title: The Blind Boys of Alabama

text: Vocalist Billy Bowers left the group in 2011 when he was injured and underwent back surgery. Bowers' role as vocalist was filled by Ricky McKinnie, who was also the groups' percussionist for many years. Bowers died July 2, 2013, of heart failure in Montgomery, Alabama at the age of 71.


title: The Blind Boys of Alabama

text: In 2013, the Blind Boys released "I'll Find a Way", produced by Justin Vernon of Bon Iver. The album also features guest appearances by Sam Amidon and Merrill Garbus of Tune-Yards. The following year, the Blind Boys released "Talkin’ Christmas!" in collaboration with blues musician Taj Mahal.


title: The Blind Boys of Alabama

text: In 2016, the Blind Boys contributed to "", a tribute album recorded in honor of gospel musician Blind Willie Johnson. The Blind Boys performed the song "Mother's Children Have a Hard Time", a performance that was nominated for Best American Roots Performance at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards. The album was also nominated in the category of Best Roots Gospel Album.


title: The Blind Boys of Alabama

text: In 2017, the Blind Boys released the album "Almost Home" on BBOA Records in collaboration with Amazon Music. Fountain also rejoined the group for the album's recording. The songs on the album were written for the Blind Boys by writers including Marc Cohn, Phil Cook, John Leventhal, and Valerie June. The Blind Boys' manager, Charles Driebe, recorded interviews with the members of the group then shared them with the songwriters who wrote songs reflecting the Blind Boys' personal stories. The song "Let My Mother Live" from the album was nominated for Best American Roots Performance at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards. Written by Leventhal, the song is about Carter as a young boy at the Alabama Institute and "how scared I was, and that I wanted my mother to live until I got grown." On August 28, 2020, Single Lock Records released the Blind Boys' album "Almost Home" to all platforms, including a bonus track: previously unreleased Bob Dylan song, "See By Faith."


title: The Blind Boys of Alabama

text: On June 3, 2018, Clarence Fountain died of complications from diabetes at the age of 88 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. His final performance with the Blind Boys of Alabama was on May 16, 2018, at the Manship Theatre there.


title: The Blind Boys of Alabama

text: September 2018 saw the release of the Muscle Shoals tribute album, "Small Town, Big Sound". The Blind Boys, along with blues musician Mike Farris, performed a cover of the song "Respect Yourself." The album also featured cover songs by such artists as Steven Tyler, Willie Nelson, Grace Potter, Chris Stapleton, and Kid Rock.


title: The Blind Boys of Alabama

text: In January 2019, the Blind Boys performed with Marc Cohn at the Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center. The performance was broadcast on the PBS live music series "The Kate" that spring.


title: The Blind Boys of Alabama

text: Over the summer of 2019, the Blind Boys toured Europe with blind Afro-pop duo Amadou & Mariam. Similar to the Blind Boys, the husband-and-wife duo originally met in 1975 at the Bamako Institute for the Blind in Mali. During the tour, the two groups of vocalists would provide vocal accompaniment to performances of each group's songs. They would also perform original material that they had created together, such as the songs "Bamako to Birmingham" and "Two Cultures, One Beat."


title: The Blind Boys of Alabama

text: In August of that same year, the Blind Boys released a collaborative album with Marc Cohn titled "Work To Do". The album features Cohn and the Blind Boys performing new and older material by Cohn in addition to renditions of traditional gospel songs. Seven of the tracks are recordings from their performance on "The Kate" earlier that same year, including Cohn's hit "Walking in Memphis", as well the Blind Boys' version of "Amazing Grace" to the melody of "The House of the Rising Sun". On October 15, 2019, the group appeared on "Today" to perform the title track alongside Marc Cohn.


title: The Blind Boys of Alabama

text: In a 2019 exposé, "The New York Times Magazine" reported that The Blind Boys of Alabama were among hundreds of artists whose material was destroyed in the 2008 Universal Studios fire.


title: The Blind Boys of Alabama

text: Music blog UDiscoverMusic named Blind Boys the longest standing music group, as they are still touring and writing/recording music after being founded in 1939. In 2019, Jason Isbell selected the Blind Boys to join him for his October residency at the Ryman Auditorium. Shortly after, they were featured with Irish TV host Hector Ó hEochagáin for his show "Hector USA". The Blind Boys' 2019 Christmas Tour earned the praise of "The New Yorker", which commented "The beloved gospel ensemble the Blind Boys of Alabama...remains perennially fresh, whether it's interjecting godliness into unexpected songs or, as in this case, saluting Christmas."


title: The Blind Boys of Alabama

text: In March 2020, the group toured Australia and New Zealand, performing at the Womadelaide and Womad NZ festivals. In May 2020, Woodstock legend Wavy Gravy included the Blind Boys in his virtual music festival celebrating his 84th birthday.


title: The Blind Boys of Alabama

text: To kick off 2021, the Recording Academy featured the Blind Boys performing 'If I Had a Hammer' on their "Positive Vibes Only" series. Later that year, the Blind Boys teamed up with Béla Fleck to release a new version of "I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free" for Record Store Day. The song went on to be nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best American Roots Performance category.


title: The Blind Boys of Alabama

text: Singer Ben Moore (Benjamin Moore, Jr.) died of natural causes on May 12, 2022. He was 80 years old. In July 2022, the Blind Boys were featured as performers at the closing ceremonies of the World Games at the Protective Stadium in Birmingham, Alabama. They performed with Jamey Johnson and a 75-piece orchestra led by Dr. Henry Panion on a bill headlined by Lionel Richie.


title: Nyssa Raatko

text: Nyssa Raatko (), also known as Nyssa al Ghul, is a supervillainess in DC Comics. Nyssa Raatko was created by Greg Rucka and Klaus Janson for the Batman series of comic books. She is an enemy of Batman. She is the daughter of Ra's al Ghul and the half-sister of Talia al Ghul.


title: Nyssa Raatko

text: Nyssa made her first live-action appearance as a recurring character on the Arrowverse television series "Arrow" starting in the second season, played by Katrina Law. She also appeared in the final season of "Gotham", portrayed by Jaime Murray.


title: Nyssa Raatko

text: In "Batman: Death and the Maidens", it is revealed that Ra's al Ghul and a Jewish peasant woman had a love child born during his travels in Russia in the 18th century named Nyssa. Enamored by the romantic stories that her mother told her about Ra's as a child, Nyssa sets out to find Ra's and eventually locates him at his headquarters in North Africa.


title: Nyssa Raatko

text: Impressed by her beauty, warrior skills, and her determination and ability to locate him, he promotes her as his right hand associate and they go on adventures together. Ra's is so impressed with her abilities, he even allows Nyssa to use his Lazarus Pits. Like her sister Talia, Nyssa eventually becomes disenchanted with Ra's genocidal plans to "cleanse the Earth", and disassociates herself from her father sometime in the early 20th century. Ra's reluctantly approves this, believing that she will return to him and that she or her children will become his future heirs. To his disappointment, Nyssa refuses to give herself or her family to him, causing him to disown her permanently. He does however allow her to keep a Lazarus Pit for herself which helps her survive until the modern times.


title: Nyssa Raatko

text: During World War II, Nyssa and her family are quickly sent to a concentration camp, where Nyssa's entire family dies and she is rendered infertile by very Mengele-style experiments. At one point she begs Ra's for help, but he refuses her.


title: Nyssa Raatko

text: Broken by her horrifying experiences during this time, and enraged that Ra's has abandoned her and her family to die at the hands of the Nazis, Nyssa is finally motivated to act when her great-grandsonher last living descendant - is killed. She plots to kill Ra's by befriending, kidnapping, and brainwashing Talia and using her to kill Ra's. To this end, she captures Talia and, using a Lazarus Pit, kills and resurrects her in rapid succession. Rendered apathetic by her time in the camp, unable to feel anything, Nyssa then attempts to destroy all hope and optimism in the world by assassinating Superman with Kryptonite bullets she steals from the Batcave, hoping that, by uniting the world in one moment of tragedy, she will manage to rouse herself once more.


title: Nyssa Raatko

text: While Batman is successful in preventing the assassination of Superman, he is unable to stop Ra's from being killed by Nyssa. This in turn is part of a greater plan by Ra's to ensure that his daughters, both initially dissatisfied with his plans, will realize that he is right, and that they would come to accept their destinies as his heirs. Realizing and accepting this, both Nyssa and Talia become the heads of the League of Assassins.


title: Nyssa Raatko

text: The Lazarus pit can grant restorative properties that can heal injuries and even grant immortality. Nyssa is in possession of one of the world's last Lazarus Pits, which has granted her longevity and the ability to heal her wounds; she survives The Holocaust thanks to its powers. She also found the ability to use the pit multiple times. She is also extremely wealthy, especially since she assumes control of Ra's' organization and joins forces with Talia. Like her father and half-sister, she knows Batman's secret identity and the location of the Batcave.


title: Nyssa Raatko

text: During "Infinite Crisis", Nyssa and her sister connive to use Talia's membership in Luthor's Secret Society of Super Villains in order to take over the planet. Nyssa tries to recruit Batgirl (as Cassandra Cain) to stand at her side as "The One Who Is All". She attempts to explain why she is working with the villains of the Society to Batgirl:


title: Nyssa Raatko

text: In "One Year Later", Nyssa is seen in Northern Africa, planning an unknown plot with two terrorists. As she gets into her car to leave, it explodes. In the following issue, Lady Shiva reports that Nyssa Raatko is dead where she was probably killed by the League of Assassins.


title: Clitic

text: In morphology and syntax, a clitic (, backformed from Greek "leaning" or "enclitic") is a morpheme that has syntactic characteristics of a word, but depends phonologically on another word or phrase. In this sense, it is syntactically independent but phonologically dependent—always attached to a host. A clitic is pronounced like an affix, but plays a syntactic role at the phrase level. In other words, clitics have the "form" of affixes, but the distribution of function words. For example, the contracted forms of the auxiliary verbs in "I'm" and "we've" are clitics.


title: Clitic

text: Clitics can belong to any grammatical category, although they are commonly pronouns, determiners, or adpositions. Note that orthography is not always a good guide for distinguishing clitics from affixes: clitics may be written as separate words, but sometimes they are joined to the word they depend on (like the Latin clitic "-que", meaning "and") or separated by special characters such as hyphens or apostrophes (like the English clitic "s" in "it's" for "it has" or "it is").


title: Clitic

text: Clitics fall into various categories depending on their position in relation to the word they connect to.


title: Clitic

text: A proclitic appears before its host. It is common in Romance languages. For example, in French, there is "il s'est réveillé" ("he woke up") or "je t'aime" ("I love you"), while the same in Italian are both ("lui") si è svegliato", ("io") ti amo" and sè svegliato", tamo".


title: Clitic

text: A mesoclitic appears between the stem of the host and other affixes. For example, in Portuguese, "conquistar-se-á" ("it will be conquered"), "dá-lo-ei" ("I will give it"), "matá-la-ia" ("he/she/it would kill her"). These are found much more often in writing than in speech. It is even possible to use two pronouns inside the verb, as in "dar-no-lo-á" ("he/she/it will give it to us"), or "dar-ta-ei" ("ta" = "te" + "a", "I will give it/her to you"). As in other Western Romance languages, the Portuguese synthetic future tense comes from the merging of the infinitive and the corresponding finite forms of the verb "haver" (from Latin "habēre"), which explains the possibility of separating it from the infinitive.


title: Clitic

text: The endoclitic splits apart the root and is inserted between the two pieces. Endoclitics defy the Lexical Integrity Hypothesis (or Lexicalist hypothesis) and so were long thought impossible. However, evidence from the Udi language suggests that they exist. Endoclitics are also found in Pashto and are reported to exist in Degema.


title: Clitic

text: One distinction drawn by some scholars divides the broad term "clitics" into two categories, simple clitics and special clitics. This distinction is, however, disputed.


title: Clitic

text: Simple clitics are free morphemes: can stand alone in a phrase or sentence. They are unaccented and thus phonologically dependent upon a nearby word. They derive meaning only from that "host".


title: Clitic

text: Special clitics are morphemes that are bound to the word upon which they depend: they exist as a part of their host. That form, which is unaccented, represents a variant of a free form that carries stress. Both variants carry similar meaning and phonological makeup, but the special clitic is bound to a host word and is unaccented.


title: Clitic

text: According to this model from Judith Klavans, an autonomous lexical item in a particular context loses the properties of a fully independent word over time and acquires the properties of a morphological affix (prefix, suffix, infix, etc.). At any intermediate stage of this evolutionary process, the element in question can be described as a "clitic". As a result, this term ends up being applied to a highly heterogeneous class of elements, presenting different combinations of word-like and affix-like properties.


title: Clitic

text: One characteristic shared by many clitics is a lack of prosodic independence. A clitic attaches to an adjacent word, known as its "host". Orthographic conventions treat clitics in different ways: Some are written as separate words, some are written as one word with their hosts, and some are attached to their hosts, but set off by punctuation (a hyphen or an apostrophe, for example).


title: Clitic

text: Although the term "clitic" can be used descriptively to refer to any element whose grammatical status is somewhere in between a typical word and a typical affix, linguists have proposed various definitions of "clitic" as a technical term. One common approach is to treat clitics as words that are prosodically deficient: they cannot appear without a host, and they can only form an accentual unit in combination with their host. The term "postlexical clitic" is used for this narrower sense of the term.


title: Clitic

text: Given this basic definition, further criteria are needed to establish a dividing line between postlexical clitics and morphological affixes, since both are characterized by a lack of prosodic autonomy. There is no natural, clear-cut boundary between the two categories (since from a diachronic point of view, a given form can move gradually from one to the other by morphologization). However, by identifying clusters of observable properties that are associated with core examples of clitics on the one hand, and core examples of affixes on the other, one can pick out a battery of tests that provide an empirical foundation for a clitic-affix distinction.


title: Clitic

text: An affix syntactically and phonologically attaches to a base morpheme of a limited part of speech, such as a verb, to form a new word. A clitic syntactically functions above the word level, on the phrase or clause level, and attaches only phonetically to the first, last, or only word in the phrase or clause, whichever part of speech the word belongs to.


title: Clitic

text: The results of applying these criteria sometimes reveal that elements that have traditionally been called "clitics" actually have the status of affixes (e.g., the Romance pronominal clitics discussed below).


title: Clitic

text: An example of differing analyses by different linguists is the discussion of the non-pronominal possessive marker ('s) in English. Some linguists treat it as an affix, while others treat it as a special clitic.


title: Clitic

text: Similar to the discussion above, clitics must be distinguishable from words. Linguists have proposed a number of tests to differentiate between the two categories. Some tests, specifically, are based upon the understanding that when comparing the two, clitics resemble affixes, while words resemble syntactic phrases. Clitics and words resemble different categories, in the sense that they share certain properties. Six such tests are described below. These are not the only ways to differentiate between words and clitics.


title: Clitic

text: Clitics do not always appear next to the word or phrase that they are associated with grammatically. They may be subject to global word order constraints that act on the entire sentence. Many Indo-European languages, for example, obey Wackernagel's law (named after Jacob Wackernagel), which requires sentential clitics to appear in "second position", after the first syntactic phrase or the first stressed word in a clause:


title: Clitic

text: English enclitics include the contracted versions of auxiliary verbs, as in "I'm" and "we've". Some also regard the possessive marker, as in "The Queen of England's crown" as an enclitic, rather than a (phrasal) genitival inflection.


title: Clitic

text: The negative marker "-n't" as in "couldn't" etc. is typically considered a clitic that developed from the lexical item "not". Linguists Arnold Zwicky and Geoffrey Pullum argue, however, that the form has the properties of an affix rather than a syntactically independent clitic.


title: Clitic

text: In Cornish, the clitics "ma" "/" "na" are used after a noun and definite article to express "this" / "that" (singular) and "these" / "those" (plural). For example:


title: Clitic

text: Irish Gaelic uses "seo" "/" "sin" as clitics in a similar way, also to express "this" / "that" and "these" / "those". For example:


title: Clitic

text: In Romance languages, some have treated the object personal pronoun forms as clitics, though they only attach to the verb they are the object of and so are affixed by the definition used here. There is no general agreement on the issue. For the Spanish object pronouns, for example:


title: Clitic

text: Colloquial Portuguese and Spanish of the former Gran Colombia allow ser to be conjugated as a verbal clitic adverbial adjunct to emphasize the importance of the phrase compared to its context, or with the meaning of "really" or "in truth":


title: Clitic

text: Note that this clitic form is only for the verb ser and is restricted to only third-person singular conjugations. It is not used as a verb in the grammar of the sentence but introduces prepositional phrases and adds emphasis. It does not need to concord with the tense of the main verb, as in the second example, and can be usually removed from the sentence without affecting the simple meaning.


title: Clitic

text: In the Indo-European languages, some clitics can be traced back to Proto-Indo-European: for example, *"" is the original form of Sanskrit "च" ("-ca"), Greek "τε" ("-te"), and Latin "-que".


title: Clitic

text: Serbo-Croatian: the reflexive pronoun forms "si" and "se", "li" (yes-no question), unstressed present and aorist tense forms of "biti" ("to be"; "sam, si, je, smo, ste, su"; and "bih, bi, bi, bismo, biste, bi", for the respective tense), unstressed personal pronouns in genitive ("me, te, ga, je, nas, vas, ih"), dative ("mi, ti, mu, joj, nam, vam, im") and accusative ("me, te, ga (nj), je (ju), nas, vas, ih"), and unstressed present tense of "htjeti" ("want/will"; "ću, ćeš, će, ćemo, ćete, će")


title: Clitic

text: These clitics follow the first stressed word in the sentence or clause in most cases, which may have been inherited from Proto-Indo-European (see Wackernagel's Law), even though many of the modern clitics became cliticised much more recently in the language (e.g. auxiliary verbs or the accusative forms of pronouns). In subordinate clauses and questions, they follow the connector and/or the question word respectively.


title: Clitic

text: Examples (clitics – "sam" "I am", "biste" "you would (pl.)", "mi" "to me", "vam" "to you (pl.)", "ih" "them"):


title: Clitic

text: In certain rural dialects this rule is (or was until recently) very strict, whereas elsewhere various exceptions occur. These include phrases containing conjunctions (e. g. "Ivan i Ana" "Ivan and Ana"), nouns with a genitival attribute (e. g. "vrh brda" "the top of the hill"), proper names and titles and the like (e. g. "(gospođa) Ivana Marić" "(Mrs) Ivana Marić", "grad Zagreb" "the city (of) Zagreb"), and in many local varieties clitics are hardly ever inserted into any phrases (e. g. "moj najbolji prijatelj" "my best friend", "sutra ujutro" "tomorrow morning"). In cases like these, clitics normally follow the initial phrase, although some Standard grammar handbooks recommend that they should be placed immediately after the verb (many native speakers find this unnatural).


title: Clitic

text: Clitics are however never inserted after the negative particle "ne", which always precedes the verb in Serbo-Croatian, or after prefixes (earlier preverbs), and the interrogative particle "li" always immediately follows the verb. Colloquial interrogative particles such as "da li", "dal", "jel" appear in sentence-initial position and are followed by clitics (if there are any).


title: Thomas Boylston Adams (1772–1832)

text: Thomas Boylston Adams (September 15, 1772 to March 12, 1832) was the third and youngest son of second United States president John Adams and Abigail (Smith) Adams. He worked as a lawyer, a secretary to his brother John Quincy Adams while the latter served as United States ambassador to the Netherlands and Prussia, the business manager of and a contributor to the political and literary journal Port Folio, and a Massachusetts chief justice.


title: Thomas Boylston Adams (1772–1832)

text: Thomas Boylston Adams was born on September 15, 1772 to John and Abigail Adams, in Braintree, Massachusetts. His parents’ youngest surviving child, he joined three older siblings: Abigail (Nabby), John Quincy, and Charles. Thomas was named for his paternal great-great-grandfather, physician Thomas Boylston.


title: Thomas Boylston Adams (1772–1832)

text: Thomas’s early childhood, spent primarily on the family farm in Braintree, was marked by the uncertainty and upheaval of the American Revolution. John Adams’s frequent absence, while he participated in the Continental Congress, caused his youngest child great emotional distress. Abigail reported to her husband that Thomas often stood beside her while she wrote letters to John, asking his mother to “send duty” and expressing how he “longs to see Pappa.” At three years old, Thomas told his mother and siblings that he believed his father would not “come home till the Battle is over.” On one occasion, John sent letters to his three eldest children but, since the boy could not yet read, neglected to write Thomas. His mother revealed that the four-year-old “stood in silent grief with the Tears running down his face,” insisting that “Pappa does not Love him he says so well as he does Brothers.”


title: Thomas Boylston Adams (1772–1832)

text: In the summer of 1776, Abigail Adams decided that three-year-old Thomas, along with his siblings, should be inoculated for smallpox. At age four, he wanted to be a soldier, prompting his father to write him and suggest he, like his great-great-grandfather and namesake, become a physician instead.


title: Thomas Boylston Adams (1772–1832)

text: Like his siblings, Thomas was well-educated, and his parents expected him and his two older brothers to attend Harvard University. When he was eleven years old, his mother and older sister traveled to Europe to join John, who was serving as a United States foreign minister, and John Quincy, who had accompanied him. Charles and Thomas were sent to live with their aunt and uncle, their mother’s sister Elizabeth Smith Shaw and her husband John, where the boys prepared for Harvard. Thomas spent much of his time studying Latin and caring for his pet doves. He struggled emotionally with his parents’ absence, not wanting to return to the home of his childhood without them and often declining to write them letters. His parents returned when he was fifteen, by which time his mother had not seen him in four years, and his father in nine.


title: Thomas Boylston Adams (1772–1832)

text: Thomas was admitted to the freshman class at Harvard in the fall of 1786. Though both his Aunt Shaw and his brother John Quincy had harbored concerns that he was still too young to attend, he proved a diligent student who impressed his family. In the entirety of his career at Harvard, he was punished once for the minor offense of missing prayers. He was assigned parts in class exhibitions and commencement, graduating in 1790.


title: Thomas Boylston Adams (1772–1832)

text: After his graduation from Harvard, Thomas studied in the law office of Jared Ingersoll in Philadelphia as an apprentice. His examination for the bar took place in late 1793, and thereafter he remained in the city to work as a lawyer. In correspondence to his family, he documented the yellow fever epidemic of 1793, and even had to flee Philadelphia for New Jersey in October to escape the spread of the disease. He returned in late November to find several acquaintances afflicted or dead.


title: Thomas Boylston Adams (1772–1832)

text: In the summer of 1793, John Quincy Adams was appointed the United States foreign minister to the Netherlands by President George Washington. John Quincy was eager for his youngest brother to accompany him as his secretary and requested that their father approve of such an arrangement. Thomas agreed, but, on his twenty-second birthday, confided in his diary that he bore some anxiety, as the journey was “such an alteration of my prospects in the line of my profession” at a time when his law career had just begun.


title: Thomas Boylston Adams (1772–1832)

text: Thomas made an excellent secretary to John Quincy, who described the younger Adams as “my constant companion” to whom he could communicate everything “with the most unlimited confidence.” Thomas remained with his brother for the duration of his work in the Netherlands, accompanied him on multiple diplomatic trips to England, and continued on with John Quincy when the latter was appointed minister to Prussia by their father, by now the second president of the United States.


title: Thomas Boylston Adams (1772–1832)

text: While in Europe, Thomas used his diary to comment on political events of the day, including the entrance of Napoleon’s French troops to the Hague in Holland. He witnessed an army of “about 2,000 in number” march into the city, which had already surrendered, noting that the soldiers all appeared “below the ordinary stature, all young” and that “hardihood was the only distinguishable mark upon their Countenance.” He also attended the ceremony which announced the new Batavian Republic on March 1, 1796, reflecting that this “new form of Government cannot be for the publick a greater calamity than the continuance of the Old-régime” in Holland. When he was not busy attending diplomatic events and performing secretarial duties, Thomas spent much of his time in Europe dancing at social balls, visiting the theatre, and ice-skating, his preferred form of exercise at which he was quite skilled.


title: Thomas Boylston Adams (1772–1832)

text: In the autumn of 1798, Thomas left John Quincy and his wife Louisa Catherine Adams to return to the United States. He decided to reopen his law practice, though John Quincy wrote to their mother that he wished Thomas would choose other employment, believing the youngest Adams’s “inclination [not]...suited to the contentious part of that profession.” John Quincy applauded the skills his youngest brother had learned while in Europe, writing that Thomas had learned French, German, and Dutch in varying degrees, gained knowledge of the political climate in numerous European countries, and secured the art of negotiation. John Quincy continued to correspond with Thomas at length about affairs in Europe as long as he remained there.


title: Thomas Boylston Adams (1772–1832)

text: Thomas returned to Philadelphia in April 1799 to continue practicing law, but was often frustrated by his lack of success. He wrote to his father that he felt his “want of experience, & long discontinuance from the language & practice of the bar, in addition to a pretty strong natural want of confidence in myself” combined to guarantee his failure.


title: Thomas Boylston Adams (1772–1832)

text: In the late days of John Adams’s presidency, Thomas wrote essays for publication in Philadelphia newspapers, under the pseudonyms Plutarch, Mutius Scævola, A Friend to His Country, and Fabius, to defend his father’s policies as president against opposition newspapers. He clapped back against accusations that his father favored monarchies, defended the decision to seek peace with France, and supported the provision under the Convention of 1800 that American and French ships could enter each other’s ports without paying duties. In these essays, Thomas employed his knowledge of European political relations as well as his legal expertise.


title: Thomas Boylston Adams (1772–1832)

text: At this time, Thomas became reacquainted with Joseph Dennie, Jr., a classmate from Harvard, who had moved to Philadelphia and founded a literary and political journal entitled Port Folio. Over the next several years, Thomas became a sporadic contributor to the journal, writing primarily Federalist political articles that were published in a section called “Miscellaneous Paragraphs.” He wrote on such subjects as the folly of establishing the national capital in Washington, D.C. to conciliate the Southern states, the rumors that his father wanted the United States to adopt a hereditary government, and the latest publications of political thinker and Adams family nemesis Thomas Paine. More often, however, Thomas was publishing the works of his older brother John Quincy within the journal’s pages, though both brothers’ writings were always included anonymously due to the perception that a literary career made a man ineligible for public service.


title: Thomas Boylston Adams (1772–1832)

text: In the fall of 1802, due to Dennie’s careless business style, Thomas became the business manager of the Port Folio. He believed that his tasks as John Quincy’s secretary had amply prepared him for this type of work, and asked his older brother to aid him only by continuing to supply his “pen-service.” Due to some personal issues with and questionable political decisions made by Dennie, the Adams brothers ceased to contribute to the Port Folio by 1805.


title: Thomas Boylston Adams (1772–1832)

text: Thomas moved back home to Quincy, Massachusetts, where he was admitted to the bar in the spring of 1804. In August 1806, he returned to Harvard University to deliver the Phi Beta Kappa oration, choosing “Philosophy” as his subject. He was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, where his brother John Quincy was the corresponding secretary, in 1810.


title: Thomas Boylston Adams (1772–1832)

text: On the possibility of political service, Thomas wrote his cousin William Cranch in 1799 that though he was “ashamed of myself for not being so great a politician as you are,” he found politics to be a “remote branch of my trade” toward which he felt “some listlessness.” Yet he did in time pursue politics, holding several offices for the town of Quincy, including Treasurer from 1804-1805 and supervisor of schools from 1807-1811. While Thomas was on the Massachusetts General Court from 1805 to 1806, John Quincy, then a United States Senator, encouraged him to introduce certain resolutions and to “bring [him]self forward to the public eye,” believing Thomas could be a great asset to their country. Thomas served as a representative on the Massachusetts legislature from 1809 to 1811, where he was appointed a member of the Executive Council in June of his final year.


title: Thomas Boylston Adams (1772–1832)

text: In April 1811, Thomas and two others were commissioned by the Massachusetts governor to investigate disturbances in Lincoln County, Maine, arising from land claim disagreements. Recent violent clashes between proprietors and tenants led a committee in the town of Bristol, Maine to order a land survey, which only made residents angrier, and Thomas and his fellow commissioners were brought in to conduct a thorough investigation and present advice to the legislature. Ultimately, the “commissioners performed their duty in a way...satisfactory to all concerned,” finding that the land claims were so old and convoluted that it was no wonder the tenants had revolted, and the proprietors were bought out with equivalent land tracts elsewhere in the Commonwealth while the settlers were given deeds of release.


title: Thomas Boylston Adams (1772–1832)

text: In June of the same year, Thomas was appointed chief justice of the Circuit Court of Common Pleas for the Southern Circuit of Massachusetts. In 1812, he was chosen by delegates from Massachusetts’s Norfolk Congressional District to serve as meeting chairman while they selected a candidate to represent them in Congress.


title: Thomas Boylston Adams (1772–1832)

text: Thomas’s increasing struggles with alcohol addiction around and after this time made it difficult for him to continue pursuing his career. He and his large family often made their home with his parents, and relied on them and his brother John Quincy financially.


title: Thomas Boylston Adams (1772–1832)

text: Thomas Boylston Adams was described by relatives and acquaintances as intelligent and good-tempered. His older sister Nabby told John Quincy that ten-year-old Thomas was “something of a rogue.” While he lived with his aunt Elizabeth Smith Shaw, the woman grew quite attached to the boy, whom she described as “an exceeding good Child” with “such a pleasant Temper,” and an “innocently playful” teenager with an “intrepid Spirit.”


title: Thomas Boylston Adams (1772–1832)

text: Thomas’s sister-in-law Louisa Catherine Adams, wife of John Quincy, referred to Thomas as her “kind brother” who “respected and loved me, and did me justice in times when I needed a powerful friend,” claiming that she “never saw so fine a temper, or so truly and invariably lovely a disposition.” John Adams was impressed by his adult son’s “Understanding Discretion and benevolence.” Yet Thomas’s issues with alcoholism in his later years considerably shifted his personality, and his nephew Charles Francis Adams described him in 1824 as “one of the most unpleasant characters in this world, in his present degradation.”


title: Thomas Boylston Adams (1772–1832)

text: Thomas had close relationships with his three older siblings. His sister Nabby wrote from Europe to their cousin Lucy Cranch that “I regret my seperation from my Brothers more than any other Circumstance.” When John Quincy and Thomas received the first letters from family during their time in Holland, Thomas recorded in his diary that “my Sister [was] the only one that wrote me.”


title: Thomas Boylston Adams (1772–1832)

text: Upon returning to the United States, Thomas traveled several times to New York to visit Nabby, once taking to his diary after an evening at her home to note he “never pass[ed] a happy hour” in the presence of her husband, William Stephens Smith, and mourned protectively that “my dear Sister’s destiny might have been happier.” When Nabby stayed with him in Philadelphia in November 1799, Thomas wrote his cousin William Cranch that her presence made “my domestic intercourse abundantly delightful.”


title: Thomas Boylston Adams (1772–1832)

text: When he was thirteen, his aunt Shaw found Thomas and his brothers, John Quincy and Charles, all “lodg[ing] together in our great Bed, though there was another in the Chamber” and “embracing each other in Love.” While at Harvard, Charles and Thomas often traveled to Haverhill together to visit their aunt and uncle on vacations, and to Newburyport, Massachusetts where John Quincy was completing his law apprenticeship. When Thomas moved to Philadelphia for his own work, Charles wrote to their older brother that “I shall miss Tom much.”


title: Thomas Boylston Adams (1772–1832)

text: In April 1799, Thomas attended a performance of The Italian Father with Charles in New York, calling the play about adultery and immorality “an affecting piece” that he “felt...the stronger” by being with his brother, whose marital infidelity, financial problems, and struggles with alcohol addiction were, at this point, becoming known by the family. When Charles, renounced by his father and separated from his wife and children, died in 1800, Thomas broke the news to John Quincy by describing Charles’s death as a long-foreseen “catastrophe, which it was not in human power to avert.” He concluded the letter by asking that “silence reign forever over his tomb.”


title: Thomas Boylston Adams (1772–1832)

text: Thomas met Ann Harrod (often called Nancy), his future wife, when he was a child living in Haverhill with his aunt Elizabeth Smith Shaw. Shaw encouraged a friendship between her nephew and young neighbor, and Thomas later recalled that he had loved her ever since. In 1794, he told his cousin William Cranch that he wore a broach as a “constant memento” of this “Friend of my younger days.”


title: Thomas Boylston Adams (1772–1832)

text: While in Europe, Thomas wrote of his interest in several young women in his diary, even pursuing an affair with the wife of an Englishman who had a jeweler’s shop in Holland. Upon returning to the United States, however, he reconnected with Ann Harrod. Their courtship was lengthy, sporadic, and secretive, and his aunt expressed concern “that to continue a correspondence of this nature, in a Clandestine way was what parents might consider undutiful.” Yet Abigail Adams approved of the match, telling her son that Ann was “a very Amiable girl” who was “as well calculated to make what I call a good wife, as any one,” and in 1805, the pair married.


title: Thomas Boylston Adams (1772–1832)

text: In just eleven years, Thomas and Ann had seven children: Abigail Smith, Elizabeth Coombs, Thomas Boylston, Frances Foster (died in infancy), Isaac Hull, John Quincy, and Joseph Harrod. Thomas wrote of his great joy at becoming a father after Abigail Smith’s birth, revealing in a letter to a friend that “I know what it is to be a father, and am not amid the joys of this new title, unconscious of the additional weight of duty, which necessarily attends it.” During their early years, their mother Ann kept a diary to record their childhood illnesses, as well as first words, first steps, and other milestones. Tragically, on his 40th birthday, Thomas’s baby niece Louisa Catherine Adams Jr died to an unknown illness soon after he lost his baby daughter Frances Foster Adams to an unknown cause.


title: Thomas Boylston Adams (1772–1832)

text: Thomas’s nephew Charles Francis observed that the children “appear[ed] considerably affected by” their father’s alcoholism and resulting cruelty, writing that he was “sorry for the Children because this is the punishment occasioned by the fault of the father.” Three of Thomas’s sons died in military service. Elizabeth Coombs, a dedicated keeper of her famous family’s memory, lived in Washington, D.C. with her uncle John Quincy during much of his presidency, and died the oldest resident in Quincy, Massachusetts at the age of 95 in 1903. None of Thomas’s children had children of their own.


title: Thomas Boylston Adams (1772–1832)

text: Thomas was plagued by rheumatism throughout his life, beginning when he was just a child. Abigail Adams recalled that she had suffered similar bouts of pain in her young years. On numerous occasions while working for his brother in Europe, Thomas recorded in his diary that he was too weak to leave the house on account of this condition, sometimes managing to take long walks in attempts to rid himself of pain.


title: Thomas Boylston Adams (1772–1832)

text: Like his maternal uncle William Smith and his brother Charles before him, Thomas developed a severe and persistent alcohol addiction, putting a major strain on his relationships with his family. In September 1819, he disappeared after an argument with his father, leaving his wife, children, and possessions behind. He did not return until five days later, “much fatigued and unwell,” and was not reconciled to his father until John Quincy facilitated peace between the pair. John Quincy’s son Charles Francis described his uncle under the effect of alcohol as “extremely disgusting...a brute in his manners and a bully in his family.”


title: Thomas Boylston Adams (1772–1832)

text: Thomas also experienced difficulty with his mental health, undergoing periods of depression which he referred to in his diary and letters as “the Blue Devils,” a contemporary slang term for severe melancholy.


title: Thomas Boylston Adams (1772–1832)

text: In his later years, Thomas accumulated significant debt, relying primarily on his brother John Quincy to provide for his family. John Quincy expressed concern that his brother’s financial problems may be the result of gambling; Charles Francis believed his uncle to be “a Slave to...company,” too eager to entertain friends on “his limited income.” Upon John Adams’s death, the money for his youngest son was placed in a trust, which Thomas received in periodic allowances. John Quincy Adams exercised great patience with his brother and continued to provide financially for him throughout his life, which John Quincy described simply as his “brotherly duty of kindness.”


title: Thomas Boylston Adams (1772–1832)

text: On March 12, 1832, Thomas died in Quincy, Massachusetts at the age of fifty-nine, in the presence of his wife and children. Charles Francis Adams wrote in his diary the following day that his uncle “paid a bitter penance for his follies and left his Children to share the same as his only legacy.” John Quincy Adams, upon receiving word of Thomas’s death, took to his journal to mourn “my dear and amiable brother.”


title: Thomas Boylston Adams (1772–1832)

text: Thomas makes brief appearances in the 1976 PBS miniseries The Adams Chronicles, which spans five generations of Adams family history. He is played by Tom Tammi and Richard Mathews.


title: Thomas Boylston Adams (1772–1832)

text: HBO's 2008 miniseries John Adams features Thomas in a more prominent role. He is portrayed in childhood by Carter Godwin and Thomas Langston, and by Samuel Barnett as an adult. The series depicts Thomas as an amiable and dutiful son who wins his father's approval as John Quincy's secretary and cares for his parents in their old age.


title: Thomas Boylston Adams (1772–1832)

text: The musical 1776 bears fleeting references to Thomas in his early childhood. His mother Abigail writes in letters of his "turning blue" and getting the measles to convince her husband John to come home from the Continental Congress.


title: 1981 World Series

text: The 1981 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1981 season. The 78th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff played between the American League (AL) champion New York Yankees and the National League (NL) champion Los Angeles Dodgers. It marked their third Series meeting in five years and was their 11th overall Series meeting. The Dodgers won the Series in six games, as the Yankees had done in the teams' prior two Series meetings, in and . This was the Dodgers' first title since , their first victory over the Yankees since , and third overall Series win over the Yankees.


title: 1981 World Series

text: This is the most recent World Series that a team won after losing the first two games on the road, the next previous instance being the Yankees' victory over the Dodgers in the 1978 World Series. This was the last meeting between teams from New York City and Los Angeles for a major professional sports championship until the Los Angeles Kings and New York Rangers reached the NHL's 2014 Stanley Cup Finals. This remains the most recent meeting between the Dodgers and the Yankees in the World Series, which has been the most frequent matchup in World Series history.


title: 1981 World Series

text: Due to the players' strike, which ran from June 12 to August 8, the 1981 season was split into two halves, with the first-place teams from each half in each division (or a wild card team if the same club won both halves, although this did not occur in any division) meeting in the best-of-five League Division Series (this division series was a one-off occasion; it was not until 1994 that the Division Series would be implemented on a permanent basis). The four survivors would then move on to the two best-of-five League Championship Series. The expanded playoffs led to Game 1 of the World Series being pushed back to October 20, the latest starting date for a Fall Classic up to that time.


title: 1981 World Series

text: In the National League, the Dodgers led the National League West prior to the strike. The Houston Astros, however, won the second-half division title. The Dodgers then defeated the Astros, three games to two, in the National League Division Series before beating the Montreal Expos, three games to two, in the National League Championship Series.


title: 1981 World Series

text: The Yankees, who led the American League East in the season's first half, took on the Milwaukee Brewers, winners of the second half division title, in the American League Division Series. New York was victorious three games to two, then went on to sweep the Oakland Athletics in the American League Championship Series.


title: 1981 World Series

text: The split-season decision was not a popular one, both among teams and their fans. The arrangement resulted in teams with the best overall record in either their division or league that year being left out of the postseason, in particular the Cincinnati Reds, who had the best overall record in the majors, and the St. Louis Cardinals, who finished with the best overall record in the NL East. Though the teams with the best record in the American League East and West did win their divisions, the Yankees finished 3rd overall in the AL East while the Kansas City Royals finished 4th overall with a losing 50-53 record.


title: 1981 World Series

text: The Dodgers got to the Series with help from Mexican-born rookie phenom Fernando Valenzuela, who won his first eight games including five by shutout. Valenzuela would pitch eight shutouts in all and win both the National League's Rookie of the Year and Cy Young awards. Joining Valenzuela in the rotation were veterans Burt Hooton (11–6, 2.28) and Jerry Reuss (10–4, 2.30). The core of the position players remained intact with perennial all-star Steve Garvey at first, Davey Lopes at second, Bill Russell at shortstop, and team leader in home runs with 13, Ron Cey at third. Budding star, Pedro Guerrero, would move to the outfield becoming a regular starter for the first time in his career, in place of the aging and often injured Reggie Smith.


title: 1981 World Series

text: Manager Tommy Lasorda was looking for his first World Series win in his fifth full season with the Dodgers after losing to the Yankees in and 1978.


title: 1981 World Series

text: The Yankees, managed by Bob Lemon (in his second stint, having replaced Gene Michael), had a losing second-half (25–26) but won the first-half (34–22) to qualify for the playoffs. Ace starter Ron Guidry won 11 games against while rookie Dave Righetti emerged as an important starter, winning eight games with a 2.05 ERA. Righetti would win the American League's Rookie of the Year award. Reliever Goose Gossage recorded 20 saves with an 0.77 ERA, striking out 48 in 47 innings.


title: 1981 World Series

text: Dave Winfield was signed as a free agent in the off-season, joined another all-star, Reggie Jackson, in the outfield. Winfield led the Yankees with 25 doubles and 68 RBIs. Winfield's huge contract (US$21 million over 10 years), was added to an already strong lineup. While the Yankees boasted a well-balanced squad, the Dodgers were not to be denied their first World Series title in 16 years.


title: 1981 World Series

text: The Series commenced on October 20, making it the latest start of the Series, breaking the previous record by 3 days (1910 World Series, October 17). Bob Watson smashed a three-run homer off Jerry Reuss in the first to get the Yankees started. Lou Piniella chased Reuss with an RBI single in the third, and Dodger reliever Bobby Castillo walked four batters in the fourth to give New York a 5–0 lead. Ron Guidry held the Dodgers to four hits and a run (on a Steve Yeager homer) through seven innings. Ron Davis gave up two in the eighth by walking Derrel Thomas and Davey Lopes to lead off. After the walks, Davis was relieved by closer Goose Gossage who gave up a pinch-hit RBI single to Jay Johnstone and a sacrifice fly by Dusty Baker to score Thomas and Lopes, but Gossage closed out the win in the ninth. Yankee third baseman Graig Nettles suffered a hairline fracture of his left thumb when he made a diving stop. The injury caused him to miss Games 3, 4, and 5, but he played in Games 2 & 6.


title: 1981 World Series

text: Former teammates Burt Hooton and Tommy John were locked in a scoreless duel until the fifth, when Larry Milbourne doubled in Willie Randolph for the only run John would really need. The Yankees pushed across two more in the eighth off Steve Howe on a RBI single by Bob Watson and a sacrifice fly by Randolph. John pitched seven shutout innings, and Goose Gossage closed for his second save in two games.


title: 1981 World Series

text: Prior to this game, Yankee manager Bob Lemon sat Reggie Jackson. Jackson injured himself running the bases in Game 2 of the ALCS and missed the first two games of the World Series, but was medically cleared to play Game 3. Jackson was not even allowed to pinch-hit. Lemon said he was resting Jackson as a precaution and because the Dodgers were starting a left hand pitcher.


title: 1981 World Series

text: NL Rookie of the Year, pitcher Fernando Valenzuela, lasted the entire game despite allowing nine hits and walking seven and constantly pitching out of trouble. He walked two Yankee batters in the first, but pitched out of it. Ron Cey, meanwhile, provided him a 3–0 lead in the Dodger half with a three-run homer off Dave Righetti.


title: 1981 World Series

text: The Yankees cut it to 3–2 in the second on a Bob Watson homer and a Larry Milbourne RBI single. Valenzuela stranded two runners in this inning. Rick Cerone gave the Yanks a 4–3 lead in the third with a two-run homer, but the Yankees left two on once again. Watson led off the fifth with a double, but no one scored as Valenzuela pitched out of it again. In both the third and fifth innings, the Dodgers were helped by the Yankees' being unable to use a designated hitter (since it was used in last season's Series). In both innings, Valenzuela issued two-out intentional walks to number 8 hitter Larry Milbourne in order to pitch to Dave Righetti and George Frazier. Valenzuela struck out the pitchers both times.


title: 1981 World Series

text: The Dodgers gave Valenzuela the lead back in the bottom of the fifth off Frazier when Pedro Guerrero doubled in Steve Garvey to tie it, and Cey scored on a double play grounder by Mike Scioscia. With a lead and the Dodger Stadium crowd behind him, Valenzuela appeared to finally settle down. After pinch hitting, Valenzuela's regular catcher Mike Scioscia took over behind the plate. This seemed to have a calming effect on the rookie, as Scioscia knew Spanish and was better able to talk with Valenzuela than Steve Yeager.


title: 1981 World Series

text: The Yankees mounted their final threat in the eighth when Aurelio Rodríguez and Milbourne led off with back-to-back singles. Pinch-hitter Bobby Murcer attempted a sacrifice bunt, but popped it foul. Cey dove and caught it, then doubled Milbourne off first.


title: 1981 World Series

text: Valenzuela, despite giving up 9 hits (including 2 homers), walking 7, and throwing 149 pitches in facing 40 batters, went the distance to give the Dodgers their first win of the series.


title: 1981 World Series

text: After being held out of game 3, Reggie Jackson was back in the starting lineup for this game. The Yankees batters had early success against Dodgers pitcher Bob Welch, who faced four batters without recording an out before being relieved by Dave Goltz. Willie Randolph led the game off with a triple and scored on a Larry Milbourne double. Dave Winfield walked and Jackson singled before Goltz gave up a sacrifice fly to Bob Watson. Randolph smashed a two-out solo home run in the second and Rick Cerone batted in a run with a single in the third for a 4–0 Yankee lead.


title: 1981 World Series

text: Yankee starter Rick Reuschel then had problems of his own. He allowed an RBI single to Davey Lopes and an RBI groundout to Ron Cey in the third before leaving in favor of Rudy May. May gave up a double to Steve Garvey and an RBI single to Cey in the fifth, but the Yankees countered with two in the sixth on RBI singles by Oscar Gamble and Watson off Tom Niedenfuer.


title: 1981 World Series

text: With a 6–3 lead, the Yankees turned the pitching over to their relief combination of Ron Davis and Goose Gossage. Davis had troubles in the sixth. He issued a one-out walk to Mike Scioscia and gave up a pinch-hit homer to Jay Johnstone to make the score 6–5. Then, Lopes lifted a fly ball to right that Jackson lost in the sun and dropped for an error. Lopes reached second and stole third with no throw by catcher Cerone three pitches later, because Davis pitched from a windup rather than a set position. Davis then gave up a game-tying single to Bill Russell.


title: 1981 World Series

text: In the seventh, Dusty Baker led off with an infield hit off George Frazier and went to third on a Rick Monday liner that got past center fielder Bobby Brown when he tried to make a shoestring catch. Monday reached second. Pedro Guerrero was then walked intentionally. Yankee manager Bob Lemon then brought starting pitcher Tommy John out of the bullpen instead of Gossage. Steve Yeager, hitting for Scioscia, promptly gave the Dodgers the lead when he drove home Baker with a sacrifice fly. Lopes followed with an infield single that drove Monday home for an 8–6 lead. John managed to strand Guerrero in scoring position to end the seventh and pitched the last two innings, but closer Gossage never got in the game.


title: 1981 World Series

text: Jackson brought the Yankees closer with a home run in the eighth off lefty Steve Howe, capping a 3-for-3 day. But Howe was able to close out the win, despite Willie Randolph pinning Dodger centerfielder Derrell Thomas against the centerfield wall with a deep fly ball. The series was now tied 2–2.


title: 1981 World Series

text: According to Johnstone's book "Temporary Insanity" (1985), Steinbrenner confronted Davis in the Yankees' locker room after the game and demanded, "Why did you throw Johnstone a fastball?"


title: 1981 World Series

text: Needing a win to stop the Dodgers' momentum in this series, the Yankees trotted out their ace, Ron Guidry. Guidry was sharp through six innings, holding the Dodgers to two singles. Reggie Jackson, continuing his torrid hitting, helped provide Guidry a lead by doubling to left in the second off Jerry Reuss, moving to third on a Davey Lopes error, and scoring on a Lou Piniella infield single.


title: 1981 World Series

text: The game then took a turn in the seventh inning. After fanning Dusty Baker, Guidry surrendered back-to-back solo home runs to Pedro Guerrero and Steve Yeager. After he had struck out, Baker suggested to Yeager and Guerrero that they move up in the batter's box to take away Guidry's late breaking slider. Both home runs were hit on sliders almost to the same place in left-center. Meanwhile, Reuss was as effective as Guidry, holding the Yanks to five hits and the lone run and going the distance.


title: 1981 World Series

text: A tense moment occurred in the eighth when Goose Gossage beaned Ron Cey. Cey had to be helped off the field with a concussion, but was cleared to play Game 6 after it was delayed one day by rain.


title: 1981 World Series

text: This was the latest-ending World Series by calendar date up to that time (surpassing the 1911 Series, which ended on October 26). Originally scheduled for Tuesday, October 27, Game 6 was postponed a day by rain. This allowed Bob Lemon to start Tommy John opposite Dodger starter Burt Hooton, and also allowed Ron Cey to be in the Dodger lineup. Willie Randolph provided John an early lead with a solo homer in the third. The Dodgers tied it in the fourth on an RBI single by Game 5 hero Steve Yeager.


title: 1981 World Series

text: In the bottom of the fourth, Yankee manager Bob Lemon made a controversial decision. Graig Nettles led off the inning with a double. After Hooton retired the next two batters, he intentionally walked Larry Milbourne to face John (there was no designated hitter in this series). Lemon pinch-hit for his starting pitcher in the fourth inning of a 1–1 game. Pinch-hitter Bobby Murcer flied out to end the inning. In his 1991 autobiography "T.J.: My 26 Years in Baseball", John revealed that before the game, Lemon and team owner George Steinbrenner settled on the following strategy: get the lead early and then protect it with the bullpen (despite the bullpen's collapses earlier in the series). As ABC cameras showed during the broadcast, John paced the Yankee dugout in disbelief after being pulled.


title: 1981 World Series

text: In the fifth, George Frazier, who relieved John, gave up an RBI single to Ron Cey and a two-run triple to Pedro Guerrero. Frazier would take the loss and become the first pitcher to lose three games in a best-of-seven World Series and second pitcher to lose three times in any World Series (the first being Lefty Williams, a member of the Chicago White Sox in the best-of-nine 1919 World Series).


title: 1981 World Series

text: New York's bullpen further collapsed in the sixth. Ron Davis issued one-out walks to pitcher Hooton and Davey Lopes. Bill Russell singled to short left field, and Hooton unexpectedly rounded third and headed home. Dave Winfield stumbled on the wet grass, fell forward, and uncorked an errant throw. Hooton scored standing, after which Lemon pulled Davis in favor of Rick Reuschel. On Reuschel's second pitch, Lopes and Russell pulled a double steal. Reuschel walked Steve Garvey intentionally and gave up an RBI force-out to pinch-hitter Derrel Thomas. After Dusty Baker reached on an error by Nettles, loading the bases again, Guerrero singled in two more runs. The Yankees would score in the bottom of the sixth on a pinch-hit RBI single by Lou Piniella. Guerrero would cap a five-RBI night, and the Dodgers' World Series win, by blasting a solo home run in the eighth.


title: 1981 World Series

text: Winfield's throw typified his struggles in this, his first World Series. At the plate, he went 1-for-22 with one RBI. After the series, Steinbrenner issued a public apology to the City of New York for his team's performance, while at the same time assuring the fans that plans to put the team together for 1982 would begin immediately. The Yankee owner was criticized by players and press alike for doing so, as many people felt losing a World Series was not something for which a team needed to apologize.


title: 1981 World Series

text: For the first time, there were co-MVP's in a World Series: Cey (.350 avg., 7-for-20, HR, 6 RBIs), Yeager (.286 avg., 4-for-14, 2 HR's), and Guerrero (.333 avg, 7-for-21, 2 HR's, 7 RBIs) shared the award.


title: 1981 World Series

text: After combining for ten division titles and eight World Series appearances between 1974 and 1981, the 1981 World Series marked the end of an era for both teams as they soon were without key contributors.


title: 1981 World Series

text: The Yankees lost Reggie Jackson (who left in free agency), Graig Nettles (traded in 1984), Goose Gossage (left in free agency in 1984 only to play once more with them in 1989), and Tommy John (traded away to California before returning in 1986), among others. Bob Lemon lasted fourteen games in the next season before being dismissed by Steinbrenner despite promises to finish the whole season (although Lemon was quoted as being relieved over the decision). The franchise would not reach the postseason again until 1995, which included nine different managers at the helm for Yankees (such as Billy Martin, who was re-hired and re-fired three times from 1983 to 1988) despite worthy play from Winfield and Don Mattingly, who debuted in 1982 (incidentally, Steinbrenner's growing irritation with Winfield would soon lead to a three-year punishment). The lone World Series appearance in the 1980s meant it was the first decade in which the Yankees did not win a title since the 1910s, and the first ever since the "live-ball" era, which would not happen again until the 2010s.


title: 1981 World Series

text: Key Dodger losses included Reggie Smith (who signed with the San Francisco Giants after the season), Davey Lopes (traded in the off season), Ron Cey (traded in 1982), Steve Garvey (who departed for the San Diego Padres in 1983). This marked the end of the 8 1/2 year Dodger infield of Garvey, Lopes, Russell and Cey. With a stronger farm system and adding valuable players via trade or free agency, they did win division titles in 1983 and 1985, while narrowly missing in 1982. Their success culminated with a world championship in 1988, becoming the only team to win two World Series between 1978 and 1990, and the only team to win more than one World Series title during the 1980s. However, since their 1988 World Series win, the Dodgers would not appear in another World Series until 2017 (which they lost to the Houston Astros), despite reaching the NLCS in 2008, 2009, 2013, and 2016. They would also appear in the World Series in 2018 against the Boston Red Sox, which they also lost. They finally broke their World Series Championship drought by winning in 2020 against the Tampa Bay Rays. The Yankees, on the other hand, appeared in seven World Series (1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, and 2009) in that span, winning all but 2001 and 2003.


title: 1981 World Series

text: Yankees pitcher George Frazier tied a World Series record for losing three of the six games in 1981. The only other pitcher to lose that many was the Chicago White Sox's Lefty Williams, who intentionally lost his three starts in the infamous 1919 World Series.


title: 1981 World Series

text: ABC Sports covered this World Series on television in the United States, its third under the then-present contract of alternating Series coverage with NBC Sports. Keith Jackson and Al Michaels shared play-by-play duties, with Michaels replacing Jackson when the latter deferred to his primary role as ABC's lead college football announcer. Color commentary was handled by Howard Cosell and Baltimore Orioles pitcher Jim Palmer; Palmer would later join ABC's baseball broadcast team after retiring as a player. ABC's coverage was also simulcast over the Yankees' and Dodgers' local television outlets, respectively WPIX in New York City and KTTV in Los Angeles.


title: 1981 World Series

text: This World Series was the last to be called by Jackson in the broadcast booth. Michaels became ABC's lead baseball play-by-play announcer (and exclusive World Series announcer) by the time the network next aired the World Series in 1983.


title: 1981 World Series

text: On radio, CBS Radio carried the games with Vin Scully handling play-by-play and Detroit Tigers manager Sparky Anderson providing analysis, working together for the third consecutive year. Scully was the Dodgers' primary local announcer during the regular season. When the Dodgers next appeared in the World Series in 1988, Scully called the series nationally on television for NBC.


title: 1981 World Series

text: After the series, Johnstone, Yeager, Reuss, and Rick Monday of the Dodgers recorded a cover version of Queen's "We Are the Champions" under the name "Big Blue Wrecking Crew". The quartet performed the song on an episode of "Solid Gold", the syndicated TV-show.


title: Agathiyan

text: Agathiyan (born 18 August 1952; ) is an Indian film director, screenwriter, producer, lyricist, and actor. He was the first director in Tamil cinema to win the National Film Award for Best Direction for "Kadhal Kottai" (1996). For the film, he also won National Film Award for Best Screenplay and Filmfare Award for Best Director – Tamil.


title: Agathiyan

text: Agathiyan, a director in his late forties entered films a decade back and struggled as an assistant to various directors. Hailing from a agriculturist family, he spent a happy-go-lucky time in college, and when he decided to pack his bags and come to Chennai to try his luck in films as a director, he lost his family's support. Struggling with no money, he did odd jobs in film companies and became an assistant to anyone who offered him food and shelter.


title: Agathiyan

text: He initially directed movie in 1991 and was credited as Ravi Thasan but it was unsuccessful. Anbalaya Prabhakaran, who acted in that movie and also produces small budgeted films with new directors, gave Ahahtian his second break as a director with "Madhumathi", a teenage love story with new faces. The film was a big hit. He was back to where he started, but again fate had bigger things in store for him. Sivasakthi Pandian, a film distributor turned producer, produced "Vaanmathi" with Ajith and Swathi. The film was a hit. Next came "Kadhal Kottai" from the same banner and Ahahtian became the toast of the industry. Offers poured in for films.


title: Agathiyan

text: In late 2014, he began work on an untitled project produced by Bharathiraja starring Santhosh Prathap, Oviya, Vijayalakshmi and Manoj Bharathiraja, but the film was later shelved. He have served as jury member at 57th National Film Awards.


title: Agathiyan

text: He married Radha in 1978. His elder daughter Kani (Karthika), host of Makkal TV, is married to film director Thiru. Kani Thiru is a winner of Vijay TV's "Cook With Comali" (Season 2). His second daughter Vijayalakshmi Agathiyan is an actress and is married to film director Feroz. His younger daughter Niranjani Ahathian is a costume designer and actress who is married to director Desingh Periyasamy.


title: New York City Police Department Emergency Service Unit

text: The Emergency Service Unit (ESU) is part of the Special Operations Bureau of the New York City Police Department. The unit provides specialized support and advanced equipment to other NYPD units. Members of ESU are cross-trained in multiple disciplines for police, first aid, and rescue work.


text: ESU is always on patrol (all three tours, 365 days a year) with 10 Heavy Rescue trucks, each ordinarily manned by a police officer and a sergeant, and often more than twice as many smaller Radio Emergency Patrol vehicles containing two ESU police officers. There are also two or more citywide patrol sergeants or lieutenants in unmarked vehicles on duty at all times to supervise ESU operations where needed. These are called "U-Cars" on the NYPD radio, for example, "U-5".


text: On July 7th, 1925, former Police Commissioner Richard E. Enright established the Emergency Automobile Squad, which was the forerunner to today's ESU. The unit was created in order to address problems with growing urbanization in NYC that were beyond the capabilities of regular patrolmen. The first two units, Squad 1 (Manhattan / Bronx) and Squad 2 (Brooklyn / Queens) were staffed by six sergeants and forty-four officers. In September 1926, Police Commissioner George McLaughlin formed Squad 3, which was dedicated to the Bronx. It was also at that time that the name was changed from Emergency Automobile Squad to the Emergency Service Squad. In May 1928, Police Commissioner Joseph A. Warren doubled the number of existing units. By 1929, the Emergency Service Squad consisted of eleven trucks and was staffed by over two-hundred and fifty sergeants and patrolmen, and an additional nine trucks and over two hundred more personnel were scheduled to be added in January 1930.


text: From its inception, ESS had been under the control of precinct commanders, who lacked the training and expertise necessary for the efficient use of the unit's manpower and equipment. On April 10th, 1930, Police Commissioner Grover A. Whalen issued General Order #20 which created the Emergency Service Division and also placed it under the command of Inspector Daniel E. Kerr.


text: The Emergency Service Unit, Emerency Medical Squad has a primary mission to provide non-emergent medical services to active officers and their families along with retirees. The unit will also sit on standby with other units within the department and at high profile department events, in case of injury, to eliminate having to wait for a responding ambulance from the 911 system. Officers assigned to the medical squad possess a minimum of a New York State EMT-Basic certification and should have prior experience working on an ambulance . Before being assigned to the medical squad, officers must pass a series of interviews along with a physical agility test demonstrating their ability to carry patients and equipment. The unit maintains 2 ambulances fully stocked to the New York State Department of Health standard. Their base is located in Queens.


text: The personnel selected for ESU become highly trained members of the NYPD who perform rescue, SWAT and other high risk tactical, counter-narcotic and counter-terror operations.


text: There are minimum time-in-grade requirements before an NYPD officer can apply to transfer to ESU. Police Officers must have a minimum of 5 years in the department with a minimum annual rating of 3.5. Supervisors in the rank of sergeants and lieutenants must have 2 years in rank before being assigned to ESU. In addition, all ESU candidates must be approved by a group of current ESU members to ensure that they will integrate into the unit successfully.


text: Applicants have to complete the Specialized Training School over eight months receiving training in multiple disciplines including tactical, search and rescue, hazardous materials containment and become certified in SCUBA diving and as an Emergency Medical Technician. Tactical training includes room clearing, team movements, close quarter battle, a week of active shooter training and three weeks of specialized and heavy weapons training. ESU officers are equipped with the Colt M4 Commando rifle.


text: ESU lost more members (14 out of 23 NYPD officers) than any other NYPD unit during the World Trade Center attacks on September 11, 2001.


title: Victoria (mythology)

text: Victoria in ancient Roman religion was the personified goddess of victory. She is the Roman equivalent of the Greek goddess Nike, and was associated with the goddesses Bellona and Roma. She was adapted from the Sabine agricultural goddess Vacuna and had a temple on the Palatine Hill. The goddess Vica Pota was also sometimes identified with Victoria. Victoria is often described as a daughter of Pallas and Styx, and as a sister of Zelus, Kratos, and Bia.


title: Victoria (mythology)

text: Unlike the Greek Nike, the goddess Victoria (Latin for "victory") was a major part of Roman society. Multiple temples were erected in her honor. When her statue was removed of Curia Julia in 382 CE by Emperor Gratianus there was much anger in Rome. She was normally worshiped by triumphant generals returning from war.


title: Victoria (mythology)

text: Also unlike the Greek Nike, who was known for success in athletic games such as chariot races, Victoria was a symbol of victory over death and determined who would be successful during war.


title: Victoria (mythology)

text: Victoria appears widely on Roman coins, jewelry, architecture, and other arts. She is often seen with or in a chariot, as in the late 18th-century sculpture representing Victory in a quadriga on the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany; "Il Vittoriano" in Rome has two. Nike or Victoria was the charioteer for Zeus in his battle to overtake Mount Olympus.


title: Victoria (mythology)

text: Victoria was depicted on both coins and gems alighting a globe. This image is thought to be based on a statue of the goddess erected in the Curia Julia by Octavian in the year 29 BC.


title: Victoria (mythology)

text: As Victoria was used to symbolise victory, she was often depicted holding or bearing objects associated with victory, such as the laurel wreath and/or palm branch.


title: Victoria (mythology)

text: Winged figures, very often in pairs, representing victory and referred to as winged victories, were common in Roman official iconography, typically hovering high in a composition, and often filling spaces in spandrels or other gaps in architecture. These represent the spirit of victory rather than the goddess herself. Pairs of winged victories continued to appear after Christianization of the Empire and gradually evolved into depictions of Christian angels. A pair, facing inwards, fitted very conveniently into the spandrels of arches, and have been very common in Triumphal arches and similar designs where a circular element is framed by a rectangle.


title: Bird's Opening

text: Bird's is a standard flank opening. White's strategic ideas involve control of the e5-square, offering good attacking chances at the expense of slightly weakening their own . Black may challenge White's plan to control e5 immediately by playing From's Gambit (1...e5); however, the From Gambit is notoriously double-edged and should only be played after significant study.


title: Bird's Opening

text: The "Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings" assigns two codes for Bird's Opening: A02 (1.f4) and A03 (1.f4 d5).


title: Bird's Opening

text: The opening was mentioned by Luis Ramírez de Lucena in his book "Repetición de Amores y Arte de Ajedrez con Cien Juegos de Partido", published c. 1497. In the mid-nineteenth century the opening was sometimes played by La Bourdonnais and Elijah Williams, among others. The British master Henry Edward Bird first played it in 1855 and continued to do so for the next 40 years. In 1885, the "Hereford Times" named it after him. In the first half of the 20th century Aron Nimzowitsch and Savielly Tartakower sometimes played 1.f4. In more recent decades, grandmasters who have used the Bird's with any regularity include Bent Larsen, Andrew Soltis, Lars Karlsson, Mikhail Gurevich, and Henrik Danielsen.


title: Bird's Opening

text: Black's most common response is 1...d5, when the game can take on the character of a Dutch Defence (1.d4 f5) with colours reversed. White will then often either fianchetto their with Nf3, g3, Bg2, and 0–0 with a reversed Leningrad Dutch; adopt a Stonewall formation with pawns on d4, e3, and f4 and attempt a attack; or fianchetto their to increase their hold on the e5-square. Another strategy, by analogy with the Ilyin–Zhenevsky variation of the Dutch Defence, involves White playing Nf3, e3, Be2, 0-0, d3 and attempting to achieve the break e3–e4 by various means, e.g. Ne5, Bf3, Qe2 and finally e3–e4, or simply Nc3 followed by e4. Timothy Taylor's book on Bird's Opening suggests as a main line: 1.f4 d5 2.Nf3 g6 3.e3 Bg7 4.Be2 Nf6 5.0-0 0-0 6.d3 c5.


title: Bird's Opening

text: White can also play 2.c4, the Mujannah-Sturm gambit. This is a decent opening and seems to borrow ideas from the Réti Opening (1.Nf3 d5 2.c4) and the Queen's Gambit Accepted. Eventually, this move order is followed by Nf3. The best move in this position is 2...d4, where the game continues in the style of the Réti Opening, with 3.Nf3 being a possible next move. 2.c4 is not a true gambit, since if Black tries to hold on to their pawn, they will be punished (2.c4 dxc4 3.e3 b5 [Black should pursue development instead] 4.a4 c6? 5.axb5 cxb5 6.Qf3, where Black must part with a , akin to the Queen's Gambit Accepted trap).


title: Bird's Opening

text: Black's reply is 1...e5, From's Gambit, named for the Danish chess player Martin Severin From (1828–1895). White then has the option to transpose into the King's Gambit with 2.e4. This is an important option which may cause Black to consider playing a different line if they wish to avoid the King's Gambit. It has been observed that one of the possible disadvantages of From's Gambit is that it is very easy for White to avoid.


title: Bird's Opening

text: If White accepts the gambit with 2.fxe5, Black must choose between the main line 2...d6 and the rather obscure 2...Nc6. After 2...Nc6, International Master (IM) Timothy Taylor, in his 2005 book on the Bird's, recommends 3.Nc3 Nxe5 4.d4 intending 5.e4, rather than 3.Nf3 g5! when Black stands well. After the normal 2...d6 3.exd6 Bxd6, White must play 4.Nf3, avoiding 4.Nc3 Qh4+ 5.g3 Qxg3+ 6.hxg3 Bxg3 checkmate. Then Black again has two alternatives: 4...g5 to drive away White's knight, and 4...Nf6, threatening 5...Ng4 and 6...Nxh2! Future world champion Emanuel Lasker introduced 4...g5 in the game Bird–Lasker, Newcastle upon Tyne, 1892, so it is known as "Lasker's Variation". Taylor considers 4...g5 dubious; a quiet response that he considers favourable for White is 5.d4 g4 6.Ne5! (6.Ng5 leads to a dubious piece sacrifice) Bxe5 7.dxe5 Qxd1+ 8.Kxd1 Nc6 9.Nc3! Be6 (9...Nxe5?! 10.Bf4 f6 11.Nd5 Kd8 12.Nxf6!) 10.Bf4 0-0-0+ 11.Ke1 Nge7 12.e3 Ng6 13.Bg5 Rdf8 14.Bf6 Rhg8 15.Be2 Ngxe5 16.Rf1 "with the typical edge for White that is characteristic of this variation", according to Taylor. He also considers the sharper 5.g3 g4 6.Nh4 favourable for White, giving as the main line 6...Ne7 7.d4 Ng6 8.Nxg6 hxg6 9.Qd3 Nc6 (9...Rh5 10.Bg2; 9...Na6 10.c3) 10.c3 (10.Nc3? Nxd4! 11.Qxd4?? Bxg3+ wins White's queen) Bf5 (10...Qe7 11.Bg2! Bd7 12.Nd2 0-0-0 13.Ne4! favoured White in Taylor–Becerra Rivero, Minneapolis 2005) 11.e4 Qe7 12.Bg2 0-0-0 13.Be3. According to Taylor, White has a large advantage in all lines, although play remains extremely sharp, e.g. 13...Rde8 14.Nd2; 13...Rxh2 14.Rxh2 Bxg3+ 15.Kd1 Bxh2 16.exf5! Re8 17.fxg6! Qxe3 18.Qxe3 Rxe3 19.gxf7; or 13...Bd7 (threatening 14...Rxh2!) 14.Bf2!


title: Bird's Opening

text: Out of the twenty possible opening moves, 1.f4 ranks sixth in popularity in Chessgames.com's database, behind 1.e4, 1.d4, 1.Nf3, 1.c4, and 1.g3. It is less than one-twentieth as popular as the mirror image English Opening (1.c4). The move 1.f4 slightly weakens White's king's position. Chessgames.com's statistics indicate that the opening is not an effective way of preserving White's first-move advantage: as of February 2013, out of 3,872 games with 1.f4, White had won 30.7%, drawn 32%, and lost 37.7%, for a total score of 46.7%. White scores much better with the more popular 1.e4 (54.25%), 1.d4 (55.95%), 1.Nf3 (55.8%), 1.c4 (56.3%), and 1.g3 (55.8%).


title: Bird's Opening

text: According to the similar site 365chess.com, which includes data for lower-level games, as of August 2015, out of 20,010 games with 1.f4, White had won 35.1%, drawn 25%, and lost 39.9%, for a total score of 47.6%. The five more popular openings are still substantially more successful for White: 1.e4 (53.15%), 1.d4 (54.8%), 1.Nf3 (55.4%), 1.c4 (54.65%), and 1.g3 (54.9%).


title: Epirus (region)

text: Epirus (; , ) is a traditional geographic and modern administrative region in northwestern Greece. It borders the regions of Western Macedonia and Thessaly to the east, West Greece to the south, the Ionian Sea and Ionian Islands to the west and Albania to the north. The region has an area of about . It is part of the wider historical region of Epirus, which overlaps modern Albania and Greece but lies mostly within Greek territory.


title: Epirus (region)

text: Greek Epirus, like the region as a whole, is rugged and mountainous. It comprises the land of the ancient Molossians and Thesprotians and a small part of the land of the Chaonians, the greater part being in Southern Albania. It is largely made up of mountainous ridges, part of the Dinaric Alps. The region's highest spot is on Mount Smolikas, at an altitude of above sea level. In the east, the Pindus Mountains that form the spine of mainland Greece separate Epirus from Macedonia and Thessaly. Most of Epirus lies on the windward side of the Pindus. The winds from the Ionian Sea offer the region more rainfall than any other part of Greece.


title: Epirus (region)

text: The Vikos-Aoos and Pindus National Parks are situated in the Ioannina Prefecture of the region. Both areas have a wide range of fauna and flora. The climate of Epirus is mainly alpine. The vegetation is made up mainly of coniferous species. The animal life is especially rich in this area and includes, among other species, bears, wolves, foxes, deer and lynxes.


title: Epirus (region)

text: The "Epirus Region" (, ), as it is currently defined, was established in the 1987 administrative reform and was divided into prefectures (, ), which were further subdivided into municipalities (, ).


title: Epirus (region)

text: Greece's local government reforms of 2011 streamlined local government by replacing the prefectures with regional units (, ) and re-structuring former municipalities and communities to reduce their total number. Today, the four regional units of Epirus are: Thesprotia, Ioannina, Arta, and Preveza.


title: Epirus (region)

text: The region's governor, since 1 January 2011, is Alexandros Kachrimanis, who was elected in the November 2010 local administration elections for the New Democracy and Popular Orthodox Rally parties, and re-elected in May 2014 and May 2019.


title: Epirus (region)

text: Epirus has few resources and its rugged terrain makes agriculture difficult. Sheep and goat pastoralism have always been an important activity in the region (Epirus provides more than 45% of meat to the Greek market) but there seems to be a decline in recent years. Tobacco is grown around Ioannina, and there is also some farming and fishing, but most of the area's food must be imported from more fertile regions of Greece. Epirus is home to a number of the country's most famous dairy products' brands, which produce feta cheese among others. Another important area of the local economy is tourism, especially eco-tourism. The natural environment of the area, as well as its traditional villages and lifestyle, have made Epirus a tourist attraction.


title: Epirus (region)

text: The gross domestic product (GDP) of the region was €4.1 billion in 2018, accounting for 2.2% of Greek economic output. GDP per capita adjusted for purchasing power was €14,700 or 49% of the EU27 average in the same year. The GDP per employee was 63% of the EU average. Epirus is the region in Greece with the third lowest GDP per capita and one of the poorest regions in the EU.


title: Epirus (region)

text: Around 320,000 people live in Epirus. According to the 2001 census, it has the lowest population of the 13 regions of Greece. This is partly due to the impact of repeated wars in the 20th century as well as mass emigration due to adverse economic conditions. The capital and largest city of the region is Ioannina, where nearly a third of the population lives. The great majority of the population are Greeks, including Aromanians and Arvanites. The region has shrunk by 17,313 people between 2011 and 2021, experiencing a population loss of 5.1%.


title: Epirus (region)

text: The delineation of the border between Greece and Albania in 1913 left some Albanian-populated villages on the Greek side of the border as well as Greek-populated villages and cities in Northern Epirus, in present-day Albania. In the past, the coastal region of Thesprotia was also home to a Cham Albanian minority, whose number did not exceed 25,000 in 1940s, alongside the local Greeks. After the war and their expulsion, the Greek census of 1951 counted a total of 127 Muslim Albanian Chams in Epirus, while in 1986 forty-four were counted in Thesprotia.


title: And So It Goes (film)

text: And So It Goes is a 2014 American romantic comedy drama film directed by Rob Reiner and written by Mark Andrus. The film, which stars Michael Douglas, Diane Keaton and Sterling Jerins, was released on July 25, 2014. It received mostly negative reviews from critics, and performed modestly at the box office. The film was the second collaboration between Reiner and Douglas, after "The American President" (1995).


title: And So It Goes (film)

text: Oren Little (Douglas), a realtor by trade, develops self-absorption, turning his back on his neighbors and shunning the notion of kindness to others. After his wife dies, part of his self-absorption is having no patience for children, not even his own now-adult estranged son. His next-door neighbor, Leah (Keaton), whose own husband has likewise died, never had any children of her own, which leads her to throw her soul and her tears into reviving a singing career that had stagnated.


title: And So It Goes (film)

text: One day, Oren's estranged son Luke suddenly leaves his father in charge of his own ten-year-old daughter Sarah (Sterling Jerins), a granddaughter whom Oren never knew existed. When Luke drops Sarah off at his home, needing his father to take care of her, neither Oren nor Leah, each of whom are lonely souls, have any reason to suspect that Sarah's involvement with their lives will enable them to heal their emotional wounds.


title: And So It Goes (film)

text: Filming began in June 2013 in Connecticut. Shooting also took place in California and Greater Manchester.


title: And So It Goes (film)

text: Released on July 25, 2014, the film earned $4,642,329 in its opening weekend. Over its 10-week run, "And So It Goes" earned a domestic gross of $15,160,801 and foreign gross of $10,151,586, for a total box-office of $25,312,387, against a production budget of $18,000,000, not including marketing costs.


title: And So It Goes (film)

text: "And So It Goes" received negative reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes it has an approval rating of 18% based on 90 reviews with the consensus: ""And So It Goes" aims for comedy, but with two talented actors stuck in a half-hearted effort from a once-mighty filmmaker, it ends in unintentional tragedy". On Metacritic it has a weighted average score of 38 out 100 based on 31 reviews, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade B+ on scale of A to F.


title: And So It Goes (film)

text: Film critic Leonard Maltin gave the film a positive review, saying the film "offers juicy leading roles to stars Michael Douglas and Diane Keaton." Christy Lemire of Roger Ebert.com also commended the caliber of Douglas' and Keaton's performances, but gave the film 1.5 stars for its storyline, saying: "Nothing here is a spoiler. The outcome is evident from the poster alone". A "Washington Post" review credits "the film's most alive moments" to Keaton, who channels her "Annie Hall" character in both her wardrobe and her singing jazz ballads in a local pub. While "The Guardian" review is happy to see "retirement-age characters" being featured in a film, it criticizes the "banal" plot, saying: "the story structure is so fake and so plodding". Film critic Richard Corliss also gave the film a negative review, saying: ""And So It Goes" may touch the frayed heartstrings of some older viewers, but it's pretty bad — the failed attempt to Heimlich a venerable movie genre."


title: State Political Directorate

text: The State Political Directorate (also translated as the State Political Administration) (GPU) was the intelligence service and secret police of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR) from February 6, 1922, to December 29, 1922, and the Soviet Union from December 29, 1922, until November 15, 1923.


title: State Political Directorate

text: Formed from the Cheka, the original Russian state security organization, on February 6, 1922, it was initially known under the Russian abbreviation GPU—short for "State Political Directorate under the NKVD of the RSFSR" (Russian: Государственное политическое управление при НКВД РСФСР, "Gosudarstvennoye politicheskoye upravlenie" under the NKVD of the RSFSR"). Its first chief was the Cheka's former chairman, Felix Dzerzhinsky.


title: State Political Directorate

text: On paper, the new agency was supposed to act with more restraint than the Cheka. For example, unlike the Cheka, it did not have the right to shoot suspected "counter-revolutionaries" at will. All those suspected of political crimes had to be brought before a judge in normal circumstances.


title: State Political Directorate

text: The 'Foreign Department' of the GPU was headed by a former Bolshevik and party member, Mikhail Trilisser. The Foreign Department was placed in charge of intelligence activities overseas, including espionage and liquidation of 'enemies of the people'. Trilisser himself was later liquidated by Joseph Stalin during the Great Purge in 1940.


title: State Political Directorate

text: With the creation of the USSR in December 1922, a unified organization was required to exercise control over state security throughout the new union. Thus, on November 15, 1923, the GPU left the Russian NKVD and was transferred into the all-union Joint State Political Directorate, also translated as "All-Union State Political Administration". Its official name was "Joint State Political Directorate under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR" (Russian: "Obyedinyonnoye gosudarstvennoye politicheskoye upravleniye" under the SNK of the USSR, Объединённое государственное политическое управление при СНК СССР), or OGPU (ОГПУ).


title: National Defense University

text: The National Defense University (NDU) is an institution of higher education funded by the United States Department of Defense, intended to facilitate high-level education, training, and professional development of national security leaders. As a chairman's Controlled Activity, NDU operates under the guidance of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS), with Lieutenant General Michael T. Plehn, USAF, as president. It is located on the grounds of Fort Lesley J. McNair in Washington, D.C.


title: National Defense University

text: The university is located at Fort Leslie McNair, almost in the heart of Washington, near the White House and the US Congress. Read More


title: National Defense University

text: The NDU Press supports education, research, and outreach as the university's cross-component, professional military, and academic publishing house. Publications include the journals "Joint Force Quarterly" (JFQ) and "PRISM", books such as Strategic Assessment 2020, case studies, policy briefs, and strategic monographs.


title: My Days of Mercy

text: My Days of Mercy is a 2017 romantic drama film directed by Tali Shalom Ezer and written by Joe Barton. It stars Kate Mara, Elliot Page, Amy Seimetz, Brian Geraghty, and Elias Koteas.


title: My Days of Mercy

text: It screened at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival on September 8, 2017, as a Gala Presentation. It was released in the United Kingdom on May 17, 2019, by Signature Entertainment, and was released in the United States on July 5, 2019, by Lionsgate.


title: My Days of Mercy

text: Lucy Moro and her older sister Martha are anti-death penalty protestors, fighting for the acquittal of their father Simon, who is on death row for the murder of their mother eight years ago. The sisters live in their parents' house in a small Ohio town, and travel to various states in a mobile home, together with their little 10-year-old brother Ben. At one demonstration outside a prison in Illinois, Lucy meets Mercy Bromage, a lawyer whose father is a police officer with ties to the death penalty case the crowd is protesting. Despite the political tensions between the two, Lucy and Mercy grow closer to each other. They begin to keep in contact over the phone and over Skype. During a solo excursion to a demonstration in Missouri, Lucy and Mercy start a romance.


title: My Days of Mercy

text: Meanwhile, Martha is determined to free their father (who she still believes is innocent) and manages to hire a lawyer, who is then able to get a four-month stay of execution to look for legal loopholes or any new evidence to re-open the case. When the last of Martha and Lucy's legal appeals is denied and the evidence continues to point towards Simon, a distraught Lucy travels alone to Illinois to visit Mercy. There, she learns that Mercy still lives with her parents and she also has a boyfriend. Feeling used and betrayed, Lucy breaks up with Mercy. Regardless, Mercy attends Simon's execution with the sisters.


title: My Days of Mercy

text: Six months later, Lucy is working as a waitress in California when Mercy shows up outside the window. The two women talk in the alley and Mercy attempts to rekindle their relationship, but Lucy rejects her, saying "I just don't think you can come back into someone's life like this". However, the two set up a date for later.


title: My Days of Mercy

text: In August 2016, Elliot Page, Kate Mara, Pablo Schreiber, Elias Koteas and Amy Seimetz were cast in the film, with Tali Shalom Ezer directing from a screenplay by Joe Barton. Christine Vachon and David Hinojosa served as producers under their Killer Films banner, alongside Mara and Page, while Robert Halmi Jr. and Jim Reeve will serve as executive producers through their Great Point Media banner along with executive producer Karri O'Reilly. In September 2016, Brian Geraghty joined the cast of the film, replacing Schreiber.


title: My Days of Mercy

text: The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 9, 2017. It was released in the United Kingdom on May 17, 2019, by Signature Entertainment, and was released in the United States on July 5, 2019, by Lionsgate.


title: My Days of Mercy

text: On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 89% based on 19 reviews, and an average rating of 7/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Though "My Days of Mercy" knotty romance drifts into melodrama, it's grounded by Ellen Page and Kate Mara's exceptional chemistry."


title: My Days of Mercy

text: The film was selected to compete for the Premio Maguey's Best Film award at the 33rd Guadalajara International Film Festival, where Page was awarded in the Best Performance category.


title: Song Ha-yoon

text: Song Ha-yoon (born Kim Mi-sun on December 2, 1986) is a South Korean actress. She debuted as Kim Byul () but changed her stage name to Song Ha-yoon in 2012. She is best known for her role in the drama "Fight for My Way" (2017).


title: Constrictor knot

text: The constrictor knot is one of the most effective binding knots. Simple and secure, it is a harsh knot that can be difficult or impossible to untie once tightened. It is made similarly to a clove hitch but with one end passed under the other, forming an overhand knot under a riding turn. The double constrictor knot is an even more robust variation that features two riding turns.


title: Constrictor knot

text: First called "constrictor knot" in Clifford Ashley's 1944 work "The Ashley Book of Knots", this knot likely dates back much further. Although Ashley seemed to imply that he had invented the constrictor knot over 25 years before publishing "The Ashley Book of Knots", research indicates that he was not its only originator, but his Book of Knots does seem to be the source of subsequent knowledge and awareness of the knot.


title: Constrictor knot

text: Although the description is not entirely without ambiguity, the constrictor knot is thought to have appeared under the name "gunner's knot" in the 1866 work "The Book of Knots", written under the pseudonym Tom Bowling. The knot is described in relation to the clove hitch, which he illustrated and called the "builder's knot". He wrote, "The Gunner's knot (of which we do not give a diagram) only differs from the builder's knot, by the ends of the cords being simply knotted before being brought from under the loop which crosses them." But Bowling is simply an extraction and translation of the knotting work contained in the huge French "", first published in 1841, which says "" When J. T. Burgess copied from Bowling, he changed this text to merely state "when the ends are knotted, the builder's knot becomes the gunner's Knot." Although a clove hitch with knotted ends "is" a workable binding knot, Burgess was not actually describing the constrictor knot. In 1917, A. Hyatt Verrill illustrated Burgess's clove hitch variation in "Knots, Splices and Rope Work".