American Pharoah (foaled February 2, 2012) is a Thoroughbred racehorse who won the American Triple Crown and the Breeders' Cup Classic in 2015. He was the 12th Triple Crown winner in history, and in winning all four races, became the second horse to win the Grand Slam of Thoroughbred racing. The older "Grand Slam" was to win the Triple Crown and the Travers in one season, which began in 1875. Whirlaway with jockey Eddie Arcaro was the first horse to win the "Grand Slam" of Thoroughbred racing in 1941. The Grand Slam is also referred to as a Superfecta or Quadruple Crown.  He won the 2015 Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year and 2015 Champion three-year-old. In 2021 he was inducted into the American Racing Hall of Fame.  He was bred and owned throughout his racing career by Ahmed Zayat of Zayat Stables, trained by Bob Baffert, and ridden in most of his races by Victor Espinoza. He now stands at stud at Ashford Stud in Kentucky.

After finishing fifth in his track debut as a two-year-old, American Pharoah won his next two races, the Grade I Del Mar Futurity and FrontRunner Stakes, each by several lengths. An injury kept him out of the Breeders' Cup Juvenile, but the strength of his two wins nonetheless resulted in his being voted American Champion Two-Year-Old Male Horse at the 2014 Eclipse Awards. Before the 2015 season began, Zayat had sold breeding rights to the colt to the Ashford Stud, a division of Ireland's Coolmore Stud. He retained control over the colt and his racing career, as well as an undisclosed dividend on stud fees.

American Pharoah began his 2015 campaign with wins in the Rebel Stakes and Arkansas Derby and went on to win the 2015 Kentucky Derby and 2015 Preakness Stakes. He won the Triple Crown in a wire-to-wire victory at the 2015 Belmont Stakes, becoming the first American Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978 and the 12th in history. His winning time was the second-fastest for a Triple Crown winner.  He next shipped to Monmouth Park and easily won the Haskell Invitational on August 2. Three weeks later, he finished a close second in a hard-fought Travers Stakes at Saratoga Race Course on August 29, 2015, snapping a winning streak of eight races. After a layoff of two months, he shipped to Keeneland for the 2015 Breeders' Cup and ran in the Breeders' Cup Classic, where he challenged older horses for the first time and won by 6½ lengths, breaking the track record.

At the conclusion of his 2015 racing year, American Pharoah was retired to stud, per the agreement between Zayat and Ashford.

Background
American Pharoah is a bay colt with a faint star on his forehead and no other white markings. He is from the second crop of foals sired by  the Nile, who finished second in the 2009 Kentucky Derby. The stallion's first crop included Holy Bull Stakes winner Cairo Prince, and Social Inclusion, who finished third in the 2014 Preakness Stakes. American Pharoah's dam, Littleprincessemma, was purchased by Zayat in 2007 for $250,000. She raced but did not win either of her two starts in 2008. American Pharoah was her second foal, following allowance race winner Xixixi.  Since his birth, she had produced two more full siblings to American Pharoah: a filly born in 2014, and a colt, foaled in 2015 after she sold—in foal to  the Nile—in November 2014 for $2.1 million.

American Pharoah was bred in Kentucky by his owner, Ahmed Zayat, CEO of Zayat Stables, LLC, and was born at 11 p.m. on Groundhog Day,  February 2, 2012, at Tom VanMeter's Stockplace Farm in Lexington, Kentucky. When he was a few days old, he and Littleprincessemma went to nearby Pretty Run Farm, also owned by VanMeter, where they remained for a few months. Later, the mare and foal were moved to Vinery, another Lexington farm where  the Nile was stabled. There, American Pharoah was weaned at five months of age, and stood out from the other weanlings due to his conformation and good temperament.

In January 2013 as a yearling, he went to Taylor Made Farm near Nicholasville, Kentucky, and began to be prepared for possible sale. In August 2013, American Pharoah was consigned by the Taylor Made Sales Agency to the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Yearling sale. A few weeks before the auction, American Pharoah bumped his leg and had a small lump that was visible to potential buyers at the sale, which may have discouraged bidders. He was officially purchased for the posted minimum of $300,000 by Ingordo Bloodstock, acting as an agent for Zayat, who in effect bought back his own horse. Zayat had pledged that he would not sell the promising but untested colt for less than $1 million. Zayat similarly bought back  the Nile, American Pharoah's sire, for $290,000 in a 2007 yearling auction.

"We felt that he had brilliance in him", said Zayat of American Pharoah, "his demeanor, his aura, his conformation, the way he moved." Following the auction, the horse first went to Florida and was started under saddle at the McKathan Brothers Training Center near Citra, where trainer J.B. McKathan said, "He just did everything right." Once he was ready to begin race conditioning, he went into training with Hall of Fame inductee Bob Baffert in the spring of 2014.

He was described in 2014 as a ridgling, rather than a colt, meaning that he had an undescended testicle. The 2013 catalogue for his yearling Fasig-Tipton sale listed him as a "colt", and he was described that way again in 2015. Zayat maintained the "ridgling" designation was an error: "he was always a colt."

In 2015, Baffert noted American Pharoah's smooth and distinctively long stride: "I've never had a horse that moves or travels over the ground like he does." The horse also had a short tail during his two- and three-year-old seasons—it was apparently chewed off by another horse. It is theorized that Mr. Z, a fellow competitor and Zayat-bred colt, may have been the culprit; the pair were kept together in Florida as younger horses. Trainer Baffert had a more colorful theory: "I think he was in the pasture one day and there was a mountain lion chasing him—that was the closest he could get ..."

American Pharoah's gentle demeanor is also distinctive, in that he appears fond of people and, particularly for a young racehorse, surprisingly calm around them. As Baffert explained, "Horses of his caliber are not that nice and sweet. They're just sort of tough. If I brought Bayern out here, you can't get near him, he's too aggressive. [American Pharoah]'s just so different than any horse I've ever had." He was not always so calm, described initially as "a little bit of a headcase", but Baffert explained that after his anxiety-ridden first race, people worked with him, schooling him in the track paddock for about two weeks, when "all the sudden he got really sweet and really mellow." That said, United States Vice President Mike Pence alleged that American Pharoah had bit him in 2018, after becoming a breeding stallion. However, a manager for American Pharoah's breeding company denied the allegation.

Name
American Pharoah's name is inspired by that of his sire,  the Nile, and his dam's sire, Yankee Gentleman. The horse's name also acknowledges Zayat's own Egyptian-American background. The misspelling of "Pharaoh" is permanent, but inadvertent. Zayat originally claimed that the spelling was the result of an error by the Jockey Club, but the organization's president stated, "The name request for the 2012 colt American Pharoah was submitted electronically on January 25, 2014, through the Jockey Club's interactive registration site. Since the name met all of the criteria for naming and was available, it was granted exactly as it was spelled on the digital name application." Zayat later retracted his statement.

Zayat's wife, Joanne, offered another explanation for the name's origins to a local news reporter just before the Preakness. Zayat's son, Justin, ran a contest on social media in which fans could submit names for the horse. The winning entry had "Pharaoh" misspelled, she said. "Justin cut and pasted the name from [the winner's] email, and sent it to the Jockey Club." Marsha Baumgartner of Barnett, Missouri, who submitted the winning entry, told The New York Times, "I don't want to assign blame", but "I looked up the spelling before I entered."  Nonetheless, Baumgartner minimized the controversy, stating, "Horses can't spell, anyway." Ultimately, Justin Zayat accepted responsibility for the error, stating, "I didn't happen to realize at the time that it was misspelled wrong ... Most English teachers in the world now are unhappy with me, but I'll live with that."

Due to the winning record of American Pharoah, the Jockey Club has now reserved both spellings so another horse cannot be similarly named. The Triple Crown blanket awarded to American Pharoah after his Belmont win inadvertently used the correct spelling of "pharaoh", and hence misspelled his name.

Racing career

2014: two-year-old season

American Pharoah made his track debut in a maiden race over six and a half furlongs on the Polytrack surface at Del Mar Racetrack on August 9. Ridden by Martin Garcia, he started as the 7–5 favorite against eight opponents. He became unsettled before the race and, after running in second place until the stretch, faded to finish fifth behind Om, Iron Fist, One Lucky Dane, and Calculator, more than nine lengths behind the winner. He ran in a blinker hood, which appeared to unnerve him, as did the commotion in the saddling paddock. Baffert addressed his anxiety issues by removing the hood and stuffing cotton in the horse's ears for subsequent races.

Despite his defeat, American Pharoah was moved up to Grade I class for the Del Mar Futurity over seven furlongs on September 3. He was ridden by Victor Espinoza for the first time and started as the 3.2–1 second favorite behind Best Pal Stakes winner Skyway, with Calculator and Iron Fist also in the field. American Pharoah took the lead from the start and went clear in the straight to win by four and three quarter lengths from Calculator, with a gap of more than eight lengths back to Iron Fist in third. Commenting on the colt's improvement, Baffert said, "We took the blinkers off, put cotton in his ears and schooled him a lot. He trained well, we decided he was ready and we put him in there. Today, he behaved himself and showed what he could do. He did what we thought he'd do the first time."

On September 27, American Pharoah was made the 1–2 favorite for the Grade I FrontRunner Stakes over eight and a half furlongs at Santa Anita Park. As in his previous race, he was immediately sent to the front by Espinoza and stayed there, pulling away from his rivals in the straight to win by three and a quarter lengths over Calculator, with Texas Red a length and a half away in third. After the race, Espinoza explained how the colt moved: "All the way he was on a high cruising speed. He has such a long stride. He moves really nice and is light on his feet." Baffert said, "I can't believe his demeanor, how he has changed since his first out. He's so professional. He's really mentally there."

American Pharoah was scheduled to run in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita on November 1 but was scratched from the race after sustaining a "deep bruise" to his left front foot in a workout on October 27. After this injury, he was fitted with a special horseshoe. His farrier, Wes Champagne, placed a thin sheet of aluminum alloy over a regular racing horseshoe and cut it to match the dimensions of the shoe, leaving the front two-thirds of the hoof sole exposed, but creating a solid plate across the back that covered part of American Pharoah's heels and part of his frog. Champagne varied the design slightly depending on the tracks and races American Pharoah would run, but used the same basic concept throughout the Triple Crown series.

Even though he did not run in the Breeders' Cup, for the 2014 Eclipse Awards, American Pharoah was voted American Champion Two-Year-Old Male Horse, beating Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner Texas Red by 126 votes to 111.

2015: three-year-old season
Five and a half months after his last start, American Pharoah began his second season in the Grade II Rebel Stakes on a sloppy track at Oaklawn Park on March 14. He carried top weight of 119 pounds and started as the 2–5 favorite against six opponents, headed by the Todd Pletcher-trained Madefromlucky. The colt led from the start and drew away in the closing stages to win by six and a quarter lengths. Espinoza called the winner "an amazing horse", while Baffert was satisfied with the run, especially as the colt returned with a twisted shoe which would have hampered his progress. Four weeks later at the same track, American Pharoah started as the odds-on favorite against seven opponents in the Grade I Arkansas Derby. After racing in second place behind outsider Bridget's Big Luvy, he took the lead a quarter of a mile from the finish and steadily increased his advantage to win by eight lengths from Southwest Stakes winner Far Right. Baffert noted, "He's matured substantially. He's a good horse and he keeps moving forward. I don't want to get ahead of myself, but Dortmund is another one who we don't yet know how good he is. We've got a one-two punch and that's a good position to be in." After the race, Ron Moquett, the trainer of runner-up Far Right, described American Pharoah as "a superhorse".

Kentucky Derby
On May 2, American Pharoah started as the 2.9–1 favorite in an eighteen-runner field for the 141st running of the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs. His opponents included Dortmund, winner of the Santa Anita Derby; Carpe Diem, who won the Breeders' Futurity Stakes and Blue Grass Stakes; Firing Line, winner of the Sunland Derby; Wood Memorial winner Frosted; Florida Derby winner Materiality; international entry Mubtaahij, who earned his way to Kentucky with a win in the UAE Derby; and Upstart, winner of the Holy Bull Stakes. The crowd surrounding the horse during the walk-over from the barns to the paddock upset American Pharoah, and several grooms were required to keep him under control. He continued to misbehave until he was loaded into the starting gate; his connections and supporters worried that he was using up energy he needed for the race.

Espinoza positioned the colt in third place early in the race as Dortmund took the lead, followed closely by Firing Line. The three remained ahead of the pack throughout the race, and broke clear of their rivals entering the straightaway with American Pharoah making a forward move on the outside. The favorite took the lead entering the final furlong and won by a length from Firing Line and Dortmund in 2:03.02, with Frosted finishing strongly in fourth. Espinoza, who won the race for the third time, said, "I feel like the luckiest Mexican on earth. He has been a special horse since the first time I rode him. He has a lot of talent and is an unbelievable horse. Turning for home I started riding a little bit harder. At the eighth pole I just couldn't put that other horse away, but he got it done." Espinoza's performance attracted some scrutiny as he appeared to have struck the winner 32 times with his whip during the race. In post-race analysis, one of the stewards at Churchill Downs said, "we watched [the race replay] many, many times prior to making it official, and that wasn't anything that got our attention." Baffert said, "He was hitting him on the saddle towel. He doesn't hit that hard." Gary Stevens, rider of second-place Firing Line, commented that he had used his whip heavily as well, stating that the race was "as tough a race as I've been in in 20 years the last eighth of a mile."  The Blood-Horse writer Steve Haskin, while condemning whip overuse in general, offered analysis that Espinoza "did a lot of waving with the whip" and may not have actually hit the horse as many times as it seemed. Reflecting on the race, Baffert said that the colt did not bring his "super A-game" to the Derby and that it was the first time American Pharoah had really been tested by other aggressive horses.

Preakness Stakes

Two weeks after winning the Kentucky Derby, American Pharoah entered the second leg of the Triple Crown, the 2015 Preakness Stakes, run over nine and a half furlongs at Pimlico Race Course. Despite an unfavorable inside draw of the number one post position, he was installed as the morning line favorite ahead of Firing Line and Dortmund. No horse had won the Preakness starting from the rail since 1994. Immediately before post time, the weather changed to a heavy downpour with thunder. The last time the Preakness had been run on a sloppy track was in 1983, and American Pharoah was the only horse in the field to have previously faced similar conditions, having won the Rebel Stakes running in rain and mud.

American Pharoah had the lead within the first quarter-mile and was challenged by Mr. Z early on, but held the lead on the inside throughout the race. He was challenged by Dortmund and then Divining Rod, but American Pharoah broke from the pack in the homestretch and won by seven lengths, as Tale of Verve made a strong rally to overtake Divining Rod to place. Firing Line slipped badly at the start and was eased in the stretch. The winning time was 1:58.45. Espinoza did not use his whip at all in the Preakness, and stated, "I couldn't see how far I was in front because there was so much water in my eyes." The margin of victory was tied for the sixth-largest in Preakness history. The win by American Pharoah set up an attempt for the Triple Crown for the second straight year. It was also the second straight year that Espinoza had won both the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes and the jockey's third time winning both races.  For Baffert, it was the fourth time in 19 years that he won the first two Triple Crown races. Of the colt, Baffert said, "He brought his A-game today."

Belmont Stakes and Triple Crown
In the week following the Preakness, the Leverage Agency was named as the exclusive marketing, sponsorship, and licensing agents for the horse. The firm performed similar duties for California Chrome, the winner of the 2014 Derby and Preakness. The agency secured a deal with Monster Energy for an undisclosed sum, rumored to be the largest single-horse advertising sponsorship to date. The deal allowed the "Monster Girls" to be around the horse, and the product's logo to be used on the horse's horse sheets, on Espinoza's shirt collar, and on caps and other gear worn by people around the horse.

In the runup to the Belmont, Baffert chose to work the horse at Churchill Downs, and transport him late to Belmont Park without a timed workout at the New York track. While several prominent trainers questioned his decision, Baffert said it was more important to keep American Pharoah "happy" on a track he liked, having used a similar strategy with his 2001 Belmont Stakes winner, Point Given. Rival trainers Kiaran McLaughlin and D. Wayne Lukas backed Baffert's strategy; the former said, "I don't think it matters for American Pharoah. He could probably run down a street over broken glass." Appearing unperturbed but curious about a small crowd of well-wishers, American Pharoah arrived at Long Island MacArthur Airport on June 2, having traveled from Louisville, Kentucky, on a customized Boeing 727 dubbed "Air Horse One".

Three days before the race, American Pharoah's connections drew the number five post position. Pundits noted it was the same slot from which Seattle Slew had won the 1977 Belmont and the Triple Crown, and that 14 other Belmont winners had started from the position. American Pharoah was the 3–5 morning line favorite in an eight-horse field that included Tale of Verve, as well as five rivals from the Kentucky Derby who had skipped the Preakness, and one horse, Madefromlucky, who had not run either of the previous Triple Crown races, but, like Tonalist the previous year, had instead won the Peter Pan Stakes at Belmont Park. American Pharoah had previously defeated every horse entered, but he was also the only horse to contest all three legs of the Triple Crown and had run four races in the preceding eight weeks.

American Pharoah won the Belmont Stakes on June 6, becoming the 12th Triple Crown winner and the first since 1978, ending a "drought" of 37 years.  The horse was leaning back in the starting gate when it opened and was a touch late at the start, but he soon pulled out to an early lead, which he maintained for a gate-to-wire win. He steadily increased his lead throughout the race. He was challenged by Materiality until the top of the stretch when Materiality faded, ultimately finishing last, and Frosted held second although starting to fade at the sixteenth pole. Keen Ice ran in the middle of the pack until a late rally brought him into third over Mubtaahij, who was fourth. American Pharoah crossed the finish line leading by  lengths, with a winning time of 2:26.65 for the  race. His margin of victory was the fourth-largest ever for a Triple Crown winner at the Belmont.

Of the victory, Baffert said, "This little horse deserves it. There's something about this horse that he just brought it every time. He's a joy to be around." In a post-race interview, Zayat said that the colt's racing schedule for the remainder of the year would be decided by Baffert, and that the needs of the horse would come first. He also acknowledged the need for horse racing to have "stars" and for them to race as long as they could. Though American Pharoah's stud rights had been sold with plans to retire the horse at the end of 2015, Zayat expressed hope that the horse would continue racing as long as he was healthy and "has it in him". His winning time of 2:26.65 was the sixth-fastest in Belmont history, the second-fastest for a Triple Crown winner, and his closing quarter-mile was run in 24.32 seconds, which was over a half-second faster than Secretariat's final quarter-mile time of 25.00 when the 1973 winner set a world record and won by 31 lengths.

The following morning, the colt came out of the race tired but in good shape. When Baffert brought American Pharoah out of the Belmont Park barn, he invited the assembled media to come over and pet the horse. "I wanted to share him with everybody and show everybody how kind and sweet he is", said Baffert, while the group of about 30 people touched and even kissed the horse. The horse then posed quietly with Baffert and Espinoza to tape a segment for The Today Show, standing between the two men who were seated in folding director's chairs.

An estimated 22 million U.S. television viewers watched the live Belmont race broadcast. Of 94,237 winning $2 tickets sold at Belmont Park, each with a yield of $3.50 for American Pharoah's first-place finish, some 90,128 remained unredeemed several days after the race, most likely kept as race-day souvenirs or to be offered for sale at a premium by their purchasers.

Haskell Stakes
After the Belmont Stakes, American Pharoah returned to Churchill Downs to rest, beginning to jog on the track the following Friday. On June 13, the day of the Stephen Foster Handicap, American Pharoah was paraded on the track between races. A crowd of 30,000 people showed up to see him as he was hand-walked for about 45 minutes in front of the grandstand and in the paddock. Zayat, Baffert, and Espinoza were also given their permanent keepsake Kentucky Derby and Triple Crown trophies in a ceremony that evening. American Pharoah's popularity was so high that his win made the cover of Sports Illustrated, he was photographed for Vogue, and during the NBA Playoffs, the coach of the Golden State Warriors, Steve Kerr, suggested that American Pharoah was the only athlete better than LeBron James.

American Pharoah's next race was the Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park, New Jersey on August 2. Zayat wanted the horse's first race back be an easy race against other 3-year-olds, he wanted to race the horse in Zayat's home state of New Jersey, and he wanted to race on a Sunday to avoid a clash with the Jewish Sabbath. Zayat explained, "He can run anywhere ... as long as he's happy and healthy ... I told [Monmouth] ... 'I want to do it for the sport and not worry about the money and stuff." Nonetheless, Monmouth Park raised the purse money for the race from $1 million to $1.75 million. Zayat had previously won the Haskell with Paynter in 2012, and Baffert already held the record for the most Haskell wins, having seven previous victories. Over 60,000 people showed up at Monmouth Park, which featured the Bruce Springsteen song "Born to Run" in the post parade. Viewed as being in even better physical condition than in the Belmont, American Pharoah took the lead in the far turn and easily opened up a five-length lead over the six other horses in the race before Espinoza eased him back as second-place finisher Keen Ice made a strong finishing push. He won the race by  lengths with a time of 1:47.95 for the 9-furlong distance. Espinoza quipped, "He was having fun, and so was I."  Baffert said, "He just keeps bringing it; he's a great horse."

Travers Stakes defeat
American Pharoah's next start was the Travers Stakes at Saratoga on August 29. While Zayat wanted to enter the race, Baffert was reluctant. The race marked the second time in under a month that American Pharoah, training with Baffert in California, had flown across the country, raising concerns that the extensive air travel was taking a toll on the horse.  The only previous Triple Crown winner to win the Travers was Whirlaway in 1941, and two others, Gallant Fox and Affirmed, had been defeated there, helping give the track its nickname 'The Graveyard of Champions.' In five previous attempts, Baffert had one Travers win with Point Given in 2001. With American Pharoah training well, Baffert stated, "I've been looking for an excuse not to come (to the Travers), and I can't find one."

American Pharoah faced a field of 10 horses, most of whom, including Keen Ice, he had previously defeated.  Espinoza had concerns at the starting gate when he noticed that his mount was already sweating, even though the weather was not particularly hot.  While the horse led for much of the race, he was hard-pressed throughout by Frosted, a change from Frosted's previous stalking style, attributed to a rider change less than an hour before the race, when Jose Lezcano replaced an injured Joel Rosario, altering the complexion of the race. The unexpected tactics of Lezcano may have been decisive. Espinoza stated that he "knew he was in trouble" by the half-mile pole because American Pharoah did not pull away from his rival and lacked his usual energy. Frosted challenged American Pharoah for the lead at the far turn, and the horses bumped several times, but American Pharoah dug in and fought back when Frosted took a very brief lead. While American Pharoah fended off the challenge from Frosted, Keen Ice was coming up on the outside, also under a new jockey, Javier Castellano. They overtook American Pharoah at the sixteenth pole, going on to defeat him by three-quarters of a length. Once again the Saratoga track lived up to its reputation.

After the race, Espinoza said, "He's OK ... Maybe it was just a little too much for him those three weeks, flying back and forth. He was running pretty comfortable there, but not like he used to." Baffert was proud of the horse's fighting effort, stating "It was just guts."  Though Zayat talked of retiring the horse, Baffert said, "We knew we were doing the impossible, shipping him back and forth." The following day, Baffert said that American Pharoah was healthy and came out of the race in good shape. He said he had no regrets, stating, "I'm glad I brought him. Racing needed something like this. He almost pulled it off." Regarding Zayat's talk of retiring the horse, Baffert said, "Mr. Zayat is a very emotional man. We were all pretty disappointed ... I know (Zayat) will be going back and forth ... He's a sportsman for bringing him up here." Five days later, Zayat announced that the horse would be kept in training with the goal to run in the Breeders' Cup Classic, stating, "I believe there were a combination of factors that prevented American Pharoah from running his absolute best ... I have every confidence that he can run to his best again, and he deserves the chance to do so."

Breeders' Cup Classic
By winning the Breeders' Cup Classic at Keeneland on October 31, American Pharoah became the first horse in history to complete the Grand Slam of Thoroughbred racing: The Triple Crown plus the Breeders' Cup Classic. He also set a track record with a time of 2:00.07;
 and breaking the track record by more than five seconds. Challenging older horses such as Tonalist and Honor Code for the first time in his career, as well as previous rivals Keen Ice and Frosted, American Pharoah led from gate-to-wire, challenged only by Effinex, racing at 33–1 odds, who placed  lengths behind the winner.  Although American Pharoah's decisive victory secured a $2.75 million check for his win, Zayat had long insisted his horse continued to race only for the benefit of the sport and the pleasure of fans; "this horse owes us nothing", his son Justin Zayat said on the eve of the race. Joe Drape of The New York Times described American Pharoah's Keeneland win as "sealing his legacy as a horse for the ages".

American Pharoah finished 2015 having set a single season record for race earnings, winning $8,288,800. He broke the previous single season record of $7,563,535 set by Smarty Jones in 2004, and that record had included a $5 million bonus that is no longer awarded. His lifetime career earnings were $8,650,300. His Racing Post Rating (RPR) of 138 was the highest of any American horse since the Racing Post began the system in 1988, topping that of previous U.S. record-holders Ghostzapper and Cigar.  Only two horses worldwide had ever achieved higher ratings, Frankel at 143, and Dubai Millennium, with 139, both doing so as more mature four-year-olds. He was rated the number one horse in the world in 2015 by the World's Best Racehorse Rankings.

Awards
At the conclusion of the season, American Pharoah's accomplishments were named the top sports story of the year by the Associated Press.  He and his connections also swept most of the horse-racing world's year-end awards. At the 2015 Eclipse Awards, he was the unanimous choice for American Horse of the Year and Champion Three-Year-Old Male Horse. His win marked only the second time that an American Horse of the Year had been unanimously selected, the first being John Henry in 1981. He was named the winner of the Secretariat Vox Populi Award, and his Belmont win was declared the NTRA Moment of the Year.  His connections were given the Big Sport of Turfdom Award, an honor for people who "enhance coverage of Thoroughbred racing through cooperation with media and racing publicists." In addition, Baffert won the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Trainer and Zayat Stables took home the Eclipse awards for Outstanding Owner and Outstanding Breeder.  Acknowledging owner Ahmed Zayat's record of philanthropy to Jewish causes, the Jewish Daily Forward in November 2015 named American Pharoah its "plus one" on its annual list of 50 most influential American Jews. The major award that the horse did not win was the Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year. In spite of being the public's overwhelming favorite, earning 47% of the vote out of eleven candidates in online voting, topping the Kansas City Royals, Usain Bolt, and Novak Djokovic, the editors of the magazine gave the award to Serena Williams.

Statistics

Retirement
On May 20, 2015, The New York Times reported that Zayat had sold American Pharoah's breeding rights to Ashford Stud, a division of Ireland's Coolmore Stud, though he retained control over the colt and his racing career. Before the announcement, offers for American Pharoah's breeding rights had reportedly exceeded $20 million. After the Belmont, Forbes magazine reported that Zayat had actually sold the breeding rights to Ashford in late 2014, long before he began his Triple Crown run, and that Zayat retained 100% of the racing rights. Forbes went on to estimate that if American Pharoah stood for a $100,000 stud fee, he could be worth $50 million. More conservative estimates placed his potential stud fee at $75,000 and his potential value at about $25 to $36 million. The New York Times said that breeding rights had been sold for $13.8 million: $9.8 million with an additional $4 million incentive if American Pharoah won the Belmont Stakes. Zayat retained an undisclosed percentage in the colt's breeding career, and explained that American Pharoah would retire from racing at the end of 2015.

American Pharoah shipped to Ashford Stud on November 2, 2015, where he was housed in the stall once occupied by Grand Slam. He was pastured each morning next to the 23-year-old Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes winner Thunder Gulch, who was chosen for his calming influence on the young energetic stallion.  Ashford Stud set his initial stud fee for 2016 at $200,000, the second-highest stud fee in the United States, behind that of the $300,000 fee for Tapit. Sire  the Nile's stud fee of $60,000 in 2015 was raised to $125,000 for 2016.

Stud career
American Pharoah officially began breeding mares in February 2016, and was first bred to Untouched Talent, an 11-year-old mare owned by Coolmore, dam of Zayat's Bodemeister. Within the first two months of his breeding career, American Pharoah had about 80 mares in foal after about 100 breeding sessions. Notably, he has retained his kind disposition even as a breeding stallion.

On January 3, 2017, American Pharoah's first foal was born at Brookdale Farms. It was a bay colt out of the Tizway mare, Kakadu. The foal was described as having his sire's calm but bold personality. On January 15 at Coolmore Stud, the mare Untouched Talent produced his first filly.  In March, Coolmore announced that the stallion would shuttle to stand at Coolmore Australia for the breeding season in the southern hemisphere, which begins in July, then return to America at the end of the year.

American Pharoah's first crop of foals sold well at the November 2017 Fasig-Tipton and Keeneland Sales, including a weanling filly who brought $1 million. Purchasers commented that his offspring at the sale inherited his efficiency of movement.

On April 13, 2019, Monarch of Egypt became American Pharoah's first winner, taking a maiden race at Naas Racecourse in Ireland. On April 19, Maven was American Pharoah's first North American winner. Maven then shipped to Europe, where he became the first stakes winner for his sire by taking the Prix du Bois at Chantilly Racecourse. American Pharoah sired three entries in the 2019 Breeders' Cup, with Four Wheel Drive winning the Juvenile Turf Sprint. Harvey's Lil Goil became his first Grade I winner when she won the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Stakes at Keeneland in October 2020, and later that month Van Gogh won the Critérium International to give the stallion his first Group 1 winner in Europe. American Pharoah had a Grade 1 winner in Japan on February 21, 2021, when Cafe Pharoah won the February Stakes.

In 2022 Coolmore announced that American Pharoah would not shuttle to Australia.

Notable progeny
c = colt, f = filly, g = gelding

Legacy and honors

In 2016, Oaklawn president Charles Cella commissioned Philadelphia sculptor James Peniston to create a life-sized bronze sculpture of American Pharoah and jockey Victor Espinoza. In preparation for sculpting, Peniston visited and photographed the horse with the permission of trainer Bob Baffert. The sculpture was cast in 2017 at Laran Bronze outside Philadelphia and installed on January 11, 2018, at the Oaklawn racetrack in Hot Springs, Arkansas. One newspaper wrote, "James Peniston's full-scale, full-stride statue of American Pharoah [is] a perfect duplicate — down to its bulging muscles and veins — of the 3-year-old colt as he carried himself and jockey Victor Espinoza in the winter and spring of 2015 toward Triple Crown glory."

In 2021, American Pharoah was inducted into the US Horse Racing Hall of Fame.

Pedigree
American Pharoah's pedigree includes horses adept at classic race distances on his sire's side and endowed with speed on his dam's side. Sire  the Nile won the Santa Anita Derby and ran second in the 2009 Kentucky Derby, with all of his wins at distances of  miles or more. Prior to American Pharoah, Pioneerof the Nile had sired five other winners of stakes races of a mile or more in his relatively new career as a stallion. Trainer Bob Baffert observed that Pioneerof the Nile also raced with "a big, long stride" and had "that same springing motion as American Pharoah, whose acceleration is pretty remarkable." He also praised Pioneerof the Nile's dam, Star of Goshen: "She was a freaky filly, really, really fast." To Baffert, American Pharoah's bloodline is a source of fascination: "Every time I work him, I go back and look at the pedigree, and I go, What is going on here?"

Pioneerof the Nile's sire is Empire Maker, who won the 2003 Belmont Stakes. This makes American Pharoah a great-grandson of Unbridled, who won the 1990 Kentucky Derby and the Breeders' Cup Classic. He carries lines to Grade I champions Toussaud and Fappiano, and to the top-rated European two- and three-year-old colt of 1983 and 1984, El Gran Senor. He is also descended from Northern Dancer, Buckpasser, and Mr. Prospector—whose descendants have won 43 Triple Crown races, all via Empire Maker. Ultimately, via Unbridled and his ancestors, American Pharoah's sire line traces to the Darley Arabian.

Although Littleprincessemma, American Pharoah's dam, is the half-sister to graded stakes winner Storm Wolf, and to Misty Rosette, winner of the Old Hat Stakes in 2006, her own undistinguished racing career, combined with the modest record of her sire, Yankee Gentleman, dampened initial public expectations for her second-born foal. Yet American Pharoah's maternal bloodline includes Storm Cat, a Grade I winner retired early due to injury, Northern Dancer, a Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner, and Terlingua, a celebrated broodmare, through whom he is a fifth-generation descendant of Secretariat. He is also descended through his dam from Flying Paster, a Grade I champion who was 1978 California Horse of the Year, and Exclusive Native (sire of Affirmed and Genuine Risk). Through both sire and dam, American Pharoah is a fifth- and sixth-generation descendant of Bold Ruler, as well as a sixth- and seventh-generation descendant of Tom Fool, one of the top thoroughbreds of the last century. His tail-female line traces back to The Oldfield Mare, foaled circa 1695.

Figuring prominently and repeatedly in American Pharoah's deep lineage is an earlier generation of champions, including Nasrullah, Native Dancer, Nearco, Princequillo, War Admiral and Man o' War.

See also
 List of racehorses

Notes

References

External links

2012 racehorse births
American Grade 1 Stakes winners
Belmont Stakes winners
Eclipse Award winners
Kentucky Derby winners
Preakness Stakes winners
Racehorses bred in Kentucky
Racehorses trained in the United States
Horse racing track record setters
Thoroughbred family 14
Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing winners
United States Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame inductees
Breeders' Cup Classic winners
American Thoroughbred Horse of the Year
Articles containing video clips
Horse monuments

American Pharoah


L.A. Without a Map, also known as Los Angeles Without a Map and I Love L.A. is a 1998 French British Finnish Luxembourgian romantic comedy-drama movie directed by Mika Kaurismäki and was based on the 1988 semi-authobigraphical novel of the same name by Richard Rayner. It stars David Tennant, Vinessa Shaw, Julie Delpy, Vincent Gallo, Cameron Bancroft, Amanda Plummer, Steve Huison, Saskia Reeves, Robert Davi, Malcolm Tinney, Jerzy Skolimowski.

Other websites

1998 comedy-drama movies
1998 romantic comedy movies
1998 romantic drama movies
1990s road movies
French romance movies
French comedy movies
French drama movies
British romantic comedy movies
British romantic drama movies
Finnish movies
Luxembourgian movies
Movies directed by Mika Kaurismäki
Movies set in Los Angeles

L.A. Without a Map


was the 28th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession.  Historians consider details about the life of Emperor Senka to be possibly legendary, but probable.  The name Senka-tennō was created for him posthumously by later generations.

No certain dates can be assigned to this emperor's life or reign.  The conventionally accepted names and sequence of the early emperors were not to be confirmed as "traditional" until the reign of Emperor Kammu, who was the 50th monarch of the Yamato dynasty.

Traditional history
According to Kojiki, Senka was a son of Emperor Keitai.

When Emperor Ankan died childless, the throne passed to his brother Senka.

Events of Senka's life
Very little is known about the events of Senka's life and reign.  Only limited information is available for study prior to the reign of the 29th monarch, Emperor Kimmei.

During this reign, Soga no Iname became the first verifiable "Great Minister" or Omi (also identified as Ō-omi).

The reign of Emperor Senka lasted for three years.

After his death
This emperor's official name after his death (his posthumous name) was regularized many centuries after the lifetime which was ascribed to Senka.

According to the Imperial Household Agency, the emperor's final resting place is in an earthen tumulus (kofun). Senka is venerated at a memorial Shinto shrine (misasagi) which is associated with the burial mound.

Related pages
 Emperor of Japan
 List of emperors of Japan
 Japanese imperial family tree
 Kofun period

References

Emperors of Japan

Emperor Senka


Walter Simons (24 September 1861 – 14 July 1937) was a German lawyer and politician. He was Foreign Minister of the Weimar Republic in 1920-21 and served as president of the Reichsgericht from 1922 to 1929.

Early life
Walter Simons was born on 24 September 1861 at Elberfeld (today Wuppertal) in the Prussian Rhine Province. His family were Huguenots who had come to the Rhineland after 1685. Walter's father was Ludwig Simons (1831-1905), a silk manufacturer. His mother was Helene Simons née Kyllmann (1842-1916).

Walter Simons attended a Gymnasium at Elberfeld and attained the Abitur in 1879. He went on to study law, economics and history at Strasbourg, Leipzig and Bonn. Rudolph Sohm had an important influence on him. In 1882, he passed the Referendarexamen and then served in the military. In 1888, he passed the Prussian Assessorexamen and then served as an assistant judge at Bonn and Solingen. He married Erna Rühle (1870-1954) at Solingen in 1890. They had three sons and four daughters.

Civil service career
In 1893, Simons became Amtsgerichtsrat (judge) at Velbert. From 1897 to 1905, he was Landgerichtsrat at the Gemeinschaftliche Landgericht of Thuringia at Meiningen. In 1905, he went to Kiel where he worked at the Oberlandesgericht, but left that same year to work as a clerk at the Reichsjustizamt at Berlin.

In 1907, Simons was promoted to Geheimer Regierungsrat and Vortragender Rat, responsible for international law. He represented the Reich at several international conferences and in 1911 moved to the Auswärtige Amt (Foreign Office) where he became Geheimer Legationsrat and Justitiar. In 1917, he was promoted to Wirklicher Geheimer Rat and in 1918 participated in the negotiations at Brest-Litovsk. On 15 October 1918, shortly before the German Revolution of 1918-19, chancellor Max von Baden made him advisor to the Reichskanzler on issues of international law. He was close to the chancellor and was an important influence on the reform of the German constitution of 1871 known as the Oktoberreformen which strengthened the position of the Reichstag. He also worked on plans to have Wilhelm II resign in favour of a relative and participated in negotiations at the Reichsamt des Innern (Interior Ministry) about a new constitution.

In November 1918, Simons became Ministerialdirektor and head of the law department at the Foreign Office. In 1919, as a close staff member of Foreign Minister Ulrich von Brockdorff-Rantzau he was Unterstaatssekretär  and Generalkommissar of the German delegation at Versailles.

Since he opposed German signature of the Treaty, Simons resigned his post (einstweiliger Ruhestand) and became managing director of the Reichsverband der deutschen Industrie (the industrialists' association). In 1920, he resigned from the Pan-German League where he had served on the executive board in 1903–1907.

Political career
Simons, who never joined a political party, served from June 1920 to May 1921 in the Fehrenbach cabinet as Foreign Minister and was the Reich representative at the Spa Conference and the .

From January to May 1922, Simons was delegate at the German-Polish negotiations on Upper Silesia. In 1922, he founded the so-called SeSiSo-Kreis named after co-founders Hans von Seeckt, Simons and Wilhelm Solf, a salon meeting at the Hotel Kaiserhof in Berlin.

In the 1920s, Simons also chaired the family trust of the Moltke family, which included ownership of the Kreisau estate that was later to give its name to the Kreisau Circle of dissidents against Nazi rule.

President of the Reichsgericht
On 1 October 1922, Simons was appointed president of the Reichsgericht at Leipzig on the suggestion of Reichspräsident Friedrich Ebert. After Ebert's death in 1925, Simons temporarily served as acting head of state before the swearing in of Paul von Hindenburg.

Simons himself was suggested as a potential candidate for Reichspräsident after the first round of voting had failed to yield an outright winner. However, he refused to be nominated.

From 1922 to 1926, Simons was president of the I. Zivilsenat and from 1926 to 1929 president of the III. Strafsenat. He was also president of the Staatsgerichtshof für das Deutsche Reich. He was attacked by the SPD for his criticism of judges being members of the SPD or the Republikanischen Richterbund, an association of judges which was close to the party. Simons opposed a separate Reichsverwaltungsgericht (administrative court) and was highly critical of the Kartellgericht established in 1923 at the Reichswirtschaftsgericht, accusing it of inappropriate hostility towards cartels.

After a conflict with president Hindenburg and the government of Hermann Müller concerning the appointment of members of the board of directors at the Reichsbahn in 1928, Simons resigned in 1929.

Further career
Since 1926, Simons had been honorary professor for international law at the University of Leipzig and president of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Völkerrecht. He was also active and influential in the Lutheran church, as the first non-theologian to be president of the Evangelisch-sozialer Kongresses (Evangelical Social Congress, 1925–1936) and member of the Deutsche Evangelischer Kirchenausschuss (German Evangelical Church Commission, after 1930). In 1920, he had co-founded the Deutsche Hochschule für Politik at Berlin (and was a long-standing board member). In 1929/30, Simons was appointed as a teacher of national and international law at the Handelshochschule Berlin.

After the Nazis seized power in 1933, Simons was active only in the church and in the Neue Bachgesellschaft honouring Johann Sebastian Bach (where he was president since 1930). Some public statements, such as on occasion of the Bach anniversary in 1935 and late publications on international law indicate some support for the policies of the NSDAP and for German as well as Italian foreign policy (in the Abyssinia Crisis) and for the Falange in Spain.

Simons died at  Neubabelsberg/Potsdam on 14 July 1937. He was the father of , father-in-law of Ernst Rudolf Huber and grandfather of Wolfgang Huber. Simons is buried at the {{Interlanguage link multi|Wilmersdorfer Waldfriedhof|de|3=Wilmersdorfer Waldfriedhof Stahnsdorf}}.

Awards
 1931 Adlerschild des Deutschen Reiches (Eagle Shield of the German Reich)

Selected works
 Christentum und Verbrechen (Christianity and Crime), 1925
 Religion und Recht (Religion and Law) (Lectures held at Uppsala University), Berlin-Tempelhof 1936
 Kirchenvolk und Staatsvolk, Leipziger rechtswissenschaftliche Studien Bd. 100, Leipzig 1937

References

External links

 Genealogy FactGrid Item:Q17814

|-

1861 births
1937 deaths
German Lutherans
Independent politicians in Germany
Politicians from Wuppertal
People from the Rhine Province
Foreign Ministers of Germany
20th-century German judges
Acting heads of state of Germany
19th-century German judges

Walter Simons


After World War II, Hu Zongnan battled the Chinese Communist Party and in the early stage of the struggle, was successful in the Battle of Yan'an capturing Yan'an, the capital of the communist base in Shaanxi.

Yan'an became the capital of the Chinese Communist Party after the Xian Incident in 1936.  It became famous in this role during the Sino-Japanese War and throughout World War II, until its capture in 1947. (Before taking over Yan'an, Mao had been based at Bao'an.)

In 1947, there was only minimal communist resistance, as most of the communists had already fled in advance in a strategic withdrawal to lure Hu to the Northwest.

With the outbreak of full-scale civil war between the Communists and Nationalists in early 1947, Xi Zhongxun
remained in northwestern China to coordinate the protection and then recapture of the Yan'an Soviet Area.[2] As political commissar, Xi and commander Zhang Zongxun defeated the Nationalists west of Yan'an at the Battle of Xihuachi in March 1947.[2] After Yan'an fell to Hu Zongnan on March 19, 1947, Xi worked on the staff of Peng Dehuai in the battles to retake Yan'an and capture northwest China.

Many high-level Communist leaders were forced to flee their lost capital, and Chiang Kai-shek declared final victory.

KMT forces were only able to hold Yan'an for about a week, and PLA forces rapidly recaptured it. The KMT commitment to conventional-style warfare with a focus on capturing fixed political capitals as objectives, immobilized a large KMT army in the useless Northwest front, making them impotent for the more important mobile campaigns in the East.

The famous picture of Mao, often erroneously attributed to the Long March, is actually of Mao leading the march to Northern Shaanxi in 1947.

See also
List of battles of the Chinese Civil War
National Revolutionary Army
History of the People's Liberation Army
Chinese Civil War

References

Conflicts in 1946
Conflicts in 1947
Battles of the Chinese Civil War
1946 in China
1947 in China

Battle of Yan'an


The Fundación Mujeres en Igualdad (MEI), known in English as the Women in Equality Foundation, is an Argentine NGO created in March 1990. It has been awarded consultative status with United Nations ECOSOC. The foundation sets out to combat gender-based violence and discrimination against women by promoting welfare, participation, and empowerment in the political, economic, social and cultural spheres. From its inception Women in Equality promoted the use of the new technologies intensively, being the first women's NGO in Argentina to have a website. Through such initiatives, it has networked and created partnerships with NGOs and with the women's movement both at the national and international levels.

Structure
Mujeres en Igualdad Foundation has its offices in Florida, Province of Buenos Aires. The founder of Women in Equality was Zita Montes de Oca, with Monique Thiteux-Altschul as its executive director.

Fields of advocacy
 LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights): "For the human rights of the LGBT community" Project, sponsored by the Embassy of the United States of America in Buenos Aires.
 Gender violence: "Seven voices against gender-based violence" Project, coordinated by MEI and executed with the Office of Domestic Violence, the Office of Women in the Argentine Supreme Court of Justice, and the Women Judges Association of Argentina, with the Office of Victims against Violence of the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, Vital Voices of Argentina and the Avon Foundation. With the support of the International Avon Foundation and Vital Voices Partnership.
 Clothes sizes law in Argentina: Mujeres en Igualdad was and is a consultant for National and Provincial laws on clothes sizes, and organizes monitoring and broadcasting campaigns.
 Gender and corruption: : Mujeres en Igualdad participated in the 1st Encuentro del Comité de Estrategia de la Coordinación de la Coalición UNCAC (United Nations Convention against Corruption) held in Vienna in June 2014 and became Regional Site for the Americas, UNCAC.
 Gender and sports: Mujeres en Igualdad has developed a team specially devoted to reverse cases of discrimination in sports. In 2012 the Foundation presented a draft for a law at the Women's Parliament of the Legislature of the City of Buenos Aires dealing with a compulsion for nonprofit civil associations, sports clubs, and sports federations to include equality of gender considerations in the Ruling Committees.
 Human trafficking: In 2003 Mujeres en Igualdad created the No to Trafficking Network that is coordinated through 2005, and organized numerous seminars and training workshops, with strong media support. The "Empowering Young women in the frontiers: Gender violence and human trafficking" project, financed by UN Women 2010-11 focused on young women in borderland regions (Jujuy/La Quiaca; Posadas/Encarnación) for them to become familiar with and exercise their rights and organize to prevent gender violence and human trafficking. They were qualified to carry out basic strategies in participative democracy with an emphasis on gender equality: requests for valid information (access to information), advocacy campaigns and claims and grievances were presented to accountable office holders in the light of noncompliance with their duties.
 Woman and politics: Mujeres en Igualdad was and continues to promote the warranties awarded by the Quota Law, by considering it a critical factor that explains the high degree of representation of women in Argentina's political life. Internationally, Argentina occupies fifth place with 39,1% of women in parliamentary duties. In this field, MEI continues to deepen its activities to generate reforms to guarantee equality of men and women citizens and carries out campaigns to achieve parity.
 Litigation on discrimination: The Freddo case, and Instituto Romero Brest case. In both, MEI acted as a litigant in both the Freddo company, as well as Physical Education institution, which included the criteria of Non-Discrimination and Gender Equality in their policies and procedures.

Awards
 Award given by the Organization Mondiale de la Francophonie on March 19, 2015, for contributions in Sports, Inclusion, and Diversity with special emphasis on women.
 Alfredo Palacios Award given on September 19, 2013 by the Salón Eva Perón of the Honorable National Senate in recognition of the contributions of Mujeres en Igualdad to the fight against person trafficking and for their commitment to combat exploitation and protection and help for its victims.
 Award given in November 2012 by the Legislature of the City of Buenos Aires to Monique Altschul, Director of MEI, named "Distinguished Personality of Women´s Human Rights".
 Dignidad Award given on June 4, 2009, to Monique Altschul by Asamblea Permanente de los Derechos Humanos, in recognition of her continuous devotion to the defense of women's rights.

Breakfasts
Mujeres en Igualdad began its "About Representatives and Represented" Project breakfasts in 1993, and has since held 176 breakfasts, in the City of Buenos Aires and numerous provinces. An average of 70 sundry participants attends each month, including women senators, deputies ad legislators, judges, lawyers, functionaries, journalists, academics, union representatives, members of NGOs and international agencies, embassies, aboriginal people's organizations, politicians, and grass roots organizations. These monthly meetings are meant to make town halls debate women's issues from the political agenda as well as special topics that allow the women present to pool their thoughts and coordinate their work.

International forum of women against the corruption
Mujeres en Igualdad Foundation has organized three forums and prepares its fourth Forum to be held in October 2016 to analyze and draft public policies and gendered budgets to counteract actions used by corruption to threaten women's human rights. The third Forum was held in 2008 in the School of Law in the University Buenos Aires, within the framework of Women for Equality and Transparency (UNIFEM – UNDEF, United Nations), to debate and share experiences fostering transparency.

References

External links
 Pagina 12 Supplement The 12
 The violence of gender gives in all
 I reward The Francophonies
 Silence Accomplice
 Access to the information

Human rights organisations based in Argentina
Feminism in Argentina
Organizations that combat human trafficking
Violence against women in Argentina
Domestic violence

Fundación Mujeres en Igualdad


Le crescendo (The Crescendo) is a comic opera (opéra-buffon imité de l'italien) in one act by Luigi Cherubini with a libretto by Charles Augustin [de Bassompierre] Sewrin. The libretto is based on the opera buffa L'Angiolina ovvero Il matrimonio per sussurro with music by Antonio Salieri (Vienna, 1800) and by Valentino Fioravanti (Lisbon, 1803).

Performance history
It was first performed by the Opéra-Comique at the Salle Feydeau in Paris on 1 September 1810 with a further nine performances. The opera was revived at the Salle Favart on 4 June 1960 by the Piccolo Teatro Musicale with the Virtuosi di Roma in an adaptation by Giulio Confolinieri, staged by Corrado Pavolini with sets and costumes by Franco Laurenti.

Roles

Synopsis
Major Frankenstein wishes to marry Sophie, the niece of his neighbour, Captain Bloum, but Bloum's nephew Alphonse is also in love with the girl. Major Frankenstein cannot stand noise and he is so horrified at the sound of the ball to celebrate the wedding that he cannot go ahead with the ceremony and persuades his nephew to marry her instead. Sophie, who has in fact planned this all along, gladly accepts her new bridegroom.

Scores
The full score of the overture was published (Bibliothèque nationale de France, shelf mark L. 2400), and there is an autograph manuscript of the piano-vocal score (Berlin State Library, Cherubini archive no. 151). The libretto was also printed (Bibliothèque-Musée de l'Opéra, Paris, Liv. 19 oc 132, 1810 edition).

References

Further reading
 Deane, Basil, Cherubini, Oxford University Press, 1965
 Del Teatro (in Italian)
 Wild, Nicole and Charlton, David, Théâtre de l'Opéra-Comique Paris: répertoire 1762–1972. Sprimont, Belgium: Editions Mardaga, 2005. .

Operas
Operas by Luigi Cherubini
French-language operas
One-act operas
1810 operas
Opera world premieres at the Opéra-Comique

Le crescendo


Kosher animals are animals that comply with the regulations of kashrut and are considered kosher foods. These dietary laws ultimately derive from various passages in the Torah with various modifications, additions and clarifications added to these rules by halakha.  Various other animal-related rules are contained in the 613 commandments.

Land animals

 and  both give the same general set of rules for identifying which land animals (Hebrew: בהמות Behemoth) are ritually clean. According to these, anything that "chews the cud" and has a completely split hoof is ritually clean, but those animals that only chew the cud or only have cloven hooves are unclean.

Both documents explicitly list four animals as being ritually impure:
 The camel, for chewing the cud without its hooves being divided.
 The hyrax, for chewing the cud without having cloven hooves. (The Hebrew term for this animal—שפן shapan —has been translated by older English versions of the bible as coney; the hyrax was not known to early English translators.
The coney was an exclusively European animal, not present in Canaan, while the shapan was described by the Book of Proverbs as living on rocks like the hyrax, but unlike the coney.)

 The hare, for chewing the cud without having cloven hooves.
 The pig, for having cloven hooves without chewing the cud.

While camels are actually not true ruminants they chew cud, and do not have a hoof at all, but rather toes with hoof-like toenails.

Although hares and coneys do not ruminate at all, they do usually re-ingest soft cecal pellets made of chewed plant material right after excretion for further bacterial digestion in their stomach and this serves the same purpose as rumination.

Although not ruminants, hyraxes have complex, multichambered stomachs that allow symbiotic bacteria to break down tough plant materials, though they do not regurgitate. Further clarification of this classification has been attempted by various authors, most recently by Rabbi Natan Slifkin, in a book, entitled The Camel, the Hare, and the Hyrax.

Unlike Leviticus 11:3-8, Deuteronomy 14:4-8 also explicitly names 10 animals considered ritually clean:

 The ox
 The sheep
 The goat
 The deer
 The gazelle
 The yahmur; this term, directly taken from the Masoretic Text, is used by Arabs to refer to roe deer
 The the'o; this term, directly taken from the Masoretic Text, has traditionally been translated ambiguously.
In Deuteronomy, it has traditionally been translated as wild goat, but in the same translations is called a wild ox where it occurs in Deutero-Isaiah; the bubal hartebeest lies somewhere between these creatures in appearance and has been regarded as a likely fit for the'o.
 The pygarg; the identity of this animal is uncertain, and pygarg is merely the Septuagint's rendering.
The Masoretic Text calls it a dishon, meaning springing; it has thus usually been interpreted as some form of antelope or ibex.
 The antelope
 The camelopardalis; the identity of this animal is uncertain, and camelopardalis, is merely the Septuagint's wording.
The Masoretic Text calls it a zamer, but camelopardalis means camel-leopard and refers to the giraffe (giraffe is derived, via Italian, from the Arabic term ziraafa meaning "assembled [from multiple parts]").
The traditional translation has been chamois, but the chamois has never naturally existed in Canaan; neither is the giraffe naturally found in Canaan, and consequently the mouflon is considered the best remaining identification.

The Deuteronomic passages mention no further land beasts as being clean or unclean, seemingly suggesting that the status of the remaining land beasts can be extrapolated from the given rules.

By contrast, the Levitical rules later go on to add that all quadrupeds with paws should be considered ritually unclean, something not explicitly stated by the Deuteronomic passages; the only quadrupeds with paws are the carnivorans (dogs, wolves, cats, lions, hyenas, bears, etc.), and all carnivorans fall under this description.

The Leviticus passages thus cover all the large land animals that naturally live in Canaan, except for primates, and equids (horses, zebras, etc.), which are not mentioned in Leviticus as being either ritually clean or unclean, despite their importance in warfare and society, and their mention elsewhere in Leviticus.

In an attempt to help identify animals of ambiguous appearance, the Talmud, in a similar manner to Aristotle's earlier Historia Animalium, argued that animals without upper teeth would always chew the cud and have split hoofs (thus being ritually clean), and that no animal with upper teeth would do so; the Talmud makes an exception for the case of the camel (which, like the other ruminant even-toed ungulates, is apparently 'without upper teeth' though some citations), even though the skulls clearly have both front and rear upper teeth. The Talmud also argues that the meat from the legs of clean animals can be torn lengthwise as well as across, unlike that of unclean animals, thus aiding to identify the status of meat from uncertain origin.

Origin
Many Biblical scholars believe that the classification of animals was created to explain pre-existing taboos. Beginning with Saadia Gaon, several Jewish commentators started to explain these taboos rationalistically; Saadia himself expresses an argument similar to that of totemism, that the unclean animals were declared so because they were worshipped by other cultures. Due to comparatively recent discoveries about the cultures adjacent to the Israelites, it has become possible to investigate whether such principles could underlie some of the food laws.

Egyptian priests would only eat the meat of even-toed ungulates (swine, camelids, and ruminants), and rhinoceros. Like the Egyptian priests, Vedic India (and presumably the Persians also) allowed the meat of rhinoceros and ruminants, although cattle were excluded from this, since they were seemingly taboo in Vedic India; in a particular parallel with the Israelite list, Vedic India explicitly forbade the consumption of camelids and domestic pigs (but not boar). However, unlike the biblical rules, Vedic India did allow the consumption of hare and porcupine, but Harran did not, and was even more similar to the Israelite regulations, allowing all ruminants, but not other land beasts, and expressly forbidding the meat of camels.

It is also possible to find an ecological explanation for these rules. If one believes that religious customs are at least partly explained by the ecological conditions in which a religion evolves, then this too could account for the origin of these rules.

Modern practices
In addition to meeting the restrictions as defined by the Torah, there is also the issue of masorah (tradition). In general, animals are eaten only if there is a masorah that has been passed down from generations ago that clearly indicates that these animals are acceptable. For instance, there was considerable debate as to the kosher status of zebu and bison among the rabbinical authorities when they first became known and available for consumption; the Orthodox Union permits bison, as can be attested to by the menus of some of the more upscale kosher restaurants in New York City.

Water creatures

 and  both state that anything residing in "the waters" (which Leviticus specifies as being the seas and rivers) is ritually clean if it has both fins and scales, in contrast to anything residing in the waters with neither fins nor scales. The latter class of animals is described as ritually impure by Deuteronomy, Leviticus describes them as an "abomination" KJV Leviticus 11:10. Abomination is also sometimes used to translate  and .

Although the Old Testament does not further specify, the Talmud makes the claim that all fish that have scales also have fins, and so practically speaking, we need to only identify organisms that have scales and can ignore the portion of the rule about fins. Nachmanides comments that the scales of a kosher fish must be able to be removed either by hand or by knife, but that the underlying skin does not become damaged with removal of the scales, and this opinion had been universally accepted by all halachic authorities at the time.

Scientifically, there are five different types of fish scales: placoid, cosmoid, ganoid, ctenoid and cycloid. The majority of kosher fish exhibit the latter two forms, ctenoid or cycloid, but the bowfin (Amia calva) is an example of a fish with ganoid scales that is deemed kosher.  As such, kosher status cannot be said to follow the rules of modern-day classification, and qualified experts on kosher fish must be consulted to determine the status of a particular fish or scale type.

These rules restrict permissible seafood to stereotypical fish, prohibiting the unusual forms such as the eel, lamprey, hagfish, and lancelet. In addition, they exclude non-fish marine creatures, such as crustaceans (lobster, crab, prawn, shrimp, barnacle, etc.), molluscs (squid, octopus, oyster, periwinkle, etc.), sea cucumbers, and jellyfish.

Other creatures living in the sea and rivers that would be prohibited by the rules include the cetaceans (dolphin, whale, etc.), crocodilians (alligator, crocodile etc.), sea turtles, sea snakes, and all amphibians.

Sharks are  considered to be ritually unclean according to these regulations, as their scales can only be removed by damaging the skin. A minor controversy arises from the fact that the appearance of the scales of swordfish is heavily affected by the ageing process—their young satisfy Nachmanides' rule, but when they reach adulthood they do not.

Traditionally "fins" has been interpreted as referring to translucent fins. The Mishnah claims that all fish with scales will also have fins, but that the reverse is not always true. For the latter case, the Talmud argues that ritually clean fish have a distinct spinal column and flattish face, while ritually unclean fish don't have spinal columns and have pointy heads, which would define the shark and sturgeon (and related fish) as ritually unclean.

Nevertheless, Aaron Chorin, a prominent 19th-century rabbi and reformer, declared that the sturgeon was actually ritually pure, and hence permissible to eat. Many Conservative rabbis now view these particular fish as being kosher, but most Orthodox rabbis do not.

The question for sturgeon is particularly significant as most caviar consists of sturgeon eggs, and therefore cannot be kosher if the sturgeon itself is not. Sturgeon-derived caviar is not eaten by some Kosher-observant Jews because sturgeon possess ganoid scales instead of the usual ctenoid and cycloid scales. There is a kosher caviar. Atlantic salmon roe is also kosher.

Origin
Nachmanides believed that the restrictions against certain fish also addressed health concerns, arguing that fish with fins and scales (and hence ritually clean) typically live in shallower waters than those without fins or scales (i.e., those that were ritually impure), and consequently the latter were much colder and more humid, qualities he believed made their flesh toxic.

The academic perception is that natural repugnance from "weird-looking" fish is a significant factor in the origin of the restrictions. Vedic India (and presumably the Persians also) exhibit such repugnance, generally allowing fish, but forbidding "weird looking" fish and exclusively carnivorous fish; in Egypt, another significant and influential culture near to the Israelites, the priests avoided all fish completely.

Birds
With regard to birds, no general rule is given, instead  and  explicitly list prohibited birds. In the Shulchan Aruch, 3 signs are given to kosher birds: the presence of a crop, an extra finger, and a gizzard that can be peeled. The bird must also not be a bird of prey. The Masoretic Text lists the birds as:

 —"that which sheds its feathers"
 —"bone breaker"
 —feminine form of , meaning "strong"
 /—that which darts, in the sense of "rapid"

 —daughter of howling
 —one who scratches the face
 —one which atrophies

 —"cup"
 —"plunger"
 —"twilight"
 —"blower"/"breather"
 —"vomiting"
 —"tenderness"/"affection"
 —"devoted"
 —"one which sniffs sharply", in the sense of 'anger'

The list in Deuteronomy has an additional bird, the , which seems to be a combination of  and , and may be a scribal error; the Talmud regards it as a duplication of . This, and the other terms, are vague and difficult to translate, but there are a few further descriptions, of some of these birds, elsewhere in the Bible:

 The  is mentioned again in the Book of Job, where it is used to describe a bird distinguished by its particularly good sight.
 The  is described by the Book of Isaiah as living in desolate places, and the Book of Micah states that it emits a mournful cry.
 The  appears in the Book of Zephaniah, where it is portrayed as nesting on the columns of a ruined city; the Book of Isaiah identifies it as possessing a marshy and desolate kingdom.

The Septuagint versions of the lists are more helpful, as in almost all cases the bird is clearly identifiable:

 —eagle
 —ossifrage
 —sea eagle
 —vulture
 —kite
 —raven
 —ostrich
 —owl
 —gull
 —hawk
 —night raven
 —cormorant
 —swamphen
 —swan
 Ibis
 Pelican
 —plover
 —heron
 —hoopoe
 —bat
 —guineafowl

Although the first 10 birds identified by the Septuagint seem to fit the descriptions of the Masoretic Text, the ossifrage (Latin for "bone breaker") being a good example, the correspondence is less clear for most of the remaining birds.

It is also obvious that the list in Leviticus, or the list in Deuteronomy, or both, are in a different order in the Septuagint, compared to the Masoretic Text.

Attempting to determine the correspondence is problematic; for example, "pelican" may correspond to  ("vomiting"), in reference to the pelican's characteristic behaviour, but it may also correspond to  ("cup"), as a reference to the pelican's jaw pouch.

An additional complexity arises from the fact that the  has not yet been identified, and classical Greek literature merely identifies a number of species that are not the , including the peacock, grouse, and robin, and implies that the  is the cousin of the kingfisher. From these meager clarifications, the  can only be identified as anything from the lilac-breasted roller, Indian roller, or northern carmine bee-eater, to the flamingo. A likely candidate is the purple swamphen.

During the Middle Ages, classical descriptions of the hoopoe were mistaken for descriptions of the lapwing, on account of the lapwing's prominent crest, and the hoopoe's rarity in England, resulting in "lapwing" being listed in certain bible translations instead of "hoopoe".

Similarly, the sea eagle has historically been confused with the osprey, and translations have often used the latter bird in place of the former. Because  (ostrich) was also used in Greek for the sparrow, a few translations have placed the sparrow among the list.

In Arabic, the Egyptian vulture is often referred to as , and therefore a number of translations render  as "gier eagle", the old name for the Egyptian vulture.

Variations arise when translations follow other ancient versions of the Bible, rather than the Septuagint, where they differ. Rather than vulture (), the Vulgate has , meaning "red kite", which historically has been called the "glede", on account of its gliding flight; similarly, the Syriac Peshitta has "owl" rather than "ibis".

Other variations arise from attempting to base translations primarily on the Masoretic Text; these translations generally interpret some of the more ambiguous birds as being various different kinds of vulture and owl. All of these variations mean that most translations arrive at a list of 20 birds from among the following:

 Bat
 Black kite
 Black vulture
 Cormorant
 Cuckoo
 Desert owl
 Eagle
 Eagle owl
 Egyptian vulture
 Falcon
 Flamingo
 Glede
 Great owl
 Gull
 Hawk
 Heron
 Hoopoe
 Ibis
 Indian roller
 Kingfisher
 Kite
 Lapwing
 Lilac-breasted roller
 Little owl
 Nighthawk
 Night raven
 Northern carmine bee-eater
 Osprey
 Ossifrage
 Ostrich
 Owl
 Peacock
 Pelican
 Plover
 Porphyrion (untranslated)
 Raven
 Red Kite
 Screech owl
 Sea eagle
 Sparrow
 Stork
 Swan
 Vulture
 White owl

Despite being listed among the birds by the Bible, bats are not birds, and are in fact mammals (because the Hebrew Bible distinguishes animals into four general categories—beasts of the land, flying animals, creatures which crawl upon the ground, and animals which dwell in water—not according to modern scientific classification).

Most of the remaining animals on the list are either birds of prey or birds living on water, and the majority of the latter in the list also eat fish or other seafood.

The Septuagint's version of the list comprehensively lists most of the birds of Canaan that fall into these categories. The conclusion of modern scholars is that, generally, ritually unclean birds were those clearly observed to eat other animals.

Although it does regard all birds of prey as being forbidden, the Talmud is uncertain of there being a general rule, and instead gives detailed descriptions of the features that distinguish a bird as being ritually clean.

The Talmud argues that clean birds would have craws, an easily separated 'double-skin', and would eat food by placing it on the ground (rather than holding it on the ground) and tearing it with their bills before eating it; however, the Talmud also argues that only the birds in the biblical list are actually forbidden—these distinguishing features were only for cases when there was any uncertainty in the bird's identity.

Origin
The earliest rationalistic explanations of the laws against eating certain birds focused on symbolic interpretations. The first indication of this view can be found in the 1st century BC Letter of Aristeas, which argues that this prohibition is a lesson to teach justice, and is also about not injuring others.

Such allegorical explanations were abandoned by most Jewish and Christian theologians after a few centuries, and later writers instead sought to find medical explanations for the rules; Nachmanides, for example, claimed that the black and thickened blood of birds of prey would cause psychological damage, making people much more inclined to cruelty.

However, other cultures treated the meat of certain carnivorous birds as having medical benefits, the Romans viewing owl meat as being able to ease the pain of insect bites.

Conversely, modern scientific studies have discovered very toxic birds such as the pitohui, which are neither birds of prey nor water birds, and therefore the biblical regulations allow them to be eaten.

Laws against eating any carnivorous birds also existed in Vedic India and Harran, and the Egyptian priests also refused to eat carnivorous birds.

Modern practical considerations

Due to the difficulty of identification, religious authorities have restricted consumption to specific birds for which Jews have passed down a tradition of permissibility from generation to generation. Birds for which there has been a tradition of their being kosher include:

 Chicken
 Chukar partridge
 Common pheasant
 Common quail
 Grey partridge
 House sparrow
 Rock partridge
 Japanese quail
 Rock dove
 Turtle dove

As a general principle, scavenging birds such as vultures and birds of prey such as hawks and eagles (which opportunistically eat carrion) are unclean.

The turkey does not have a tradition, but because so many Orthodox Jews have come to eat it and it possesses the  (signs) required to render it a kosher bird, an exception is made, but with all other birds a  is required.

Songbirds, which are consumed as delicacies in many societies, may be kosher in theory, but are not eaten in kosher homes as there is no tradition of them being eaten as such. Pigeons and doves are known to be kosher based on their permissible status as sacrificial offerings in the Temple of Jerusalem.

The Orthodox Union of America considers neither the peafowl nor the guineafowl to be kosher birds since it has not obtained testimony from experts about the permissibility of either of these birds. In the case of the swans, there is no clear tradition of eating them.

Rabbi Chaim Loike is currently the Orthodox Union's specialist on kosher bird species.

Predator birds
Unlike with land creatures and fish, the Torah does not give signs for determining kosher birds, and instead gives a list of non-kosher birds.

The Talmud also offers signs for determining whether a bird is kosher or not.

If a bird kills other animals to get its food, eats meat, or is a dangerous bird, then is not kosher, a predatory bird is unfit to eat, raptors like the eagles, hawks, owls and other hunting birds are not kosher, vultures and other carrion-eating birds are not kosher either.

Crows and members of the crow family such as jackdaws, magpies and ravens are not kosher.  Storks, kingfishers, penguins and other fish-eating birds are not kosher.

Flying insects

 specifies that all "flying creeping things" were to be considered ritually unclean and  goes further, describing all flying creeping things as filth, Hebrew . Leviticus goes on to list four exceptions, which Deuteronomy does not.

All these exceptions are described by the Levitical passages as "going upon all four legs" and as having "legs above their feet" for the purpose of leaping. The identity of the four creatures the Levitical rules list are named in the Masoretic Text using words of uncertain meaning:
 arbeh—the Hebrew word literally means "[one which] increases". The Septuagint calls it a , referring to a wingless locust, and older English translations render this as grasshopper in most parts of the Bible, but inconsistently translate it as locust in Leviticus.
In the Book of Nahum, the  is poetically described as camping in hedges in cold days, but flying off into the far distance when the sun arises; for this reason, a number of scholars have suggested that the  must actually be the migratory locust.
 —the Hebrew term literally means "swallower". The Septuagint calls it an , the meaning of which is currently uncertain. The Talmud describes it as having a long head that is bald in front, for which reason a number of English translations call it a bald locust (an ambiguous term); many modern scholars believe that the Acrida (previously called Tryxalis) is meant, as it is distinguished by its very elongated head.
 —the Hebrew term literally means strafer (one that runs to the right or to the left). The Septuagint calls it an ophiomachos, literally meaning "snake fighter"; the Talmud describes it as having a tail. The Talmud also states that it has large eggs, which were turned into amulets. This has historically been translated as beetle, but since the 19th century, cricket has been deemed more likely to fit.
 —the word literally means "hider". The Book of Numbers implies that they were particularly small. The Septuagint calls it an , and it has usually been translated as grasshopper.

The Mishnah argues that the ritually clean locusts could be distinguished as they would all have four feet, jumping with two of them, and have four wings which are of sufficient size to cover the entire locust's body. The Mishnah also goes on to state that any species of locust could only be considered as clean if there was a reliable tradition that it was so.

The only Jewish group that continue to preserve such a tradition are the Jews of Yemen, who use the term "kosher locust" to describe the specific species of locusts they believe to be kosher, all of which are native to the Arabian Peninsula.

Due to the difficulties in establishing the validity of such traditions, later rabbinical authorities forbade contact with all types of locust to ensure that the ritually unclean locusts were avoided.

Small land creatures
 specifies that whatever "goes on its belly, and whatever goes on all fours, or whatever has many feet, any swarming thing that swarms on the ground, you shall not eat, for they are detestable." (Hebrew: ). Before stating this, it singles out eight particular "creeping things" as specifically being ritually unclean in .

Like many of the other biblical lists of animals, the exact identity of the creatures in the list is uncertain; medieval philosopher and Rabbi Saadia Gaon, for example, gives a somewhat different explanation for each of the eight "creeping things." The Masoretic Text names them as follows:

 —the Talmud describes it as a predatory animal that bores underground.
 —in Arabic, the cognate word, akhbar, refers to the jerboa
 —the Talmud describes it as being similar to a salamander
 —this Hebrew term literally means "groaner", and consequently a number of scholars believe it refers to a gecko, which makes a distinctive croaking sound.

 —the Talmud describes it as being paralyzed by heat but revived with water, and states that its tail moves when cut off

 —this term literally means "blower/breather", and also appears in the list of birds

The Septuagint version of the list does not appear to directly parallel the Masoretic, and is thought to be listed in a different order. It lists the eight as:
 —a general term including the weasel, ferret, and the stoat, all of which are predatory animals noticeably attracted to holes in the ground.
 —the mouse.
 —the "land crocodile", which is thought to refer to the monitor lizard, a large lizard of somewhat crocodilian appearance.
 —the shrew.
 —the chameleon, which puffs itself up and opens its mouth wide when threatened
 —a term derived from chala meaning "rock/claw", and therefore probably the wall lizard
 —the lizard in general, possibly here intended to be the skink, since it is the other remaining major group of lizards.
 —the mole-rat, although some older English translations, not being aware of the mole-rat's existence, have instead translated this as mole.
The earthworm, the snake, the scorpion, the beetle, the centipede, and all the creatures that crawl on the ground are not kosher.
Worms, snails and most invertebrate animals are not kosher.
All reptiles, all amphibians and insects with the exception of four types of locust are not kosher.

See also

 Kosher foods

Notes

References

Kosher food
Animals

Kosher animals


In computer security, a wiper is a class of malware intended to erase (wipe, hence the name) the hard drive or other static memory of the computer it infects, maliciously deleting data and programs.

Examples
A piece of malware referred to as "Wiper" was allegedly used in attacks against Iranian oil companies. In 2012, the International Telecommunication Union supplied Kaspersky Lab with hard drives allegedly damaged by Wiper for analysis. While a sample of the alleged malware could not be found, Kaspersky discovered traces of a separate piece of malware known as Flame.

The Shamoon malware contained a disk wiping mechanism; it was employed in 2012 and 2016 malware attacks targeting Saudi energy companies, and utilized a commercial direct drive access driver known as Rawdisk. The original variant overwrote files with portions of an image of a burning U.S. flag. The 2016 variant was nearly identical, except using an image of the body of Alan Kurdi instead.

A wiping component was used as part of the malware employed by the Lazarus Group—a cybercrime group with alleged ties to North Korea, during the 2013 South Korea cyberattack, and the 2014 Sony Pictures hack. The Sony hack also utilized RawDisk.

In 2017, computers in several countries—most prominently Ukraine, were infected by NotPetya, which is a variant of the Petya ransomware that was a wiper in functional sense. The malware infects the master boot record with a payload that encrypts the internal file table of the NTFS file system. Although it still demanded a ransom, it was found that the code had been significantly modified so that the payload could not actually revert its changes, even if the ransom were successfully paid.

Several variants of wiper malware were discovered during the 2022 Ukraine cyberattacks on computer systems associated with Ukraine. Named CaddyWiper, HermeticWiper, IsaacWiper, and FoxBlade by researchers, the programs showed little relation to each other, prompting speculation that they were created by different state-sponsored actors in Russia especially for this occasion.

References

Types of malware

Wiper (malware)


The 69th Academy Awards ceremony, organized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) took place on March 24, 1997, at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles beginning at 6:00 p.m. PST / 9:00 p.m. EST. During the ceremony, AMPAS presented the Academy Awards (commonly referred to as Oscars) in 24 categories honoring films released in 1996. The ceremony, televised in the United States by ABC, was produced by Gil Cates, and directed by Louis J. Horvitz. Actor Billy Crystal hosted the show for the fifth time. He first presided over the 62nd ceremony held in 1990 and had last hosted the 65th ceremony held in 1993. Three weeks earlier, in a ceremony held at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, California, on March 1, the Academy Awards for Technical Achievement were presented by host Helen Hunt.

The English Patient won nine awards, including Best Picture. Other winners included Fargo with two awards and Breathing Lessons: The Life and Work of Mark O'Brien, Dear Diary, Emma, Evita, The Ghost and the Darkness, Independence Day, Jerry Maguire, Kolya, The Nutty Professor, Quest, Shine, Sling Blade, and When We Were Kings with one.

Winners and nominees

The nominees for the 69th Academy Awards were announced on February 11, 1997, at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, California, by Arthur Hiller, president of the Academy, and actress Mira Sorvino. The English Patient received the most nominations with twelve; Fargo and Shine came in second with seven apiece.

The winners were announced during the awards ceremony on March 24, 1997. Saul Zaentz became the third person to produce three Best Picture winners, having previously produced One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Amadeus. He also became the seventh individual to receive an Oscar and the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award in the same year. Best Actress winner Frances McDormand was the first person to win for a role in a film directed by their spouse. Best Original Musical or Comedy Score winner Rachel Portman became the first female winner for composing a musical score.

Awards

Winners are listed first, highlighted in boldface, and indicated with a double-dagger ().

Academy Honorary Award
 Michael Kidd

Irving G. Thalberg Award
 Saul Zaentz

Films with multiple nominations and awards

The following seventeen films received multiple nominations:

The following two films received multiple awards:

Presenters and performers
The following individuals, in order of appearance, presented awards or performed musical numbers.

Presenters

Performers

Ceremony information

After taking a year off, Gil Cates was selected by AMPAS in November 1996 to oversee production of the ceremony for the seventh time. Immediately, he chose actor and comedian Billy Crystal to host the 1997 telecast, stating, "Billy is quick and agile and bright, and he plays the unexpected events of the live telecast like a Stradivarius. He's become the standard against which all other hosting performances are measured." Crystal expressed his excitement on hosting the ceremony for the fifth time joking, "Once Barry Scheck turned it down, I had a feeling they'd come to me." Furthermore, he set up a website with the address www.whyistheshowsolong.com asking the public to send in jokes that would eventually be used during the gala.

As with previous ceremonies he produced, Cates centered the show around a theme. This year, he christened the show with the theme "Togetherness of Moviegoing" commenting, "The thing that's kind of wonderful about movies is that you watch them with other people. The only other areas where you do that, when you think about it, are religion and sports." He concluded by noting that the movie theater is "a wonderful place where you come together to laugh, to cry." In tandem with the theme, actress Winona Ryder presented a montage featuring film clips from Casablanca (1942), Matinee (1993), and A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) depicting audiences inside a movie theater.

Several other people and elements were also involved with the production of the ceremony. Documentary filmmaker Arnold Schwartzman designed the official ceremony poster featuring the titles of the previous 68 Best Picture winners superimposed in the shape of an Oscar statuette. Film composer and musician Bill Conti served as musical director of the ceremony. Choreographer Otis Sallid supervised the "That Thing You Do!" musical number. Michael Flatley and the cast of the musical Lord of the Dance performed a dance number during a montage saluting the art of Film Editors. Pianist David Helfgott, whom Best Actor winner Geoffrey Rush portrayed in the film Shine, played a rendition of "Flight of the Bumblebee" by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov during the telecast.

Natalie Cole was initially scheduled to sing the nominated song "I Finally Found Someone" from The Mirror Has Two Faces on the show after its songwriter and original performer Barbra Streisand declined to do so. However, after Cole contracted the flu, she withdrew for her performance duties and was eventually replaced by Celine Dion who also sang "Because You Loved Me" later in the broadcast.

Box office performance of nominees
At the time of the nominations announcement on February 11, the combined gross of the five Best Picture nominees at the US box office was $209 million, with an average of $41.9 million per film. Jerry Maguire was the highest earner among the Best Picture nominees with $121.5 million in domestic box office receipts. The film was followed by The English Patient ($42.3 million), Shine ($16.1 million), Fargo ($24 million) and finally Secrets & Lies ($5.9 million).

Of the top 50 grossing movies of the year, 37 nominations went to 17 films on the list. Only Jerry Maguire (9th), Primal Fear (27th) and The English Patient (35th) were nominated for directing, acting, screenwriting or Best Picture. The other top 50 box office hits that earned nominations were Independence Day (1st), Twister (2nd), The Rock (4th), The Nutty Professor (7th), The Birdcage (8th), Eraser (13th), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (14th), Star Trek: First Contact (15th), Sleepers (29th), Dragonheart (30th), The Preacher's Wife (32nd), Evita (36th), The Ghost and the Darkness (39th), and Daylight (48th).

Critical response
The show received a mixed reception from media publications. Some media outlets were more critical of the show. Television critic Joanne Ostrow of The Denver Post commented "Billy Crystal had a smashing first 10 minutes at the Oscars last night," but she later went on to say that inevitable sweep by The English Patient created a dull atmosphere that even sucked the energy out of Crystal's performance. Columnist Brian Lowry wrote in Los Angeles Times, "This year the mystery far outweighed the magic, in a telecast that proved less compelling--indeed, during stretches more downright dull--than recent predecessors." He also quipped that even though Crystal was mildly entertaining, some of his jokes "felt a bit forced and stale." The Star-Ledgers Alan Sepinwall noted, "Crystal was a bundle of energy, but his jokes had less zing than in the past." He also observed that the Film Editing dance number and "That Thing You Do" musical performance were hideously bloated.

Other media outlets received the broadcast more positively. Film critic Carrie Rickey of The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote, "Crystal sparkled as the host of the annual awards at the Shrine Auditorium." She also noted, "The mood of the evening was elegant and gracious." Chicago Tribune columnist Steve Johnson commented, "Billy Crystal returned as host of the Academy Awards on Monday night and proved that even if mainline Hollywood is nearly shut out in the trophy dispensing, one of its representatives can at least make a television broadcast entertaining." Television critic Kinney Littlefield of the Orange County Register quipped, "In his fifth stint as host, Crystal served up the sense of inclusive, insider movie community that had been missing during his three-year absence." In addition, she observed, "For most of the evening, Oscar seemed newly energized, upbeat and full of splashy fun."

Ratings and reception
The American telecast on ABC drew in an average of 40.08 million people over its length, which was a 9% decrease from the previous year's ceremony. An estimated 73.83 million total viewers watched all or part of the awards. The show also drew lower Nielsen ratings compared to the previous ceremony with 27.49% of households watching over a 46.31 share. In addition, it also drew a lower 18–49 demo rating with a 16.55 rating over a 34.32 share among viewers in that demographic. It was the least watched ceremony in a decade and the lowest rated telecast since the 58th awards gala held in 1986.

In July 1997, the ceremony presentation received seven nominations at the 49th Primetime Emmy Awards. Two months later, the ceremony won one of those nominations for Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Variety or Music Series or Special (Edward J. Greene, Tom Vicari, Robert Douglass).

In Memoriam
The annual In Memoriam tribute, presented by actress Angela Bassett, honored the following people to the score of Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde (1995):

 Jo Van Fleet
 Tupac Shakur
 Brigitte Helm
 Dorothy Lamour
 Stirling Silliphant – Writer
 Saul Bass – Designer
 Steve Tesich – Writer
 Juliet Prowse
 Murray Spivack – Sound
 Joseph Biroc – Cinematographer
 Howard E. Rollins Jr.
 Jack Weston
 Krzysztof Kieślowski – Director
 Fred Zinnemann – Director
 Ben Johnson
 Gene Nelson
 Edward C. Carfagno – Art Director
 Joanne Dru
 John Alton – Cinematographer
 Greer Garson
 Albert R. 'Cubby' Broccoli – Producer
 Lew Ayres
 Pandro S. Berman – Producer
 Sheldon Leonard
 Claudette Colbert
 Marcello Mastroianni

See also

 List of submissions to the 69th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film

References

Bibliography

External links
Official websites
 Academy Awards Official website
 The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Official website
 Oscar's Channel at YouTube (run by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences)

Analysis
 1996 Academy Awards Winners and History Filmsite
 Academy Awards, USA: 1997 Awards Internet Movie Database

Other resources

1996 film awards
1997 in American cinema
Academy Awards ceremonies
1997 in Los Angeles
March 1997 events in the United States
Academy
Television shows directed by Louis J. Horvitz

69th Academy Awards


Edirne (formerly Adrianople) is a city in the northwestern Turkish province of Edirne in the region of East Thrace, close to Turkey's borders with Greece and Bulgaria. In Greek, it is sometimes called Adrianoúpolis, in Bulgarian its name is Odrin. In 2019, about 185,408 People lived there, mostly Thracians - Turkish people, Pomak, Gajal, Crimean Tatars and Romanlar. Each year,  the Romanlar  hold the Kakava Festival, where they wait of Baba Fingo. Edirne is on the Istanbul–Pythio railway, which links Istanbul to Sofia. With the Lausanne treaty of 1921, the border was  just outside Edirne, and until part of the track was rebuilt in the 1960s, the trains from Edirne to Istanbul passed over Greek territory.

From 1361 - 1453 Edirne was the capital city of the Ottoman Empire. From Ottoman times, the Selimiye Mosque was established. Since that time, every year are hold the Kirkpinar Oil wrestling Festival in Edirne.

References

Cities in Turkey
Edirne Province

Edirne