title: LeBarón and Langford families massacre

text: Mexican officials announced at a news conference that the believed reason for the attack was that the family was believed to be a cartel convoy of vehicles. Prior in the day the area of the massacre had also been the scene of a shootout between rival cartel gangs. According to the "Dallas Morning News"s Alfredo Corchado, targeting of the victims may have been due to activism by certain extended LeBarón family members having "over the years been outspoken in their condemnation of criminal groups that hold sway over a wide swath of northern Mexico".


title: LeBarón and Langford families massacre

text: On 5 November, Mexican authorities announced the arrest of a suspect in relation to the massacre, but reported the next day that the suspect was not involved. However, some authorities in Mexico have claimed that the massacre was perpetrated by the newly formed Los Jaguares cartels, an offshoot of the Sinaloa drug cartel. Following the murders, Mexican Foreign Affairs Secretary Marcelo Ebrard said Mexico invited participation by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, his saying, "Why did we take that initiative? Because it involves U.S. citizens, and there was no reason not to allow the FBI to have access to the investigations, which we have requested in other cases," his referencing the 2019 El Paso shooting. About two-dozen FBI agents' arrived in La Mora, an FBI statement's describing the agency's aim as working "alongside our international partners to help bring justice to the perpetrators of this heinous act of violence."


title: LeBarón and Langford families massacre

text: On 19 November Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said, referencing Mexico's history of systemic corruption, "We're not protecting anyone." "Mexico isn't the principal human rights violator now, like it was before. There's no impunity anymore." Addressing the investigation, López Obrador said, "There is information already, but I can't provide that," although offering to meet with the victims' families to provide them additional information. "What I can say to them, and to all Mexicans, is that we're working on the investigation. And they should have confidence."


title: LeBarón and Langford families massacre

text: Video footage less than a minute in length and perhaps taken by a cell phone perhaps belonging to one of the detained suspects was obtained by Mexican national police. Shown to two relatives of the victims, one of them, Adam Langford, said it showed a dozen or so men presumed as members of the Chihuahua cartel "all in black[...]with assault rifles going toward the vehicles, toward their prey[...]. At the end, [...]the "jefe" guy says, 'Burn it! Burn it! Burn it! "Quémalo"' in Spanish."


title: LeBarón and Langford families massacre

text: In December 2019, the Mexican federal government consolidated what had been Sonoran and federal cases into exclusively federal prosecutions, with several suspects being arrested on 1 December 2019 with regard to the crimes and director of public safety in Janos, Chihuahua Fidel Alejandro Villegas Villegas's arrest by the Mexican Attorney General’s Office on 24 December for Villegas's allegedly providing protection for criminal activities by such as La Linea as for colluding in the massacre. A cousin of the victims, Julian LeBarón, told the "New York Times," "It's common knowledge down here that the police work with the criminals. They have a monopoly on security, and they get paid a wage for protection, and later we find out that they participate in the murder of women and children."


title: LeBarón and Langford families massacre

text: A man identified as "Alfredo 'L'" and a "likely participant in the events that occurred on November 4, 2019," was detained in Ciudad Juárez on 4 November, 2020 and subsequently arrested on homicide charges by Mexican authorities.


title: LeBarón and Langford families massacre

text: Three suspects, including the supposed mastermind Roberto N (alias "The Mute" and "The 32"), believed to be members of "La Línea" drug cartel, were arrested on November 25, 2020.


title: LeBarón and Langford families massacre

text: U.S. President Donald Trump offered Mexico military support to assist with defeating the drug cartels. The offer was declined by Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, but said that he would speak with Trump over security cooperation between the two nations.


title: LeBarón and Langford families massacre

text: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints issued a statement expressing its "love, prayers, and sympathies" but also noting its understanding that the victims were not members of the church.


title: LeBarón and Langford families massacre

text: A member of the extended family, Julian LeBarón, whose brother Benjamin was killed by cartel gunmen in 2009, claims that the attack was targeted. He states that there can be no mistaken identity as the surviving children claimed that one of the female victims had attempted to identify herself to stop the attack. A family member has claimed that the cartels in Mexico have increased their levels of barbarity, and are on the same level if not worse than ISIL as ISIL has an ideology and the cartels are driven by greed and "pure evil". She continued to claim that Mexico "refused to overcome their pride" and accept help from a neighboring country or international coalition.


title: LeBarón and Langford families massacre

text: On January 12, 2020, Mexico's president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, and Sonora Governor, Claudia Pavlovich Arellano, visited LaMora. Julián LeBarón said LaMora community members would be among those participating in a march sponsored by the advocacy group "Defensa por la Vida y la Paz" or Defense for Life & Peace slated for January 23–25 from Cuernavaca, Morelos, to Mexico's National Palace in Mexico City, with the intention, according to one of its organizers, the poet Javier Sicilia, of their reception by President López Obrador.


title: Kim Hye-ja

text: Kim Hye-ja (; born October 25, 1941) is a South Korean actress and humanitarian. Best known to South Korean audiences as the archetypal mother figure in popular television series such as "Country Diaries", "What Is Love?", "My Mother's Sea", and "Roses and Beansprouts", Kim drew international critical acclaim in the 2009 noir thriller "Mother". In 2019, she gained critical acclaim for her acting in "The Light in Your Eyes".


title: Kim Hye-ja

text: Kim was born in 1941 in Gyeongseong, Gyeonggi Province in Japanese-occupied Korea (known as present-day Seoul, South Korea).


title: Kim Hye-ja

text: Kim was studying Living Art at Ewha Womans University when she dropped out of college to pursue a career in acting.


title: Kim Hye-ja

text: Kim made her acting debut in 1963, and went on to star in more than 90 television dramas, including "I Sell Happiness" (1978), "Sand Castle" (1988), "Winter Mist" (1989), "What Is Love?" (1991), "My Mother's Sea" (1993), "You and I" (1997), and "Roses and Beansprouts" (1999). "Country Diaries", in which she appeared for 22 years, is particularly notable for making Kim into a household name and cementing her image among South Korean audiences as an iconic, unconditionally loving and self-sacrificing mother. Because of this wholesome onscreen persona, CJ CheilJedang hired her to endorse their products and appear in their advertisements for nearly 30 years, from 1975 to 2002.


title: Kim Hye-ja

text: Though she won Best Actress at the Manila International Film Festival in 1983 for "Late Autumn" and occasionally acted in stage plays and musicals, Kim was most active in television for four decades. She holds the record of having won the Daesang ("Grand Prize," or highest award) at the MBC Drama Awards the most times (3): in 1988, 1992, and 1999. Kim is the first and only person to have won the Daesang four times at the Baeksang Arts Awards: in 1979, 1989, 2009, and 2019.


title: Kim Hye-ja

text: As Kim grew older, she expressed her disappointment in being relegated to supporting roles. Then in 2008, screenwriter Kim Soo-hyun cast Kim in the leading role of a woman who declares a one-year break from her family after spending decades as a housewife looking after her three children, a husband and a widowed father-in-law in "Mom's Dead Upset". Kim's character broke free from stereotypical South Korean TV mothers in her desire for independence, and initial misgivings that viewers would find her unsympathetic turned out to be unfounded, with the series recording a peak viewership rating of 42.7%.


title: Kim Hye-ja

text: But 2009 marked another turning point in Kim's career, when she was cast in her first film a decade after "Mayonnaise" (1999). Acclaimed director Bong Joon-ho had long been an enthusiastic admirer of Kim's, and he said he'd wanted to make a film centered around the veteran actress, then it occurred to him that being the national symbol of motherhood might be as much a burden for Kim as it was an honor. So he decided to craft a role that would showcase Kim's talents and depict the duality of motherhood, then spent four years convincing her to take the role. In "Mother", Kim surprised Korean audiences with her intense performance as a middle-aged single mother who obsessively loves her mentally handicapped son and sets out to prove his innocence when he's accused of murder. Bong said he would have given up the project if Kim had not accepted his offer, "Without Kim Hye-ja, "Mother" wouldn't exist." Kim returned the compliment, saying Bong helped her "reactivate all the cells that have been dormant in (her) body." The film received critical acclaim from domestic audiences and international film festivals, and Kim won numerous acting awards. She was the first ever Korean actress to be named Best Actress by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association.


title: Kim Hye-ja

text: From 2011 to 2012, Kim headlined "Living Among the Rich", one of the inaugural programs of newly launched cable channel jTBC. It was Kim's first sitcom in her 48-year career, and it followed her character as she and her family move into a rundown building in the wealthy area of southern Seoul and struggle to keep pace with their well-off neighbors.


title: Kim Hye-ja

text: She returned to the theater in 2013 to 2014 with "Oscar, Letters to God", a Korean stage adaptation of the French novel "Oscar and the Lady in Pink". In the one-woman show, Kim played 11 roles, including Oscar, a 10-year-old boy dying of leukemia, and the nurse (named Jang-mi or Granny Rose) that he confides in.


title: Kim Hye-ja

text: In late 2014, she played a rich and fussy widow in "How to Steal a Dog", based on the same-titled novel by Barbara O'Connor.


title: Kim Hye-ja

text: Kim has been a goodwill ambassador for the nonprofit Christian relief organization World Vision Korea since 1991. She has visited refugee camps in war-torn and poverty-stricken regions in more than 20 countries around the globe, including Ethiopia, Kenya, India, Bangladesh and Sierra Leone, and sponsors 103 children from underdeveloped countries. In 2004, she wrote and published a book based on her experiences titled "Don't Beat Someone, Even with Flowers", and donated all proceeds from its sales to underprivileged children in North Korea.


title: Fallen (Transformers)

text: The Fallen is a fictional robot supervillain in the "Transformers" robot superhero franchise. According to Hasbro, he was formerly known as Megatronus, and was a multiversal singularity, meaning that while he exists across the multiverse, there is only one Megatronus. This is no longer the case because of an event called The Shrouding, where all multiversal singularities within the Hasbro-Takara multiversal now exist as separate beings within each universe. As explained in more detail in the appropriate sections below, the Fallen has been given different origin stories in several of the different continuities in which he has appeared. Although the Fallen's origins are only suggested in his comic book appearance, they would be fully explained in Dorling Kindersley's "Transformers: The Ultimate Guide".


title: Fallen (Transformers)

text: Megatronus was one of the original Thirteen Primes created by Primus and the founder of the Decepticons in many storylines and the catalyst that led Megatron to claim power for himself instead of the greater good. Originally he was depicted as having betrayed his creator by siding with Primus' dark twin, Unicron. In the final battle between Primus and Unicron, Megatronus fell victim to the same fate as his master, sucked through a black hole into another dimension. However, while Unicron emerged in another universe, the Fallen was not so fortunate, finding himself trapped in the "underspace" between dimensions. This origin has been altered or revised several times, even to the point that Primus and Unicron are removed entirely, even so, this is because he can jump through time and space, and hop dimensions, like the other Thirteen Primes.


title: Fallen (Transformers)

text: In the 1985 "Challenge of the GoBots" episode "Search for the Ancient Gobonauts", "the Evil One", is retroactively a version of Megatronus, according to "Ask Vector Prime". He nearly destroyed Gobotron with a device called the Dark Heart, only to wind up under the Nazca Lines on Earth. Centuries later, Cy-Kill goes on a quest to look for the ancient villain.


title: Fallen (Transformers)

text: Years before the Fallen was introduced in the "Generation 1" Dreamwave Productions comic book, "" would introduce a similar character. This character was known simply "Megatron". Both the "Generation 1" Megatron and "Beast Era" Megatron named themselves after this mythological figure. It is unknown if this Megatron named himself after him or if they are the same character, but all that is known about him is that he is "the beginning and the end" and "the alpha and omega", or at least claims to be as something of a God complex.


title: Fallen (Transformers)

text: The Fallen made his first appearance in the second volume of "" (2003). Around 6.5 million years ago, an accident in the "space bridge" system on Cybertron liberated the Fallen from his prison, and he materialized on Cybertron, where he quickly recruited the Chaos Trinity - Bludgeon, Mindwipe and Bugly - into his employ. Abducting Transformers that he identified as possessing "genetic potential" within their sparks - Grimlock, Blitzwing, Jetfire and Hot Spot - the Fallen planned to use their energies to awaken Primus from his self-imposed slumber, thereby alerting Unicron to his location, allowing the world-eater to renew hostilities with his old enemy. An attack from combined Autobot and Decepticon forces led by Shockwave and Prowl disrupted his plans, and Primus himself reached out and promptly destroyed the Fallen.


title: Fallen (Transformers)

text: The Fallen made an appearance in the story "Vector Prime: In the Beginning" published by Fun Publications. This issue shows many key points in previous Transformers stories from across the original comics, the original cartoon, "Beast Wars", and the "Armada" television series. It establishes that there is one Unicron across the multiple continuities, and that Vector Prime travels through all of Transformers history. One of the silhouettes of the first 12 Transformers that stands behind Vector Prime in his first panel appears to be that of The Fallen. The later storyline "Another Light" saw Megatronus in an unlikely reunion with his fellow Primes, attempting to prevent Nexus Prime from creating firmer barriers between the various multiversal streams. This effort failed, and resulted in the Thirteen, Primus, and Unicron being split into separate beings with different personalities across the various dimensions. The "Ask Vector Prime" Facebook page also introduced other historical elements to Megatronus' character, such as him and his fellow Primes communicating with ancient Earth using holographic avatars that inspired the gods of Greek mythology, with Megatronus inspiring Ares.


title: Fallen (Transformers)

text: Nexus Prime claimed that Megatronus, in collusion with Liege Maximo, began the First Cybertronian Civil War between the Thirteen and the tribes each Prime led. He broke a promise to Solus Prime and betrayed Prima. A notable figure in the war was Megatronus' former underling, Galvatron, who succeeded in killing Nexus Prime. In the end, the war forced eleven of the Thirteen to leave Cybertron, and Megatronus chose another planet to reside on. His location was later discovered by Shockwave, who seeded the planet with one of his Regenesis ores.


title: Fallen (Transformers)

text: Megatronus was one of the Thirteen Original Primes, the first Transformers created by Primus to battle together against the chaos bringer Unicron. Thanks to his love interest Solus Prime - who created a cosmic weapon called the Requiem Blaster capable of vanquishing Unicron - Megatronus was able to depower him, forcing him to temporarily but in a long-term period of time remain in stasis. As the Thirteen rested, Solus Prime was convinced that the Requiem Blaster should be destroyed, not to fall in wrong hands. On the other hand, Megatronus believed that the Blaster should be kept in order to assist the Primes in future sieges. The brief skirmish for possession of the Blaster resulted in its accidental activation, brutally murdering Solus and transforming her corpse into the Well of All Sparks. After the other Eleven considered this an unforgivable crime and banished Megatronus for that, they locked away the Requiem Blaster and built a tomb for Solus surrounded by a deep cave.


title: Fallen (Transformers)

text: Devastated, Megatronus gathered an army of followers which he named the Decepticons, inspired by his rage after losing his beloved one. From there, Megatronus set up a plan to recover Solus from the Well by draining the Sparks of all other sentient beings in the Universe. However, he was stopped by Prima, who idealized it would not be worth it to sacrifice billions of new Sparks for an ancient one. It is unknown which path Megatronus took after the showdown. Meanwhile, billions of years later, Megatronus's legacy was inherited by Megatron, who created the Decepticons as of his own vision for the planet Cybertron.


title: Fallen (Transformers)

text: Later in the Earth-year 2018, after the Earth Wars between Autobots and Decepticons ended and Optimus Prime was resurrected and exiled with Megatron and a new High Council - Starscream, Rodimus Prime, and Mistress of Flame - took over the reborn Cybertron after Unicron's second defeat by the new Matrix-bearer Rodimus; Megatronus has sent the Prime artifact known as the Enigma of Combination to spark a flame to the Combiner Wars, followed by the Titan Wars. He has also collaborated with Overlord, who arrived in Unicron's corpse to claim the Matrix of Chaos. After the clash between Trypticon and Fortress Maximus was over, Megatronus arrived and - at the presence of the renegade Megatron, Windblade, Victorion and Perceptor - murdered Optimus Prime again and claimed the Matrix of Leadership and the Enigma as fundamental parts of his plot to revive Solus Prime in the Well with a machine of his own.


title: Fallen (Transformers)

text: Angered by Megatronus, Windblade, Megatron, Victorion and Perceptor travelled to a Swamp to claim the Requiem Blaster before him, coincidentally recruiting the Combiners Volcanicus, Predaking and the Requiem Blaster's current protector, Optimus Primal. However, Megatronus later arrived to claim back the Blaster as the team was weakened after a showdown with Overlord - who was seeking revenge against Megatron - and Rodimus Cron - a renegade Hot Rod possessed by Unicron after inheriting the Matrix of Chaos. With the Blaster, the Matrix and the Enigma in his possession, Megatronus teleported back to the Well of All Sparks to fuse the three artifacts in a machine that would use the Enigma to combine the essence of the Matrix with the power of the Blaster and drain every Cybertronian's Spark throughout the Universe, bringing the Transformers to their final days.


title: Fallen (Transformers)

text: Just as Megatronus's machine was activated, the team arrived and damaged it, causing it to briefly go offline. Angered, Megatronus incapacitated all of the members but Megatron by paralyzing them with painful flames. And just as Megatronus is ready to finish his follower off for good, Rodimus Cron arrives and is completely assumed by Unicron, becoming the new overpowered entity known as Rodimus Unicronus, willing to destroy the Matrix of Leadership and the last remnants of his brother Primus within it, as well as destroying the last surviving Original Prime. As Megatronus and Unicron engaged in the closest showdown between Primus and Unicron ever since the dawn of the Universe, Optimus Primal was able to break Megatronus's machine once and for all with the assistance of Grimlock and Windblade and then he recovered the Matrix of Leadership. Enraged again by another nuisance to his plans, Megatronus attempted to stop Primal, but before this was possible he was able to open the Matrix for himself, becoming the new Matrix-bearer Optimal Optimus.


title: Fallen (Transformers)

text: As the fight proceeded, Megatronus was seen fighting the rest of the team as Optimal should fend-off Rodimus Unicronus. When the worst moment came, as the Requiem Blaster was aimed to the team (and more specifically Megatron), Predaking arrived and was able to briefly immobilize Megatronus, later being unfortunately murdered by him as a consequence. During this time, Megatron negotiated with the fading-away figure of a resurrected Solus Prime to stop Megatronus, and during the same time the rest of the team was able to immobilize Rodimus and take the Matrix of Chaos out of his chest. When Solus accepted the deal - for she would not accept her beloved one could take any more lives - Megatronus was lured into the Well of All Sparks, instantly draining his lifeless body inside. It is known that Megatronus will resurrect in the future due to his immortality and his mutant Spark. However, this date is not predicted and could perhaps never arrive as Megatronus may have decided to stay in the Realm of All Sparks aside his beloved one and the rest of the Original Primes.


title: Fallen (Transformers)

text: After the death of Megatronus Prime, Megatron has now completely given up his Decepticon tyrant life as he realized his way could perhaps not be the right, pending to sacrifice himself to stop Unicron from returning once again and banishing himself and Unicron's Anti-Spark (the Matrix of Chaos) to the Realm of All Sparks by allowing Optimus Primal to fire the Requiem Blaster on him.


title: Fallen (Transformers)

text: And after Megatron's departure, Optimus Prime's Spark was unplugged from the Well, allowing him to return to function. The Matrix of Leadership remained in Optimal's possession, however, enabling him to lead the Maximals in a fight against the Predacons ("Beast Wars") in the distant future.


title: Fallen (Transformers)

text: The character appears as the main antagonist of the series' second live action film, "", the 2009 sequel to the 2007 "Transformers" movie. Director Michael Bay described him as "apocalyptic". The Fallen has the ability to teleport and generate a shockwave upon reappearance. He is also armed with a void scepter, and has telekinesis. He stands tall with a mass of .


title: Fallen (Transformers)

text: In "Transformers: Defiance", the artifact containing the Fallen is unearthed when Cybertron comes under attack by aliens that desire the AllSpark. During the fight, Megatron is gravely injured as the Fallen awakens from his rest, healing Megatron while taking him under his wing with promises of power. Under the guidance of the Fallen, Megatron reforms the Decepticons and plunges Cybertron into Civil War. In the prose story "Transformers: Convergence", it is revealed that Fallen freed himself from his prison after Soundwave presented him with Sentinel Prime's space-bridge pillars, explaining how he got freed before the events of "Revenge of the Fallen" happened.


title: Fallen (Transformers)

text: As a result, the Fallen became the first Decepticon and the true founder and leader of the Decepticons (as Megatron accepts the Fallen as his master), and all future Decepticons would wear an insignia which is similar to the Fallen's face.


title: Fallen (Transformers)

text: In the present day, the Fallen appears after millennia and resumes leadership of the Decepticons. As he was weakened in the fight against the other Primes, he has spent all this time stuck on his ship on a planet far from Earth, draining energy from the Cybertronian protoforms on the ship to regain his strength. The Fallen reveals to the revived Megatron that the knowledge from the AllSpark they seek so they can find the Matrix is now in Sam Witwicky. This makes Sam the key to another source of Energon, gained from the Fallen's Sun Harvester, and the Fallen commands Megatron to find Sam. He also reveals he can only be defeated by a descendant of the Primes, with the last survivor of these descendants killed by Megatron. Now confident of no threats to him, the Fallen himself travels to Earth to complete his plans to destroy humanity, demanding the humans to turn over Sam to him otherwise the Decepticons will kill them all. Because of this, Sam is branded a fugitive by the world. Later, the Fallen, along with Megatron and the Decepticons, travel to the Great Pyramids of Giza, where the Fallen's Sun Harvester lies beneath one of the pyramids. There, seconds after Optimus Prime has been resurrected by Sam, the Fallen easily knocks a weakened Optimus down, steals the Matrix of Leadership from his body and teleports to the Sun Harvester. With Optimus too weak to battle him alone, the Fallen uses the Matrix to activate the Sun Harvester, and none of the human forces are able to stop the Fallen. However, Optimus receives parts from , making him super-powerful, arrives on the scene and promptly disables the Sun Harvester beyond repair while knocking the Fallen and Megatron off of the pyramid. The Fallen and Optimus Prime then engage in a fierce duel. Megatron tries to help his master, but is quickly overpowered and blasted out of the fight by Optimus. After an exchange of multiple blows, the Fallen finally gets the upper hand and counterattacks Optimus, knocking away his sword and ripping off one of his rocket thrusters before attacking Optimus with his scepter, but Optimus is quick to viciously retaliate, breaking the weapon by using it to tear off the Fallen's face, thus revealing his skull. Realizing he is losing, the Fallen tries to get away and escape, but Optimus punches through his chest and crushes his spark core, finally killing him. Seeing his master dead, a wounded but resilient Megatron takes his position back as leader of the Decepticons, fleeing with Starscream.


title: Fallen (Transformers)

text: The Fallen (voiced by James Arnold Taylor) appears in the official game adaptation of the film. He is not a playable character, but is the final boss of both campaigns, except in the Nintendo DS versions where the final boss is Optimus Prime or Megatron.


title: Fallen (Transformers)

text: Megatronus is one of the Thirteen Primes in "" and "". He is called "The Fallen" at times, but never addressed as such when he actually appears. This version of Megatronus bears a striking resemblance to "Generation 1" Galvatron and transforms into a tank that resembles the tank mode of Shockwave's alternate mode from "Transformers Animated". Though the exact origins with the Decepticons are unclear, he is called the "first Decepticon" and bears a Decepticon insignia, a possible nod to "". Plates surrounding his face can become a mask that obscures/protects his facial features, and in addition to sporting arm cannons he wields a powerful spear and possesses supernatural abilities such as telekinesis.


title: Fallen (Transformers)

text: Megatronus Prime is mentioned as one of the original thirteen Primes in the 2010 book "". Megatron is shown originally calling himself "Megatronus" after this particular Prime, and is a gladiator, who then takes the name "Megatron" after the name is shortened by cheering fans at one of his matches. Megatronus, though the namesake of the Decepticon leader Megatron in the book, holds no sway over Megatron, who took the name simply because he had none of his own and wished to be associated with power and grandeur.


title: Fallen (Transformers)

text: According to "", Megatronus Prime commissioned Solus Prime to create the Requiem Blaster. Later, Megatronus murdered Solus, triggering the first breaking among the Thirteen and leading him to become the Fallen.


title: Fallen (Transformers)

text: "" reveals that Megatronus and Solus Prime were in love, but that Megatronus was prone to bursts of temper and aggression due to his pride and secret shame at being a necessary counter-force to balance out light and darkness within the Thirteen. Following the War of the Primes, he exiled himself from Cybertron after unintentionally murdering Solus Prime.


title: Fallen (Transformers)

text: In the 2010-2013 animated series "", Megatron named himself after this particular Prime. He is briefly mentioned in the episode "Partners", when Starscream tells the Autobots he wishes to join them, Bulkhead jokes by saying that he's been "lobbing with The Fallen". In the episode "One Shall Rise, Part 1", the Thirteen were mentioned as the ones who vanquished Unicron. It is unclear, however, which of the Thirteen depicted in the flashback scene was the Fallen, due to the animation. In "One Shall Rise, Part 3", it was said by Ratchet that Megatron named himself after the Fallen's original name: "Megatronus".


title: Fallen (Transformers)

text: In the 2015 sequel series, "", Megatronus, one of the original Thirteen Primes, is revealed to have been exiled to another dimension after murdering Solus Prime of which he blames both the Earth and Cybertron for. From within his prison dimension, Megatronus observed the Great War between the Autobots and Decepticons, raging from Cybertron, across the galaxy and eventually to the battles both groups' respective leaders, Optimus Prime and Megatron, personally led and fought against each other on Earth. Impressed and honored by Megatron's respect of his name, he christened himself as the first Decepticon, in order to inspire future generations he had foreseen.


title: Fallen (Transformers)

text: In the present day, years after the Decepticons defeat, Megatronus plans to destroy Earth and Cybertron. Though trapped in his prison dimension he can still physically influence, and communicate with beings in, the prime dimension. Thus, he causes the crash of the Autobot "Alchemor" ship and releasing its Decepticon criminals, eventually making contact with a pack led by Steeljaw. Megatronus propositions a slightly unwilling Steeljaw into creating a GroundBridge to release him from his prison and in exchange would ensure that Earth will become his to rule. Through Steeljaw's pack's efforts, Megatronus arrives on Earth on Crown City's Liberty Island. There he subsequently engages Optimus Prime and the other Autobots, and reveals he has been granted enhanced abilities by an unknown source. Obtaining a requested Spark-fuser from Steeljaw, Megatronus announces his intention to the Decepticons to use it to summon what remains of Unicron's anti-spark from Earth's core, and the AllSpark from Cybertron, and merge them resulting in both planets' dying.


title: Fallen (Transformers)

text: Steeljaw becomes furious and tries to attack Megatronus only to be swiftly defeated. Megatronus nearly succeeds in his plan, but Optimus cuts away the part of the scepter with the anti-spark, just before the Allspark enters it and cause to the Sparks to merge, with a throw of his weapon. This causes the two Sparks to return to their respective points of origin, and a now-enraged Megatronus lashes out at the Autobots. During this showdown, the Autobots follow a plan from Bumblebee, with Optimus and Grimlock attacking him to force him into a spot where Liberty Island statue's arm, cut off by Windblade, Sideswipe and Drift, lands on him. As Megatronus tries to get out from under it, Bumblebee, Strongarm and Sideswipe use their combined Decepticon Hunters to emit a blastwave large enough to vaporize him. However, Bumblebee still questions if he is not dead.


title: Fallen (Transformers)

text: The animated series seems to alter Megatronus' pre-established history, removing the redeeming and tragic qualities that "Transformers: Exodus" had established (such as his relationship and love for Solus Prime, and his self-doubt and depression at being a dark "counter" to Prima's light) rather modeling him more in line with his film counterpart, being a cold and brutal tyrant who harbors a hatred against Earth, his murder of Solus Prime apparently fully intentional, and thinking of himself as "the First Decepticon" despite having no known connection to the group's founding or his namesake. Although this could be a result of his long imprisonment having driven him insane and embittered him into his current villainous state.


title: Fallen (Transformers)

text: The first toy version of the Fallen was released in 2007 as a part of the "Transformers: Titanium" toy line as a 6" transforming figure. The Fallen would receive several toys for the toy line accompanying "", in which the toys were a new mold that transformed from robot to Cybertronian Destroyer mode, despite not having been depicted with an alternate mode in the film. Most prominently, he would receive a voyager class toy which first appeared on the internet in February 2009. This toy was designed by Takara Tomy toy designer Hisashi Yuki. With the Fallen standing 1280 centimeters (42 feet) tall, and this toy standing 20 centimeters tall in robot mode, this makes the toy about 1:64 scale.


title: Fallen (Transformers)

text: A Toys "R" Us exclusive gift set included the Voyager Fallen figure with a gray redeco of Voyager Megatron (2007 version) and a blue/gray redeco of Deluxe Soundwave. In 2010, he would receive a voyager class toy with a light blue/teal redeco with spear and an all-new head sculpt with a removable face to depict when he is decapicitated by Optimus. The figure is retooled with new hands and grooves on the upper torso to hold the spear. Hasbro has stated in an interview that the light blue was to balance the darker blue of the main body.


title: Fallen (Transformers)

text: Megatronus would receive a number of toys in the toy line accompanying the 2015 "" television series. Packaged with Optimus Prime, the first Megatronus toy is a smaller Legion-sized mold which can transform from a tank to robot and back. The second toy, 5-Step Changer Megatronus, transforms from robot to tank and back in five steps and is released in an open package, which allows children to touch the toy. His scannable Decepticon insignia is on his robot mode chest/vehicle mode front. As with all "Robots in Disguise" figures, he has a scannable Decepticon insignia, which scanning in the "Robots in Disguise" mobile game temporarily unlocks the character if the player has not permanently unlocked it already. The badge is easily scannable while in package. Also made was a "Warrior Class" figure of Megatronus (the renaming of the Deluxe class for "Robots In Disguise") that came in two variants: one exclusive to Toys R Us worldwide with his faceplate down, and a mass release version with the faceplate up. Both versions come with his spear-like scepter.


title: Geography of Saudi Arabia

text: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a country situated in Southwest Asia, the largest country of Arabia, by the Arabian Peninsula, bordering the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea, north of Yemen. Its extensive coastlines on the Persian Gulf and Red Sea provide great leverage on shipping (especially crude oil) through the Persian Gulf and the Suez Canal. The kingdom occupies 80% of the Arabian Peninsula. Most of the country's boundaries with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Oman, and the Republic of Yemen (formerly two countries: the Yemen Arab Republic or North Yemen; and the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen or South Yemen) are undefined, so the exact size of the country remains unknown. The Saudi government estimate is at 2,217,949 square kilometres, while other reputable estimates vary between 2,149,690 and 2,240,000 sq. kilometres. Less than 7% of the total area is suitable for cultivation, and in the early 1960s, population distribution varied greatly among the towns of the eastern and western coastal areas, the densely populated interior oases, and the vast, almost empty deserts.


title: Geography of Saudi Arabia

text: Saudi Arabia is bounded by seven countries and three bodies of water. To the west, the Gulf of Aqaba and the Red Sea form a coastal border of almost that extends to the southern part of Yemen and follows a mountain ridge for approximately to the vicinity of Najran. This section of the border with Yemen was demarcated in 1934 and is one of the few clearly defined borders with a neighbouring country. The Saudi border running southeast from Najran, however, is still undetermined. The undemarcated border became an issue in the early 1990s, when oil was discovered in the area and Saudi Arabia objected to the commercial exploration by foreign companies on behalf of Yemen. In the summer of 1992, representatives of Saudi Arabia and Yemen met in Geneva to discuss settlement of the border issue.


title: Geography of Saudi Arabia

text: To the north, Saudi Arabia is bounded by Jordan, Iraq, and Kuwait. The northern boundary extends almost from the Gulf of Aqaba on the west to Ras al Khafji on the Persian Gulf. In 1965, Saudi Arabia and Jordan agreed to boundary demarcations involving an exchange of areas of territory. Jordan gained of land on the Gulf of Aqaba and 6,000 square kilometers of territory in the interior, and 7,000 square kilometers of Jordanian-administered, landlocked territory was ceded to Saudi Arabia.


title: Geography of Saudi Arabia

text: In 1922, Ibn Saud and British officials representing Iraqi interests signed the Treaty of Mohammara, which established the boundary between Iraq and the future Saudi Arabia. Later that year, the Uqair Protocol signed by the two parties agreed to the creation of a diamond-shaped Saudi Arabian–Iraqi neutral zone of approximately 7,000 square kilometers, adjacent to the western tip of Kuwait, within which neither Iraq nor Saudi Arabia would build permanent dwellings or installations. The agreement was designed to safeguard water rights in the zone for Bedouin of both countries. In May 1938, Iraq and Saudi Arabia signed an additional agreement regarding the administration of the zone. Forty-three years later, Saudi Arabia and Iraq signed an agreement that defined the border between the two countries and provided for the division of the neutral zone between them. The agreement effectively dissolved this neutral zone.


title: Geography of Saudi Arabia

text: The boundary between Ibn Saud's territories of Najd and the Eastern Province and the British protectorate of Kuwait was first regulated by the Al Uqair Convention in 1922. In an effort to avoid territorial disputes, another diamond-shaped Saudi–Kuwaiti neutral zone of 5,790 square kilometers directly south of Kuwait was established. In 1938 oil was discovered in Kuwait's southern Burqan fields, and both countries contracted with foreign oil companies to perform exploration work in the Divided Zone. After years of discussions, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait reached an agreement in 1965 that divided the zone geographically, with each country administering its half of the zone. The agreement guaranteed that the rights of both parties to the natural resources in the whole zone would continue to be respected after each country had annexed its half of the zone in 1966.


title: Geography of Saudi Arabia

text: Saudi Arabia's eastern boundary follows the Persian Gulf from Ras 'al Khafji to the peninsula of Qatar, whose border with Saudi Arabia was determined in 1965. The Saudi border with the state of Oman, on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, runs through the Empty Quarter (Rub 'al-Khali). The border demarcation was defined by a 1990 agreement between Saudi Arabia and Oman that included provisions for shared grazing rights and water rights. The border through 'Al Buraymi Oasis, located near the conjunction of the frontiers of Oman, Abu Dhabi (one of the emirates of the UAE) and Saudi Arabia, has triggered extensive dispute among the three states since the Treaty of Jeddah in 1927. In a 1975 agreement with Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi accepted sovereignty over six villages in the 'Al Buraymi Oasis and the sharing of the rich Zararah oil field. In return, Saudi Arabia obtained an outlet to the Persian Gulf through Abu Dhabi.


title: Geography of Saudi Arabia

text: Saudi Arabia's maritime claims include a twelve-nautical-mile (22 km) territorial limit along its coasts. The country also claims many small islands as well as some seabeds and subsoils beyond the twelve-nautical-mile (22 km) limit.


title: Geography of Saudi Arabia

text: Until the 1980s, Saudi Arabia had lakes at Layla Aflaj and deep waterholes at 'Al-Kharj, fed by huge underground aquifers formed in prehistoric times and non-renewable. 'Al Kharj was a valuable source of drinking water in a barren terrain. In recent years, these aquifers have been drawn upon heavily, both for agricultural and domestic purposes, and no fresh water remain in the lakes or pits.


title: Geography of Saudi Arabia

text: In the absence of permanent rivers or bodies of water, streams and groundwater, desalinated seawater and very scarce surface water must supply the country's needs. In eastern Arabia and in the Jabal Tuwayq, artesian wells and springs are plentiful. In al-Ahsa a number of large, deep pools are constantly replenished by artesian springs as a result of underground water from the eastern watershed of the Jabal Tuwayq. Such springs and wells permit extensive irrigation in local oases. In the Hijaz, wells are abundant, and springs are common in the mountainous areas. In Najd and the great deserts, watering places are comparatively fewer and scattered over a wide area. Water must be hoisted or pumped to the surface, and even where water is plentiful, its quality may be poor.


title: Geography of Saudi Arabia

text: Modern technology has located and increased the availability of much of the underground water. Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco) technicians have determined that very deep aquifers lie in many areas of northern and eastern Arabia and that the Wasia, the largest aquifer in Saudi Arabia, contains more water than the Persian Gulf. The Saudi government, Saudi Aramco, and the United Nations (UN) Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) have made separate and joint efforts to exploit underground water resources. In the past, improperly drilled wells have reduced or destroyed any good they might have served by leaching the lands they were drilled to irrigate. Successive agricultural projects, many of which were designed primarily to encourage Bedouin settlement, have increased water resource exploitation. In the early 1990s, large-scale agricultural projects have relied primarily on such underground aquifers, which provided more than 80% of the water for agricultural requirements. In fiscal year (FY) 1987, about 90% of the total water demand in the kingdom was consumed by agriculture.


title: Geography of Saudi Arabia

text: The Arabian Peninsula is an ancient massif composed of stable crystalline rock whose geologic structure developed concurrently with the Alps. Geologic movements caused the entire mass to tilt eastward and the western and southern edges to tilt upward. In the valley created by the fault, called the Great Rift, the Red Sea was formed. The Great Rift runs from the Mediterranean along both sides of the Red Sea south through Ethiopia and the lake country of East Africa, gradually disappearing in the area of Mozambique, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Scientists analyzing photographs taken by United States astronauts on the joint United States-Soviet space mission in July 1975 detected a vast fan-shaped complex of cracks and fault lines extending north and east from the Golan Heights. These fault lines are believed to be the northern and final portion of the Great Rift and are presumed to be the result of the slow rotation of the Arabian Peninsula counterclockwise in a way that will, in approximately ten million years, close off the Persian Gulf and make it a lake.


title: Geography of Saudi Arabia

text: On the peninsula, the eastern line of the Great Rift fault is visible in the steep and, in places, high escarpment that parallels the Red Sea between the Gulf of Aqaba and the Gulf of Aden. The eastern slope of this escarpment is relatively gentle, dropping to the exposed shield of the ancient landmass that existed before the faulting occurred. A second lower escarpment, the Jabal Tuwayq, runs north to south through the area of Riyadh.


title: Geography of Saudi Arabia

text: In the south, a coastal plain, the Tihamah, rises gradually from the sea to the mountains. Hejaz extends southward to the borders of mountainous Yemen. The central plateau, Najd, extends east to the Jabal Tuwayq and slightly beyond. A long, narrow strip of desert known as Ad Dahna separates Najd from eastern Arabia, which slopes eastward to the sandy coast along the Persian Gulf. North of Najd a larger desert, An Nafud, isolates the heart of the peninsula from the steppes of northern Arabia. South of Najd lies one of the largest sand deserts in the world, the Rub al Khali.


title: Geography of Saudi Arabia

text: A recent global remote sensing analysis suggested that there were 706km² of tidal flats in Saudi Arabia, making it the 37th ranked country in terms of tidal flat area.


title: Geography of Saudi Arabia

text: The western coastal escarpment can be considered two mountain ranges separated by a gap in the vicinity of Mecca in Tihamah. The northern range in the Hejaz seldom exceeds 2,100 meters, and the elevation gradually decreases toward the south to about 600 meters. The rugged mountain wall drops abruptly to the sea with only a few intermittent coastal plains. There are virtually no natural harbors along the Red Sea. The western slopes have been stripped of soil by the erosion of infrequent but turbulent rainfalls that have fertilized the plains to the west. The eastern slopes are less steep and are marked by dry river beds (wadis) that trace the courses of ancient rivers and continue to lead the rare rainfalls down to the plains. Scattered oases, drawing water from springs and wells in the vicinity of the wadis, permit some settled agriculture. Of these oases, the largest and most important is Medina. South of Hejaz, the mountains exceed 2,400 meters in several places with some peaks nearing 3,000 meters.


title: Geography of Saudi Arabia

text: The eastern slope of the mountain range in Asir is gentle, melding into a plateau region that drops gradually into the Rub al Khali. Although rainfall is infrequent in this area, a number of fertile wadis, of which the most important are the Wadi Bishah and the Wadi Tathlith, make oasis agriculture possible on a relatively large scale. A number of extensive lava fields (harrat) scar the surfaces of the plateaus east of the mountain ranges in the Hijaz and give evidence of fairly recent volcanic activity. The largest of these beds is Khaybar, north of Medina; another is Al Harrah, part of the large volcanic field Harrat Ash Shamah. Famous cities of Hejaz include the holy city of Medina and the city of Taif.


title: Geography of Saudi Arabia

text: The rugged western face of the escarpment drops steeply to the coastal plain, the Tihamah lowlands, whose width averages only sixty-five kilometers. Along the seacoast is a salty tidal plain of limited agricultural value, backed by potentially rich alluvial plains. The relatively well-watered and fertile upper slopes and the mountains behind are extensively terraced to allow maximum land use. This coastal plain is part of the Arabian Peninsula coastal fog desert ecoregion. Both the holy city of Mecca and the city of Jeddah lie within the northern part of Tihamah.


title: Geography of Saudi Arabia

text: East of the Hejaz and Asir lies the great plateau area of Najd. This region is mainly rocky plateau interspersed by small, sandy deserts and isolated mountain clumps. The best known of the mountain groups is the Jabal Shammar, northwest of Riyadh and just south of the An Nafud. This area is the home of the pastoral Shammar tribes, which under the leadership of the Al Rashid were the most implacable foes of the Al Saud in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Their capital was the large oasis of Hail, now a flourishing urban center.


title: Geography of Saudi Arabia

text: Across the peninsula as a whole, the plateau slopes toward the east from an elevation of 1,360 meters in the west to 750 meters at its easternmost limit. A number of wadis cross the region in an eastward direction from the Red Sea escarpment toward the Persian Gulf. There is little pattern to these remains of ancient riverbeds; the most important of them are Wadi Hanifa, Wadi ar Rummah, Wadi as Surr, and Wadi ad-Dawasir.


title: Geography of Saudi Arabia

text: The heart of Najd is the area of the Jabal Tuwayq, an arc-shaped ridge with a steep west face that rises between 100 and 250 meters above the plateau. Many oases exist in this area, the most important of which are Buraydah, Unayzah, Riyadh, and Al Kharj. Outside the oasis areas, Najd is sparsely populated. Large salt marshes (sabkah) are scattered throughout the area.


title: Geography of Saudi Arabia

text: The area north of the An Nafud is geographically part of the Syrian Desert. It is an upland plateau scored by numerous wadis, most tending northeastward toward Iraq. This area, known as Badiyat ash Sham, and covered with grass and scrub vegetation, is extensively used for pasture by nomadic and seminomadic herders. The most significant feature of the area is the Wadi as Sirhan, a large basin as much as 300 meters below the surrounding plateau, which is the vestige of an ancient inland sea. For thousands of years, some of the heavily traveled caravan routes between the Mediterranean and the central and southern peninsula have passed through the Wadi as Sirhan. The most important oases in the area are Al Jawf and Sakakah, just north of the An Nafud.


title: Geography of Saudi Arabia

text: East of the Ad Dahna lies the As Summen Plateau, about 120 kilometers wide and dropping in elevation from about 400 meters in the west to about 240 meters in the east. The area is generally barren, with a highly eroded surface of ancient river gorges and isolated buttes.


title: Geography of Saudi Arabia

text: Farther east the terrain changes abruptly to the flat lowlands of the coastal plain. This area, about sixty kilometers wide, is generally featureless and covered with gravel or sand. In the north is the Ad Dibdibah graveled plain and in the south the 'Al Jafurah sand desert, which reaches the gulf near Dhahran and merges with the Rub al Khali at its southern end. The coast itself is extremely irregular, merging sandy plains, marshes, and salt flats almost imperceptibly with the sea. As a result, the land surface is unstable; in places water rises almost to the surface, and the sea is shallow, with shoals and reefs extending far offshore. Only the construction of long moles at Ras Tanura has opened the Saudi coast on the gulf to seagoing tankers.


title: Geography of Saudi Arabia

text: Eastern Arabia is sometimes called 'Al-Hasa or 'Al Ahsa after the great oasis, one of the more fertile areas of the country. 'Al-Hasa, the largest oasis in the country, actually comprises two neighbouring oases, including the town of Al-Hofuf.


title: Geography of Saudi Arabia

text: Three great deserts isolate the great plateau area Najd of Saudi Arabia from the north, east, and south, as the Red Sea escarpment does from the west. In the north, the An Nafud—sometimes called the Great Nafud because An Nafud is the term for desert—covers about 55,000 square kilometers at an elevation of about 1,000 meters. Longitudinal dunes—scores of kilometers in length and as much as ninety meters high, and separated by valleys as much as sixteen kilometers wide—characterize the An Nafud. Iron oxide gives the sand a red tint, particularly when the sun is low. Within the area are several watering places, and winter rains bring up short-lived but succulent grasses that permit nomadic herding during the winter and spring.


title: Geography of Saudi Arabia

text: Stretching more than 125 kilometers south from the An Nafud in a narrow arc is the ad-Dahna desert, a narrow band of sand mountains also called the river of sand. Like the An Nafud, its sand tends to be reddish, particularly in the north, where it shares with the An Nafud the longitudinal structure of sand dunes. The Ad Dahna also furnishes the Bedouin with winter and spring pasture, although water is scarcer than in the An Nafud.


title: Geography of Saudi Arabia

text: The southern portion of the Ad Dahna curves westward following the arc of the Jabal Tuwayq. At its southern end, it merges with the Rub' al Khali, one of the truly forbidding sand deserts in the world and, until the 1950s, one of the least explored. The topography of this huge area, covering more than 550,000 square kilometers, is varied. In the west, the elevation is about 600 meters, and the sand is fine and soft; in the east, the elevation drops to about 180 meters, and much of the surface is covered by relatively stable sand sheets and salt flats. In places, particularly in the east, longitudinal sand dunes prevail; elsewhere sand mountains as much as 300 meters in height form complex patterns. Most of the area is totally waterless and uninhabited except for the few wandering Bedouin tribes.


title: Geography of Saudi Arabia

text: Beneath the harsh deserts of Saudi Arabia lie dark chambers and complex mazes filled with crystalline structures, stalactites and stalagmites. The limestone floor of the Summan plateau, a karst area to the east of the Dahna sands, is riddled with such caves, known locally as "Dahls". Some have tiny entrances which open into caves, others lead into a maze of passages which can be several kilometers long. Local Bedouin have long known of these caves and some were used as water supplies. They were first systematically studied in 1981, and later explored and reported by the Saudi Geological Survey.


title: Geography of Saudi Arabia

text: The Persian Gulf War of 1991 brought serious environmental damage to the region. The world's largest oil spill, estimated at as much as , fouled gulf waters and the coastal areas of Kuwait, Iran, and much of Saudi Arabia's Persian Gulf shoreline. In some of the sections of the Saudi coast that sustained the worst damage, sediments were found to contain 7% oil. The shallow areas affected normally provide feeding grounds for birds, and feeding and nursery areas for fish and shrimp. Because the plants and animals of the sea floor are the basis of the food chain, damage to the shoreline has consequences for the whole shallow-water ecosystem, including the multimillion-dollar Saudi fisheries industry.


title: Geography of Saudi Arabia

text: The spill had a severe impact on the coastal area surrounding Madinat 'al-Jubayl as Sinaiyah, the major industrial and population center newly planned and built by the Saudi government. The spill threatened industrial facilities in 'Al Jubayl because of the seawater cooling system for primary industries and threatened the supply of potable water produced by seawater-fed desalination plants. The 'Al Jubayl community harbor and Abu Ali Island, which juts into the gulf immediately north of 'Al Jubayl, experienced the greatest pollution, with the main effect of the spill concentrated in mangrove areas and shrimp grounds. Large numbers of marine birds, such as cormorants, grebes, and auks, were killed when their plumage was coated with oil. In addition, beaches along the entire 'Al Jubayl coastline were covered with oil and tar balls.


title: Geography of Saudi Arabia

text: The exploding and burning of approximately 700 oil wells in Kuwait also created staggering levels of atmospheric pollution, spewed oily soot into the surrounding areas, and produced lakes of oil in the Kuwaiti desert equal in volume to twenty times the amount of oil that poured into the gulf, or about . The soot from the Kuwaiti fires was found in the snows of the Himalayas and in rainfall over the southern members of the Community of Independent States, Iran, Oman, and Turkey. Residents of Riyadh reported that cars and outdoor furniture were covered daily with a coating of oily soot. The ultimate effects of the airborne pollution from the burning wells have yet to be determined, but samples of soil and vegetation in Ras al Khafji in northern Saudi Arabia revealed high levels of particles of oily soot incorporated into the desert ecology. The UN Environmental Programme warned that eating livestock that grazed within an area of 7,000 square kilometers of the fires, or 1,100 kilometers from the center of the fires, an area that included northern Saudi Arabia, posed a danger to human health. The overall effects of the oil spill and the oil fires on marine life, human health, water quality, and vegetation remained to be determined . Moreover, to these two major sources of environmental damage must be added large quantities of refuse, toxic materials, and between 173 million and 207 million liters of untreated sewage in sand pits left behind by coalition forces.


title: Geography of Saudi Arabia

text: desertification; depletion of ground water resources; the lack of perennial rivers or permanent water bodies has prompted the development of extensive seawater desalination facilities; coastal pollution from oil spills


title: Geography of Saudi Arabia

text: Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection


title: Geography of Saudi Arabia

text: 2,250,000 km² (international borders of Saudi Arabia are not finalized. Saudi government claim large tracts of land inside the neighboring countries of Yemen, Oman and U.A.E. in addition to others. The present figure for the size of that states includes all those territories that are outside Saudi control)


title: Semiconductor memory

text: Semiconductor memory is a digital electronic semiconductor device used for digital data storage, such as computer memory. It typically refers to devices in which data is stored within metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) memory cells on a silicon integrated circuit memory chip. There are numerous different types using different semiconductor technologies. The two main types of random-access memory (RAM) are static RAM (SRAM), which uses several transistors per memory cell, and dynamic RAM (DRAM), which uses a transistor and a MOS capacitor per cell. Non-volatile memory (such as EPROM, EEPROM and flash memory) uses floating-gate memory cells, which consist of a single floating-gate transistor per cell.


title: Semiconductor memory

text: Most types of semiconductor memory have the property of random access, which means that it takes the same amount of time to access any memory location, so data can be efficiently accessed in any random order. This contrasts with data storage media such as hard disks and CDs which read and write data consecutively and therefore the data can only be accessed in the same sequence it was written. Semiconductor memory also has much faster access times than other types of data storage; a byte of data can be written to or read from semiconductor memory within a few nanoseconds, while access time for rotating storage such as hard disks is in the range of milliseconds. For these reasons it is used for primary storage, to hold the program and data the computer is currently working on, among other uses.


title: Semiconductor memory

text: , semiconductor memory chips sell annually, accounting for (124/412.12)*100 round 0% of the semiconductor industry. Shift registers, processor registers, data buffers and other small digital registers that have no memory address decoding mechanism are typically not referred to as "memory" although they also store digital data.


title: Semiconductor memory

text: In a semiconductor memory chip, each bit of binary data is stored in a tiny circuit called a "memory cell" consisting of one to several transistors. The memory cells are laid out in rectangular arrays on the surface of the chip. The 1-bit memory cells are grouped in small units called "words" which are accessed together as a single memory address. Memory is manufactured in word length that is usually a power of two, typically "N"=1, 2, 4 or 8 bits.


title: Semiconductor memory

text: Data is accessed by means of a binary number called a memory address applied to the chip's address pins, which specifies which word in the chip is to be accessed. If the memory address consists of "M" bits, the number of addresses on the chip is 2, each containing an "N" bit word. Consequently, the amount of data stored in each chip is "N"2 bits. The memory storage capacity for "M" number of address lines is given by 2, which is usually in power of two: 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256 and 512 and measured in kilobits, megabits, gigabits or terabits, etc. the largest semiconductor memory chips hold a few gigabits of data, but higher capacity memory is constantly being developed. By combining several integrated circuits, memory can be arranged into a larger word length and/or address space than what is offered by each chip, often but not necessarily a power of two.


title: Semiconductor memory

text: The two basic operations performed by a memory chip are ""read"", in which the data contents of a memory word is read out (nondestructively), and ""write"" in which data is stored in a memory word, replacing any data that was previously stored there. To increase data rate, in some of the latest types of memory chips such as DDR SDRAM multiple words are accessed with each read or write operation.


title: Semiconductor memory

text: In addition to standalone memory chips, blocks of semiconductor memory are integral parts of many computer and data processing integrated circuits. For example, the microprocessor chips that run computers contain cache memory to store instructions awaiting execution.


title: Semiconductor memory

text: Volatile memory loses its stored data when the power to the memory chip is turned off. However it can be faster and less expensive than non-volatile memory. This type is used for the main memory in most computers, since data is stored on the hard disk while the computer is off. Major types are:


title: Semiconductor memory

text: RAM ("Random-access memory") This has become a generic term for any semiconductor memory that can be written to, as well as read from, in contrast to ROM "(below)", which can only be read. All semiconductor memory, not just RAM, has the property of random access.


title: Semiconductor memory

text: Non-volatile memory (NVM) preserves the data stored in it during periods when the power to the chip is turned off. Therefore, it is used for the memory in portable devices, which don't have disks, and for removable memory cards among other uses. Major types are:


title: Semiconductor memory

text: Early computer memory consisted of magnetic-core memory, as early solid-state electronic semiconductors, including transistors such as the bipolar junction transistor (BJT), were impractical for use as digital storage elements (memory cells). The earliest semiconductor memory dates back to the early 1960s, with bipolar memory, which used bipolar transistors. Bipolar semiconductor memory made from discrete devices was first shipped by Texas Instruments to the United States Air Force in 1961. The same year, the concept of solid-state memory on an integrated circuit (IC) chip was proposed by applications engineer Bob Norman at Fairchild Semiconductor. The first single-chip memory IC was the BJT 16-bit IBM SP95 fabricated in December 1965, engineered by Paul Castrucci. While bipolar memory offered improved performance over magnetic-core memory, it could not compete with the lower price of magnetic-core memory, which remained dominant up until the late 1960s. Bipolar memory failed to replace magnetic-core memory because bipolar flip-flop circuits were too large and expensive.


title: Semiconductor memory

text: The advent of the metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET), invented by Mohamed M. Atalla and Dawon Kahng at Bell Labs in 1959, enabled the practical use of metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) transistors as memory cell storage elements, a function previously served by magnetic cores in computer memory. MOS memory was developed by John Schmidt at Fairchild Semiconductor in 1964. In addition to higher performance, MOS memory was cheaper and consumed less power than magnetic-core memory. This led to MOSFETs eventually replacing magnetic cores as the standard storage elements in computer memory.


title: Semiconductor memory

text: In 1965, J. Wood and R. Ball of the Royal Radar Establishment proposed digital storage systems that use CMOS (complementary MOS) memory cells, in addition to MOSFET power devices for the power supply, switched cross-coupling, switches and delay-line storage. The development of silicon-gate MOS integrated circuit (MOS IC) technology by Federico Faggin at Fairchild in 1968 enabled the production of MOS memory chips. NMOS memory was commercialized by IBM in the early 1970s. MOS memory overtook magnetic core memory as the dominant memory technology in the early 1970s.


title: Semiconductor memory

text: The term "memory" when used with reference to computers most often refers to volatile random-access memory (RAM). The two main types of volatile RAM are static random-access memory (SRAM) and dynamic random-access memory (DRAM). Bipolar SRAM was invented by Robert Norman at Fairchild Semiconductor in 1963, followed by the development of MOS SRAM by John Schmidt at Fairchild in 1964. SRAM became an alternative to magnetic-core memory, but required six MOS transistors for each bit of data. Commercial use of SRAM began in 1965, when IBM introduced their SP95 SRAM chip for the System/360 Model 95.


title: Semiconductor memory

text: Toshiba introduced bipolar DRAM memory cells for its Toscal BC-1411 electronic calculator in 1965. While it offered improved performance over magnetic-core memory, bipolar DRAM could not compete with the lower price of the then dominant magnetic-core memory. MOS technology is the basis for modern DRAM. In 1966, Dr. Robert H. Dennard at the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center was working on MOS memory. While examining the characteristics of MOS technology, he found it was capable of building capacitors, and that storing a charge or no charge on the MOS capacitor could represent the 1 and 0 of a bit, while the MOS transistor could control writing the charge to the capacitor. This led to his development of a single-transistor DRAM memory cell. In 1967, Dennard filed a patent under IBM for a single-transistor DRAM memory cell, based on MOS technology. This led to the first commercial DRAM IC chip, the Intel 1103, in October 1970. Synchronous dynamic random-access memory (SDRAM) later debuted with the Samsung KM48SL2000 chip in 1992.


title: Semiconductor memory

text: The term "memory" is also often used to refer to non-volatile memory, specifically flash memory. It has origins in read-only memory (ROM). Programmable read-only memory (PROM) was invented by Wen Tsing Chow in 1956, while working for the Arma Division of the American Bosch Arma Corporation. In 1967, Dawon Kahng and Simon Sze of Bell Labs proposed that the floating gate of a MOS semiconductor device could be used for the cell of a reprogrammable read-only memory (ROM), which led to Dov Frohman of Intel inventing EPROM (erasable PROM) in 1971. EEPROM (electrically erasable PROM) was developed by Yasuo Tarui, Yutaka Hayashi and Kiyoko Naga at Japan's Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) Electrotechnical Laboratory in 1972. Flash memory was invented by Fujio Masuoka at Toshiba in the early 1980s. Masuoka and colleagues presented the invention of NOR flash in 1984, and then NAND flash in 1987. Toshiba commercialized NAND flash memory in 1987.


title: Standing long jump

text: The standing long jump, also known as the standing broad jump, is an athletics event. It was an Olympic event until 1912. It is one of three standing variants of track and field jumping events, which also include the standing high jump and standing triple jump.


title: Standing long jump

text: In performing the standing long jump, the jumper stands at a line marked on the ground with the feet slightly apart. The athlete takes off and lands using both feet, swinging the arms and bending the knees to provide forward drive. In Olympic rules, the measurement used was the longest of three tries. The jump must be repeated if the athlete falls back or takes a step at take-off.


title: Standing long jump

text: Ray Ewry set the first world record for the standing long jump at on September 3, 1904. The current unofficial record is held by Byron Jones, who recorded a jump of at the NFL Combine on February 23, 2015, beating the official world-record jump distance of set by Norwegian shot putter Arne Tvervaag from Ringerike FIK Sportclub in 1968, in a different setting with different controls.


title: Standing long jump

text: When indoor arenas were built, the standing long jump began to disappear as an event. Today, Norway is the only country where the standing long jump is a national championship event. The Norwegian Championships in Standing Jumps (long jump and high jump) has been held in Stange every winter since 1995.


title: Standing long jump

text: The standing long jump is also one of the events at the NFL combine, it was one of the standardized test events as part of the President's Award on Physical Fitness, as well as the physical fitness test that officer cadets must complete at the Royal Military College of Canada and the United States Air Force Academy. In the Brazilian police forces, a minimum performance in a standing long jump test is required to join the Federal Police (2.14 m for men 1.66 m for women) and the Federal Highway Police (2.00 m for men 1.60 m for women).


title: Mobile phone jammer

text: A mobile phone jammer or blocker is a device which deliberately transmits signals on the same radio frequencies as mobile phones, disrupting the communication between the phone and the cell-phone base station, effectively disabling mobile phones within the range of the jammer, preventing them from receiving signals and from transmitting them. Jammers can be used in practically any location, but are found primarily in places where a phone call would be particularly disruptive because silence is expected, such as entertainment venues.


title: Mobile phone jammer

text: Because they disrupt the operations of legitimate mobile phone services, the use of such blocking devices is illegal in many jurisdictions, especially without a licence. When operational, such devices also block access to emergency services.


title: Mobile phone jammer

text: Since these jammers actively broadcast radio signals, they may or may not be legal to possess or operate based on the specific laws of the area one is in.


title: Pageboy

text: The pageboy or page boy is a past hairstyle named after what was believed to be the haircut of a late medieval page boy. It has straight hair hanging to below the ear, where it usually turns under. There is often a fringe (bangs) in the front. This style was popular in the mid 1970s and 1980s.


title: Pageboy

text: In the early 1950s, the New York City hairdresser M. Lewis popularized this style. Singer Toni Tennille of the 1970s pop duet Captain & Tennille wore one as her signature look. In the Oscar-winning film "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", the villainous Nurse Ratched is known for her pageboy. In the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" episode "Gone", Buffy has her hair cut into a pageboy. In the 1960s TV cartoon "Underdog", the show's damsel in distress Sweet Polly Purebred (voiced by Norma MacMillan) has this hairstyle as her trademark look. AnnaSophia Robb as Violet Beauregarde and Missi Pyle as Violet's mother Scarlett Beauregarde in Tim Burton's film version of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" both sport pageboys. In the 2003 TV series "All Grown Up!" (a spin-off of "Rugrats"), Angelica Pickles (voiced by Cheryl Chase) sports a pageboy. Velma Dinkley, of the various "Scooby-Doo" animated series, has worn a short pageboy from her first appearance. Rei Ayanami from "Neon Genesis Evangelion" wears a shaggy pageboy. At the end of the Japanese anime series "Kill la Kill," Satsuki Kiryuin cuts her hair into a page style. In John Green's novel "The Fault in Our Stars", narrator and main character Hazel Grace Lancaster sports a pageboy haircut. The most prominent women to wear pageboys in the 1970s and 1980s were actress Joanna Lumley as the character Purdey in television's "The New Avengers", and Diana, Princess of Wales. In fact it was also known as the "Purdey Cut" and the "Lady Di" in the UK at the time.


title: Pageboy

text: The pageboy was first popular in the 1900s with young boys as it was first popularized by child actors, such as John Tansey and, later, Jackie Coogan. The pageboy look on boys is often referred to as the Dutch Boy look after the popular fictional character. The pageboy returned to male fashion in the 1960s for grown men with straight hair after getting popularized by British rock bands such as The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. This was copied by many of the U.S. Garage Rock/Punk bands, including The Chocolate Watchband, ? and the Mysterians, The Monkees and the Count Five. Andy Warhol and several members of The Velvet Underground also sported the androgynous haircut. The early Ramones haircuts were elongated pageboys, also sported, though less long, by the male members of Blondie. In the 1980s, the haircut became a symbol of Garage Punk and UK Beat music as seen on the album "Rockabilly Psychosis and the Garage Disease" and worn by bands with 1960s influences, such as the Barracudas and Primal Scream. Mansun lead guitarist, Dominic Chad, was known for sporting this haircut in the late nineties.


title: Pageboy

text: Although it is currently a hairstyle worn far more by women, many men have worn it, including characters such as Mowgli in Disney's 1967 version of "The Jungle Book", He-Man in his 1980s incarnation, Anton Chigurh in "No Country for Old Men", and the eponymous star of the American comic strip "Prince Valiant". The latter instance inspired the pageboy's sometime nickname of "the Prince Valiant" or "Prince Valiant cut". The character of Willy Wonka as played by Johnny Depp in the film version of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" wore this hairstyle.


title: Pageboy

text: David McCallum wore the hairstyle the 1975 TV series "The Invisible Man" and child actor Adam Rich popularized it for children in the series "Eight is Enough", which ran from 1977 to 1981.


title: Pageboy

text: The hairstyle is also displayed by the brothers Anthony and Phillip Bonfiglio, on the animated series, "F is for Family".


title: Vinci, Tuscany

text: Vinci ( , ) is a city in the Italian region of Tuscany and "comune" of the Metropolitan City of Florence. The birthplace of Renaissance polymath Leonardo da Vinci lies just outside the town.


title: The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (TV series)

text: The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency is a television comedy-drama series, produced by the BBC in conjunction with HBO, and based on the novels of the same name by Alexander McCall Smith. The novels focus on the story of a detective agency opened by Mma Ramotswe and her courtship with the mechanic Mr. J. L. B. Matekoni. The series was filmed on location in Botswana and was seen as one of the first major film or television productions to be undertaken in Botswana. ("The Gods Must Be Crazy", a 1980 film set in Botswana, was filmed mainly in South Africa).


text: The programme began with a feature-length television film, broadcast in the UK on the BBC on 23 March 2008. Executive producer Anthony Minghella directed the film and co-wrote the adaptation with fellow executive producer Richard Curtis. A six-episode series was ordered in November 2008 and the BBC began broadcasting it in the UK on 15 March 2009. HBO began broadcasting the series on 29 March 2009, starting with the feature-length film, which was broadcast as a pilot. In 2010 the show won a Peabody Award for its 2009 season. It was cancelled after one season despite positive reviews.


text: While HBO did not renew the show after its first series, they announced in summer 2011 that the series might continue as two or more standalone films. The following year HBO revealed they had decided not to move forward with the project.


text: The production was initially envisaged as a theatrical feature film, rather than a television series. British director Anthony Minghella was a fan of the books and, after optioning the film rights, worked with the publishers to write a blurb for the paperback edition. Minghella was committed to directing the project himself but it was several years before his schedule allowed pre-production to commence. Producer Amy J. Moore was a catalyst in the decision to film on location in Botswana. Minghella, having filmed "The English Patient" in Africa, was concerned with the realities of importing equipment and housing the cast and crew for the production. Moore had travelled extensively in Africa, including in Botswana, and had worked on promoting South African film and bringing African-produced plays to an Off-Broadway setting. A friend approached her with the novel in 2000 and she greatly enjoyed it. Once attached to the project, she convinced Minghella to visit Botswana with her in 2004 and took him camping in the Makgadikgadi Pans. The promise of funding from the country's government convinced Minghella to shoot on location. Minghella also approached The Weinstein Company for funding and Harvey Weinstein commented that he thought it was important to fund the production, because it would be impossible to sell to a network or studio solely as a concept.


text: Production on the pilot (at that point still intended as a potential theatrical feature film) began on 2 July 2007. At this stage, the producers were Sydney Pollack and Minghella of Mirage Productions and Weinstein. Weinstein commented on the project, saying that "like all fans of Alexander McCall Smith's magisterial books, I became enchanted with the wonders and charms of Botswana." Oscar-winning director Anthony Minghella helmed the film and co-wrote the teleplay with Oscar nominated writer Richard Curtis. Although McCall Smith declined to write the adaptation, he remained involved as an adviser and visited the set during production. While filming, Minghella publicly expressed concerns about how the film might be received in cinemas, because the story was far removed from crime genre conventions and had little action. Minghella raised the possibility of it appearing on television instead.


text: Anthony Minghella, Timothy Bricknell and Amy J. Moore produced the pilot episode, with Richard Curtis, Sydney Pollack and Harvey Weinstein as executive producers. Bricknell produced the series, with Curtis, Moore and Bob and Harvey Weinstein acting as executive producers. Minghella and Pollack also receive this credit, despite both passing away before the full series entered production. The project is filmed in Botswana and the majority of the crew are locals.


text: Grammy Award-winning American singer and actress Jill Scott stars as the titular detective Mma Ramotswe. Tony Award-winning American actress Anika Noni Rose plays assistant detective Mma Grace Makutsi. British-Tanzanian London theatre actor Lucian Msamati plays car mechanic J. L. B. Matekoni. South African actor and comedian Desmond Dube plays BK, owner of the Last Chance Salon and friend to Mma Ramotswe.


text: British actors Colin Salmon, Idris Elba, and David Oyelowo also feature in the pilot. Elba plays Charlie Gotso, an adversary to Mma Ramotswe. Salmon plays Mma Ramotswe's abusive ex-husband and trumpet player Note Mokoti. Oyelowo plays cheating husband Kremlin Busang. South African actor and Tony award winner John Kani also appears as 'dubious' Daddy Bapetsi. Nigerian-born British actor Nikki Amuka-Bird plays jealous wife Alice Busang. Oyelowo, Kani and Amuka Bird all receive star billing in the feature-length pilot but did not continue as series regulars.


text: British actor Paterson Joseph joined the cast in a recurring role as Cephas Buthulezi, a rival detective. Tau Maseremule and Thabo Malema play Rra Matekoni's young apprentices, Fanwell and Charlie. South African actor Vusi Kunene has a recurring role as Dr. Gulubane.


text: The Right Rev. Musonda Trevor Selwyn Mwamba, the Bishop of Botswana, makes a cameo appearance as himself in the series' third episode.


text: Casting the roles of Mma Makutsi and Rra J. L. B. Matekoni was completed early in the project. However, casting Mma Ramotswe proved to be more of a challenge. Producer Timothy Bricknell states that the character's build and age excludes most well known actresses and that they initially began looking for an actress in Botswana before expanding their search throughout Africa and eventually on to London and Los Angeles. Jill Scott was shortlisted for the role but the producers were uncertain because of her relative lack of acting experience. Minghella decided to cast her after viewing clips of her poetry readings and musical performance and noting her rare screen presence. The decision was made just two weeks before production began.


text: The television film pilot episode and the six later episodes were all shot on location in Botswana. It was the first major production to be filmed in Botswana and the government reportedly provided five million dollars of funding for the project. The producers signed a 10-year-lease in 2007 for the area at the bottom of Kgale Hill in Gaborone locally known as "Kgaleview" where the detective agency set is located.


text: Minghella's standalone television film premiered on the BBC on 23 March 2008, only five days after he suddenly died due to complications from surgery. The BBC announced it as the centrepiece of its 2008 winter schedule and broadcast it in the Easter weekend slot at 21:00 on Easter Sunday on BBC One. The film was a huge success, watched by 6.87 million viewers (27% share) in the UK, easily beating ITV1's "He Kills Coppers".


text: In November 2008, it was announced that HBO and the BBC had partnered to order a further six one-hour episodes. The collaboration marked the Weinstein Company's first foray into television.


text: The 6-episode series premiered on the BBC on 15 March 2009. The film ran in the United States as the feature-length pilot of the series, which was broadcast on HBO beginning on 29 March 2009.


text: Bricknell has stated that the production showcases a modern, relatively prosperous African nation before a large television audience. He said that "People have talked about the responsibility of doing justice to Alexander McCall Smith's novel, but with this production, we also felt a strong sense of responsibility as white people making the first motion picture filmed entirely in Botswana, and presenting modern Botswana to the rest of the world."


text: Moore has commented that the story struck her with the idea "That leading a good life is possible; that being a good person is possible; that being a good neighbour is possible; that truth can exist alongside beauty. I thought, this African book can teach the Western world a lot."


text: Minghella called the experience of filming in Botswana an "amazing adventure" and noted the beauty of the country's landscapes. He said "Particularly fascinating to me was working and filming in an African country where old and new are currently coexisting, where traditional values have not yet been eroded by the demands and efficiencies and neuroses of the modern. It was a privilege to be working on a film which celebrates what we can learn from Africa, and not what we think we can teach it."


text: The series received generally positive reviews from most critics, based on an aggregate score of 71/100 from Metacritic. Rotten Tomatoes assigns the series a rating of 80%, its critical consensus stating: "The Botswana terrain makes for a beautiful backdrop in The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, a faithful adaptation of the book that is leisurely paced, but well-structured, boasting a stellar performance by Jill Scott." "The List" said that Jill Scott's performance "effortlessly captures the blend of wisdom, compassion and understated humour that has made Precious Ramotswe such a popular creation." Some mainstream press reviewers were less impressed. "The Guardian"<nowiki>'</nowiki>s reviewer summed it up as ""Heartbeat", basically, relocated to Botswana, a beautiful African country where smiley happy people, cardboard cut-out characters, go about their business with good humour, hard work, morality and diligence." "The Times"' reviewer said "The problem is that Precious Ramotswe does not really live in Africa but in a verbal universe that is McCall Smith's own. His dialogue, so natural on the page, turned out to be unutterable, at least by the actors assembled here, who struggled to attain end-of-term play standards." But in "The Independent", the reviewer, remarking on the recent death of its director and co-adaptor, Anthony Minghella, said "its merits are distinctively Minghella's own, and that in adapting Alexander McCall Smith's hugely popular and arguably emollient stories for the screen, he and Richard Curtis have found a way to stiffen their representation of African life without losing the sweet moral clarity of the originals."


text: The series won a Peabody Award in 2009 "for offering us Africa, Africans and compelling narratives with great wit and charm."


text: The funding provided for the production allowed the country the economic benefits of hosting a major film production. It also laid the foundations for future productions by training local cast and crew members that officials hope will generate a local film industry. Botswana also expects a tourism benefit from the film and is preserving the set, "Kgalewood", as part of a tour of Gaborone aimed at fans of the story.


text: In August 2010, Michael Lombardo, HBO's director of programming, indicated that the show was not being renewed for a second season; however, two feature-length films continuing the series were being considered. In January 2011, HBO president Sue Naegle stated the television movies for the series were still in script phase, but that HBO intended to make the films. At the 2011 Television Critics Association summer press tour, HBO announced that the show would continue as two or more standalone films, with network executives reviewing the first script. However, in August 2012, it was announced that HBO had decided not to move forward with production.


title: Native Son (2019 film)

text: Native Son is a 2019 American drama film directed by Rashid Johnson from a screenplay by Suzan-Lori Parks. It is based on the novel of the same name by Richard Wright. The film stars Ashton Sanders, Margaret Qualley, Nick Robinson, KiKi Layne, Bill Camp and Sanaa Lathan.


title: Native Son (2019 film)

text: "Native Son" had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 24, 2019, and was released in the United States on April 6, 2019, by HBO Films.


title: Native Son (2019 film)

text: Bigger Thomas is a young African-American man living with his family in Chicago. One day, Bigger receives an opportunity to interview for a job as the live-in chauffeur for the wealthy businessman Henry Dalton and his family. Bigger's friend Jack wants Bigger to participate in a robbery with him instead, but Bigger's girlfriend Bessie convinces him to take the interview. The interview with Mr. Dalton goes successfully, and Bigger is introduced to Mrs. Dalton and Mary, Mr. Dalton's radical daughter.


title: Native Son (2019 film)

text: That night, Bigger drives Mary to a political meeting led by her boyfriend, Jan Erlone. Afterward, Jan and Mary take Bigger out to a local club that Bigger frequents, and the three become friends. As Bigger grows closer to Jan and Mary, he has a falling out with Gus. Bigger failed to show up for the robbery he promised he would participate in, leaving Gus to abandon it. Gus accuses Bigger of succumbing to the stereotypes he himself had shown disdain for. After attending an orchestra with Mary and Jan, Bigger retreats to his room to find an expensive album he had wished to purchase gifted to him by Mary. In thanks, Bigger obtains drugs for Mary and Jan to take at a party.


title: Native Son (2019 film)

text: At the party, Mary and Jan get into an argument after Jan discovers Mary making out with another guy. Bigger drives Mary home and goes to his room. However Mary, who is experiencing strong side effects from the drugs, is dancing around outside half-dressed and shouting. Bigger, fearing he will lose his job if Mary is discovered like this by her parents, helps Mary to her room. Mrs. Dalton is awakened by the noise and begins to call out to Mary. Bigger attempts to calm Mary down to no avail and proceeds to hold a pillow over her face to stop the noise. After Mrs. Dalton returns to her room, Bigger discovers that he has accidentally smothered Mary to death. He then drags Mary's body to the furnace room and cremates it.


title: Native Son (2019 film)

text: The next day, Bigger is interviewed by two detectives who have been hired by Mr. Dalton to find his missing daughter. Jan, however, is initially the prime suspect in Mary's disappearance until one of Mary's pieces of jewelry is found in the furnace by another of Mr. Dalton's staff. As police put out a warrant for Bigger's arrest, he goes into hiding. He privately meets up with Jan, who tells Bigger that he should turn himself in. Similarly, Bessie, who has been hiding Bigger, pleads with him to turn himself in too. Bigger convinces Bessie to run away with him instead, and takes her to an abandoned building where they spend the night.


title: Native Son (2019 film)

text: The next morning, Bessie and Bigger have an argument in which Bigger indirectly confesses to murdering Mary. Upon further argument, Bigger begins to strangle Bessie to death but comes to his senses and stops himself. Bessie runs away in fear. The police arrive, having been alerted to Bigger's whereabouts by some passersby who spotted Bigger looking out a window of the building. The police confront Bigger, who is turned away with his hands in his jacket pockets. Turning around, Bigger begins to take his hands out of his pockets. The police shoot and kill him, mistakenly believing that he had a gun in his hand.


title: Native Son (2019 film)

text: This version of Bigger has, as described by Troy Patterson of "The New Yorker", "goth black" nail polish and "toxic green" dyed hair. He additionally wears jackets with patches and graffiti-like designs. The character enjoys reading Ralph Ellison books and is able to teach himself material. Soraya Nadia McDonald, in an article in "The Undefeated", described Bigger here as "afropunk".


title: Native Son (2019 film)

text: Patterson argued that this Bigger is "a bit adrift", "serious and cerebral", and "a late adolescent at loose ends" instead of the "thoughtless lunk" and "social problem" in the original novel. Anna Shechtman of "The New Yorker" wrote that the 2019 Bigger has a "confident style" stemming from Ellison and that this Bigger "has an assuredness that Wright, Love, and even the character that Wright originally wrote seemed to lack." In the film Bessie describes Bigger as "a fixer upper", reflecting that he has issues to work on.


title: Native Son (2019 film)

text: In February 2017, it was announced Rashid Johnson would direct the film, from a screenplay written by Suzan-Lori Parks.


title: Native Son (2019 film)

text: In March 2018, it was announced Ashton Sanders, Nick Robinson, Margaret Qualley, Bill Camp and KiKi Layne had been cast in the film. Matthew Perniciaro and Michael Sherman will produce under their Bow and Arrow Entertainment banner, while A24 will distribute. In April 2018, Sanaa Lathan, Connie Nelson, Lamar Johnson and Jerod Haynes joined the cast of the film.


title: Native Son (2019 film)

text: Principal photography began on April 9, 2018, in Cleveland, Ohio. Production concluded on May 6, 2018.


title: Native Son (2019 film)

text: Johnson removed Bigger raping Bessie partly because of issues involving sexual assault occurring in the 2010s. He also removed Bessie's death because having her survive would "give Bigger an opportunity to be both complicated and (empathetic) simultaneously, and that was just a step off of a cliff that didn't allow us to tell the story in a (contemporary) way that we thought would facilitate conversation."


title: Native Son (2019 film)

text: The film had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 24, 2019, Prior to, HBO Films acquired U.S. distribution rights to the film. It was released on April 6, 2019.


title: Native Son (2019 film)

text: On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average of . The site's critics consensus reads: ""Native Son"s struggles with its problematic source material are uneven but overall compelling, thanks largely to Ashton Sanders' poised work in the central role." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 63 out of 100, based on 12 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".


title: Native Son (2019 film)

text: Benjamin Lee of "The Guardian" gave the film four of five stars, calling it "darkly compelling" with a "spellbinding performance", though he criticized it for not having "some connectivity between dramatic events".


title: Native Son (2019 film)

text: Owen Glieberman of "Variety" wrote that the film works well in the first half, but that it is constrained by the novel's turns of events in the second half.


title: Native Son (2019 film)

text: Troy Patterson, writing in "The New Yorker", argues that the development of the film shows that the original text is out of date and is flawed.


title: Native Son (2019 film)

text: McDonald criticized this film for omitting the killing of Bigger's girlfriend as that plot point could have been used to explore domestic violence in African-American communities. In this version Bigger begins choking Bessie but ultimately does not complete the act, and he does not attempt to rape Bessie.


title: Ipswich, Massachusetts

text: Ipswich is a coastal town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 13,785 at the 2020 census. Home to Willowdale State Forest and Sandy Point State Reservation, Ipswich includes the southern part of Plum Island. A residential community with a vibrant tourism industry, the town is famous for its clams, celebrated annually at the Ipswich Chowderfest, and for Crane Beach, a barrier beach near the Crane estate. Ipswich was incorporated as a town in 1634.


title: Ipswich, Massachusetts

text: Ipswich was founded by John Winthrop the Younger, son of John Winthrop, one of the founders of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630 and its first governor, elected in England in 1629. Several hundred colonists sailed from England in 1630 in a fleet of 11 ships, including Winthrop's flagship, the "Arbella". Investigating the region of Salem and Cape Ann, they entertained aboard the "Arbella" for a day, June 12, 1630, a native chief of the lands to the north, Chief Masconomet. The event was recorded in Winthrop's journal on the 13th, but Winthrop did not say how they overcame the language barrier. The name they heard from Masconomet concerning the country over which he ruled has been reconstructed as "Wonnesquamsauke", which the English rendered as "Agawam". The colonists, however, sailed to the south where some buildings had already been prepared for them at a place newly named Charlestown.


title: Ipswich, Massachusetts

text: That winter they lost a few hundred colonists to malnutrition and disease. They also experienced their first nor'easter, which cost them some fingers and toes, as well as houses destroyed by the fires they kept burning day and night. Just as Winthrop was handing out the last handful of grain, the supply ship "Lyon" entered Boston Harbor. John sent for his family in England, but his then wife, Margaret, her children, and his eldest son, John, whose mother was the elder John's first wife, Mary Forth, did not arrive until November, on the "Lyon".


title: Ipswich, Massachusetts

text: John the Younger resided with his father and stepmother until 1633, when he resolved to settle in Agawam, with the permission of the General Court of Massachusetts. Captain John Smith had written about the Angoam or Aggawom region in 1614, calling it "an excellent habitation, being a good and safe harbour."


title: Ipswich, Massachusetts

text: John the Younger and 12 men aboard a shallop sailed into Ipswich harbor and took up residence there. The first settlers with Winthrop were William Clerk, Robert Coles, Thomas Howlet, John Biggs, John Gage, Thomas Hardy, William Perkins, John Thorndike, William Sergeant, and three others whose names are uncertain. Two men continued up the river (now River Road) to a large meadow, which they called New Meadows, now Topsfield. Agawam was incorporated on August 5, 1634, as Ipswich, after Ipswich in the county of Suffolk, England. The name "Ipswich" was taken "in acknowledgment of the great honor and kindness done to our people which took shipping there." Nathaniel Ward, an assistant pastor in town from 1634 to 1636, wrote the first code of laws for Massachusetts and later published the religious/political work "The Simple Cobbler of Aggawam in America" in England.