Tarantulas comprise a group of large and often hairy spiders of the family Theraphosidae. , 1,040 species have been identified, with 156 genera. The term "tarantula" is usually used to describe members of the family Theraphosidae, although many other members of the same infraorder (Mygalomorphae) are commonly referred to as "tarantulas" or "false tarantulas".  Some of the more common species have become popular in the exotic pet trade. Many New World species kept as pets have setae known as urticating hairs that can cause irritation to the skin, and in extreme cases, cause damage to the eyes.

Overview
Like all arthropods, the tarantula is an invertebrate that relies on an exoskeleton for muscular support. Like other Arachnida, a tarantula's body comprises two main parts, the prosoma (or cephalothorax) and the opisthosoma (or abdomen). The prosoma and opisthosoma are connected by the pedicel, or pregenital somite. This waist-like connecting piece is actually part of the prosoma and gives the opisthosoma a wide range of motion relative to the prosoma.

Depending on the species, the body length of tarantulas ranges from about  with leg spans of . Leg span is determined by measuring from the tip of the back leg to the tip of the front leg on the opposite side. Some of the largest species of tarantula may weigh over ; the largest of all, the goliath birdeater (Theraphosa blondi) from Venezuela and Brazil, has been reported to attain a weight of  and a leg-span up to , males being longer and females greater in girth. The fang size of this tarantula reaches a maximum of .

Theraphosa apophysis (the pinkfoot goliath) was described 187 years after the goliath birdeater, so its characteristics are not as well attested. T. blondi is generally thought to be the heaviest tarantula, and T. apophysis has the greatest leg span. Two other species, Lasiodora parahybana (the Brazilian salmon birdeater) and Lasiodora klugi, rival the size of the two goliath spiders.

Most species of North American tarantulas are brown. Elsewhere, species have been found that variously display cobalt blue (Cyriopagopus lividus), black with white stripes (Aphonopelma seemanni), yellow leg markings (Eupalaestrus campestratus), metallic blue legs with vibrant orange abdomen and green prosoma (Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens). Their natural habitats include savanna, grassland such as in the pampas, rainforest, desert, scrubland, mountains, and cloud forest. They are generally classed among the terrestrial types. They are burrowers that live in the ground.

Tarantulas are becoming increasingly popular as pets and some species are readily available in captivity.

Identification
Tarantulas can be confused with other members of the order Mygalomorphae, such as trapdoor spiders, funnel-web spiders and purseweb spiders. They can also be confused with some members of the order Araneomorphae such as the Lycosidae family. There are multiple ways to identify a tarantula. First the hairs: in the Americas most tarantulas have urticating hairs, though some, such as the Hemirrhagus genus, lack these. The hairs are usually more noticeable than with most other spiders. Another is the size, as tarantulas tend to be bigger, but this is again not a failproof way. They also do not use their webs for hunting, instead using them as building material or tripwire.

One of the most decisive ways to tell is by looking at their fangs. Tarantula fangs face downwards, as opposed to those of true spiders, which face each other, allowing them to make pincerlike motions. They also own two book lungs, as opposed to true spiders which only have one. Their lifespan is also longer than most spiders.

Etymology
The spider originally bearing the name tarantula was Lycosa tarantula, a species of wolf spider native to Mediterranean Europe. The name is derived from the southern Italian town of Taranto. The term tarantula was subsequently applied to almost any large, unfamiliar species of ground-dwelling spider, in particular to the Mygalomorphae and especially the New World Theraphosidae. Compared to tarantulas, wolf spiders are not particularly large or hairy, and so among English speakers in particular, usage eventually shifted in favour of the Theraphosidae, even though they are not closely related to wolf spiders at all, being in a different infraorder.
The name tarantula is also incorrectly applied to other large-bodied spiders, including the purseweb spiders or atypical tarantulas, the funnel-webs (Dipluridae and Hexathelidae), and the dwarf tarantulas. These spiders are related to tarantulas (all being mygalomorphs) but fall into different families from them. Huntsman spiders of the family Sparassidae have also been termed tarantulas because of their large size, when, in fact, they are not related. Instead, huntsman spiders belong to the infraorder Araneomorphae.

The element pelma in genus names

Many theraphosid genera have names, either accepted or synonymous, containing the element pelma. This can be traced back to Carl Ludwig Koch in 1850, who in describing his new genus Eurypelma wrote, "" (). German arachnologists use the word  to refer to the tarsus (the last article of a spider's leg). Translations of  into Latin use the word . Hence in English arachnological terminology, Koch meant 'the scopula of the base of the tarsus very wide'. Eury- is derived from the Greek  (), meaning 'wide', while  () means 'the sole of the foot', paralleling Koch's use of  (in modern spelling). Thus Eurypelma literally means 'wide footsole'; however, arachnologists have conventionally taken pelma in such names to refer to the scopula, so producing the meaning 'with a wide scopula'.

Other genus names or synonyms that Estrada-Alvarez and Cameron regard as having 'footsole' or 'scopula' meanings include:
Acanthopelma – Greek  () 'thorn, spine'; overall meaning 'spiny footsole'
Brachypelma – Greek  () 'short'; overall meaning 'short scopula'
Metriopelma – Greek  () 'of moderate size'; overall meaning 'medium length scopula'
Schizopelma – from the Greek origin combining form schizo- () 'split'; overall meaning 'split footsole'
Sericopelma – Greek  () 'silky'; overall meaning 'silken scopula'

Later, particularly following genus names published by R.I. Pocock in 1901, the element pelma appears to have become synonymous with 'theraphosid'. For example, the author of Cardiopelma writes, "" ('Cardiopelma refers to the female genitalia that evoke the shape of a heart'), with no reference to either 'footsole' or 'scopula'. Names interpreted in this way include:
Aphonopelma – Greek  () 'soundless'; overall meaning 'theraphosid without sound'
Cardiopelma –  Greek  () 'heart'; overall meaning 'heart theraphosid' (referring to the heart-shaped female genitalia)
Clavopelma – Latin  'club'; overall meaning 'theraphosid with club-shaped hairs'
Delopelma – Greek  () 'clear, obvious, visible, conspicuous, plain'; overall meaning 'theraphosid without plumose hair'
Gosipelma – the element gosi- means 'desert', relating to the Gosiute people; overall meaning 'desert theraphosid'
Spelopelma –  Greek  () 'cave'; overall meaning 'cave theraphosid'

Distribution
Tarantulas of various species occur throughout the United States, Mexico, in Central America, and throughout South America. Other species occur variously throughout Africa, much of Asia (including the Ryukyu Islands in southern Japan), and all of Australia. In Europe, some species occur in Spain, Portugal, Turkey, southern Italy, and Cyprus.

Habits
Some genera of tarantulas hunt prey primarily in trees; others hunt on or near the ground. All tarantulas can produce silk; while arboreal species typically reside in a silken "tube tent", terrestrial species line their burrows with silk to stabilize the burrow wall and facilitate climbing up and down. Tarantulas mainly eat large insects and other arthropods such as centipedes, millipedes, and other spiders, using ambush as their primary method of prey capture. Armed with their massive, powerful chelicerae tipped with long, chitinous fangs, tarantulas are well-adapted to killing other large arthropods. The biggest tarantulas sometimes kill and consume small vertebrates such as lizards, mice, bats, birds, and small snakes.

Appendages

The eight legs, the two chelicerae with their fangs, and the pedipalps are attached to the prosoma. The chelicerae are two double-segmented appendages located just below the eyes and directly forward of the mouth. The chelicerae contain the venom glands that vent through the fangs. The fangs are hollow extensions of the chelicerae that inject venom into prey or animals that the tarantula bites in defense, and they are also used to masticate. These fangs are articulated so that they can extend downward and outward in preparation to bite or can fold back toward the chelicerae as a pocket knife blade folds back into its handle. The chelicerae of a tarantula completely contain the venom glands and the muscles that surround them, and can cause the venom to be forcefully injected into prey.

The pedipalpi are two six-segmented appendages connected to the prosoma near the mouth and protruding on either side of both chelicerae. In most species of tarantulas, the pedipalpi contain sharp, jagged plates used to cut and crush food often called the coxae or maxillae. As with other spiders, the terminal portions of the pedipalpi of males function as part of their reproductive system. Male spiders spin a silken platform (sperm web) on the ground onto which they release semen from glands in their opisthosoma. Then they insert their pedipalps into the semen, absorb the semen into the pedipalps, and later insert the pedipalps (one at a time) into the reproductive organ of the female, which is located in her abdomen. The terminal segments of the pedipalps of male tarantulas are moderately larger in circumference than those of a female tarantula. Male tarantulas have special spinnerets surrounding the genital opening. Silk for the sperm web of the tarantula is exuded from these special spinnerets.

A tarantula has four pairs of legs and two additional pairs of appendages. Each leg has seven segments, which from the prosoma out are: coxa, trochanter, femur, patella, tibia, tarsus and pretarsus, and claw. Two or three retractable claws at the end of each leg are used to grip surfaces for climbing. Also on the end of each leg, surrounding the claws, is a group of bristles, called the scopula, which help the tarantula to grip better when climbing surfaces such as glass. The fifth pair is the pedipalps, which aid in feeling, gripping prey, and mating in the case of a mature male. The sixth pair of appendages is the chelicerae and their attached fangs. When walking, a tarantula's first and third legs on one side move at the same time as the second and fourth legs on the other side of its body. The muscles in a tarantula's legs cause the legs to bend at the joints, but to extend a leg, the tarantula increases the pressure of haemolymph entering the leg.

Tarantulas, like almost all other spiders, have their primary spinnerets at the end of the opisthosoma. Unlike most spider species in the infraorder Araneomorphae, which includes the majority of extant spider species, and most of which have six, tarantula species have two or four spinnerets. Spinnerets are flexible, tube-like structures from which the spider exudes its silk. The tip of each spinneret is called the spinning field. Each spinning field is covered by as many as 100 spinning tubes through which silk is exuded. As the silk is pulled out of the spinnerets, the shear forces cause proteins in the silk to crystallize, transforming it from a liquid to a solid thread.

Digestive system

The tarantula's mouth is located under its chelicerae on the lower front part of its prosoma. The mouth is a short, straw-shaped opening that can only suck, meaning that anything taken into it must be in liquid form. Prey with large amounts of solid parts, such as mice, must be crushed and ground up or predigested, which is accomplished by coating the prey with digestive juices secreted from openings in the chelicerae.

The tarantula's digestive organ (stomach) is a tube that runs the length of its body. In the prosoma, this tube is wider and forms the sucking stomach. When the sucking stomach's powerful muscles contract, the stomach is increased in cross-section, creating a strong sucking action that permits the tarantula to suck its liquefied prey up through the mouth and into the intestines. Once the liquefied food enters the intestines, it is broken down into particles small enough to pass through the intestine walls into the hemolymph (blood stream), where it is distributed throughout the body. After feeding, the leftovers are formed into a small ball by the tarantula and thrown away. In a terrarium, they often put them into the same corner.

Nervous system
A tarantula's central nervous system (brain) is located in the bottom of the inner prosoma. A tarantula perceives its surroundings primarily via sensory organs called setae (bristles or spines, sometimes referred to as hairs). Although a tarantula has eight eyes like most spiders, touch is its keenest sense, and in hunting, it primarily depends on vibrations given off by the movements of its prey. A tarantula's setae are very sensitive organs and are used to sense chemical signatures, vibrations, wind direction, and possibly even sound. Tarantulas are also very responsive to the presence of certain chemicals such as pheromones.

The eyes are located above the chelicerae on the forward part of the prosoma. They are small and usually set in two rows of four. Most tarantulas are not able to see much more than light, darkness, and motion. Arboreal tarantulas generally have better vision compared with terrestrial tarantulas.

Respiratory system
All types of tarantulas have two sets of book lungs (breathing organs); the first pair is located in a cavity inside the lower front part of the abdomen near where the abdomen connects to the cephalothorax, and the second pair is slightly farther back on the abdomen. Air enters the cavity through a tiny slit on each side of and near the front of the abdomen. Each lung consists of 15 or more thin sheets of folded tissue arranged like the pages of a book. These sheets of tissue are supplied by blood vessels. As air enters each lung, oxygen is taken into the blood stream through the blood vessels in the lungs. Needed moisture may also be absorbed from humid air by these organs.

Circulatory system

A tarantula's blood is unique (not only in appearance); an oxygen-transporting protein is present (the copper-based hemocyanin), but not enclosed in blood cells such as the erythrocytes of mammals. A tarantula's blood is not true blood, but rather a liquid called hemolymph (or haemolymph). At least four types of hemocytes, or hemolymph cells, are known.

The tarantula's heart is a long, slender tube  located along the top of the opisthosoma. The heart is neurogenic as opposed to myogenic, so nerve cells instead of muscle cells initiate and coordinate the heart. It pumps hemolymph to all parts of the body through open passages often referred to as sinuses, and not through a circular system of blood vessels. If the exoskeleton is breached, loss of hemolymph will kill the spider unless the wound is small enough that the hemolymph can dry and close it.

Predators
Despite their large size and fearsome appearance and reputation, tarantulas themselves are prey for many other animals. The most specialized of these predators are large members of the wasp family Pompilidae such as the wasp Hemipepsis ustulata. These wasps are called "tarantula hawks". The largest tarantula hawks, such as those in the genus Pepsis,  track, attack, and kill large tarantulas. They use olfaction to find the lair of a tarantula. The wasp must deliver a sting to the underside of the spider's cephalothorax, exploiting the thin membrane between the basal leg segments. This paralyzes the spider, and the wasp then drags it back into its burrow before depositing an egg on the prey's abdomen. The wasp then seals the spider in its burrow and flies off to search for more hosts. The wasp egg hatches into a larva and feeds on the spider's inessential parts, and as it approaches pupation, it consumes the remainder. Other arthropods, such as large scorpions and giant centipedes, are also known to prey on tarantulas.

Tarantulas are also preyed upon by a wide variety of vertebrates. Many of these, including lizards, frogs, birds, snakes and mammals, are generalist predators of all kinds of large arthropods. Mammals that have been known to prey on tarantulas, such as the coati, kinkajou, and opossum in the New World, and mongooses and the honey badger in the Old World, are often immune to the venom of their arthropod prey.

Humans also consume tarantulas for food in their native ranges. They are considered a delicacy in certain cultures (e.g. Venezuela  and Cambodia). They can be roasted over an open fire to remove the bristles (described further below) and then eaten.

Tarantulas have evolved specialized bristles, or setae, to defend themselves against predators. Besides the normal bristles covering the body, some tarantulas also have a dense covering of irritating bristles called urticating hairs, on the opisthosoma, that they sometimes use as protection against enemies. These bristles are present on most New World species, but not on any specimens from the Old World. Urticating hairs are usually kicked off the abdomen by the tarantula, but some may simply rub the abdomen against the target, like the genus Avicularia. These fine bristles are barbed and serve to irritate. They can be lethal to small animals such as rodents. Some people are sensitive to these bristles, and develop serious itching and rashes at the site. Exposure of the eyes and respiratory system to urticating hairs should be strictly avoided. Species with urticating hairs can kick these bristles off; they are flicked into the air at a target using their back pairs of legs. Tarantulas also use these bristles for other purposes, such as to mark territory or to line their shelters (the latter such practice may discourage flies from feeding on the spiderlings). Urticating hairs do not grow back, but are replaced with each molt. The intensity, number, and flotation of the bristles depends on the species of tarantula.

To predators and other enemies, these bristles can range from being lethal to simply being a deterrent. With humans, they can cause irritation to eyes, nose, and skin, and more dangerously, the lungs and airways, if inhaled. The symptoms range from species to species, from person to person, from a burning itch to a minor rash. In some cases, tarantula bristles have caused permanent damage to human eyes.

Some setae are used to stridulate, which makes a hissing sound. These bristles are usually found on the chelicerae. Stridulation seems to be more common in Old World species.

Bites and urticating bristles

All tarantulas are venomous. Although their venom is not deadly to humans, some bites cause serious discomfort that might persist for several days. In general, the effects of the bites of all kinds of tarantula are not well known. While the bites of many species are known to be no worse than a wasp sting, accounts of bites by some species are reported to be very painful and to produce intense spasms that may recur over a period of several days; the venom of the African tarantula Pelinobius muticus also causes strong hallucinations. For Poecilotheria species, researchers have described more than 20 bites with the delayed onset of severe and diffuse muscle cramps, lasting for several days, that in most cases resolved completely with the use of benzodiazepines and magnesium. In all cases, seeking medical aid is advised.  Because other proteins are included when a toxin is injected, some individuals may suffer severe symptoms due to an allergic reaction rather than to the venom. Such allergic effects can be life-threatening. Additionally, the large fangs of a tarantula can inflict painful puncture wounds, which can lead to secondary bacterial infections if not properly treated.

Before biting, a tarantula may signal its intention to attack by rearing up into a "threat posture", which may involve raising its prosoma and lifting its front legs into the air, spreading and extending its fangs, and (in certain species) making a loud hissing by stridulating. Tarantulas often hold this position for longer than the duration of the original threat. Their next step, without biting, may be to slap down on the intruder with their raised front legs. If that response fails to deter the attacker, the tarantulas of the Americas may next turn away and flick urticating hairs toward the pursuing predator. The next response may be to leave the scene entirely, but especially if no line of retreat is available, their final response may also be to whirl suddenly and bite. Some tarantulas are well known to give "dry bites", i.e., they may defensively bite some animal that intrudes on their space and threatens them, but they do not pump venom into the wound.

New-world tarantulas—those indigenous to the Americas—have bites that generally pose little threat to humans (other than causing localized pain). Most of them are equipped with urticating hairs on their abdomens, and almost always throw these barbed bristles as the first line of defense. These bristles irritate sensitive areas of the body and especially seem to target curious animals that may sniff these bristles into the mucous membranes of the nose. Some species have more effective urticating bristles than others. The goliath birdeater is known for its particularly irritating urticating bristles. They can penetrate the cornea, so eye protection should be worn when handling such tarantulas.

Old World tarantulas  have no urticating bristles and are more likely to attack when disturbed. They often have more potent, medically significant venom, and are faster and much more nervous and defensive than New World species.

Some dangerous spider species are related to tarantulas and are frequently confused with them. A popular urban legend maintains that deadly varieties of tarantula exist somewhere in South America. This claim is often made without identifying a particular spider, although the "banana tarantula" is sometimes named. A likely candidate for the true identity of this spider is the dangerous Brazilian wandering spider (Phoneutria fera) of the family Ctenidae, as it is sometimes found hiding in clusters of bananas and is one of several spiders called "banana spiders". It is not technically a tarantula, but it is fairly large (4- to 5-inch legspan), somewhat ″hairy″, and is highly venomous to humans. Another dangerous type of spiders that have been confused with tarantulas are the Australian funnel-web spiders. The best known species of these is the Sydney funnel-web spider (Atrax robustus) a spider that is aggressive, highly venomous, and (prior to the development of antivenom in the 1980s) was responsible for numerous deaths in Australia. These spiders are members of the same infraorder as tarantulas, Mygalomorphae. Some Australians use the slang term "triantelope" (a corruption of the incorrect term tarantula, which is also used) for large, ″hairy″, and harmless members of the huntsman spider family, which are often found on interior household walls and in automobiles.

Sexual dimorphism
Some tarantula species exhibit pronounced sexual dimorphism. Males tend to be smaller (especially their abdomens, which can appear quite narrow) and may be dull in color when compared to their female counterparts, as in the species Haplopelma lividum. Mature male tarantulas also may have tibial hooks on their front legs, which are used to restrain the female's fangs during copulation. Males typically have longer legs than the females.

A juvenile male's sex can be determined by looking at a cast exuvia for epiandrous fusillae or spermathecae. Females possess spermathecae, except for the species Sickius longibulbi and Encyocratella olivacea. Males have much shorter lifespans than females because they die relatively soon after maturing. Few live long enough for a postultimate molt, which is unlikely in natural habitats because they are vulnerable to predation, but  has happened in captivity, though rarely. Most males do not live through this molt, as they tend to get their emboli, mature male sexual organs on pedipalps, stuck in the molt. Most tarantula fanciers regard females as more desirable as pets due to their much longer lifespans. Wild-caught tarantulas are often mature males because they wander out in the open and are more likely to be caught.

Life cycle

Like other spiders, tarantulas have to shed their exoskeleton periodically  as they grow, a process called molting. A young tarantula may do this several times a year as a part of the maturation process, while full-grown specimens only molt once a year or less, or sooner, to replace lost limbs or lost urticating hairs. It is visibly apparent that molting is imminent when the exoskeleton takes on a darker shade. If a tarantula previously used its urticating hairs, the bald patch turns from a peach color to deep blue. The tarantula also stops feeding and becomes more lethargic during this time.

While most Tarantulas species take between two and five years to reach sexual maturity, some species can take up to 10 years. Upon reaching adulthood, males typically have an 18-month period left to live so immediately go in search of a female mate. Although females continue to molt after reaching maturity, males rarely do again once they reach adulthood. Those that do often can become stuck during the molting process due to their sexual organs and die.

Females can live for 30 to 40 years. Grammostola rosea spiders, which eat once or twice a week, have lived up to 20 years in captivity.  Some have survived on water alone for up to two years.

Reproduction

After reaching sexual maturity, a female tarantula normally mates and lays eggs once per year, although they do not always do so.

As with other spiders, the mechanics of intercourse are quite different from those of mammals. Once a male spider reaches maturity and becomes motivated to mate, he weaves a web mat on a flat surface. The spider then rubs his abdomen on the surface of this mat, and in so doing, releases a quantity of semen. He may then insert his pedipalps (short, leg-like appendages between the chelicerae and front legs) into the pool of semen. The pedipalps absorb the semen and keep it viable until a mate can be found. When a male spider detects the presence of a female, the two exchange signals to establish that they are of the same species. These signals may also lull the female into a receptive state. If the female is receptive, then the male approaches her and inserts his pedipalps into an opening in the lower surface of her abdomen, the opisthosoma. After the semen has been transferred to the receptive female's body, the male swiftly leaves the scene before the female recovers her appetite. Although females may show some aggression after mating, the male rarely becomes a meal.

Females deposit 50 to 2,000 eggs, depending on the species, in a silken egg sac and guard it for six to eight weeks. During this time, the females stay very close to the egg sacs and become more aggressive. Within most species, the females turn the egg sac often, which is called brooding. This keeps the eggs from deforming due to sitting in one position too long. The young spiderlings remain in the nest for some time after hatching, where they live off the remains of their yolk sacs before dispersing.

Taxonomy
Linnaeus placed all spiders in a single genus, Aranea. In 1802, Charles Athanase Walckenaer separated mygalomorph spiders into a separate genus, Mygale, leaving all other spiders in Aranea. However, Mygale had already been used in 1800 by Georges Cuvier for a genus of mammals (in Greek, mygale means "shrew"). Accordingly, in 1869, Tamerlan Thorell used the family name "Theraphosoidae" (modern Theraphosidae) for the mygalomorph spiders known to him, rather than "Mygalidae" (as used, for example, by John Blackwall). Thorell later split the family into a number of genera, including Theraphosa.

Subfamilies
A 2019 phylogenomic study recognized 12 subfamilies, one (Ischnocolinae) known not to be monophyletic.

Aviculariinae
Eumenophorinae
Harpactirinae
Ischnocolinae
Ornithoctoninae
Poecilotheriinae
Psalmopoeinae
Schismatothelinae
Selenocosmiinae
Stromatopelminae
Theraphosinae
Thrigmopoeinae

The relationship between the subfamilies found in the study is shown in the following cladogram. The dual placing of Ischnocolinae is highlighted.

All the species that possess urticating hairs and have been seen to use them in bombardment behavior are placed in the "bombardier clade", although not all species in the included subfamilies possess such hairs (all Schismatothelinae lack them as do most Psalmopoeinae genera). It is not clear whether the possession of urticating hairs was an ancestral trait of the clade, and has been lost in some species, or whether it represents multiple gains. Foley et al. suggested that the second hypothesis appeared to be better supported.

Other subfamilies that have been recognized include:
Acanthopelminae – may be treated as synonymous with Ischnocolinae
Selenogyrinae
Spelopelminae – typically not accepted, Hemirrhagus being treated as Theraphosinae

Genera
, the World Spider Catalog accepted the following genera:

Acanthopelma F. O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1897 – Guyana
Acanthoscurria Ausserer, 1871 – South America, Guatemala
Acentropelma Pocock, 1901 – Belize, Mexico, Guatemala
Aenigmarachne Schmidt, 2005 – Costa Rica
Agnostopelma Pérez-Miles & Weinmann, 2010 – Colombia
Aguapanela Perafán & Cifuentes, 2015
Amazonius Cifuentes & Bertani, 2022 - South America
Annandaliella Hirst, 1909 – India
Anoploscelus Pocock, 1897 – Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda
Anqasha Sherwood & Gabriel, 2022 - Peru
Antikuna Kaderka, Ferretti, West, Lüddecke & Hüsser, 2021 - Peru
Antillena Bertani, Huff & Fukushima, 2017 – Dominican Republic
Aphonopelma Pocock, 1901 – North America, Central America
Augacephalus Gallon, 2002 – South Africa, Mozambique, Eswatini
Avicularia Lamarck, 1818 – South America, Trinidad and Tobago, Panama
Bacillochilus Gallon, 2010 – Angola
Batesiella Pocock, 1903 – Cameroon
Birupes Gabriel & Sherwood, 2019 – Malaysia
Bistriopelma Kaderka, 2015 – Peru
Bonnetina Vol, 2000 – Mexico
Brachionopus Pocock, 1897 – South Africa
Brachypelma Simon, 1891 – Mexico, Costa Rica, Guatemala
Bumba Pérez-Miles, Bonaldo & Miglio, 2014 – Brazil, Venezuela, Ecuador
Cardiopelma Vol, 1999 – Unknown
Caribena Fukushima & Bertani, 2017 – Cuba
Catanduba Yamamoto, Lucas & Brescovit, 2012 – Brazil
Catumiri Guadanucci, 2004 – South America
Ceratogyrus Pocock, 1897 – Africa
Chaetopelma Ausserer, 1871 – Asia, Greece, Africa
Chilobrachys Karsch, 1892 – Asia
Chromatopelma Schmidt, 1995 – Venezuela
Citharacanthus Pocock, 1901 – Cuba, Central America, Mexico
Citharognathus Pocock, 1895 – Indonesia
Clavopelma Chamberlin, 1940 – Mexico
Coremiocnemis Simon, 1892 – Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia
Cotztetlana Mendoza, 2012 – Mexico
Crassicrus Reichling & West, 1996 – Mexico, Belize
Cubanana Ortiz, 2008 – Cuba
Cyclosternum Ausserer, 1871 – South America, Mexico, Costa Rica
Cymbiapophysa Gabriel & Sherwood, 2020
Cyriocosmus Simon, 1903 – South America, Trinidad and Tobago
Cyriopagopus Simon, 1887 – Asia
Cyrtogrammomma Pocock, 1895 - Guyana and Brazil
Cyrtopholis Simon, 1892 – Caribbean
Davus O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1892 – Central America, Mexico
Dolichothele Mello-Leitão, 1923 – Brazil, Bolivia
Dugesiella Pocock, 1901 - Mexico
Encyocratella Strand, 1907 – Tanzania
Encyocrates Simon, 1892 – Madagascar
Ephebopus Simon, 1892 – Suriname, Brazil
Euathlus Ausserer, 1875 – Chile, Argentina
Eucratoscelus Pocock, 1898 – Kenya, Tanzania
Eumenophorus Pocock, 1897 – Sierra Leone
Eupalaestrus Pocock, 1901 – South America
Euphrictus Hirst, 1908 – Cameroon, Congo
Euthycaelus Simon, 1889 – Colombia, Venezuela
Grammostola Simon, 1892 – South America
Guyruita Guadanucci, Lucas, Indicatti & Yamamoto, 2007 – Brazil, Venezuela
Hapalopus Ausserer, 1875 – South America, Panama
Hapalotremus Simon, 1903 – Bolivia, Peru, Argentina
Haploclastus Simon, 1892 – India
Haplocosmia Schmidt & von Wirth, 1996 – Nepal
Harpactira Ausserer, 1871 – South Africa, Namibia
Harpactirella Purcell, 1902 – South Africa, Morocco
Hemirrhagus Simon, 1903 – Mexico
Heterophrictus Pocock, 1900 – India
Heteroscodra Pocock, 1900 – Cameroon, Gabon, Congo
Heterothele Karsch, 1879 – Africa, Argentina
Holothele Karsch, 1879 – Caribbean, South America
Homoeomma Ausserer, 1871 – South America
Hysterocrates Simon, 1892 – Africa
Idiothele Hewitt, 1919 – South Africa
Iridopelma Pocock, 1901 – Brazil
Ischnocolus Ausserer, 1871 – Africa, Asia, Brazil, Europe
Kankuamo Perafán, Galvis & Pérez-Miles, 2016
Kochiana Fukushima, Nagahama & Bertani, 2008 – Brazil
Lampropelma Simon, 1892 – Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore
Lasiodora C. L. Koch, 1850 – South America, Costa Rica
Lasiodorides Schmidt & Bischoff, 1997 – Ecuador, Peru
Longilyra Gabriel, 2014 – El Salvador
Loxomphalia Simon, 1889 – Tanzania
Loxoptygus Simon, 1903 – Ethiopia
Lyrognathus Pocock, 1895 – Indonesia, India, Malaysia
Magnacarina Mendoza, Locht, Kaderka, Medina & Pérez-Miles, 2016 – Mexico
Mascaraneus Gallon, 2005 – Mauritius
Megaphobema Pocock, 1901 – Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador
Melognathus Chamberlin, 1917
Metriopelma Becker, 1878 – Mexico
Miaschistopus Pocock, 1897 – Venezuela
Monocentropus Pocock, 1897 – Yemen, Madagascar
Munduruku Miglio, Bonaldo & Pérez-Miles, 2013
Murphyarachne Sherwood & Gabriel, 2022 - Peru
Mygalarachne Ausserer, 1871 – Honduras
Myostola Simon, 1903 – Gabon, Cameroon
Neischnocolus Petrunkevitch, 1925 – Panama
Neoheterophrictus Siliwal & Raven, 2012 – India
Neoholothele Guadanucci & Weinmann, 2015 – Colombia, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela
Neostenotarsus Pribik & Weinmann, 2004 – French Guiana
Nesiergus Simon, 1903 – Seychelles
Nesipelma Schmidt & Kovařík, 1996 – St. Kitts and Nevis
Nhandu Lucas, 1983 – Brazil, Paraguay
Omothymus Thorell, 1891 – Malaysia
Ornithoctonus Pocock, 1892 – Myanmar, Thailand
Orphnaecus Simon, 1892 – Papua New Guinea, Philippines
Ozopactus Simon, 1889 – Venezuela
Pachistopelma Pocock, 1901 – Brazil
Pamphobeteus Pocock, 1901 – South America, Panama
Pelinobius Karsch, 1885 – Kenya, Tanzania
Phlogiellus Pocock, 1897 – Asia, Papua New Guinea
Phoneyusa Karsch, 1884 – Africa
Phormictopus Pocock, 1901 – Cuba, Argentina, Brazil
Phormingochilus Pocock, 1895 – Indonesia
Phrixotrichus Simon, 1889 – Chile, Argentina
Plesiopelma Pocock, 1901 – South America
Plesiophrictus Pocock, 1899 – India, Micronesia, Sri Lanka
Poecilotheria Simon, 1885 – Sri Lanka, India
Proshapalopus Mello-Leitão, 1923 – Brazil, Colombia
Psalistops Simon, 1889 - Colombia and Venezuela
Psalmopoeus Pocock, 1895 – Trinidad, South America, Central America, Mexico
Psednocnemis West, Nunn & Hogg, 2012 – Malaysia, Indonesia
Pseudhapalopus Strand, 1907 – South America, Trinidad
Pseudoclamoris Hüsser, 2018 – Colombia, Peru, Ecuador
Pseudoschizopelma Smith, 1995 - Mexico
Pterinochilus Pocock, 1897 – Africa
Pterinopelma Pocock, 1901 – Brazil
Reichlingia Rudloff, 2001 – Belize
Reversopelma Schmidt, 2001 – Ecuador or Peru
Sahydroaraneus Mirza & Sanap, 2014 – India
Sandinista Longhorn & Gabriel, 2019
Schismatothele Karsch, 1879 – Venezuela, Colombia
Schizopelma F. O. Pickard-Cambridge, 1897 – Mexico
Scopelobates Simon, 1903 – Dominican Republic
Selenocosmia Ausserer, 1871 – Oceania, Asia
Selenogyrus Pocock, 1897 – Côte d'Ivoire, Sierra Leone
Selenotholus Hogg, 1902 – Australia
Selenotypus Pocock, 1895 – Australia
Sericopelma Ausserer, 1875 – Central America, Brazil, Mexico
Sickius Soares & Camargo, 1948 – Brazil
Sphaerobothria Karsch, 1879 – Costa Rica, Panama
Spinosatibiapalpus Gabriel & Sherwood, 2020
Stichoplastoris Rudloff, 1997 – El Salvador, Costa Rica, Panama
Stromatopelma Karsch, 1881 – Africa
Taksinus Songsangchote, Sippawat, Khaikaew & Chomphuphuang, 2022 - Thailand
Tapinauchenius Ausserer, 1871 – South America, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Theraphosa Thorell, 1870 – South America
Thrigmopoeus Pocock, 1899 – India
Thrixopelma Schmidt, 1994 – Peru, Chile
Tliltocatl - Mexico, Costa Rica, Guatemala
Tmesiphantes Simon, 1892 – Brazil
Trichognathella Gallon, 2004 – South Africa
Trichopelma Simon, 1888 – Caribbean, South America, Central America
Typhochlaena C. L. Koch, 1850 – Brazil
Umbyquyra Gargiulo, Brescovit & Lucas, 2018 – Bolivia, Brazil
Vitalius Lucas, Silva & Bertani, 1993 – Brazil, Argentina
Xenesthis Simon, 1891 – Panama, Venezuela, Colombia
Yanomamius Bertani & Almeida, 2021 – Brazil, Venezuela
Ybyrapora Fukushima & Bertani, 2017 – Brazil

Former genera:
Ami Pérez-Miles, 2008 → Neischnocolus
Barropelma Chamberlin, 1940 → Neischnocolus
Eurypelmella Strand, 1907, nomen dubium
Magulla Simon, 1892 → Tmesiphantes
Melloleitaoina Gerschman & Schiapelli, 1960 → Tmesiphantes

Fossil record
Although  fossils of mygalomorph spiders date back to the Triassic, only two specimens have been found so far which can be convincingly assigned to the Theraphosidae. One is from Dominican Republic amber; the other is from Chiapas (Mexico) amber. Both these ambers are quite young, being Miocene in age or about 16 million years old.

See also

 Cultural depictions of spiders
 Guangxitoxin
 Spider bite
 Spider taxonomy

References

Further reading

External links

 TarantulaForum.com

 Tarantulas US Forum
 Word of the Day: Tarantula and Tarantella, etymology and folklore
 Overview of Species Information for All Named Theraphosidae Divided by Subfamily
 Listing of all currently named Theraphosidae
 American Tarantula Society Headquarters
 Amazing Tarantulas

 Watch Tarantula (Theraphosidae) video clips from the BBC archive on Wildlife Finder
 Theraphosidae Belgium, everything about bird eaters

Extant Miocene first appearances

Tarantula


The New England Primer was the first reading primer designed for the American colonies. It became the most successful educational textbook published in 17th-century colonial United States and it became the foundation of most schooling before the 1790s.

In the 17th century, the schoolbooks in use had been Bibles brought over from England. By 1690, Boston publishers were reprinting the English Protestant Tutor under the title of The New England Primer. The Primer included additional material that made it widely popular with colonial schools until it was supplanted by Noah Webster's Blue Back Speller after 1790.

History
The New England Primer was first published between 1687 and 1690 by printer Benjamin Harris, who had come to Boston in 1686 to escape the brief Catholic ascendancy under James II. It was based largely upon The Protestant Tutor, which he had published in England, and was the first reading primer designed for the American Colonies.

The selections in the New England Primer varied somewhat over time, although there was standard content for beginning reading instruction. Included were the alphabet, vowels, consonants, double letters, and syllabaries of two letters to six letter syllables. The 90-page work contained religious maxims, woodcuts, alphabetical assistants, acronyms, catechism answers, and moral lessons. It was made with a thin sheet of horn or paper shellacked to a wooden board.

The primer remained in print well into the 19th century and was even used until the 20th century. A reported 2 million copies were sold in the 18th century. No copies of editions before 1727 are known to survive; earlier editions are known only from publishers' and booksellers' advertisements.

Theology
Many of its selections were drawn from the King James Bible and others were original. It embodied the dominant Puritan attitude and worldview of the day. Among the topics discussed are respect to parental figures, sin, and salvation. Some versions contained the Westminster Shorter Catechism; others contained John Cotton's shorter catechism, known as Spiritual Milk for Boston Babes; and some contained both.

David H. Watters argues that the Primer was built on rote memorization, the Puritans' distrust of uncontrolled speech, and their preoccupation with childhood depravity. By simplifying Calvinist theology the Primer enabled the Puritan child to define the "self" by relating his life to the authority of God and his parents. Emory Elliott argues that the Primer was part of the transformation that turned Puritans away from an angry and wrathful God the Father to the embrace of the gentle and loving Jesus Christ.

Contents of the Primer
Two of the most famous example verses are as follows

Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray thee, Lord, my soul to keep;
If I should die before I wake,
I pray thee, Lord, my soul to take.

—1784 ed.

In Adam's Fall,
we sinned all.

The text for L is alluded to in Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow:  . . . "like the lion bold, which whilom so magnanimously the lamb did hold" ...

Editions and reprints
There have been many reprints of The New England Primer.
 New England Primer: Improved for the More Easy Attaining the True Reading of English: To Which Is Added the Assembly of Divines, and Mr. Cotton's Catechism (1991, WallBuilders; note that this is the 1777 edition).
 New England Primer: 1996, A Family & Homeschool Textbook. The 1843 Updated Edition with Lesson Plan. (© 1996, Richard E. Klenk Sr.; ) A book, orig. a prayer book, used in teaching children to read or spell; hence, an elementary textbook.

See also

 Early American publishers and printers
 Alphabet book
 Basal reader
 Hornbook

References
 Fort, Paul Leicester. The New-England Primer (NY, 1899)
 Monaghan, E. Jennifer (2006) Learning to Read and Write in Colonial America
 Roberts, Kyle B. "Rethinking The New-England Primer," Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America 104 (Dec. 2010) 489–523
 Smith, N. B. (2002) American reading instruction / Nila Banton Smith ; [with prologue by Richard D. Robinson, epilogue by Norman A.Stahl, and history of reading since 1967 by P. David Pearson].
 Watters, David H. "'I Spake as a Child': Authority, Metaphor and the New England Primer," Early American Literature, Dec 1985, Vol. 20 Issue 3, pp 193–213

Citations

External links
 1777 ed. online
 1843 ed. online
 Images from the 1843 edition

Books about Christianity
New England Puritanism
Alphabet books
American children's books
Textbooks
18th-century American literature
Basal readers
Learning to read
Reading (process)

The New England Primer


Clovis (c. 466–511) wis the first Keeng o the Franks tae unite aw the Frankish tribes unner ane ruler. He wis an aa the first Catholic King tae rule ower Gaul (Fraunce). He wis the son o Childeric I an Basina. In 481, when he wis fifteen, he succeedit his faither. The Salian Franks wur ane o twa Frankish tribes who wur then occupyin the aurie wast o the lawer Rhine, wi thair center in an aurie kent as Toxandrie, atween the Meuse an Scheldt (in wha is nou the Netherlands an Belgium). Clovis's pouer base wis tae the soothwast o this, aroond Tournai an Cambrai alang the modren frontier atween Fraunce an Belgium. Clovis conquered the neighborin Salian Frankish kinricks an established hissel as sole king o the Salian Franks afore his daith. The sma kirk in which he wis baptized is nou named Saint-Remi, an a statue o him bein baptized bi Saunt Remigius can be seen thare. Clovis an his wife Clotilde are buried in the St. Genevieve kirk (St. Pierre) in Paris. An important pairt o Clovis's legacy is that he reduced the pouer o the Romans in 486 bi beatin the Roman ruler Syagrius in the famous battle o Soissons.

Clovis wis convertit tae Catholicism, as opposed tae the Arian Christianity common amang the Goths who ruled maist o Gaul at the time, at the instigation o his wife, Clotilde, a Burgundian Gothic princess who wis a Catholic in spite o the Arianism which surroondit her at court. He wis baptized in a sma kirk which wis on or near the site o the Cathedral o Rheims, whaur maist futur French keengs woud be crouned. This act wis o immense importance in the subsequent history o Wastren an Central Europe in general, for Clovis expandit his dominion ower amaist aw o the auld Roman province o Gaul (roughly modren Fraunce). He is considered the foonder o the Merovingian dynasty which ruled the Franks for the next twa centuries.

References

466 births
511 daiths
5t-century monarchs in Europe
6t-century monarchs in Europe
Buirials at the Basilica o St Denis
Converts tae Christianity
Correspondents o Ecdicius Avitus
Early Middle Ages
Frankish keengs
Imperial Roman consuls
Merovingian dynasty
Walhalla enshrinees
5t-century French fowk
6t-century French fowk

Clovis I


George Seddon  (23 April 1927 – 9 May 2007) was an Australian academic who held university chairs in a range of subjects. He wrote popular books on the Australian landscape embracing diverse points of view. He was well known for his book Sense of Place (1972) which brought the needs of the fragile Swan Coastal Plain to the attention of the public.

At the time of his death, he was Senior Honorary Research Fellow English, Communication and Cultural Studies at the University of Western Australia Perth, Western Australia and Emeritus Professor of Environmental Science at the University of Melbourne.

Biography

Seddon held AM; BA (Hons); MSc; PhD, University of Minnesota; Hon DLit, University of Western Australia; Hon FAILA; Hon FRAPI; FTS.

Seddon studied English at the University of Melbourne, and later received an MSc and a PhD in Geology at the University of Minnesota. He held the Chair of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of NSW and later became Director of the Centre for Environmental Studies and the Dean of Architecture and Planning at Melbourne University. Across five decades he held Chairs in four different disciplines (English, UWA; Geology, Oregon; History and Philosophy of Science, UNSW; Environmental Science, Melbourne) and taught at universities in Lisbon, Toronto, Bologna, Rome, Venice, Minnesota and Oregon.

Seddon published 217 papers and numerous books, many of which have won awards. These awards include three Robin Boyd Environmental Awards, the Eureka Prize from the Australian Museum in 1995, for the Snowy book, and the Mawson Medal from the Academy of Science, in 1996.

He was an Honorary Fellow of both the Royal Australian Planning Institute and the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects; Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering; and an Honorary Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities. In 1998 he became a Member of the Order of Australia; in 2000 he was made an Honorary Doctor of Literae Humaniores by the University of Western Australia, and in December, a Festschrift was organised jointly by ANU, La Trobe, Murdoch and UWA universities, with delegates from other institutions. He was made citizen of the Year in Fremantle for 2001.

Seddon died in his Fremantle home on 9 May 2007.  He had a son, Jack and a daughter Polly.

Bibliography

Books
 Swan River Landscapes (Perth: University of Western Australia Press. 1970)

 Man and landscape in Australia: towards an ecological vision (Aust. UNESCO Committee for Man and the Biosphere, pub No. 2, Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service, 1976)
 A City and Its Setting: Images of Perth. (Fremantle: Fremantle Arts Centre Press, 1987)
 Searching for the Snowy: an Environmental History. (St Leonards, Sydney: Allen and Unwin, 1994)
 Swan Song: reflections on Perth and Western Australia 1956 -1995 (Centre for Studies in Australian Literature: University of Western Australia, 1995)
 Landprints: Reflections on Place and Landscape (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997)
 Looking at an Old Suburb: A Walking Guide to Four Blocks of Fremantle with Barbara Haddy (Fremantle Arts Centre Press, 2000)

 The Old Country: Australian Landscapes, Plants and People (Cambridge University Press, 2005)

Articles, chapters and other contributions
 "The Nature of Nature" in Westerly (Issue 36:4, pp. 7–14, 1991)
"The Australian Back Yard" in Australian Popular Culture  ed. Ian Craven. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994)
 "Return to Portugal" in Best Essays of 1998, edited by Peter Craven (Melbourne: Bookman  Press, 1998)
 "Imagining the West" in Imagining Australia, ed. Silvia Albertazzi, Sheila M. Downing, Monica Turci. (Rome: Vecchiarelli Editore, 1998)
 "Land and Language" in Meanjin (Issue 58:2, pp 140–152, 1999)
 "Saving the Throwaway River" in Australian Geographical Studies (Issue 37:3, pp 314–321, 1999)
 "Alien Invaders" in The Mediterranean Garden (Issue 18: pp 42–45, 1999)
 "The Mediterranean Garden in Australia" in The Mediterranean Garden (Issue 17: pp 18–26, 1999)

Radio appearances
 Interview regarding "Searching for the Snowy" in 'Green and Practical' programme (ABC Radio National. Broadcast 12 November 1994)

References

External links

1927 births
2007 deaths
Fellows of the Australian Academy of the Humanities
Quarterly Essay people
Scientists from Western Australia
University of Minnesota College of Science and Engineering alumni
Writers from Western Australia
Fellows of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering
People educated at Ballarat Grammar School
Members of the Order of Australia

George Seddon (academic)


São José dos Pinhais is a Brazilian city, the second largest in the Greater Curitiba, in southern state of Paraná. In 2008 the population was more than 280.000 inhabitants.

The city is on a plateau 906 meters above sea level, and an area of 945,717 km². Is just 7 km away from the capital, Curitiba.

It is the third largest automotive pole of Brazil, housing assembly of Volkswagen, Audi, Nissan and Renault. The city is also home of the Afonso Pena International Airport, the main airport in southern Brazil.

Cities in Paraná State

São José dos Pinhais


Urinal deodorizer blocks are the small disinfectant blocks found in urinals. There are many other words for them, such as: "piss biscuit", "urinal cake", "urinal mint", or "urinal puck".

The blocks are used to kill germs and take away the bad smell of urinals in public bathrooms. They are put over the urinal drain and evaporate very slowly. Because they do not dissolve or break apart in water, they do not take away the smell of the flushing water or urine. Different blocks are made with different chemicals, like paradichlorobenzene or naphthalene. The block is something scented to smell like different things, such as cherries.

Notes

Hygiene

Urinal deodorizer block


Laxatives, purgatives, or aperients are substances that loosen stools and increase bowel movements. They are used to treat and prevent constipation.

Laxatives vary as to how they work and the side effects they may have. Certain stimulant, lubricant, and saline laxatives are used to evacuate the colon for rectal and bowel examinations, and may be supplemented by enemas under certain circumstances. Sufficiently high doses of laxatives may cause diarrhea. Some laxatives combine more than one active ingredient, and may be administered orally or rectally.

Types

Bulk-forming agents
Bulk-forming laxatives, also known as roughage, are substances, such as fiber in food and hydrophilic agents in over-the-counter drugs, that add bulk and water to stools so they can pass more easily through the intestines (lower part of the digestive tract).

Properties
 Site of action: small and large intestines
 Onset of action: 12–72 hours
 Examples: dietary fiber, Metamucil, Citrucel, FiberCon
Bulk-forming agents generally have the gentlest of effects among laxatives, making them ideal for long-term maintenance of regular bowel movements.

Dietary fiber
Foods that help with laxation include fiber-rich foods. Dietary fiber includes insoluble fiber and soluble fiber, such as:
 Fruits, such as bananas, though this depends on their ripeness, kiwifruits, prunes, apples (with skin), pears (with skin), and raspberries
 Vegetables, such as broccoli, string beans, kale, spinach, cooked winter squash, cooked taro and poi, cooked peas, and baked potatoes (with skin)
 Whole grains
 Bran products
 Nuts
 Legumes, such as beans, peas, and lentils

Emollient agents (stool softeners)
Emollient laxatives, also known as stool softeners, are anionic surfactants that enable additional water and fats to be incorporated in the stool, making movement through the bowels easier.

Properties
 Site of action: small and large intestines
 Onset of action: 12–72 hours
 Examples: Docusate (Colace, Diocto), Gibs-Eze

Emollient agents prevent constipation rather than treating long-term constipation.

Lubricant agents
Lubricant laxatives are substances that coat the stool with slippery lipids and decrease colonic absorption of water so the stool slides through the colon more easily. Lubricant laxatives also increase the weight of stool and decrease intestinal transit time.

Properties

 Site of action: colon
 Onset of action: 6–8 hours
 Example: mineral oil

Mineral oils, such as liquid paraffin, are generally the only nonprescription lubricant laxative available, but due to the risk of lipid pneumonia resulting from accidental aspiration, mineral oil is not recommended, especially in children and infants. Mineral oil may decrease the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins and some minerals.

Hyperosmotic agents

Hyperosmotic laxatives cause the intestines to hold more water, creating an osmotic gradient, which adds more pressure and stimulates bowel movement.

Properties

 Site of action: colon
 Onset of action: 12–72 hours (oral), 0.25–1 hour (rectal)
 Examples: glycerin suppositories (Hallens), sorbitol, lactulose, and PEG (Colyte, MiraLax)

Lactulose works by the osmotic effect, which retains water in the colon; lowering the pH through bacterial fermentation to lactic, formic, and acetic acids; and increasing colonic peristalsis. Lactulose is also indicated in portal-systemic encephalopathy. Glycerin suppositories work mostly by hyperosmotic action, but the sodium stearate in the preparation also causes local irritation to the colon.

Solutions of polyethylene glycol and electrolytes (sodium chloride, sodium bicarbonate, potassium chloride, and sometimes sodium sulfate) are used for whole bowel irrigation, a process designed to prepare the bowel for surgery or colonoscopy and to treat certain types of poisoning. Brand names for these solutions include GoLytely, GlycoLax, Cosmocol, CoLyte, Miralax, Movicol, NuLytely, Suprep, and Fortrans. Solutions of sorbitol (SoftLax) have similar effects.

Saline laxative agents
Saline laxatives are nonabsorbable, osmotically active substances that attract and retain water in the intestinal lumen, increasing intraluminal pressure that mechanically stimulates evacuation of the bowel. Magnesium-containing agents also cause the release of cholecystokinin, which increases intestinal motility and fluid secretion. Saline laxatives may alter a patient's fluid and electrolyte balance.

Properties
 Site of action: small and large intestines
 Onset of action: 0.5–3 hours (oral), 2–15 minutes (rectal)
 Examples: sodium phosphate (and variants), magnesium citrate, magnesium hydroxide (milk of magnesia), and magnesium sulfate (Epsom salt)

Stimulant agents
Stimulant laxatives are substances that act on the intestinal mucosa or nerve plexus, altering water and electrolyte secretion. They also stimulate peristaltic action and can be dangerous under certain circumstances.

Properties
 Site of action: colon
 Onset of action: 6–10 hours
 Examples: senna, bisacodyl

Prolonged use of stimulant laxatives can create drug dependence by damaging the colon's haustral folds, making users less able to move feces through their colon on their own. A study of patients with chronic constipation found that 28% of chronic stimulant laxative users lost haustral folds over the course of one year, while none of the control group did.

Miscellaneous
Castor oil is a glyceride that is hydrolyzed by pancreatic lipase to ricinoleic acid, which produces laxative action by an unknown mechanism.

Properties
 Site of action: colon, small intestine (see below)
 Onset of action: 2–6 hours
 Examples: castor oil

Long-term use of castor oil may result in loss of fluid, electrolytes, and nutrients.

Serotonin agonist
These are motility stimulants that work through activation of 5-HT4 receptors of the enteric nervous system in the gastrointestinal tract. However, some have been discontinued or restricted due to potentially harmful cardiovascular side effects.

Tegaserod (brand name Zelnorm) was removed from the general U.S. and Canadian markets in 2007, due to reports of increased risks of heart attack or stroke. It is still available to physicians for patients in emergency situations that are life-threatening or require hospitalization.

Prucalopride (brand name Resolor) is a current drug approved for use in the EU since October 15, 2009, in Canada (brand name Resotran) since December 7, 2011, and in the United States since December 2018.

Chloride channel activators
Lubiprostone is used in the management of chronic idiopathic constipation and irritable bowel syndrome. It causes the intestines to produce a chloride-rich fluid secretion that softens the stool, increases motility, and promotes spontaneous bowel movements.

Comparison of available agents

Effectiveness
For adults, a randomized controlled trial found PEG (MiraLax or GlycoLax) 17 grams once per day to be superior to tegaserod at 6 mg twice per day. A randomized controlled trial found greater improvement from two sachets (26 g) of PEG versus two sachets (20 g) of lactulose. 17 g per day of PEG has been effective and safe in a randomized, controlled trial for six months. Another randomized, controlled trial found no difference between sorbitol and lactulose.

For children, PEG was found to be more effective than lactulose.

Problems with use

Laxative abuse
Some of the less significant adverse effects of laxative abuse include dehydration (which causes tremors, weakness, fainting, blurred vision, kidney damage), low blood pressure, fast heart rate, postural dizziness and fainting; however, laxative abuse can lead to potentially fatal acid-base, and electrolyte imbalances. For example, severe hypokalaemia has been associated with distal renal tubular acidosis from laxative abuse. Metabolic alkalosis is the most common acid-base imbalance observed. Other significant adverse effects include rhabdomyolysis, steatorrhoea, inflammation and ulceration of colonic mucosa, pancreatitis, kidney failure, factitious diarrhea and other problems. The colon will need more quantities of laxatives to keep functioning, this will result in a lazy colon, infections, irritable bowel syndrome, and potential liver damage.

Although some patients with eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa abuse laxatives in an attempt to lose weight, laxatives act to speed up the transit of feces through the large intestine, which occurs after the absorption of nutrients in the small intestine is already complete. Thus, studies of laxative abuse have found that effects on body weight reflect primarily temporary losses of body water rather than energy (calorie) loss.

Laxative gut
Physicians warn against the chronic use of stimulant laxatives due to concern that chronic use could cause the colonic tissues to get worn out over time and not be able to expel feces due to long-term overstimulation.  A common finding in patients having used stimulant laxatives is a brown pigment deposited in the intestinal tissue, known as melanosis coli.

Historical and health fraud uses
Laxatives, once called "physicks" or "purgatives", were used extensively in historic medicine to treat many conditions for which they are now generally regarded as ineffective in evidence-based medicine. Likewise, laxatives (often termed colon cleanses) may be promoted in alternative medicine for various conditions of quackery, such as "mucoid plaque".

See also

 ATC code A06
 Bowel management
 Cathartic
 Dietary fiber
 Diuretic
 Maltitol
 Enema
 Suppository
 Transanal irrigation

References

Gastroenterology

Laxative


The Aldeburgh Festival is an English arts festival where classical music concerts take place during the summer.  Aldeburgh is in Suffolk in the south-east of England.  It is where the composer Benjamin Britten lived with his friend the tenor Peter Pears.  A lot of Britten's music is played at the festival, but music by many other composers can be heard as well.  Most of the concerts take place in the Maltings, a concert hall in the village of Snape, not far away from Aldeburgh.

History of the Aldeburgh Festival
The Festival was started in 1948 by Benjamin Britten, Peter Pears and the librettist Eric Crozier. They started the festival so that the English Opera Group would have a place to perform their operas, but soon the festival became bigger.  There were poetry readings, drama performances, lectures and art exhibitions.  The first festival was mostly held in Aldeburgh Jubilee Hall, a few doors away from Britten's house in Crabbe Street.  His opera Albert Herring was performed, as well as his St Nicolas Cantata.

Over the years the festival grew.  Some of the performances took place in the church, or in churches or other halls in nearby villages and small towns such as Orford and Framlingham. However, the festival needed a large concert hall.  In the 1960s the old malthouse (where barley used to be made) in Snape was changed into a concert hall. It was opened by the Queen on 2 June 1967, at the start of the twentieth Aldeburgh Festival.

Two years later, on the first night of the 1969 Festival, the concert hall was destroyed by fire. Only the main walls remained. For that year the Festival was moved to other local places, but by the next year the hall had been rebuilt and once again it was opened by the Queen, this time at the start of the 1970 Festival.

The Festival today
The festival is now organized by Aldeburgh Music, which also runs the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme which gives young musicians a chance to learn from famous music teachers and perform in concerts.

The festival has a nice atmosphere because it is in the country near the sea and marshes. New music is often performed.  In the past there have been first performances of several works by Britten: (A Midsummer Night's Dream in 1960; Death in Venice in 1973) and also Harrison Birtwistle's Punch and Judy in 1968.

The Festival's Artistic Director is now the composer Thomas Adès, who was appointed in 1999.

Classical music festivals
Music festivals in England
1948 establishments in Europe
1940s establishments in England
Organisations based in Suffolk

Aldeburgh Festival


The Premier of China, officially "Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China", is the leader of the State Council of China, who is the head of government and holds the highest rank (Level 1) in the Civil Service.

The Premier is formally approved by the National People's Congress upon the nomination of the President. In practice, the candidate is chosen through an informal process within the Communist Party of China. Both the President and the Premier are selected once every five years. The Premier has always been a member of the powerful Politburo Standing Committee.

The current Premier is Li Qiang, who took office on 11 March 2023.

Notes

References

Politics of the People's Republic of China

Premier of the People's Republic of China


The Letter Carriers' Monument is a piece of public art by American artist Elliot Offner, located on a triangular plot formed by North 2nd Street, North Plankinton Avenue and West Wells Street in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in the United States. Created in 1989, the monument depicts three letter carriers and was commissioned in celebration of the centennial of the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC).

Description and history
The bronze sculpture depicts three figures representing letter carriers from across NALC's history: A white man with a mustache wearing a turn of the 20th century uniform (with an inscription on the jacket reading "Offner '89"); an African American man wearing a 1939 uniform (from the time of NALC's fiftieth anniversary); and a woman in a contemporary uniform. The sculpture is set on a black granite base, with the north and south faces of the base reading: "In honor of the men and women/ who have delivered for America/ in rain, sleet, and snow./ And in tribute to their Union,/ the National Association of Letter Carriers,/ founded across Plankinton Avenue/ from this site on August 30, 1889./ Dedicated August 30, 1989." The monument measures 66 x 67 x 56 inches, and was created in 1989.

The sculpture is a tribute to the National Association of Letter Carriers, commissioned to celebrate the centennial of its founding. The group's history began when the United States Postal Service gave employment preference to veterans after the American Civil War. As a result, there were many veterans employed by the Postal Service across the United States. After the Postal Service administration refused to recognize the eight-hour day, a group of veteran Milwaukee postal workers organized 60 postal worker veterans from 18 states who met in a tavern on Plankinton Avenue (the building, now used for storage by Renaissance Books, formerly housed the headquarters of Manpower Inc.) on August 30, 1889, immediately following the national encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic in Milwaukee. The postal workers agreed to form the National Association of Letter Carriers, demanding an eight-hour work day, a higher pay scale, a pension plan, and service stripes for every four years of service.

Elliot Offner was commissioned through the Franz Bader Gallery in New York to create the monument. He built the maquette in Cambridge, England while he was there as a visiting artist. He then worked with the Tallix Foundry in Beacon, New York to cast the sculpture. The work was sent to Milwaukee by truck from New York.

Centennial celebrations lasted four days and included a parade, exhibits and the dedication of the monument by Vincent R. Sombrotto, NALC's president. More than four thousand letter carriers and their families attended the festivities. The U.S. Postal Service issued a postage stamp (designed by Jack Davis) depicting three contemporary letter carriers, to commemorate the centennial day.

Buck and Palmer's 1995 Outdoor Sculpture in Milwaukee: A Cultural and Historical Guidebook observes: "The downtown Milwaukee site of the monument is correct in a historical sense, but unsuccessful in its public presence. Site considerations for the monument were overlooked and it stands on the small crowded triangle with annoying awkwardness."

Postman Square / Postman's Porch
In 2016, the small triangular pocket park around the statue, known as Postman Square, was improved with new furniture to encourage lunch hour visitors.

In 2019, the space was improved again and re-christened Postman's Porch. The space was redesigned to become more open by removing hedges and adding additional plaza space. Reading materials, tables and chairs and festive banners were also added. A series of concerts were held to create a spirit of community gathering.

References

1980s establishments in Wisconsin
1989 establishments in Wisconsin
1989 sculptures
Bronze sculptures in Wisconsin
American mail carriers
Monuments and memorials in Wisconsin
National Association of Letter Carriers
Outdoor sculptures in Milwaukee
Sculptures of African Americans
Sculptures of men in Wisconsin
Sculptures of women in Wisconsin
Statues in Wisconsin

Letter Carriers' Monument


Johnny B. Moore (born Johnny Belle Moore, January 24, 1950, Clarksdale, Mississippi) is an American Chicago blues and electric blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. He was a member of Koko Taylor's backing band in the mid-1970s. He has recorded nine solo albums since 1987. Moore's music retains a link to the earlier Chicago blues of Jimmy Reed and Muddy Waters, who also travelled to Chicago from the Mississippi Delta.

"If Johnny B. Moore isn't a star in the making," stated Allmusic's Bill Dahl, "there's no justice in the world." The blues historian Gérard Herzhaft commented that "[Moore's] albums reflect a strong Delta flavor that is refreshing in the present blues scene, dominated by rock or funk overtones." However, the blues historian Tony Russell noted in 1997 that Moore "was still one of Chicago's interesting secrets".

Biography
Moore's father, Floyd Moore, a Baptist minister, taught his son to play the guitar from the age of seven. John Lee Hooker's "Boogie Chillen'" was the first piece Moore mastered, but he was influenced by the style of Magic Sam. In his early days Moore performed gospel music in his hometown of Clarksdale and later in Chicago with the Gospel Keys.

In his teen years Moore's mother died. In 1964, the teenage Moore relocated to Chicago with his father, step mother, and 15 siblings. In high school Moore learned to read music, and his education was enhanced by listening to blues records with Letha Jones, the widow of the pianist Little Johnny Jones. By the late 1960s Moore was working in a lamp factory, but after work played music. He was further tutored by Jimmy Reed, whom he first met in his childhood, and then with the Charles Spiers band.

By 1975, Moore found a further musical outlet by joining Koko Taylor's backing band, the Blues Machine, as lead guitarist. He played on Taylor's album The Earthshaker (1978).

He toured separately with Taylor and with Willie Dixon, undertaking European tours with both, and worked in Dixon's band until Dixon died, in 1992. He also augmented his income by appearing more often under his own name. Moore was on the bill at the inaugural Chicago Blues Festival, on June 10, 1984.

His debut album, Hard Times, was released in 1987 on the B.L.U.E.S. label. In the 1990s he recorded six more albums of his own, and started the new millennium with Born in Clarksdale, Mississippi (2001) for the Austrian label Wolf. His Live at Blue Chicago (1996), recorded in the basement of that club, featured Ken Saydak on keyboards. The 1999 live album, Acoustic Blue Chicago, featured Willie Kent, Lester Davenport and Bonnie Lee. Moore often used a bottleneck on his guitar solos.

Moore appeared again at the Chicago Blues Festival in 2002. He has made guest appearances on albums by several other blues musicians, including Willie Kent's Too Hurt to Cry (1994). His album Rockin' in the Same Old Boat (2003) was described by Allmusic journalist Matt Collar: "Moore's hard-driving lead guitar lines are well intact as is his off-hand, sometimes slurred vocal delivery".

Discography

Albums

See also
List of Chicago blues musicians
List of electric blues musicians

References

External links
Delmark.com review of Live At Blue Chicago
Images of Moore

1950 births
Living people
American blues guitarists
American male guitarists
American blues singers
American male singers
Songwriters from Mississippi
Chicago blues musicians
Electric blues musicians
Singers from Mississippi
Musicians from Clarksdale, Mississippi
Blues musicians from Mississippi
Songwriters from Illinois
Guitarists from Illinois
Guitarists from Mississippi
20th-century American guitarists
20th-century American male musicians
American male songwriters

Johnny B. Moore


Frank Bridge (born Brighton, 26 February 1879; died Eastbourne,  10 January 1941) was an English composer, violist and conductor.  His music often sounded quite modern to the people of his day.  He wrote many excellent works including chamber music as well as orchestral music.  One of his composition pupils was Benjamin Britten.  Later Britten remembered his teacher by using one of Bridge's tunes and making them into a piece of music called Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge.

Life
Bridge was born in Brighton and studied at the Royal College of Music in London from 1899 to 1903.  One of his teachers was  Charles Villiers Stanford. He played the viola in several string quartets and conducted many orchestras.  He learned difficult music very quickly, and sometimes Henry Wood asked him to take his place when he was not well enough to conduct himself.  After a while he spent most of his time composing. He privately taught several pupils, including Benjamin Britten, who later helped to make his teacher's music better known and honoured him in his Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge for string orchestra (1937), based on a theme from the second of Bridge's Three Idylls for String Quartet (1906).

Bridge died in Eastbourne.

Music
Bridge's early works show the influence of Johannes Brahms and Charles Villiers Stanford.  He wrote some excellent chamber music and songs.  The Phantasie Quartet and the String Quartet no 1 show his talent.  His later pieces such as the third (1926) and fourth (1937) string quartets have quite complicated harmonies and show his interest in the music of Schoenberg as well as the harmonies of Maurice Ravel and Alexander Scriabin. His most important orchestral works include The Sea and Summer.  He wrote some lovely chamber music for the cello as well as many songs.  In his later years his harmonies become quite advanced, for example a favourite chord of his can be found by playing a C minor chord and a D major chord together.  In his longer pieces the speed of the music often changes and he avoids repeating himself exactly.

For a long time after his death his music was hardly ever played, but more recently musicians have discovered the greatness of his compositions.  Pianists like to play the popular piano piece called Rosemary.

20th-century English composers
1879 births
1941 deaths
Violists

Frank Bridge


Budolfi Church (Budolfi Kirke) is the cathedral church for the Lutheran Diocese of Aalborg in north Jutland, Denmark.

History

Aalborg was already a town in the mid-10th century, with a fine position on the east-west Limfjord that served as a trade route between the North Sea and the Baltic until the 12th century, when the west end of Limfjord was closed by sand drifts.  Aalborg became the regional trade center for northern Jutland. The Lindholm Høje at Nørresundby across the Limfjord  features a notable Viking Era burial site indicating that this was a populated area of Denmark long before the town appeared on the fjord.

Christian missionaries probably arrived sometime in the 9th century since nearby Viborg and Aarhus have evidence of Christian activity.  In 948 Denmark was divided into dioceses and Aalborg in time fell under the See of Viborg.  Of the earliest churches in Aalborg no trace remains.  They would have been constructed of timber and been very small.  Many times stone churches were built on the same location as the first churches, but direct evidence of an earlier Viking Era church has not been found.

In the crypt of Budofi Cathedral visitors can see the remains of the large stones used for the original church that was built at the direction of Bishop Eskil of Viborg no later than 1132.  The first church was much smaller than the current church since it was a parish church.  It consisted of a short nave and choir built in Romanesque style.  That means it had half-round arches supporting a flat timber ceiling.

The existing Budolfi Cathedral (Danish:Budolfi Domkirke) was built in the last decades of the 14th century over and around the original St Budolfi Church and was listed for the first time in the Atlas of Denmark in 1399.  The church was named after St. Botolph, an  Anglo-Saxon abbot and saint.  His reputation as a learned and holy man in Anglo-Saxon England and as the patron saint of farmers and sailors made him a popular saint in pre-Reformation Denmark.  His remains were venerated at Westminster Abbey, Ely, and Thornley Abbey.  No references are made to relics of St. Botolphus at Aalborg, but it was not uncommon for churches to be named after the relics of the most famous person the church possessed.  Other churches in Denmark and southern Sweden have also been named after him including  St Bodil's Church on Bornholm, using other forms of the name Botolph.

The church was constructed in the Gothic style out of Denmark's most common building material, large bricks.   The nave and choir measure at present  in length and  wide, exclusive of the weapons porch and extensions.

Aalborg was the center of Skipper Clement's Rebellion of 1534.  Clement Andersen, known as Skipper Clement, led the peasants and a few nobles of Vendsyssel in a peasant uprising that spread throughout Jutland. The peasants were trying to influence the selection of the next King of Denmark after the death of Frederik I.  The abrupt truce with Lübeck freed up royal troops who chased the peasants all the way back to the walls of Aalborg.  The royalist troops stormed the gates and commenced the sack and bloody slaughter of the rebels and citizens of the town.  Just two years later Denmark became officially Lutheran. Due to its rural character and distance from Copenhagen, northern Denmark held onto elements of its Roman Catholic past longer than other parts of Denmark.  In 1554 Aalborg was made a diocese and after consideration  Budolfi Church was made the seat of the Bishop of Aalborg.

By the late-17th century two other churches in old town Aalborg, Our Lady's Church (Danish:Vor Frue Kirke) and the Abbey Church (Danish:Klosterkirken), were deemed to be superfluous for the few thousand residents of Aalborg.  Our Lady Church, the oldest of the three, was determined to be unstable, and it was torn down.  By 1800 the Abbey Church and tower were dismantled, and the stone was used to expand nearby Aalborg Castle (Danish: Aalborghus).  Budolfi Cathedral's tower is the only one of the original three church towers that are visible on the Aalborg city logo.

The tower was added to the west front in 1779 with funds given by Jacob and Elisabeth Himmerig.  The square  brick tower is topped with a  metallic Baroque cupola and spire.  Four identical clock faces were installed on each of the four sides of the tower in 1817.  The south side has a sundial mounted on it as well.  The tower houses four bells.  The oldest cast in 1681 by Rudolph Melchior.  The largest bell was cast by B. Løw and Son in 1892.  A third bell was cast in 1926 by  DeSmithske foundry.  The latest addition was the 1979 bell from Royal Bellfounders Petit & Fritsen.

In 1899 a sacristy was built onto the north side aisle.

During 1942 and 1943 the choir was extended 14 meters and the ceiling vaulting raised. A chapel was also added to the north side.

Interior
The main altar piece was added in 1684, a gift of Niels Jespersen and his wife Margareta Erichsdatter.  It was carved by Lauridtz Jensen of Essenbæk Abbey near Randers.  He also carved the pulpit.  The altar was restored in 1980.  The altar candelabras were given by Jens Christense and his wife, Mette Christensdatter, in 1686.  Budolfi Cathedral received the gift of an altar carving from c. 1450 which is placed in the north transept.  It came from the estate chapel of Holckershavn also known as Elleborg in southern Jutland.

The black and white marble baptismal font was given to the church in 1728, a gift of the widow Maren Grotum Von Pentz.

The pulpit (1692) was a gift from the first apothecary at Jens Bang's House in Aalborg, Johannes Friedenreich and his wife, Magdalena Calow.  It was carved by Lauridtz Jensen.

The ornate Baroque organ façade was constructed for the Hartvig Jochum Müller organ in 1749.  The organ has been restored and expanded several times, the latest in 1959 by Th. Frobenius & Sons.

Several epitaphs have been preserved as examples of what once lined the aisles of the church.  The 1583 epitaph for Karine Hansdatter is a fine example of renaissance work.  The epitaphs for Jacob and Elizabeth Himmerig in 1773 and 1774 are examples of neo-classical design and commemorate the church's greatest benefactors.

References

External links
Official website

Cathedrals in Denmark
Lutheran cathedrals in Denmark
Pre-Reformation Roman Catholic cathedrals
Lutheran churches converted from Roman Catholicism
History of Aalborg
Tourist attractions in Aalborg
Buildings and structures in Aalborg
Churches in the North Jutland Region
Churches in the diocese of Aalborg

Budolfi Church


Samuel William Yorty (October 1, 1909 – June 5, 1998) was an American politician, attorney, and radio host from Los Angeles, California. He served as a member of the United States House of Representatives and the California State Assembly, but he is most remembered for his turbulent three terms as the 37th Mayor of Los Angeles from 1961 to 1973. Although Yorty spent almost all of his political career as a Democrat, he became a Republican in 1973.

Early life

Sam Yorty was born and raised in Lincoln, Nebraska, the son of Frank Patrick and Johanna (Egan) Yorty. His paternal grandfather was Pennsylvania Dutch, while the rest of his ancestors were Irish, his mother being a native of Clonmel, Ireland. He began his political education as the son of a Democratic father in a Republican state, with a mother who also showed a strong interest in politics. The family moved to Southern California when Yorty completed high school. He retained his Midwestern inflection and was known for pronouncing the city's name as   (with a hard "G").

Yorty enrolled at Southwestern University and later the University of California at Los Angeles, working for a time at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. He was admitted to the bar in 1939.

Elected as a Democrat to the California State Assembly in 1936, Yorty established himself as a politician with integrity, but watched his popularity plummet when he reported a bribery attempt on a pending bill. Yorty advocated state ownership of public utilities and strong labor unions, showing a liberal approach to politics. His support of the Republicans in Spain's civil war against General Francisco Franco and his fight against using the California Highway Patrol to end labor strikes helped earn him support of the local Communist Party United States of America organization. That support haunted Yorty in 1938, when he was branded a communist by Folsom Prison inmate Arthur Kent during testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee. Kent, who claimed to have been a local membership chairman of the Communist Party, proved to be untrustworthy and Yorty was vindicated. That episode, plus the refusal of the local Communist Party to endorse him for mayor of Los Angeles that year, began a shift of Yorty's political beliefs.

Losing a 1940 bid for U.S. Senator, when he ran unsuccessfully as a liberal internationalist against isolationist Republican and longtime incumbent Hiram Johnson, Yorty left politics during World War II to serve in the United States Army Air Corps in the Pacific Theater, attaining the rank of captain in the Intelligence Branch. He resumed his Assembly seat after his discharge. He was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1950 and was reelected in 1952, but again lost his race for the U.S. Senate in 1954. In that special election for the two years remaining of the term of Richard M. Nixon, Yorty received 1,788,071 votes (45.5%) to Senator Thomas H. Kuchel's 2,090,831 (53.2%). Kuchel, a liberal Republican, had been appointed to the seat in 1953 by then-Governor of California Earl Warren when Nixon became vice president.

Mayoralty

In 1960, Yorty endorsed fellow Californian Richard Nixon over Massachusetts Senator and fellow Democrat John F. Kennedy for president. This angered many in the Democratic Party.

Although municipal elections in California are non-partisan, the resources of the party were directed against him when he ran for mayor of Los Angeles the following year against incumbent Republican Norris Poulson. The bitter campaign was marked by Poulson's claim that Yorty was backed by members of organized crime, a comment that caused Yorty to sue Poulson for $3.3 million.

Yorty prevailed, however, running as a populist. He railed against "a little ruling clique" of "downtown interests" and promised to revise the city charter, which had become unwieldy with the city's growth from a quiet West Coast town to the third largest metropolis in the country. He was a strong advocate of expanding the freeway network. Perhaps his most popular promise was to end residents' sorting of wet and dry garbage; dry garbage was typically burned in backyard incinerators which contributed to the city's notorious smog. There had been two independent collections: wet garbage (including food waste), and bottles and cans; dry combustible trash was burned in incinerators until Los Angeles County ordered an end to backyard trash burning in 1957, when Poulson was still mayor. After that, there were three collections: wet garbage, bottles and cans, and dry garbage.

He made good on his waste management and highway promises, and oversaw the emergence of Los Angeles as a major city. He was a backer of the Los Angeles Music Center, business districts such as Little Tokyo, and of the Los Angeles Zoo. He also made frequent appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, which boosted his popularity. At the same time, he was a passionate anti-Communist, a critic of the Civil Rights Movement, and an outspoken opponent of desegregation busing and feminism.

In 1965, Yorty was reelected over Democratic Congressman James Roosevelt, son of the late President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Roosevelt's campaign put up hundreds of billboards, handed out bales of bumper stickers and buttons, appeared often on television with 15-minute and half-hour shows, and was featured in so many other spots that his large presence in electronic media was criticized. Roosevelt's campaign cost around $450,000, but Yorty spent less than half that amount. Roosevelt called Yorty a stooge of Democrat Jesse "Big Daddy" Unruh, the controversial California Assembly speaker. He attacked Yorty's membership in a segregated private club and repeatedly criticized Yorty for having a bad temper. The often-irascible Yorty held his temper throughout the campaign, seeming almost cool in contrast to Roosevelt. He pointed to the fact that he had cut city taxes, streamlined city government and improved garbage pickups. He outpolled Roosevelt 392,775 (57.9 percent) to 247,313 (36.5 percent), with the remainder of votes going to six other candidates on the ballot.

Although Yorty was the first mayor to have a female deputy, Marion W. La Follette, and the first to have a racially integrated staff, his appeal did not extend to most of the city's large African-American population. Disaffection with high unemployment and racism contributed to the Watts Riots of August 11–17, 1965. Yorty's administration was criticized for failing to cooperate with efforts to improve conditions in neighborhoods such as Watts, but he accused other leaders of raising false hopes and of action by Communist agitators, having always categorically rejected any criticism of the city's police or fire departments.

After the riots, Yorty challenged incumbent Democratic Governor Edmund G. (Pat) Brown in the 1966 gubernatorial primary. He received 981,088 votes (37.6%) to Brown's 1,355,262 (51.9). Yorty's politics shifted toward the right. This change became evident when he joined the election-night celebration of Brown's successful opponent, Ronald W. Reagan. Yorty went to Vietnam to support the American troops and was thereafter dubbed "Saigon Sam" by his liberal opponents.

In 1967, Yorty was forced to deal with scandal after the Los Angeles Times published an exposé on the city's harbor commission. The investigation led to the indictment and conviction of four city commissioners for bribery, while another was found dead in Los Angeles Harbor. The newspaper, which had long feuded with the mayor, noted that all of the individuals had been appointed by Yorty.

Support among the white middle classes fell after Yorty was embroiled in the controversy following the 1968 assassination of Robert F. Kennedy at the Ambassador Hotel. Yorty outraged prosecutors in the case by freely commenting on the evidence. Kennedy had told his supporters only moments before he was shot, "Mayor Yorty has just sent me a message that we've been here too long already."

During the fall of 1968, Yorty refused to endorse Democratic presidential candidate Hubert Humphrey. The strategy behind this approach was that Yorty would be rewarded with a cabinet post by Richard Nixon for his lack of support of Humphrey, but Nixon declined to offer him a position in the new administration. Continuing their adversarial relationship, the Times published an editorial cartoon by Paul Conrad lampooning this failure and Yorty responded with an unsuccessful lawsuit.

In the 1969 mayoral primary, Yorty's popularity slipped well below that of Los Angeles City Council member Tom Bradley.  The ensuing campaign between Yorty and Bradley, directed for Yorty by Henry Salvatori, proved one of the most bitter in the city's history. Yorty painted his opponent as a dangerous radical, alternately of the black power or Communist revolutionary varieties. The charges were not plausible since Bradley had spent much of his career in the Los Angeles Police Department, but they resonated among fearful voters, and Yorty was re-elected.

Despite winning another four years, Yorty showed obvious signs of boredom in his position. He ran again for governor in 1970 but was handily defeated in the Democratic primary by State Assembly Speaker Jesse Unruh, 1,602,690 (61.4 percent) to 659,494 (26.3 percent). Unruh in turn was defeated by Reagan, who secured his second term as governor by a narrower margin than his 1966 majority over Pat Brown. Yorty began to leave all but the most important decisions to his staff.

After spending almost 40 percent of his time away from Los Angeles during the last half of 1971, Yorty announced on November 15 of that year that he was running for the Democratic nomination for President in 1972. Yorty had received strong support from influential New Hampshire publisher William Loeb, stating that President Nixon had "caved in" to anti-war senators and that he had never agreed with the government's policy on the war. In response to the question of what he would do, Yorty noted that Dwight Eisenhower had helped bring an end to the Korean War by threatening to use nuclear weapons.

However, Yorty received just six percent of the vote in the New Hampshire primary and was never able to gain any momentum in his bid for the nomination. He finally ended his bid shortly before the California primary in June 1972, asking voters to support Humphrey because of the "radical" nature of anti-Vietnam War candidate George McGovern. Yorty picked up the support of a young Louisiana delegate to the Democratic convention, Louis E. "Woody" Jenkins. After McGovern won the Democratic nomination for president, Yorty began to support Republicans.

In 1973, Bradley soundly defeated Yorty in a rematch of their 1969 race. In 1974, he ran fourth in another bid for governor in the Democratic primary, far behind then-Secretary of State Jerry Brown, son of Pat Brown.

Later career
After leaving office, Yorty hosted a talk show on KCOP-TV for five years, later complaining that he was canceled in favor of the television program Hee Haw. After leaving work on the small screen, he returned to the political arena, but failed in a comeback bid for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate in 1980, having been defeated by the conservative Paul Gann, who in turn was badly beaten by incumbent liberal Democrat Alan Cranston. In 1981, Yorty failed again in a bid to unseat Bradley.

Afterward, Yorty retired from public life, aside from being a rainmaker for several law firms. He suffered a stroke on May 24, 1998, then contracted pneumonia. After treatment at the Encino-Tarzana Regional Medical Center, he was sent to his Studio City, California home, where he died on the morning of June 5, the 30th anniversary of Robert Kennedy's assassination and three months before Yorty's old rival, Tom Bradley, died. Prior to his death, Yorty had told his wife that he wanted no funeral service.

See also
Eighty-second United States Congress
Eighty-third United States Congress
 Membership discrimination in California social clubs
Norris Poulson
Marguerite P. Justice, the second woman, and the first black woman to be named to the Los Angeles Police Commission, appointed by Yorty.
Tom Bradley
Watts Riots
 City Council President L.E. Timberlake, often the acting mayor while Yorty was away from the state

References

Further reading

External links
 Time: Mayor Yorty Cover, September 2, 1966
 "Yorty's Chortle", Time Magazine. April 16, 1965
 Author, Jennifer. "Sam Yorty Dead At 88", CNN, June 5, 1998
 Meyerson, Harold. "Sam Yorty, 1909-1998", LA Weekly, June 12, 1998 Sam Yorty, 1909-1998
 Pearson, Richard. "Combative Politician Sam Yorty Dies at 88", The Washington Post, June 7, 1998
Oral history interview on California politics Political advocacy and loyalty : oral history transcripts / and related material, 1977-1982
City of Los Angeles archives for the Yorty administration
Join California Sam Yorty

1909 births
1998 deaths
20th-century American politicians
California Democrats
California Republicans
Candidates in the 1964 United States presidential election
Candidates in the 1972 United States presidential election
Candidates in the 1981 United States elections
Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from California
Mayors of Los Angeles
Members of the California State Assembly
Members of the United States House of Representatives from California
Military personnel from California
People from Studio City, Los Angeles
Politicians from Lincoln, Nebraska
United States Army Air Forces officers
United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II

Sam Yorty