across regions and classes and is among the most pervasive nonstandard terms in English. It is one of two negation features (the other being the double negative) that are known to appear in all nonstandard English dialects. "Ain't" is used throughout the United Kingdom, with its geographical distribution increasing over time. It is also found throughout most of North America, including in Appalachia, the South, New England, the Mid-Atlantic and the Upper Midwest of the United States and Canada, particularly in rural communities and the Western Provinces. In its geographical ubiquity, "ain't" is to be contrasted with other folk usages such as "y'all", which is strongly associated with the Southern United States.


title: Ain't

text: In England, "ain't" is generally considered a non-standard usage, as it is used by speakers of a lower socio-economic class or by educated people in an informal manner. In the nineteenth century, "ain't" was often used by writers to denote regional dialects such as Cockney English. A notable exponent of the term is Cockney flower girl Eliza Doolittle from George Bernard Shaw's play "Pygmalion"; "I ain't done nothing wrong by speaking to the gentleman" said Doolittle. "Ain't" is a non-standard feature commonly found in mainstream Australian English and in New Zealand, "ain't" is a feature of Māori-influenced English. In American English, usage of "ain't" corresponds to a middle level of education, although it is widely believed that its use establishes of lack of education or social standing in the speaker.


title: Ain't

text: The usage of "ain't" in the southern United States is distinctive, however, in the continued usage of the word by well-educated, cultivated speakers. "Ain't" is in common usage of educated Southerners. In the South, the use of "ain't" can be used as a marker to separate cultured speakers from those who lack confidence in their social standing and thus avoid its use entirely.


title: Ain't

text: "Ain't" can be used in both speech and writing to catch attention and to give emphasis, as in "Ain't that a crying shame" or "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." "Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary" gives an example from film critic Richard Schickel: "the wackiness of movies, once so deliciously amusing, ain't funny anymore." It can also be used deliberately for what "The Oxford Dictionary of American Usage and Style" describes as "tongue-in-cheek" or "reverse snobbery". Star baseball pitcher Dizzy Dean, a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame and later a popular announcer, once said, "A lot of people who don't say ain't, ain't eatin'."


title: Ain't

text: Although "ain't" is seldom found in formal writing, it is frequently used in more informal written settings, such as popular song lyrics. In genres such as traditional country music, blues, rock n' roll and hip-hop, lyrics often include nonstandard features such as "ain't". This is principally due to the use of such features as markers of "covert identity and prestige".


title: Beta (film)

text: Beta (Translation: Son) is a 1992 Indian Hindi drama film, directed by Indra Kumar and written by Naushir Khatau and Kamlesh Pandey. It featured Anil Kapoor, Madhuri Dixit and Aruna Irani in lead roles. The soundtrack was composed by Anand-Milind. The film is known for its songs like "Dhak Dhak Karne Laga" and "Koyal Si Teri Boli". The film is an official remake of 1987 Tamil film "Enga Chinna Rasa" written and directed by K. Bhagyaraj.


title: Beta (film)

text: "Beta" released on 3 April 1992, and became the highest-grossing film of the year. It received positive reviews from critics upon release, with major praise directed towards the performances of Kapoor, Dixit and Irani,


title: Beta (film)

text: At the 38th Filmfare Awards, "Beta" received a leading 9 nominations, including Best Film, Best Director (Kumar) and Best Music Director (Anand–Milind), and won a leading 5 awards, including Best Actor (Kapoor), Best Actress (Dixit) and Best Supporting Actress (Irani).


title: Beta (film)

text: Raju (Anil Kapoor) is the only son of his wealthy land owning father Prem Chaudhary (Akash Khuranna). Raju had lost his mother at birth and feels deeply deprived of a mother's love.


title: Beta (film)

text: On Raju's 5th birthday party, as a promised birthday gift, Prem brings home a new mother Lakshmi Devi (Aruna Irani), hoping that she will be a doting and caring mother for Raju. However, Lakshmi Devi turns out to be greedy, shrewd and cunning. She married Raju's father only for his vast fortune, money and property. Joining with her brother Totaram (Anupam Kher) and his wife Mynavati (Bharati Achrekar), they conspire on how to transfer all property to Lakshmi Devi's name. However, Lakshmi Devi and Totaram are enraged when they find out that Prem's first wife had prepared a will before her death transferring all property to Raju. And that Prem is only a trustee to all the wealth. In the will, it has been written that Raju will have full control of his property only after marriage and unless his wife jointly consents with him, he will not be able to transfer his wealth and property to another name.


title: Beta (film)

text: Lakshmi Devi begins her vile schemes. On the front, she puts up an act of being a very loving mother for Raju, who exhilarated for a mother's love, becomes a devoted son. He showers Lakshmi Devi with love and respect, ever-ready to obey her every word. In the process, unknowingly, he allows Lakshmi Devi to manipulate him. She very cunningly misleads Raju to give up his education. When his father finds out that Raju stopped going to school at Lakshmi Devi's instructions, he called out to her to question her. Lakshmi Devi and Totaram, hearing Prem, pours oil on the steps causing him to fall down the flight of stairs and hurting his head severely. Using this opportunity, they proved that Prem had become mentally unstable and locked him up in a corner room of the house.


title: Beta (film)

text: Raju being naïve and uneducated, believed every word of his step-mother and her brother. Over the years, Lakshmi Devi increasingly isolated his aging father from the family and mainly Raju.


title: Beta (film)

text: One day, Raju meets Saraswati (Madhuri Dixit) at a wedding and falls head over heels in love with her. After some pursuing and an intense incident in her village, Raju and Saraswati gets married. In the meantime, Lakshmi Devi fixes an alliance for Raju with an equally uneducated girl from their own village, so that she too can be manipulated and can finally succeed in transferring the property in Lakshmi Devi and her son, Ramesh (Adi Irani), Raju's step brother's name.


title: Beta (film)

text: Lakshmi Devi is shocked to learn about Raju and Saraswati's marriage. Because Lakshmi Devi knew that Saraswati was not only educated but also a very intelligent girl. As usual, Lakshmi Devi puts on an act of a doting mother in front of Saraswati also. But Saraswati soon discovers that Lakshmi Devi, Totaram, Mainavati, Ramesh and his wife Kunika (Kunika) are all scammers and that their love for Raju is only a ruse. She challenges to expose their deceit to Raju.


title: Beta (film)

text: First thing, Saraswati takes Prem to the temple thus releasing him from the confined room of 20 years. This bold step of Saraswati antagonised Lakshmi Devi. Lakshmi Devi clearly disapproved of her guts. But Saraswati successfully proved to all that his father was normal. Initially, Saraswati had to bear the brunt of Raju's anger when she tried to convince him of his mother's conniving intentions. After which, Saraswati cleverly exposed every one who had been cheating Raju over the years. For every attempt of Lakshmi Devi's schemes, Saraswati wittingly played and backfired their plans ensuring that Raju gets the message and yet not offended.


title: Beta (film)

text: In one incident, Saraswati, along with Prem and their faithful servants Pandu (Lakshmi Devikant Berde) and Champa (Priya Arun), planned for Lakshmi Devi to slip and fall, forcing her to be bedridden. Promptly, the responsibility of the entire household is handed over to Saraswati. Lakshmi Devi is infuriated and plots to get rid of Saraswati just for rewards.


title: Beta (film)

text: When Saraswati becomes pregnant, her father, Shyamlal (Satyen Kappu) comes home with hoards of sweets for her in-laws and a box of saffron. He requests that a pinch of saffron be mixed with milk and be given to Saraswati. Lakshmi Devi, adds poison to the box of saffron. She prepares the milk and tells the unaware Raju to give Saraswati the milk along with a pinch of the poisoned saffron. Champa, who witnessed Lakshmi Devi mixing the poison, runs to Saraswati's rescue, narrating everything that happened and warns her against drinking the poisoned milk. A devastated Saraswati informs Raju the same. But blinded by Lakshmi Devi's love, Raju not only refuses to believe her, he even accuses her of conspiring stories against his mother. In defense, Raju drinks the poisoned milk to prove to Saraswati her error. Raju's world comes crumbling down when he coughed up blood.


title: Beta (film)

text: He, then recollected and realised that everything he had heard about Lakshmi Devi all these years from others were eventually true. Yet, Raju could not bring himself to hate Lakshmi Devi. His words to Lakshmi Devi before dying touched her deeply. Lakshmi Devi repented that her greed for wealth stretched a bit too far this time to the point of killing a son who had loved her with a true heart.


title: Beta (film)

text: Saraswati, in the meantime, rushed to get a doctor. On returning she is told that if she wants Raju alive she will have to sign the property transfer papers. Saraswati agrees immediately. However, Lakshmi Devi forbids Saraswati from signing it and apologizes to her. A fight ensues between Lakshmi Devi and Ramesh. Totaram and Mynavati also joins with Ramesh. Ultimately, it required Raju himself to come forward to save Lakshmi Devi from being killed by Ramesh.


title: Beta (film)

text: Eventually Raju recovers and hands over the signed property papers to Prem. He bids good-bye to his father, Pandu and Champa. He boards the vehicle with Saraswati to leave his home for good, when Lakshmi Devi begs him not to leave. To prove her remorse she rips up the papers and tells him that all she wants is nothing more than "her son". The family is happily reconciled.


title: Beta (film)

text: The soundtrack of "Beta" was the second Best selling album of the year. The song "Dhak Dhak Karne Laga" is based on "Abbanee Teeyani" from "Jagadeka Veerudu Athiloka Sundari". Anand–Milind received a nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Music Director, but lost out to Nadeem-Shravan for "Deewana". Anuradha Paudwal won her third consecutive Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer for the song "Dhak Dhak Karne Laga". Music directors Dilip Sen–Sameer Sen, Amar-Utpal and Naresh Sharma's compositions are included in the album but not in the film, nor are they credited in the film titles. Audio is available on T-Series.


title: Oorah

text: Oorah is a battle cry common in the United States Marine Corps since the mid-20th century. It is comparable to Hooah in the United States Army, the United States Air Force, and the United States Space Force, or Hooyah in the United States Navy and the United States Coast Guard.


title: Oorah

text: Marines are known to exclaim "Oorah" with a exaggerated growl to sound like a vicious canine. This growl/bark is representative of the nickname "Devil-Dogs," as Marines are known. The bark is similar in sound to the short bark of their official mascot, the Bulldog.


title: Fenbendazole

text: Fenbendazole is a broad spectrum benzimidazole anthelmintic used against gastrointestinal parasites including: giardia, roundworms, hookworms, whipworms, the tapeworm genus "Taenia" (but not effective against "Dipylidium caninum", a common dog tapeworm), pinworms, aelurostrongylus, paragonimiasis, strongyles, and strongyloides that can be administered to sheep, cattle, horses, fish, dogs, cats, rabbits, most reptiles, freshwater shrimp tanks as planaria and hydra treatments, as well as seals.


title: Fenbendazole

text: Drug interactions may occur if salicylanilides such as dibromsalan and niclosamide are co-administered. Abortions in cattle and death in sheep have been reported after using these medications together. Abortions in domestic ruminants have been associated with concurrent use of anti-trematode therapeutic agents.


title: Fenbendazole

text: Fenbendazole is poorly absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract in most species. The in laboratory animals exceeds 10 g/kg when administered orally.


title: Fenbendazole

text: Fenbendazole is metabolized in the liver to oxfendazole, which is anthelmintic too; oxfendazole partially gets reduced back to fenbendazole in the liver and rumen. Also, fenbendazole itself is an active metabolite of another anthelmintic drug, febantel.


title: Alexander Hleb

text: Aliaksandr Paulavich Hleb (, ; ; born 1 May 1981), commonly referred to in English as Alexander Hleb, is a Belarusian former professional footballer.


title: Alexander Hleb

text: Hleb's natural and preferred position is attacking midfielder or "in the hole" behind the strikers, but he was often deployed on the wing. He is known for his passing, agility and dribbling ability. A full international for Belarus since 2001, he won 80 caps for his country.


title: Alexander Hleb

text: Hleb grew up in Minsk. His mother worked on a construction site while his father drove petrol tankers. His father had volunteered to help demolish houses in Ukraine made uninhabitable as the result of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Hleb believes this exposure to radiation caused his father's ill health. Before getting involved with football, Hleb was a keen swimmer and gymnast. His younger brother Vyacheslav is also a footballer.


title: Alexander Hleb

text: Spotted by scouts, Alexander and his younger brother Vyacheslav were signed in 2000 by German Bundesliga side VfB Stuttgart for approximately €150,000. He made his Bundesliga debut on 5 September 2000 in an away match at 1. FC Kaiserslautern, coming on as a substitute for the last 20 minutes. Despite only making six league appearances in his first season with Stuttgart, Hleb became a regular at the club in his second season there and went on to establish himself as an important player for the team. In 2002, he was voted Belarusian Footballer of the Year.


title: Alexander Hleb

text: In 2002–03, Stuttgart finished as runners-up in the Bundesliga and enjoyed a UEFA Champions League victory over Manchester United and Hleb had become established as the team's playmaker. After team manager Felix Magath left to join Bayern Munich in the summer of 2004, however, Stuttgart were not as successful under new coach Matthias Sammer, having finished the 2004–05 season in fifth place.


title: Alexander Hleb

text: In June 2005, Hleb joined English side Arsenal for a sum which had the potential to reach €15 million, on a four-year contract. Arsène Wenger used Hleb at many different midfield positions, but he mainly played on the right wing for Arsenal. His competitive debut was made in August 2005 against Chelsea in the 2005 FA Community Shield, and then he made his league debut as a substitute against Newcastle United. Soon after, Hleb sustained a knee injury while on international duty with Belarus and was out for several months, returning to the first team squad in December, and played 60 minutes in Arsenal's final UEFA Champions League group stage match against Ajax on 7 December. By January 2006, Hleb had established himself as a first choice player and scored his first goal for Arsenal in a 7–0 win over Middlesbrough. In May, Hleb became the first ever Belarusian footballer to play in the Champions League final. He ended the season with 40 appearances and three goals.


title: Alexander Hleb

text: Despite a hamstring injury, Hleb made 48 appearances in the 2006–07 season and scored three goals. In 2007–08, he was moved from the right wing and played behind Robin van Persie as a withdrawn striker. When strikers Emmanuel Adebayor and Eduardo recovered from injuries Arsène Wenger reverted to a 4–4–2 formation and Hleb returned to playing on the wing. His season was cut short after he was banned for three games by the FA after he was charged with violent conduct in an incident with Graeme Murty of Reading during their 2–0 win. Hleb admitted his offence, ending his season.


title: Alexander Hleb

text: On 16 July 2008, a medical examination was held for the player at FC Barcelona, with his transfer completed later that day for a fee of €15 million plus an additional €2 million if Barcelona won the La Liga title in 2008–09 or 2009–10 (which they did in 2008–09, bringing his total fee to €17 million). Hleb signed a four-year contract with a buy-out clause of €90 million.


title: Alexander Hleb

text: In March 2009, after featuring irregularly for the team – starting only five games in La Liga – Hleb admitted that he would readily accept an offer from Bayern Munich, if such an opportunity arose in the summer. He said, "I am right in the best years of my career and I do not want to spend those years on bench. Bayern Munich is a special club, their interest in me is a delightful honour. Bayern is among the best teams in the world."


title: Alexander Hleb

text: Hleb went on to win the 2008–09 treble with Barcelona in his first season with the club. Hleb featured briefly in the Copa del Rey final but did not play when Barcelona went on to beat Manchester United 2–0 in the Champions League final.


title: Alexander Hleb

text: At the end of the season, Hleb turned down the opportunity to join, on loan, eventual 2009–10 treble winners Internazionale, and chose to join former club, VfB Stuttgart, on loan.


title: Alexander Hleb

text: Hleb played 55 minutes in the first game of the 2009–10 Bundesliga season, away to VfL Wolfsburg, a match Stuttgart lost 2–0. Then, after playing in Stuttgart's 4–2 victory over SC Freiburg, Hleb scored his first goal for Stuttgart, during a Champions League qualifier against Timișoara in a 2–0 away win for the German side.


title: Alexander Hleb

text: On 31 August 2010, Hleb returned to England by signing a season-long loan deal with Premier League club Birmingham City. An ankle injury sustained on international duty delayed his debut until 18 September, when he played 83 minutes in a 3–1 defeat at West Bromwich Albion. Three days later, he opened the scoring as Birmingham beat Milton Keynes Dons 3–1 in the League Cup. Injury disrupted his season, forcing him to miss Birmingham City's victory over Arsenal in the League Cup final. Towards the end of the season, he ruled out a return to Birmingham once his loan expired, suggesting that their style of football was not suited to him, although he wanted to remain in the Premier League, ideally at Arsenal.


title: Alexander Hleb

text: On 31 August 2011, Hleb was loaned out to VfL Wolfsburg. Again, injury disrupted his stay at Wolfsburg, making only one start and three appearances as a substitute. The club confirmed he would leave at the scheduled end of the loan on 31 December 2011.


title: Alexander Hleb

text: After Hleb's contract with Barcelona was cancelled by mutual consent during the January 2012 transfer window, he signed for Russian Premier League club Krylia Sovetov Samara until the end of the season.


title: Alexander Hleb

text: On 26 July 2012, Hleb signed a contract with BATE Borisov and won the 2012 Belarusian Premier League in his return season. Hleb stated before BATE's 3–1 win against Bayern Munich that he expected the great performances of his team in the Champions League could help him to earn a move abroad, with the player wanting a move to a Bundesliga club. However, he remained playing for BATE in the 2013 season.


title: Alexander Hleb

text: On 4 January 2014, Hleb signed a contract with Torku Konyaspor in the Turkish Süper Lig for one-and-a-half years, with an option to extend the contract for an additional year. In February 2015, Hleb left Konyaspor for Süper Lig rivals Gençlerbirliği. Further spells at FK BATE Borisov, Krylia Sovetov Samara and Isloch Minsk Raion followed at the end of his club career.


title: Alexander Hleb

text: Hleb won over 20 caps for the Belarus under-21 side. He made his full international debut as a substitute in a 1–0 defeat against Wales in 2001. He scored on his second international start in a 5–2 victory over Hungary in April 2002. He scored a goal in the finals of the 2002 LG Cup, which Belarus won.


title: Alexander Hleb

text: In November 2006, former Belarusian captain Sergei Gurenko strongly criticised Hleb for not working hard in national team settings. Hleb, however, rejected any suggestion that he was a "prima donna". In August 2007, new national team manager Bernd Stange made Hleb team captain despite the criticism. On 22 August, Hleb wore the captain's armband for the first time in a 2–1 win against Israel. He was part of the team at the victorious friendly Malta International Football Tournament in 2008. Overall he won 80 caps.


title: Alexander Hleb

text: Hleb was called ""Zauberlehrling"" or "Sorcerer's Apprentice" for his silky skills and dazzling tricks in Germany when he played in the Bundesliga.


title: Alexander Hleb

text: In 2003, Hleb was involved in a car crash in Minsk, after which a passenger in the other car died in hospital. Hleb was cleared of any responsibility for the accident.


title: Alexander Hleb

text: While playing for Arsenal, Hleb lived in Hampstead, North London. In a 2009 interview with "The Guardian" newspaper, Hleb confessed that the biggest regret of his life was leaving Arsenal for Barcelona.


title: Alexander Hleb

text: Hleb was married to Anastasia Kosenkova, ex-singer of the Belarusian pop group Topless, from 2008 until 2014. In summer 2016, he married Sviatlana. His first child, a daughter, was born in December of that year. Sviatlana's daughter from a previous marriage lives with the couple.


title: William H. Pitsenbarger

text: William Hart Pitsenbarger (July 8, 1944 – April 11, 1966) was a United States Air Force Pararescueman who flew on almost 300 rescue missions during the Vietnam War to aid downed soldiers and pilots.


title: William H. Pitsenbarger

text: On April 11, 1966, he was killed aiding and defending a unit of soldiers pinned down by an enemy assault during the Vietnam War. Before his death, he helped save over 60 men in the battle. He was posthumously awarded the Air Force Cross, which was later upgraded to the Medal of Honor.


title: William H. Pitsenbarger

text: Pitsenbarger was born in 1944 and grew up in Piqua, Ohio, a small town near Dayton. As a junior in high school, he tried to enlist in the U.S. Army as a Green Beret, but his parents refused to give their permission. After he graduated from high school, he decided to join the U.S. Air Force, and on New Year's Eve 1962, he was on a train bound for basic training in San Antonio.


title: William H. Pitsenbarger

text: During his basic training in early 1963, he volunteered for Pararescue. Training included the U.S. Army Airborne School, U.S Navy Dive School (SCUBA), survival school, and a rescue and survival medical course. More Air Force rescue training and jungle survival school followed. His final training was in air crash rescue and firefighting. He completed the requirements, and was one of the first group of airmen to qualify for Pararescue right out of basic training. After completing, he was assigned to the Rescue Squadron stationed at the Hamilton AFB, California.


title: William H. Pitsenbarger

text: Pitsenbarger was later sent on Temporary Duty (TDY) to Vietnam. Upon completing his first TDY assignment, he volunteered to return and received orders in 1965 to report to Detachment 6, 38th Air Rescue and Recovery Squadron at Bien Hoa Air Base near Saigon. His unit was composed of five aircrews that flew three Kaman HH-43F Huskie helicopters. His commander, Major Maurice Kessler, called him "One of a special breed. Alert and always ready to go on any mission."


title: William H. Pitsenbarger

text: Pitsenbarger completed more than 250 missions, including one in which he hung from an HH-43's cable to rescue a wounded South Vietnamese soldier from a burning minefield. This action earned him the Airman's Medal and the Republic of Vietnam's Medal of Military Merit and Gallantry Cross with Bronze Palm.


title: William H. Pitsenbarger

text: On April 11, 1966, the Joint Rescue Center dispatched two Huskies from Detachment 6 to extract a half-dozen or more Army casualties pinned down in a battle near Cam My, east of Saigon. Upon reaching the site of the ambush, he was lowered through the trees to the ground where he attended to the wounded before having them lifted to the helicopter by cable. After six wounded men had been flown to an aid station, the two U.S. Air Force helicopters returned for their second load.


title: William H. Pitsenbarger

text: As one of the helicopters lowered its litter basket to Pitsenbarger, who had remained on the ground with the 20 infantrymen still alive, it was hit by a burst of enemy small-arms fire. When its engine began to lose power, the pilot realized he had to get the helicopter away from the area as soon as possible. Instead of climbing into the litter basket so he could leave with the helicopter, Pitsenbarger elected to remain with the Army troops under enemy attack and he gave a "wave-off" to the helicopter which flew away to safety. With heavy mortar and small-arms fire, the helicopters could not return to rescue Pitsenbarger.


title: William H. Pitsenbarger

text: For the next hour and a half, Pitsenbarger tended to the wounded soldiers, hacking splints out of snarled vines and building improvised stretchers out of saplings. When the others began running low on ammunition, he gathered ammunition from the dead and distributed it to those still alive. Then, he joined the others with a rifle to hold off the Viet Cong. Pitsenbarger was killed by Viet Cong snipers later that night. When his body was recovered the next day, one hand still held a rifle and the other clutched a medical kit. Although Pitsenbarger did not escape alive, 60 other men did.


title: William H. Pitsenbarger

text: Soon after Pitsenbarger was killed, his Air Force commanders nominated him for the Medal of Honor. An Army general recommended that the award be downgraded to the Air Force Cross, apparently because at the time there was not enough documentation of Pitsenbarger's actions. Pitsenbarger received the Air Force Cross on June 30, 1966. After review and nearly 35 years later, the original award was upgraded.


title: William H. Pitsenbarger

text: On December 8, 2000, at the National Museum of the United States Air Force, the airman's father, William F. Pitsenbarger, and his wife, Alice, accepted the Medal of Honor from Secretary of the Air Force Whit Peters. During the same ceremony he was also posthumously promoted to the rank of Staff sergeant. The audience included battle survivors, hundreds of pararescue airmen, a congressional representative and the Chief of Staff of the U.S. Air Force.


title: William H. Pitsenbarger

text: Pitsenbarger was the 59th Medal of Honor recipient, and sixth enlisted recipient, from the Air Force and its predecessor organizations.


title: William H. Pitsenbarger

text: The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, on December 8, 2000, has awarded in the name of the Congress the Medal of Honor posthumously to:


title: William H. Pitsenbarger

text: Airman First Class Pitsenbarger distinguished himself by extreme valor on April 11, 1966 near Cam My, Republic of Vietnam, while assigned as a Pararescue Crew Member, Detachment 6, 38th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron. On that date, Airman Pitsenbarger was aboard a rescue helicopter responding to a call for evacuation of casualties incurred in an on-going firefight between elements of the United States Army's 1st Infantry Division and a sizable enemy force approximately 35 miles east of Saigon. With complete disregard for personal safety, Airman Pitsenbarger volunteered to ride a hoist more than one hundred feet through the jungle, to the ground. On the ground, he organized and coordinated rescue efforts, cared for the wounded, prepared casualties for evacuation, and insured that the recovery operation continued in a smooth and orderly fashion. Through his personal efforts, the evacuation of the wounded was greatly expedited. As each of the nine casualties evacuated that day were recovered, Pitsenbarger refused evacuation in order to get one more wounded soldier to safety. After several pick-ups, one of the two rescue helicopters involved in the evacuation was struck by heavy enemy ground fire and was forced to leave the scene for an emergency landing. Airman Pitsenbarger stayed behind, on the ground, to perform medical duties. Shortly thereafter, the area came under sniper and mortar fire. During a subsequent attempt to evacuate the site, American forces came under heavy assault by a large Viet Cong force. When the enemy launched the assault, the evacuation was called off and Airman Pitsenbarger took up arms with the besieged infantrymen. He courageously resisted the enemy, braving intense gunfire to gather and distribute vital ammunition to American defenders. As the battle raged on, he repeatedly exposed himself to enemy fire to care for the wounded, pull them out of the line of fire, and return fire whenever he could, during which time, he was wounded three times. Despite his wounds, he valiantly fought on, simultaneously treating as many wounded as possible. In the vicious fighting which followed, the American forces suffered 80 percent casualties as their perimeter was breached, and airman Pitsenbarger was finally fatally wounded. Airman Pitsenbarger exposed himself to almost certain death by staying on the ground, and perished while saving the lives of wounded infantrymen. His bravery and determination exemplify the highest professional standards and traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the United States Air Force.


title: William H. Pitsenbarger

text: Pitsenbarger was the first enlisted recipient of the Air Force Cross medal, receiving the award posthumously in 1966.


title: William H. Pitsenbarger

text: The United States Navy Container Ship MV A1C "William H. Pitsenbarger" (T-AK-4638) was christened in his honor, but was decommissioned and returned to its original owner in 2008 with the new name "Black Eagle".


title: William H. Pitsenbarger

text: In addition several buildings have been named in his honor including William H. Pitsenbarger Dining Hall, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio; William H. Pitsenbarger Professional Military Education Center, Beale Air Force Base, California; William H. Pitsenbarger Airman Leadership School, Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany; Pitsenbarger Hall, Randolph Air Force Base, Texas and Pitsenbarger Fitness Center, Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas.


title: William H. Pitsenbarger

text: Civilian authorities have also honored his name. The city of Piqua, Ohio, renamed a recreational park (which includes the municipal swimming pool) the "Pitsenbarger Sports Complex." In 2005, the State of Ohio designated State Route 48 as the "U.S.A.F. Pararescue Memorial Parkway." The highway runs near the hometowns of four pararescuemen who died in service to their country. This includes Pitsenbarger; Sgt. Jim Locker of Sidney, Ohio; Master Sgt. William McDaniel II of Greenville, Ohio; and Airman 1st Class James Pleiman of Russia, Ohio.


title: William H. Pitsenbarger

text: In addition to being designated Main Street through the city of Dayton—where the Wright Brothers designed their airplane—state route 48 also runs along Miami Memorial Park north of Covington, Ohio, where all four are buried.


title: William H. Pitsenbarger

text: Edison Community College in Piqua, Ohio, awards the Pitsenbarger Scholarship to two full-time students per year who can show financial need.


title: William H. Pitsenbarger

text: The drill team of the AFJROTC unit at Martinsburg High School, Martinsburg WV is known as the Pitsenbarger Rifles.