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Al-Mansur

Abū Jaʿfar ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad al-Manṣūr (أبو جعفر عبد الله بن محمد المنصور; 95 AH – 158 AH/714 CE – 6 October 775 CE) usually known simply as by his laqab al-Manṣūr (المنصور) was the second Abbasid caliph, reigning from 136 AH to 158 AH (754 CE – 775 CE) succeeding his brother al-Saffah ((r. 750 – 754)). He is known for founding the 'Round City' of Madinat al-Salam, which was to become the core of imperial Baghdad.

Modern historians regard al-Mansur as the real founder of the Abbasid Caliphate, one of the largest polities in world history, for his role in stabilizing and institutionalizing the dynasty.

Background and early life
According to al-Suyuti's History of the Caliphs, al-Mansur lived 95 AH – 158 AH (714 CE – 6 October 775 CE). Al-Mansur was born at the home of the Abbasid family in Humeima (modern-day Jordan) after their emigration from the Hejaz in 714 (95 AH). His mother was Sallamah, a slave woman. Al-Mansur was a brother of al-Saffah. Both were named Abd Allah, and to distinguish between them, al-Saffah was referred to by his kunya Abu al-Abbas.

Al-Mansur was a great great-grandson of Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib, an uncle of the Islamic prophet, Muhammad. Al-Mansur's brother al-Saffah began asserting his claim to become caliph in the 740s and became particularly active in Khorasan, an area where non-Arab Muslims lived. After the death of the Umayyad caliph Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik in 743 a period of instability followed. Al-Saffah led the Abbasid Revolution in 747 and his claim to power was supported throughout Iraq by Muslims. He became the first caliph of the Abbasid caliphate in 750 after defeating his rivals.

Shortly before the overthrow of the Umayyads by an army of rebels from Khorasan that were influenced by propaganda spread by the Abbasids, the last Umayyad Caliph Marwan II, arrested the head of the Abbasid family, Al Mansur's other brother Ibrahim. Al-Mansur fled with the rest of his family to Kufa where some of the Khorasanian rebel leaders gave their allegiance to his brother al-Saffah. Ibrahim died in captivity and al-Saffah became the first Abbasid Caliph. During his brother's reign, al-Mansur led an army to Mesopotamia where he received a submission from the governor after informing him of the last Umayyad Caliph's death. The last Umayyad governor had taken refuge in Iraq in a garrison town. He was promised a safe-conduct by al-Mansur and the Caliph al-Saffah, but after surrendering the town, he was executed with a number of his followers.

According to The Meadows of Gold, a history book in Arabic written around 947 CE, al-Mansur's dislike of the Umayyad dynasty is well documented and he has been reported saying: "The Umayyads held the government which had been given to them with a firm hand, protecting, preserving and guarding the gift granted them by God. But then their power passed to their effeminate sons, whose only ambition was the satisfaction of their desires and who chased after pleasures forbidden by Almighty God...Then God stripped them of their power, covered them with shame and deprived them of their worldly goods".

Mansur's first wife was a Yemeni woman from a royal family; his second was a descendant of a hero of the early Muslim conquests; his third was an Iranian servant. He also had a minimum of three concubines: an Arab, a Byzantine, nicknamed the “restless butterfly," and a Kurd.

Caliphate
Al-Saffah died after a short five-year reign and al-Mansur took on the responsibility of establishing the Abbasid caliphate by holding on to power for nearly 22 years, from Dhu al-Hijjah 136 AH until Dhu al-Hijjah 158 AH (754 – 775). Al-Mansur was proclaimed Caliph on his way to Mecca in the year 753 (136 AH) and was inaugurated the following year. Abu Ja'far Abdallah ibn Muhammad took the name al-Mansur ("the victorious") and agreed to make his nephew Isa ibn Musa his successor to the Abbasid caliphate. This agreement was supposed to resolve rivalries in the Abbasid family, but al-Mansur's right to accession was particularly challenged by his uncle Abdullah ibn Ali. Once in power as caliph, al-Mansur had his uncle imprisoned in 754 and killed in 764.

Execution of Abu Muslim and aftermath
Fearing the increasing power of the Abbasid general Abu Muslim, who gained popularity among the people, al-Mansur carefully planned his assassination. Abu Muslim was conversing with the Caliph when, at an appointed signal, four (some sources say five) of his guards rushed in and fatally wounded the general. John Aikin, in his work General Biography, narrates that Mansur, not content with the assassination, committed "outrages on the dead body, and kept it several days in order to glut his eyes with the spectacle."

The Execution of Abu Muslim caused uproars throughout the province of Khorasan. In 755 Sunpadh, an Iranian nobleman from the House of Karen, led a revolt against al-Mansur, taking the cities of Nishapur, Qumis, and Ray. In Ray, he seized the treasuries of Abu Muslim. He gained many supporters from Jibal and Tabaristan, including the Dabuyid ruler, Khurshid, who was paid with money from the treasures. Al-Mansur ordered a force of 10,000 under Abbasid commander Jahwar ibn Marrar al-lijli to march without delay to Khorasan to fight the rebellion. Sunpadh was defeated and Khorasan reclaimed by the Abbasids.

Al-Mansur sent an official to take inventory of the spoils collected from the battle as a precautionary measure against acquisition by his army. Angered by al-Mansur's avarice, general Jahwar gained support from his troops for his plans to split the treasures evenly, and revolted against the caliph. This raised alarm in the caliph's court and al-Mansur ordered Mohammad ibn Ashar to march towards Khorasan. Jahwar, knowing his troops were at a disadvantage, retired to Isfahan and fortified in preparation. Mohammad's army pressed the rebel forces and Jahwar fled to Azerbaijan. Jahwar's forces were defeated, but he escaped Mohammad's pursuit. This campaign lasted from 756 to 762 CE (138 to 144 AH). In 759, al-Mansur sent an army under his generals Abu al-Khaṣīb Marzuq and Khazim ibn Khuzayma to Tabaristan to punish Khurshid for his support to Sunpadh. Khurshid was defeated and Abu al-Khasib was appointed as the governor of the region.

After relieving former vizier ibn Attiya al-Bahili, al-Mansur transferred his duties to Abu Ayyub al-Muriyani from Khuzestan. Abu Ayyub was previously a secretary to Sulayman ibn Habib ibn al-Muhallab, who in the past, had condemned al-Mansur to be whipped and flogged to pieces. Abu Ayyub had rescued al-Mansur from this punishment. Nevertheless, after appointing him as vizier, al-Mansur suspected Abu Ayyub of various crimes, including extortion and treachery, which led to the latter's assassination. The vacant secretary role was granted to Aban ibn Sadaqa until the death of the caliph al-Mansur.

Foundation of Baghdad
In 757 CE, al-Mansur sent a large army to Cappadocia which fortified the city of Malatya. In this same year, he confronted a group of the Rawandiyya from the region of Greater Khorasan that were performing circumambulation around his palace as an act of worship. When in 758/9 the people of Khorasan rioted against al-Mansur in the battle of Al Hashimiya, Ma'n ibn Za'ida al-Shaybani, a general from the Shayban tribe and companion of Yazid ibn Umar al-Fazari, the Umayyad governor of Iraq, appeared at the scene of the uprising completely masked, and threw himself between the crowd and Mansur, driving the insurgents away. Ma'n reveals himself to al-Mansur as "he whom you have been searching" and upon hearing this, al-Mansur granted him rewards, robes of honor, rank, and amnesty from previously serving the Umayyad dynasty. In 762 two descendants of Hasan ibn Ali rebelled in Medina and Basra. Al-Mansur's troops defeated the rebels first in Medina and then in Basra. This would be the last major uprising against the caliph al-Mansur.

To consolidate his power al-Mansur founded the new imperial residence and palace city Madinat as-Salam (the city of peace), which became the core of the Imperial capital Baghdad. Al-Mansur laid the foundations of Baghdad near the old capital of al-Mada'in, on the western bank of the Tigris River, a location acceptable to him and his commanders. The circular city of about 2.4 km diameter was enclosed by a double-thick defensive wall with four gates named Kufa, Syria, Khorasan, and Basra. In the center of the city al-Mansur erected the caliph's palace and the main mosque. Al-Mansur had built Baghdad in response to a growing concern from the chief towns in Iraq, Basra, and Kufa that there was lack of solidity within the regime after the death of Abu'l 'Abbas (later known as al-Saffah). Another reason for the construction of the new capital was the growing need to house and provide stability for a rapidly developing Abbasid bureaucracy forged under the influence of Iranian ideals. The medieval historians al-Tabari and al-Khatib al-Baghdadi would later claim that al-Mansur had ordered the demolition of the Khosrow palace in Ctesiphon so that the material could be used for the construction of the city of peace.

Al-Mansur pursued his vision of a powerful centralized caliphate in the new Muslim imperial capital of Baghdad. The city was populated with men and women of different faiths and cultures from all over the Islamic world. The Baghdad populace included Christian, Zoroastrian and Jewish minorities and communicated in Arabic. Al-Mansur pursued Islamization by staffing his administration with Muslims of varied backgrounds. Baghdad became one of al-Mansur's lasting achievements. His rule was largely peaceful as he focused on internal reforms, agriculture and patronage of the sciences, thus he paved the way for Baghdad to become a global center of learning and science under the rule of the seventh Abbasid caliph al-Ma'mun.

In 764 al-Mansur's son al-Mahdi was made the designated heir to the caliphate, taking precedence over al-Mansur's nephew Isa ibn Musa, who had been named the designated successor when al-Mansur was crowned caliph. This change in succession was opposed by parts of the Abbasid family and some allies of Isa ibn Musa in Khurasan, but was supported by the Abbasid army. Al-Mansur had cultivated support for his son's accession since 754, while undermining Isa ibn Musa's position within the Abbasid military.

Al-Tabari writes in his History of Prophets and Kings: "Abu Ja'far had a mirror in which he could descry his enemy from his friend." Al-Mansur's secret service extended to remote regions of his empire, and were cognizant of everything from social unrest to the price of figs, making Mansur very knowledgeable of his domains. He rose at dawn, worked until evening prayer. He set the example for his son and heir. According to historic sources al-Mansur advised his son: “put not off the work of today until tomorrow and attend in person to the affairs of state. Sleep not, for thy father has not slept since he came to the caliphate. For when sleep fell upon his eyes, his spirit remained awake.” Notably frugal, al-Mansur was nicknamed Abu al-Duwaneek (“the Father of Small Change”), kept close tabs on his tax collectors, and made sure public spending was carefully monitored. He is reported as having said “he who has no money has no men, and he who has no men watches as his enemies grow great.”

Islamic scholars under him
The Alids, a group descended from Muhammad's closest male relative and cousin Ali ibn Abi Talib, had fought with the Abbasids against the Umayyads. They wanted the power to be given to the Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq, a great-grandson of Ali and one of the most influential scholars in Islamic jurisprudence at the time. When it became clear that the Abbasid family had no intention of handing the power to an Alid, groups loyal to Ali moved into opposition. When al-Mansur came to power as second Abbasid caliph he started to suppress what he perceived as extreme elements in the broad Muslim coalition that had supported the Abbasid Revolution. He would be the first Abbasid caliph to uphold Islamic orthodoxy as a matter of public policy. While al-Mansur's regime did not intrude into the private realm of elites, orthodoxy was promoted in public worship, for example through the organization of pilgrim caravans. Al-Mansur's harsh treatment towards the Alids led to a revolt in 762–763, but they were eventually defeated.

Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq became the victim of harassment by the Abbasid family and in response to his growing popularity among the people was eventually poisoned on the orders of the caliph in the tenth year of al-Mansur's reign. According to a number of sources, Abu Hanifa an-Nu'man, who founded a school of jurisprudence, was imprisoned by al-Mansur. Malik ibn Anas, the founder of another school, was flogged during his rule, but al-Mansur himself did not condone this. Al-Mansur's cousin, the governor of Madinah at the time, had ordered the flogging and was punished for doing so. Muhammad and Ibrahim ibn Abdallah, the grandsons of Imam Hassan ibn Ali, grandson of Muhammad, were persecuted by al-Mansur after rebelling against his reign. They escaped his persecution, but al-Mansur's anger fell upon their father Abdallah ibn Hassan and others of his family. Abdallah's sons were later defeated and killed.

Patronage for translations and scholarship
Al-Mansur was the first Abbasid caliph to sponsor the Translation Movement. Al-Mansur was particularly interested in sponsoring the translations of texts on astronomy and astrology. Al-Mansur called scientists to his court and became noted as patron of astronomers. When al-Mansur's Baghdad court was presented with the Zij al-Sindhind, an Indian astronomical handbook that included tables to calculate celestial positions, al-Mansur ordered for this major Indian work on astronomy to be translated from Sanskrit to Arabic. The astronomical tables in the Arabic translation of Zij al-Sindhind became widely adopted by Muslim scholars. During al-Mansur reign Greek works were also translated, such Ptolemy's Almagest and Euclid's Elements.

Al-Mansur had Persian books on astronomy, mathematics, medicine, philosophy and other sciences translated in a systematic campaign to collect knowledge. The translation of Persian books was part of a growing interest in ancient Iranian heritage and a Persian revivalist movement which al-Mansur sponsored. The translation and study of works in Pahlavi, a pre-Islamic language of Persia, became fashionable among intellectuals and authors who supported the Abbasid caliphate. Government secretaries of Persian descent in al-Mansur's administration sponsored translations of Pahlavi texts on the history and principles of royal administration. Popular Arabic translations were produced by Ibn al-Muqaffa of texts that documented the systems and hierarchies of the Sasanian Empire.

Al-Mansur was greatly interested in the quality of the translation and paid al-Ḥajjāj ibn Yūsuf ibn Maṭar to translate Euclid's Elements twice. Al-Mansur paid for the physician Jabril ibn Bukhtishu to write Arabic translations of medical books, while the first Arabic translations of medical texts written by Galen and Hippocrates were done by al-Mansur's official translator. In 765 al-Mansur suffered from a stomach ailment and called the Christian Syriac-speaking physician Jurjis ibn Bukhtishu from Gundeshapur to Baghdad for medical treatment. In doing so al-Mansur started the tradition among Abbasid caliphs, who would pay physicians of the Nestorian Christian Bukhtishu family to attend to their needs and to write original Arabic medical treatises, as well as translate medical texts into Arabic.

Foreign policy
In 751 the first Abbasid caliph al-Saffah had defeated the Chinese Tang dynasty in the Battle of Talas. Chinese sources record that al-Mansur sent his diplomatic delegations regularly to China. Al-Mansur's delegations were known in China as Heiyi Dashi (Black Clothed Arabs). In 756 al-Mansur sent 3,000 mercenaries to assist Emperor Suzong of Tang in the An Lushan rebellion. A massacre of foreign Arab and Persian Muslim merchants by former Yan rebel general Tian Shengong happened during the An Lushan rebellion in the Yangzhou massacre (760),

The Byzantine emperor Constantine V had used the weakness of the Umayyad caliphate to regain land from Muslim rulers. After the Umayyad caliphate was defeated by al-Mansur's predecessor al-Saffah, Constantine V invaded Armenia and occupied parts of it throughout 751 and 752. Under al-Mansur's rule Muslim armies conducted raids on Byzantine territory. Al-Mansur was the first Abbasid caliph to hold a ransom meeting with the Byzantine Empire. Diplomats in the service of Constantine V and al-Mansur first negotiated the exchange of prisoners in 756.

In 763 al-Mansur sent his troops to conquer al-Andalus for the Abbasid empire. But the Umayyad caliph Abd al-Rahman I successfully defended his territory. Al-Mansur withdrew and thereafter focused his troops of holding the eastern part of his empire on lands that were once part of Persia.

Some historians credit al-Mansur with starting the Abbasid–Carolingian alliance. In fact, it was the first Carolingian king Pippin III who initiated a new era of Franconian diplomacy by sending diplomatic envoys to al-Mansur's Baghdad court in 765. It is probable that Pippin III sought an alliance with al-Mansur against their common enemies, the Emirate of Córdoba. In 768 the envoys of Pippin III returned to Francia along with caliph al-Mansur's ambassadors. Pippin III received al-Mansur's delegation in Aquitaine and gifts were exchanged as a sign of the new alliance. This alliance was solidified when between 797 and 807 king Charlemagne and caliph Harun al-Rashid established embassies.

Al-Mansur's treatment of his Christian subjects was severe; he "collected from them capitation with much vigor and impressed upon them marks of slavery."

Family
Al-Mansur's first wife was Arwa known as Umm Musa, whose lineage went back to the kings of Himyar. Her father was Mansur al-Himyari. She had a brother named Yazid. She had two sons, Muhammad (future Caliph al-Mahdi) and Ja'far. She died in 764. Another wife was Hammadah. Her father was Isa, one of al-Mansur's uncles. She died during al-Mansur's caliphate. Another wife was Fatimah. Her father was Muhammad, one of the descendants of Talhah ibn Ubaydullah. She had three sons, Sulayman, Isa, and Ya'qub. One of his concubines was a Kurdish woman. She was the mother of al-Mansur's son Ja'far 'Ibn al-Kurdiyyah' (Nasab translating to "Son of the Kurdish woman"). Unlike his other adult half-brothers, little is known of Ja'far and he likely was not involved in politics or had marriage or issue. However, his death is recorded at 802 AD by palace records suggesting he lived into adulthood and continued to live at court rather than having been banished or dying before adulthood. Another concubine was Qali-al Farrashah. She was a Greek, and was the mother of al-Mansur's son Salih al-Miskin. Another concubine was Umm al-Qasim, whose son al-Qasim died at aged ten. Al-Masnur's only daughter Aliyah was born to an Umayyad woman. She married Ishaq ibn Sulayman.

Death
Al-Mas'udi writes that Mansur died on Saturday 6, Dhu al-Hijja 158 AH/775 CE. There are varying accounts of the location and circumstances of al-Mansur's death. One account narrates that al-Mansur was on a pilgrimage to Mecca and had nearly reached, when death overtook him at a location called the Garden of the Bani Amir on the high road to Iraq at the age of sixty-three. According to this narration, he was buried in Mecca with his face uncovered because he was wearing the ihram clothing. 100 graves were dug around Mecca with the intention to thwart any attempt to find and violate his bones.

A different narration from Fadl ibn Rabi'ah, who claimed to have been with Mansur at his time of death, states that he died at al-Batha' near the Well of Maimun in which he would have been buried at al-Hajun at sixty-five years of age. In this narration, Mansur was sitting in a domed room hallucinating about ill-omen writings on the wall. When al-Rabiah replied "I see nothing written on the wall. Its surface is clean and white," al-Mansur replied, "my soul is warned that she may prepare for her near departure." After reaching the Well of Maimun, he reportedly said "God be praised" and succumbed to death that very day.

When al-Mansur died, the caliphate's treasury contained 600,000,000 dirhams and fourteen million dinars. On his deathbed, Mansur said, “We have sacrificed the life to come for a mere dream!”

title: Al-Mansur


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Talk:Val Kilmer

Unlinked archived discussions.
Is there any way to link these older discussions into the archived Talk materials, as they do not appear there now? It is difficult to find them without their being formally placed into the Archives. Was this an error or is there something that needs to be hidden away? I don't see anything like that in those entries, myself. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Val_Kilmer&diff=1087482607&oldid=1087482567

Thank you for your time (and expertise!) --- Wordreader (talk) 15:32, 2 June 2024 (UTC)

 * Hello! Those have now been added. It was fully intended that those all be archived previously but frankly I just erred and it did not go through. If it still doesn't look right, let me know! Thanks for the catch. Thanks, ‡ El cid, el campeador  talk  19:33, 3 June 2024 (UTC)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Talk:Val Kilmer


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Hexane

Hexane or n-hexane is an organic compound, a straight-chain alkane with six carbon atoms and the molecular formula C6H14.

Hexane is a colorless liquid, odorless when pure, and with a boiling point of approximately 69 C. It is widely used as a cheap, relatively safe, largely unreactive, and easily evaporated non-polar solvent, and modern gasoline blends contain about 3% hexane.

The term hexanes refers to a mixture, composed largely (>60%) of n-hexane, with varying amounts of the isomeric compounds 2-methylpentane and 3-methylpentane, and possibly, smaller amounts of nonisomeric C5, C6, and C7 (cyclo)alkanes. These "hexanes" mixtures are cheaper than pure hexane and are often used in large-scale operations not requiring a single isomer (e.g., as cleaning solvent or for chromatography).

Uses
In industry, hexanes are used in the formulation of glues for shoes, leather products, and roofing. They are also used to extract cooking oils (such as canola oil or soy oil) from seeds, for cleansing and degreasing a variety of items, and in textile manufacturing. They are commonly used in food based soybean oil extraction in the United States, and are potentially present as contaminants in all soy food products in which the technique is used; the lack of regulation by the FDA of this contaminant is a matter of some controversy.

A typical laboratory use of hexanes is to extract oil and grease contaminants from water and soil for analysis. Since hexane cannot be easily deprotonated, it is used in the laboratory for reactions that involve very strong bases, such as the preparation of organolithiums. For example, butyllithiums are typically supplied as a hexane solution.

Hexanes are commonly used in chromatography as a non-polar solvent. Higher alkanes present as impurities in hexanes have similar retention times as the solvent, meaning that fractions containing hexane will also contain these impurities. In preparative chromatography, concentration of a large volume of hexanes can result in a sample that is appreciably contaminated by alkanes. This may result in a solid compound being obtained as an oil and the alkanes may interfere with analysis.

Production
Hexane is chiefly obtained by refining crude oil. The exact composition of the fraction depends largely on the source of the oil (crude or reformed) and the constraints of the refining. The industrial product (usually around 50% by weight of the straight-chain isomer) is the fraction boiling at 65 - 70 C.

Physical properties
All alkanes are colorless. The boiling points of the various hexanes are somewhat similar and, as for other alkanes, are generally lower for the more branched forms. The melting points are quite different and the trend is not apparent.

Hexane has considerable vapor pressure at room temperature:

Reactivity
Like most alkanes, hexanes characteristically exhibit low reactivity and are suitable solvents for reactive compounds. Commercial samples of n-hexane however often contains methylcyclopentane, which features tertiary C-H bonds, which are incompatible with some radical reactions.

Safety
Inhalation of n-hexane at 5000 ppm for 10 minutes produces marked vertigo; 2500-1000 ppm for 12 hours produces drowsiness, fatigue, loss of appetite, and paresthesia in the distal extremities; 2500–5000 ppm produces muscle weakness, cold pulsation in the extremities, blurred vision, headache, and anorexia. Chronic occupational exposure to elevated levels of n-hexane has been demonstrated to be associated with peripheral neuropathy in auto mechanics in the US, and neurotoxicity in workers in printing presses, and shoe and furniture factories in Asia, Europe, and North America.

The US National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has set a recommended exposure limit (REL) for hexane isomers (not n-hexane) of 100 ppm (350 mg/m3) over an 8-hour workday. However, for n-hexane, the current NIOSH REL is 50 ppm (180 mg/m3) over an 8-hour workday. This limit was proposed as a permissible exposure limit (PEL) by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in 1989; however, this PEL was overruled in US courts in 1992. The current n-hexane PEL in the US is 500 ppm (1800 mg/m3).

Hexane and other volatile hydrocarbons (petroleum ether) present an aspiration risk. n-Hexane is sometimes used as a denaturant for alcohol, and as a cleaning agent in the textile, furniture, and leather industries. It is slowly being replaced with other solvents.

Like gasoline, hexane is highly volatile and is an explosion risk. The 1981 Louisville sewer explosions, which destroyed over 13 mi of sewer lines and streets in Kentucky, were caused by ignition of hexane vapors which had been illegally discharged from a soybean processing plant owned by Ralston-Purina. Hexane was attributed as the cause of an explosion that occurred in the National University of Río Cuarto, Argentina on 5 December 2007, due to a hexane spill near a heat-producing machine that exploded, producing a fire that killed one student and injured 24 more.

Incidents
Occupational hexane poisoning has occurred with Japanese sandal workers, Italian shoe workers, Taiwan press proofing workers, and others. Analysis of Taiwanese workers has shown occupational exposure to substances including n-hexane. In 2010–2011, Chinese workers manufacturing iPhones were reported to have suffered hexane poisoning.

Biotransformation
n-Hexane is biotransformed to 2-hexanol and further to 2,5-Hexanediol in the body. The conversion is catalyzed by the enzyme cytochrome P450 utilizing oxygen from air. 2,5-Hexanediol may be further oxidized to 2,5-hexanedione, which is neurotoxic and produces a polyneuropathy. In view of this behavior, replacement of n-hexane as a solvent has been discussed. n-Heptane is a possible alternative.

title: Hexane


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Crab louse

The crab louse or pubic louse (Pthirus pubis) is an insect that is an obligate ectoparasite of humans, feeding exclusively on blood. The crab louse usually is found in the person's pubic hair. Although the louse cannot jump, it can also live in other areas of the body that are covered with coarse hair, such as the perianal area, the entire body (in men), and the eyelashes (in children).

Humans are the only known hosts of the crab louse, although a closely related species, Pthirus gorillae, infects gorillas. The human parasite is thought to have diverged from Pthirus gorillae approximately 3.3 million years ago. It is more distantly related to the genus Pediculus, which contains the human head and body lice and lice that affect chimpanzees and bonobos.

Description
An adult crab louse is about 1.3–2 mm long (slightly smaller than the body louse and head louse), and can be distinguished from those other species by its almost round body. Another distinguishing feature is that the second and third pairs of legs of a crab louse are much thicker than the front legs and have large claws.

Life cycle
The eggs of the crab louse are laid usually on the coarse hairs of the genital and perianal regions of the human body. The female lays about three eggs a day. The eggs take 6–8 days to hatch, and there are three nymphal stages which together take 10–17 days before the adult develops, making a total life cycle from egg to adult of 16–25 days. Adults live for up to 30 days. Crab lice feed exclusively on blood, and take a blood meal 4–5 times daily. Outside the host they can survive for 24–48 hours. Crab lice are transmitted from person to person most commonly via sexual contact, although fomites (bedding, clothing) may play a minor role in their transmission.

Infestation of humans
Infestation of the eyelashes is referred to as pediculosis ciliaris or phthiriasis palpebrarum.

The main symptom of infestation with crab lice is itching, usually in the pubic-hair area, resulting from hypersensitivity to louse saliva, which can become stronger over two or more weeks following initial infestation. In some infestations, a characteristic grey-blue or slate coloration appears (maculae caeruleae) at the feeding site, which may last for several days.

The prevalence varies between 0.3% to 4.6% with an estimated average of 2% with an increase during war, disasters and in overcrowding. Crab louse infestations are not considered a reportable condition by many health authorities, and many cases are self-treated or treated discreetly by physicians.

It has been suggested that an increasing percentage of humans removing their pubic hair, especially in women, has led to reduced crab louse populations in some parts of the world.

While crab lice are not known to transmit disease, the possibility has been raised they may be a vector for Bartonella spp. and Acinetobacter spp which might require further study. In infested individuals an average of a dozen lice can be found. Although they are typically found attached to hair in the pubic area, sometimes they are also found on coarse hair elsewhere on the body (for example, eyebrows, eyelashes, beard, moustache, chest, armpits, etc.). They do not generally occur on the finer hair of the scalp. Crab lice attach to pubic hair that is thicker than other body hair because their claws are adapted to the specific diameter of pubic hair and other thick hairs of the body. Crab louse infestations (pthiriasis) are usually spread through sexual contact and are most common in adults. The crab louse can travel up to 25 cm on the body. Crab louse infestation is found worldwide and occurs in all races and ethnic groups and in all socio-economic levels. Occasionally they may be also transmitted by close personal contact or contact with articles such as clothing, bed linen, and towels that have been used by an infested person.

Crab lice found on the head or eyelashes of children may be an indication of sexual exposure or abuse. Symptoms of crab louse infestation in the pubic area include itching, redness and inflammation. Crab lice are not known to transmit disease; however, secondary bacterial infection can occur from scratching of the skin.

Crab louse infestation can be diagnosed by identifying the presence of active stages of the louse, as well as of eggs (nits) on the pubic hair and other hairs of the body. When infestation is diagnosed, other family members and contact persons should also be examined. A magnifying glass or dermoscope could be used for better identification.

title: Crab louse


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Amway North America

Amway North America (formerly known as Quixtar North America) is an American worldwide multi-level marketing (MLM) company, founded 1959 in Ada, Michigan, United States. It is privately owned by the families of Richard DeVos and Jay Van Andel through Alticor which is the holding company for businesses including Amway, Amway Global, Fulton Innovation, Amway Hotel Corporation, Hatteras Yachts, and manufacturing and logistics company Access Business Group. After the launch of Amway Global (originally operating under the name Quixtar), it replaced the Amway business in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean, with the Amway business continuing to operate in other countries around the world. On May 1, 2009, Quixtar made the name change to Amway Global and fused the various different entities of the parent company.

Amway Global is a member of the Direct Selling Association and the Better Business Bureau.

History
Rich DeVos and Jay Van Andel initially founded the Ja-Ri Corporation, a multi-level marketing distributorship for Nutrilite products, in 1949. Ja-Ri was incorporated in 1959 and changed its name to "Amway" (American Way) in 1963. , Amway operates in more than 100 countries around the world. In 1999, the founders of the Amway corporation launched a sister Internet-based company named Quixtar. The Alticor corporation owns both Amway and Quixtar, plus several other concerns. Quixtar replaced the North American business of Amway in 2001 after the majority of the distributors moved to Quixtar, with Amway operating in the rest of the world.

The move unified the various Amway companies worldwide. "We're now reintroducing our brands in North America, moving away from Quixtar and going back to the Amway name," said Steve Lieberman, managing director of Amway Global. "We decided there were a number of roads we had to go down in order to recreate awareness for a brand that, quite frankly, a lot of people felt had gone away."

Products
Quixtar is the exclusive distributor of Alticor products in the United States and Canada, including Nutrilite dietary supplements, XS Energy Drinks, personal care, home care, air and water purifiers and Artistry cosmetics.

Business model
Quixtar relies primarily on person-to-person referral rather than advertisements for the sale of products; however, Quixtar announced the launch of a multimillion-dollar ad campaign in 2012. A large part of the marketing budget is spent on paying bonuses to distributors. Independent Business Owners (IBOs) were paid more than $370.1 million in bonuses and incentives in the fiscal year 2006. Bonuses are paid for individual sales and sales generated by people one sponsor but not for sponsoring itself.

In 2001, after the majority of Amway IBOs had transferred to the new company, Quixtar completely replaced Amway as the marketing venture for Amway/Alticor products in North American regions. The Quixtar business model differs from the earlier Amway business model in many aspects, such as the way distribution is performed as well as the products and services offered through partner stores. Rather than ordering a product from a distributor who delivers them in person, Quixtar customers can place orders online and have the products shipped to them directly. In mid-2007, however, Quixtar announced they were phasing back in the Amway name over two years and discarding the Quixtar name. Along with the re-branding campaign, Amway Global is investing over 580 million dollars into both increased compensation for IBOs and extensive advertising of the new brand name.

Individuals may buy products through Quixtar's web site with a referral number from an IBO. Quixtar also gives IBOs the option to create free personal websites that can be personalized to focus on health, beauty, health and beauty, and/or gift and incentive products. The referring IBO then receives the retail/wholesale profit (usually 30%), and a percentage ("bonus") of the cost of the sold goods (from 3% up to 31% depending on total PV generated), with Quixtar-exclusive products yielding a higher bonus per dollar in Point Value and Business Value (PV/BV). Quixtar offers a wide range of products for its IBOs to purchase for personal use and/or to sell to customers through Quixtar.com and IBO personal e-commerce sites.

IBOs pay a registration fee and build their businesses through retail sales to customers, referring business to Quixtar.com, and by helping other IBOs build similar businesses. Their earnings are based on their business's sales and the volume of sales and purchases of IBOs registered by them.

Income of Quixtar IBOs
Quixtar IBOs earn income in different forms in various categories, including IGP (Immediate Gross Profit), Performance Bonus, Leadership Bonus, and other Growth incentives. IGP is the profit made when customers of an IBO buy products and services from Quixtar at retail price. Performance bonus on a scale of 3% to 25% of the group volume (total BV of the sale made by the group) is paid if the PV level of the IBO is more than 100 PV in a month. The leadership bonus is paid at 4% of BV of each qualifying leg, which is at 25% or 7500 PV. Growth incentives are announced by Quixtar every year in the form of bonuses and paid trips at various levels. These bonuses are awarded to IBOs who are at Platinum or higher achievement levels.

Quixtar reports that the average income for an "active" Quixtar IBO in 2005 was $115 a month ($1,380 annually), as documented in The Quixtar IBO Compensation Plan and on a Quixtar website. The average annual Quixtar income for an IBO that qualified at the Platinum level in 2005 (0.1683% of IBOs) was $47,472 and for a Diamond (.0120% of IBOs) it was $146,995. The largest single annual bonus (in addition to monthly incomes) for a Diamond was $1,083,421.

This said, according to Inter@ctive Week, "The commissions aren't all that great, even though they can add up to greater than 50 percent of the cost of the goods sold. If privately held Amway generated $6 billion in sales in 1998 as estimated, then each of its 1 million distributors would have pulled in, on average, only $6,000. It's nice extra income, but a livelihood only for the most talented, hardworking or aggressive. Or, for those with a large personal family tree.

That's because this form of marketing relies on what Ken McDonald, regional vice president at Amway North America, calls "high touch." This is what amounts to the need for agents or distributors to reach out and touch people they personally know, in order to make a sale. Almost all Amway sales start with face-to-face contact between people familiar with each other" (Inter@ctive Week).

An "active" IBO is qualified on the IBO Registration form: ''Based on an independent survey during 2001, “Active” means an IBO attempted to make a retail sale, or presented the Independent Business Ownership Plan, or received bonus money, or attended a company or IBO meeting in the year 2000. Approximately 66% of all IBOs of record were found to be "Active."''

IBO Association International
The IBO Association International (IBOAI) was founded in 1959 as the American Way Association with the goal of "serving the common interests of Independent Business Owners throughout North America." Members are served by an 18-member Board of Directors who are supported by seven full-time staff. The Association's board members are "elected by its voting members".

Accreditation
In 2006, Quixtar, in partnership with the IBOAI (IBO Association International) launched the "Quixtar Accreditation" program in order to address concerns about the companies that provide Business Support Materials to Quixtar IBOs. North American Diamonds (high-level IBOs) and their associated training companies may apply to Quixtar to be accredited by the corporation. Among other things, accreditation specifically states that promotion of particular religious or political viewpoints is unacceptable. Additionally, accredited programs must agree to a range of other guidelines, including "full" transparency in any compensation paid for Business Support Materials. The "full" transparency only applies to the IBO's who are participants in the BSM income, for most groups this means Platinums and above, representing a very small percentage of IBO's. Accreditation lasts two years and is enforced through reviews of materials and surveys of IBOs. The full guidelines are listed in the IBO Communications Platform. In April 2006 "eFinity" became the first Quixtar affiliated support organization to receive accredited status.

Sales and ranking
Forbes ranked Alticor, as America's 27th largest privately owned company with estimated revenue of $7.29 billion. In 2006, Internet Retailer ranked Quixtar.com as the number one site in the "health and beauty" category and 18th largest e-commerce site (for revenue) overall.

Quixtar-powered IBOs generated revenues of $1.118 billion for Quixtar for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2006, the fourth consecutive year in which the company surpassed the billion-dollar mark. IBOs also generated record $84.6 million in revenues for Quixtar’s Partner Stores in 2006.

Promotion
Athletes who have promoted Quixtar or its products include Jamaican Olympic sprinter Asafa Powell, American pole vaulter Jennifer Stuczynski, American Olympic sprinter Sanya Richards, U.S. Olympian Shaun White, Cinematographer Wes Anderson, Chinese Olympic hurdler Liu Xiang; Brazilian soccer player Ronaldinho, heavyweight boxer Evander Holyfield, and Heisman Trophy winner Ron Dayne. Tim Foley, a member of the undefeated 1972 Miami Dolphins, is a Quixtar Founders Crown Ambassador.

Author John C. Maxwell, who writes leadership books including The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, co-authored Becoming a Person of Influence with Jim Dornan, Quixtar Founders Crown Ambassador and founder of Quixtar support organization Network TwentyOne. Orrin Woodward and Chris Brady, both former IBOAI board members for Quixtar, co-authored the #1 bestseller, Launching a Leadership Revolution. Both Woodward and Brady were terminated by Quixtar and participated in a class action lawsuit against Quixtar alleging that Quixtar operated as an illegal recruitment scheme.

As a guest speaker at the Quixtar LIVE! conference in 2003, Phil McGraw ("Dr. Phil") reportedly described Quixtar as "one of the greatest success stories in American business history." In a 2006 settlement involving a class-action lawsuit brought against McGraw and his Shape-Up diet products, plaintiffs received a share of $6.0 million in Quixtar-brand Nutrilite vitamins and $4.5 million in cash.

Orlando Arena naming rights
In December 2006, Amway secured the naming rights for the Orlando Arena, home to the NBA's Orlando Magic, which was formerly known as the TD Waterhouse Centre. In the deal, the arena became known as Amway Arena. As part of the contract, Amway also had the exclusive right to first negotiations for the naming rights of the arena's successor, and secured in early August 2009 a 10-year deal to name the new facility Amway Center.

On December 20, 2023, Amway Center was formally renamed the Kia Center in partnership with Kia America.

San Jose Earthquakes
Prior to the 2009 Major League Soccer season, Amway Global signed a three-year deal with the San Jose Earthquakes to become the team's official jersey sponsor.

A major part of the partnership is focused on community initiatives in the Bay Area. As a result, Amway Global is now also the official sponsor of the team's Kicks for Kids program that focuses on fitness and healthy lifestyles, as well as bringing underprivileged children to Earthquakes games.

The partnership also saw the creation of the Amway Global Street Team, which appears at all Earthquakes home games and at a number of soccer and non-soccer events throughout the Bay Area. The members of the Amway Global Street Team give away Earthquakes-branded merchandise and provide soccer skills demonstrations at each event.

, Amway officially ended their 3-year contract with the Earthquakes to be their official sponsor.

Los Angeles Sol
In March 2009, Amway Global signed a multi-year deal to become the official presenting partner of the Los Angeles Sol of Women's Professional Soccer. That deal would last only one year, as the Sol folded after the 2009 season.

Litigation
For several years Quixtar was involved in litigation with the tools businesses of former Crown Distributor Kenny Stewart and Double Diamond Brig Hart. In February 2008 a federal judge dismissed the case.

A class action lawsuit was filed in 2007 against Quixtar and some of its top-level distributors in California, alleging fraud, racketeering, and that the products business and the tools business are pyramid schemes. A similar case filed in California in August 2007 by TEAM affiliated IBOs whose contracts had been terminated was dismissed. On November 3, 2010, Amway announced that it had agreed to pay $56 million to settle the class action, $34 million in cash and $22 million in products, and while denying any wrongdoing or liability, acknowledged that it had made changes to its business operations as a result of the lawsuit. The settlement is subject to approval by the court, which is expected in early 2011. The total economic value of the settlement, including the changes to the business model, is $100 million.

In his online book "Merchants of Deception", former Quixtar IBO Eric Scheibeler stated that he and his family received death threats from his uplines during a business meeting and from an anonymous phone call. In 2006, a Swedish newspaper published statements attributed to Scheibeler which implied that Amway/Quixtar employees were responsible for these threats. Amway and Quixtar sued Scheibeler on February 27, 2007 for defamation. In July 2007, Scheibeler wrote a letter to an attorney for Amway and Quixtar clarifying among other things that, to his knowledge, Doug DeVos or Amway/Quixtar employees never made any death threats to him.

FTC investigations
The Federal Trade Commission offers advice for potential MLM members to help them identify those which are likely to be pyramid schemes.

In the 1979 ruling In re. Amway Corp., the Federal Trade Commission determined that Quixtar predecessor Amway was not an illegal pyramid scheme because no payments were made for recruitment. In addition, Amway (and later Quixtar) rules required distributors to sell to at least 10 retail customers per month, or have $100 in product sales, or a total of 50 PV from customer purchases in order to qualify for bonuses on downline volume. Quixtar IBOs are required to report this customer volume on Quixtar.com or they do not receive bonuses on downline volume. Furthermore, an IBO must also personally sell or use at least 70% of the products personally purchased each month. The FTC established that these rules help prevent inventory loading and other potential abuses of the marketing model.

In 1986 Amway Corp. agreed, under a consent decree filed in federal court, to pay a $100,000 civil penalty to settle Commission charges it violated a 1979 Commission order that prohibits Amway from misrepresenting the amount of profit, earnings or sales its distributors are likely to achieve. According to a complaint filed with the consent decree, Amway violated the 1979 order by advertising earnings claims without including in it clear and conspicuous disclosures of the average earnings or sales of all distributors in any recent year or the percent of distributors who actually achieved the results claimed.

The FTC has required the information on average income to be provided to all prospective Quixtar business owners since the above 1979 FTC ruling clearing the Amway business model as legal.

Income from tools and business support materials
In 1983, Rich DeVos, one of Amway's founders, made recordings which, among other things, communicated his displeasure with several issues regarding some of the high ranking distributors/IBOs. These recordings are entitled "Directly Speaking" and were addressed to Direct Distributors (now called Platinums), who are considered leaders with various responsibilities for their downline group. In January 1983 Rich DeVos announced that Amway would pay Business Volume (BV) on Amway produced tapes. He expressed concern about the level of income from the sale of Business Support Materials (BSM; tapes, CDs, books, and business conferences/functions) compared to the income the high level distributors were making from Amway products. He stated his legal team was concerned if the tool income exceeded 10% of their Amway income, and stated that BV payouts on tapes can never exceed 20% of the distributor's total Business Volume.

A 1985 Forbes magazine article quoted Dexter Yager, an IBO, as stating that about 2/3 of his income is from BSMs.

In 2004, Dateline NBC aired a report, alleging that some high-level Quixtar IBOs make most of their money from selling motivational materials rather than Quixtar products. Quixtar published an official Quixtar Response website where it showed '"Interviews Dateline Didn't Do"'. Quixtar also states on its response site that Dateline declined their request to link to the site.

During the registration process for a new IBO, Quixtar contracts clearly inform prospective IBOs that BSM are optional and that the producers and sellers of the BSM may make profit or loss from their sale (like any other business). This is also publicized on Quixtar websites. Quixtar's Business Support Materials Arbitration Agreement (SMAA) requires the immediate seller of BSMs to buy-back materials, which were purchased only for personal consumption within a 180-day time frame, on commercially reasonable terms, upon request of the purchaser. BSMs purchased for inventory or to be sold to others downline are not covered by the buy back policy.

Disputes with TEAM
On August 9, 2007, a group of Quixtar distributors, including founders of the TEAM training organization, filed a lawsuit seeking to enjoin Quixtar from enforcing its distributor contracts, including the non-competition and non-solicitation provisions. The plaintiffs alleged that the company knowingly operates as a pyramid scheme, and prevents its distributors from leaving the organization through the aforementioned provisions.

On August 10, 2007, Quixtar announced that it had terminated the businesses of fifteen of the plaintiffs involved in the lawsuit, and sought and received a temporary restraining order and preliminary order of injunction in a Michigan court preventing them from interfering with the LOS, soliciting IBOs for their new company, or disparaging Quixtar or the business in any way. In mid October 2007, Quixtar argued that the former distributors were in violation of the court order since TEAM continued to have meetings and sell motivational materials. In Grand Rapids, Michigan, Quixtar argued that TEAM was using Quixtar's proprietary information to promote its meetings and sell materials. The court held in favor of Woodward and Brady and allowed TEAM to continue to operate.

To enforce the injunction, Quixtar filed an action against 30 anonymous bloggers. Specifically, Quixtar was seeking to discover if Woodward and Brady were involved in a blogging campaign to disparage the company. The California lawsuit was dismissed on October 5, 2007.

In 2009, Woodward and his wife Laurie were found liable in an arbitration case for soliciting other distributors to resign from Quixtar and join its competitor MonaVie, The Woodwards were ordered to pay a settlement of $12,736,659. TEAM Co-defendants Chris and Terri Brady ordered to pay $9,578,756 and Tim and Amy Marks, $3,533,230.

Google bombing
In the summer of 2004, some Quixtar leaders and IBOs allegedly launched a Web initiative designed to make their web pages more prominent in search results, aka Google Bombing.

title: Amway North America


text:
Palindromic number

A palindromic number (also known as a numeral palindrome or a numeric palindrome) is a number (such as 16461) that remains the same when its digits are reversed. In other words, it has reflectional symmetry across a vertical axis. The term palindromic is derived from palindrome, which refers to a word (such as rotor or racecar) whose spelling is unchanged when its letters are reversed. The first 30 palindromic numbers (in decimal) are:
 * 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 22, 33, 44, 55, 66, 77, 88, 99, 101, 111, 121, 131, 141, 151, 161, 171, 181, 191, 202, ....

Palindromic numbers receive most attention in the realm of recreational mathematics. A typical problem asks for numbers that possess a certain property and are palindromic. For instance:
 * The palindromic primes are 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 101, 131, 151, ....
 * The palindromic square numbers are 0, 1, 4, 9, 121, 484, 676, 10201, 12321, ....

It is obvious that in any base there are infinitely many palindromic numbers, since in any base the infinite sequence of numbers written (in that base) as 101, 1001, 10001, 100001, etc. consists solely of palindromic numbers.

Formal definition
Although palindromic numbers are most often considered in the decimal system, the concept of palindromicity can be applied to the natural numbers in any numeral system. Consider a number n > 0 in base b ≥ 2, where it is written in standard notation with k+1 digits ai as:
 * $$n=\sum_{i=0}^ka_ib^i$$

with, as usual, 0 ≤ ai < b for all i and ak ≠ 0. Then n is palindromic if and only if ai = ak−i for all i. Zero is written 0 in any base and is also palindromic by definition.

Decimal palindromic numbers
All numbers with one digit are palindromic, so in base 10 there are ten palindromic numbers with one digit:
 * {0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9}.

There are 9 palindromic numbers with two digits:
 * {11, 22, 33, 44, 55, 66, 77, 88, 99}.

All palindromic numbers with an even number of digits are divisible by 11.

There are 90 palindromic numbers with three digits (Using the rule of product: 9 choices for the first digit - which determines the third digit as well - multiplied by 10 choices for the second digit):
 * {101, 111, 121, 131, 141, 151, 161, 171, 181, 191, ..., 909, 919, 929, 939, 949, 959, 969, 979, 989, 999}

There are likewise 90 palindromic numbers with four digits (again, 9 choices for the first digit multiplied by ten choices for the second digit. The other two digits are determined by the choice of the first two):
 * {1001, 1111, 1221, 1331, 1441, 1551, 1661, 1771, 1881, 1991, ..., 9009, 9119, 9229, 9339, 9449, 9559, 9669, 9779, 9889, 9999},

so there are 199 palindromic numbers smaller than 104.

There are 1099 palindromic numbers smaller than 105 and for other exponents of 10n we have: 1999, 10999, 19999, 109999, 199999, 1099999, ... . The number of palindromic numbers which have some other property are listed below:

Perfect powers
There are many palindromic perfect powers nk, where n is a natural number and k is 2, 3 or 4.
 * Palindromic squares: 0, 1, 4, 9, 121, 484, 676, 10201, 12321, 14641, 40804, 44944, ...
 * Palindromic cubes: 0, 1, 8, 343, 1331, 1030301, 1367631, 1003003001, ...
 * Palindromic fourth powers: 0, 1, 14641, 104060401, 1004006004001, ...

The first nine terms of the sequence 12, 112, 1112, 11112, ... form the palindromes 1, 121, 12321, 1234321, ...

The only known non-palindromic number whose cube is a palindrome is 2201, and it is a conjecture the fourth root of all the palindrome fourth powers are a palindrome with 100000...000001 (10n + 1).

G. J. Simmons conjectured there are no palindromes of form nk for k > 4 (and n > 1).

Other bases
Palindromic numbers can be considered in numeral systems other than decimal. For example, the binary palindromic numbers are those with the binary representations:
 * 0, 1, 11, 101, 111, 1001, 1111, 10001, 10101, 11011, 11111, 100001, ...

or in decimal:
 * 0, 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 15, 17, 21, 27, 31, 33, ...

The Fermat primes and the Mersenne primes form a subset of the binary palindromic primes.

Any number $$n$$ is palindromic in all bases $$b$$ with $$b > n$$ (trivially so, because $$n$$ is then a single-digit number), and also in base $$n-1$$ (because $$n$$ is then $$11_{n-1}$$). Even excluding cases where the number is smaller than the base, most numbers are palindromic in more than one base. For example, $$1221_4=151_8=77_{14}=55_{20}=33_{34}=11_{104}$$, $$1991_{10}=7C7_{16}$$. A number $$n$$ is never palindromic in base $$b$$ if $$n/2 \le b \le n-2$$. Moreover, a prime number $$p$$ is never palindromic in base $$b$$ if $$\sqrt{p} \le b \le p-2$$.

A number that is non-palindromic in all bases b in the range 2 ≤ b ≤ n − 2 can be called a strictly non-palindromic number. For example, the number 6 is written as "110" in base 2, "20" in base 3, and "12" in base 4, none of which are palindromes. All strictly non-palindromic numbers larger than 6 are prime. Indeed, if $$n > 6$$ is composite, then either $$n = ab$$ for some $$2 \le a < b$$, in which case n is the palindrome "aa" in base $$b-1$$, or else it is a perfect square $$n = a^2$$, in which case n is the palindrome "121" in base $$a-1$$ (except for the special case of $$n = 9 = 1001_2$$).

The first few strictly non-palindromic numbers are:

 * 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 11, 19, 47, 53, 79, 103, 137, 139, 149, 163, 167, 179, 223, 263, 269, 283, 293, 311, 317, 347, 359, 367, 389, 439, 491, 563, 569, 593, 607, 659, 739, 827, 853, 877, 977, 983, 997, ...

Antipalindromic numbers
If the digits of a natural number don't only have to be reversed in order, but also subtracted from $$b-1$$ to yield the original sequence again, then the number is said to be antipalindromic. Formally, in the usual decomposition of a natural number into its digits $$a_i$$ in base $$b$$, a number is antipalindromic iff $$a_i = b - 1 - a_{k-i}$$.

Lychrel process
Non-palindromic numbers can be paired with palindromic ones via a series of operations. First, the non-palindromic number is reversed and the result is added to the original number. If the result is not a palindromic number, this is repeated until it gives a palindromic number. Such number is called "a delayed palindrome".

It is not known whether all non-palindromic numbers can be paired with palindromic numbers in this way. While no number has been proven to be unpaired, many do not appear to be. For example, 196 does not yield a palindrome even after 700,000,000 iterations. Any number that never becomes palindromic in this way is known as a Lychrel number.

On January 24, 2017, the number 1,999,291,987,030,606,810 was published in OEIS as A281509 and announced "The Largest Known Most Delayed Palindrome". The sequence of 125 261-step most delayed palindromes preceding 1,999,291,987,030,606,810 and not reported before was published separately as A281508.

Sum of the reciprocals
The sum of the reciprocals of the palindromic numbers is a convergent series, whose value is approximately 3.37028... .

Scheherazade numbers
Scheherazade numbers are a set of numbers identified by Buckminster Fuller in his book Synergetics. Fuller does not give a formal definition for this term, but from the examples he gives, it can be understood to be those numbers that contain a factor of the primorial n#, where n≥13 and is the largest prime factor in the number. Fuller called these numbers Scheherazade numbers because they must have a factor of 1001. Scheherazade is the storyteller of One Thousand and One Nights, telling a new story each night to delay her execution. Since n must be at least 13, the primorial must be at least 1·2·3·5·7·11·13, and 7×11×13 = 1001. Fuller also refers to powers of 1001 as Scheherazade numbers. The smallest primorial containing Scheherazade number is 13# = 30,030.

Fuller pointed out that some of these numbers are palindromic by groups of digits. For instance 17# = 510,510 shows a symmetry of groups of three digits. Fuller called such numbers Scheherazade Sublimely Rememberable Comprehensive Dividends, or SSRCD numbers. Fuller notes that 1001 raised to a power not only produces sublimely rememberable numbers that are palindromic in three-digit groups, but also the values of the groups are the binomial coefficients. For instance,
 * $$(1001)^6 = 1,006,015,020,015,006,001 $$

This sequence fails at (1001)13 because there is a carry digit taken into the group to the left in some groups. Fuller suggests writing these spillovers on a separate line. If this is done, using more spillover lines as necessary, the symmetry is preserved indefinitely to any power. Many other Scheherazade numbers show similar symmetries when expressed in this way.

Sums of palindromes
In 2018, a paper was published demonstrating that every positive integer can be written as the sum of three palindromic numbers in every number system with base 5 or greater.

title: Palindromic number


text:
Dési Bouterse

Desiré Delano Bouterse (born 13 October 1945) is a Surinamese military officer, politician, convicted murderer and drug trafficker who served as President of Suriname from 2010 to 2020. From 1980 to 1987, he was Suriname's de facto leader after conducting a military coup and establishing a period of military rule. In 1987, Bouterse founded the National Democratic Party (NDP). On 25 May 2010, Bouterse's political alliance, the Megacombinatie ("Mega combination"), which included the NDP, won the parliamentary elections, and on 19 July 2010, Bouterse was elected as President of Suriname with 36 of 50 parliament votes. He was inaugurated on 12 August 2010.

Bouterse is a controversial figure, held responsible by some for numerous human rights violations committed during his military rule in the 1980s. Most notable were the December murders in 1982. He was prosecuted for the murders, and a trial was initiated, but the National Assembly extended amnesty to him in 2012. After the trial was forced to continue, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison on 29 November 2019. He is also suspected of having directed the Moiwana massacre in 1986 against a village of Maroons during the Surinamese Interior War which pitted his government first against the maroon guerrilla group Jungle Commando, led by his former bodyguard, Ronnie Brunswijk, and then against the indigenous group Tucayana Amazonas.

On 16 July 1999, Bouterse was sentenced in absentia in the Netherlands to 11 years' imprisonment after being convicted of trafficking 474 kg of cocaine. Bouterse always maintained his innocence. He claimed the star witness in the case, Patrick van Loon, was bribed by the Dutch government. According to the United States diplomatic cables leak released in 2011, Bouterse was active in the drug trade until 2006. Europol has issued a warrant for his arrest. At that time, he could not be arrested in Suriname, because he was still president. As he was convicted of the drug offense before his election in 2010 as head of state, he risked arrest if he left Suriname.

In 2023, he was sentenced to twenty years' imprisonment for the 1982 murders of fifteen political dissidents. He was reported missing by the Surinamese authorities in January 2024 after refusing to report to prison. He is currently considered a fugitive.

Early life
Bouterse was born on 13 October 1945 in Domburg, located in Suriname's Wanica District. He was born in a Multiracial family of Amerindian, African, Dutch, French, and Chinese ancestry. As a young boy he moved from Domburg to the capital Paramaribo, where he was raised by an aunt. He attended St. Jozefschool (a boarding school) and later the Middelbare Handelsschool (roughly equivalent to junior secondary general education), which he did not finish.

In 1968, Bouterse moved to the Netherlands, where he was conscripted into the armed forces of the Netherlands (Nederlandse Krijgsmacht). After completing his military service, he signed up to train as a non-commissioned officer at the Koninklijke Militaire School in Weert. In this period, Bouterse became known as an athlete, and he was chosen as head of the basketball team.

In 1970, Bouterse married Ingrid Figueira, whom he had known as a teenager in Suriname. They had two children: Peggy and Dino. Shortly after the marriage, Bouterse was assigned to the Dutch military base in Seedorf, Germany.

On 11 November 1975, Bouterse returned with his family to Suriname after it gained independence from the Netherlands. He wanted to help establish the Surinamese army. In 1979, Bouterse accepted a request by Roy Horb to become chairman of a new Surinamese military union (union BoMiKa; Bond voor Militair Kader).

Sergeants Coup

On 25 February 1980, Bouterse, Horb, and fourteen other sergeants overthrew the Henck Arron government with a violent military coup d'état, now known as the Sergeants Coup. The sergeants who accomplished this coup were known as the Groep van zestien (Group of Sixteen), led by Bouterse. After the coup, he became chairman of the National Military Council of Suriname and as such the de facto dictator of Suriname. From then until 1988, Bouterse was the power behind puppet presidents installed by him.

The military takeover, which was widely supported by the population, was officially aimed at fighting corruption and unemployment (which at the time affected 18 per cent of the working population), and at restoring order in public affairs. However, "the political plans were vague, no ideological discussions had taken place in preparation for the coup," notes historian Rosemarijn Hoefte.

On the day of the coup, Bouterse's soldiers burned down the Central Police Station of Suriname. The remains of this building now form the "monument of the Revolution". Annually, on 25 February, the coup is commemorated.

The military dictatorship imposed an evening curfew, and curtailed freedom of press (only one newspaper, de Ware Tijd, was allowed to continue publishing, but was subject to heavy censorship). In 1985, it banned political parties and restricted freedom of assembly. It was characterized by a high level of government corruption and the summary executions of political opponents. After the December murders of fifteen opponents in 1982, Bouterse closed the University of Suriname.

He established diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union, Cuba and North Korea, but his regime did not show any Communist orientation. The Netherlands suspended development aid to its former colony, destabilizing the Surinamese economy. At the same time, the fall in bauxite prices, Suriname's main export, accentuated the economic crisis. The regime was quickly confronted with several uprisings, sometimes led by part of the army, sometimes by civilians. In 1983, in the wake of the U.S. invasion of Grenada, Suriname drew closer to Washington and expelled Cuban diplomats, perhaps for fear of U.S. aggression.

December murders
On 7 and 8 December 1982, fifteen prominent Surinamese men who had criticized Bouterse's military dictatorship or were connected with the coup attempt on 11 March 1982, were brought to Fort Zeelandia (then Bouterse's headquarters), where they were tortured and shot dead. These killings are known as the December murders.

The 15 victims were:

 * John Baboeram, lawyer
 * Bram Behr, journalist
 * Cyrill Daal, union leader
 * Kenneth Gonçalves, lawyer
 * Eddy Hoost, lawyer
 * André Kamperveen, journalist and businessman
 * Gerard Leckie, university teacher
 * Sugrim Oemrawsingh, scientist
 * Lesley Rahman, journalist
 * Surendre Rambocus, military
 * Harold Riedewald, lawyer
 * Jiwansingh Sheombar, military
 * Jozef Slagveer, journalist
 * Robby Sohansingh, businessman
 * Frank Wijngaarde, journalist (with Dutch citizenship)

On 10 December 1982 Bouterse stated on STVS television channel that 15 arrested "suspects who were plotting to overthrow the government later in December were shot dead while trying to flee Fort Zeelandia". Years later Bouterse said that he was not present at the killings. In 2000 he stated that the decision for these killings was made by the commander of the battalion, Paul Bhagwandas, who died in 1996. Bouterse accepted political responsibility as leader, but still denied any direct involvement.

The trials for the December murders did not take place in Suriname until 30 November 2007. Among the 25 indicted suspects, Bouterse is the chief figure. Since the trial began, Bouterse never went to court. In an interview with Al Jazeera in 2009, Bouterse said that the trial was being used by his political opponents to prevent him from running for office again and for their own political gain. In April 2012, two months before the verdict in the trial was expected, Bouterse's party member Andre Misiekaba said, during a debate in the Surinamese parliament, that: "The December Murders trial is a political trial which has the purpose to eliminate Bouterse from the political arena and therefore the Amnesty Act is needed."

Amnesty
On 1 February 2012, Ruben Rozendaal, one of the military suspects, announced in local media that it was time for him to come forward with the truth about the December Murders because he wanted to clear his name before he died: he was suffering from a severe kidney disease, and the doctors had told him he did not have much time left to live. After consulting with his lawyer, Rozendaal decided to withdraw the testimony he had given in 2010. After the last suspects and witnesses in the December Murders case were heard, the court-martial decided to hear Rozendaal again, and this hearing was set for 23 March 2012.

On 19 March, five members of Bouterse's political party Megacombinatie and one member of Paul Somohardjo's party Pertjajah Luhur proposed a law in the parliament which in effect would grant amnesty for the suspects in the December Murders, including Dési Bouterse. The amnesty law would also cause immediate termination of the trial. The parliamentary voting was to be held on 23 March, the same day Ruben Rozendaal testified in court that Bouterse personally killed two of the fifteen men: union leader Cyrill Daal and military member Soerindre Rambocus. That day there was no quorum in the parliament, and the voting did not continue.

On 4 April 2012, after three days of debate, the Assembly passed the amnesty law with 28 votes in favor and 12 votes opposed. The political parties Nieuw Suriname and BEP, both members of Bouterse's coalition, left the room when the voting started because they "did not believe that they should support a law which is being opposed by a large part of the Surinamese community." The chair of the Surinamese parliament, Jennifer Simons, who is also a member of Bouterse's party, voted for the law.

The controversial law granted amnesty to Bouterse and the 24 other suspects. This could also mean that the ongoing December Murders trial will face an immediate stop.

On 13 April 2012, the public prosecutor in the December Murders trial formulated the demanded sentence against five suspects, including the main suspect, Bouterse. His defense lawyer, Irwin Kanhai, requested that the trial would be declared moot because of the amnesty law. On 11 May 2012, the court decided whether the trial would continue or not.

Edgar Ritfeld, one of the 25 suspects, said that he did not want amnesty because he knows he is innocent. He wanted the trial to be continued so that his innocence could be proven. Ruben Rozendaal and Wim Carbiere, both suspects, also asked for continuation of the trial.

The controversial amnesty law was protested both nationally and internationally. Organizations such as the United Nations, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Reporters Without Borders and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights condemned the law and urged the Surinamese judges and the Public Prosecutor's Office to continue the trial. On 19 April 2012, Human Rights Watch demanded an immediate retraction of the law.

Reaction from the Netherlands
After passage of the amnesty law, the Netherlands immediately stopped the 20 million euro aid set aside for Suriname. President Bouterse was unmoved by this decision, saying, "I never asked you for 20 million euros. We have economic reserves of almost 800 million dollars". The Dutch Labour Party and the then ruling People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) believed that this sanction was not enough. They called for more penalties such as economic sanctions, expulsion of the Surinamese ambassador (who is the daughter of MP Rashied Doekhi, one of the 28 MPs who voted in favour of the law), and a ban on European travel for all the Surinamese parliamentarians who voted for the amnesty law. Dutch minister of foreign affairs Uri Rosenthal did not agree with these requests.

On 8 April 2012, the Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte said it was "indigestible" that amnesty was granted to the suspects in this stage of the trial (the amnesty law was passed two months before the verdict in the trial).

2019 conviction by the military court
The amnesty law was later overturned by a court ruling, and in November 2019 the military court convicted Bouterse to 20 years imprisonment for the December killings. On 22 January 2020, Bouterse appeared before the court, in military uniform, to appeal this decision. On 20 December 2023, Suriname's Supreme Court upheld Bouterse's conviction. He could still request a pardon to Suriname's president Chan Santokhi, who investigated the December killings as a police commissioner, and later pushed for the investigation to continue as justice minister.

On 8 January 2024, Bouterse filed another appeal against his conviction, which was rejected the next day by the Attorney-General. On 12 January, a manhunt was launched against Bouterse after he failed to turn himself in to prison authorities.

Moiwana massacre
Moiwana is a Maroon village in the Marowijne District in the east of Suriname.

The Suriname Guerrilla War (1986–1990), also known as a civil war, was between the Surinamese military regime, headed by Dési Bouterse, and the Surinamese Liberation Army, a guerrilla Maroon group better known as the Jungle Commando, led by Bouterse's former bodyguard Ronnie Brunswijk. On 29 November 1986, members of the national military massacred at least 39 villagers of Moiwana, Brunswijk's home village, killing mostly women and children. The soldiers also burned down the village dwellings, including Brunswijk's house. The survivors fled as refugees with hundreds of other inland inhabitants across the Marowijne River to neighbouring French Guiana.

The human rights organisation 'Moiwana '86' has committed itself to achieving justice with regard to this event. It is seeking to hold military officers and the government as responsible for the massacre.

Herman Gooding, a chief inspector of the police, was assassinated in August 1990 during his investigation of the massacre. Reportedly he was forced out of his car near Fort Zeelandia and shot in the head. His body was left outside the office of Desi Bouterse. Other police investigators fled the country for safety, stalling the progress of the investigation.

The government has stated that it is still continuing its investigation of the massacre. It claimed that prospective witnesses had either moved, died, or were uncooperative. It has also said that an investigation of the murder of Herman Gooding was continuing.

In August 2005, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ordered Suriname to pay US$3 million in compensation to 130 survivors of the massacre, and to establish a US$1.2 million fund for the development of Moiwana. The Inter-American Court of Human rights has judged that the responsible persons have to be prosecuted and punished; however, previous governments, including Bouterse's government, have failed to do so.

Transition to democracy
Later in 1985, the government lifted the ban on opposition parties, beginning a transition to civilian rule. A new constitution was overwhelmingly approved in a 30 September 1987 referendum. Elections were held two months later, and Ramsewak Shankar, an opponent of Bouterse, was elected president in January 1988.

However, Bouterse retained much power as army commander. He scuttled a number of government efforts to negotiate with the Jungle Commando, and a number of Bouterse's opponents were murdered or disappeared. Matters came to a head when Bouterse was detained at Schiphol Airport while returning to Suriname on a personal trip to Ghana and Switzerland. Angered that Shankar, who happened to be on the same flight to Amsterdam, didn't protest, Bouterse resigned as army commander. The following day, Ivan Graanoogst, who was serving as acting army commander, called Shankar and forced his resignation. By all accounts, however, Bouterse was the mastermind of what became known as the Telephone Coup. A year later, new elections were held that returned the country to civilian rule.

Drug trafficking
On 16 July 1999, Bouterse was convicted in absentia in the Netherlands to 11 years in prison for trafficking 474 kilograms of cocaine. Bouterse always proclaimed his innocence. He claimed that the star witness in his case, Patrick van Loon, was bribed by the Dutch government. Bouterse is believed by law enforcement officials to have been the leader of the so-called Suri kartel, which is held responsible for the trafficking and smuggling of large amounts of cocaine from Suriname and Brazil into Europe (especially into the Netherlands) in the 1980s and 90s.

Since 1999 Europol has maintained an international warrant for his arrest. According to the United Nations Convention against illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, since Bouterse was convicted before his election as head of state in 2010, he has no immunity under international law. This was confirmed by various specialists in international law.

In April 2012, Ruben Rozendaal, former fellow soldier of Bouterse and also a suspect in the December 1982 murders, said that in the 1980s and early 1990s, Bouterse supplied the FARC of Colombia with weapons in exchange for cocaine. A 2006 document from the American embassy reported a possible connection between Bouterse and the FARC.

Bouterse's son Dino Bouterse was sentenced in 2005 to eight years' imprisonment in a Surinamese court for narcotics trafficking, weapons trafficking, and theft of luxury vehicles. He was released early for good behavior. The government's counter-terrorism department appointed him to a senior role.

On 29 August 2013, Dino was arrested by the U.S. government's Drug Enforcement Administration in Panama while traveling on a diplomatic passport. He was extradited to the United States and taken to New York City. He was prosecuted and in March 2015, he was sentenced to a 16-year prison term on convictions of drug smuggling and trying to help Hezbollah set up a base in Suriname. In a letter, Dino Bouterse insisted he had no terrorist leanings and was motivated only by profit. Bouterse was arrested after an elaborate international sting in which he was recorded meeting in Greece and Panama with DEA operatives posing as Hezbollah and Mexican drug traffickers.

President of Suriname (2010–2020)
After the return of democratic government, led in succession by Ronald Venetiaan, Jules Wijdenbosch, and Venetiaan again, Bouterse tried repeatedly to return to power through elections. In the 2010 Surinamese legislative election, Bouterse and his coalition, the Mega Combination (Mega Combinatie) became the largest bloc in the National Assembly, gaining 23 of the 51 seats. The coalition failed to gain an absolute majority in the parliament by three seats (the half of 50 plus 1 was needed). In order to secure the necessary two-thirds supermajority to become president, Bouterse cooperated with the party of his former opponent, Ronnie Brunswijk, which had 7 seats; and the Peoples Alliance party (Volks Alliantie) of Paul Somohardjo (6 seats), who had left the ruling New Front party before the election.

On 19 July 2010, Bouterse was elected president with 36 of the 51 votes; he assumed office on 12 August 2010. His running mate Robert Ameerali became Vice President of Suriname.

During his presidency Dési Bouterse introduced universal health care, free school meals, a minimum wage and a national pension scheme.

His cabinet consisted of the following members:

The first minister of Spatial Planning Martinus Sastroredjo (KTPI) had been relieved of his duties at the end of 2010 due to his life partner asking for a piece of land with the help of a ministry official. He was succeeded by Simon Martosatiman, also a member of the political party KTPI. The second minister to leave office for personal reasons was Miss Wonnie Boedhoe, the first minister of Finance & Planning of this cabinet.

By the end of April 2011, several ministers had been dismissed due to political changes in the cabinet. They included Paul Abena (Sport- & Youth Affairs), Martin Misiedjan (Justice & Police), Celsius Waterberg (Public Health), Linus Diko (Regional Development), and Simon Martosatiman. The ministers Raymond Sapoen, Michael Miskin and Ginmardo Kromosoeto were assigned to new posts. In addition to the newly formed cabinet, two deputy ministers were installed. Mahinder Gopie had served as the secretary of the president and was made the deputy minister of Regional Development. Abigail Lie A Kwie, a loyalist of Pertjajah Luhur chairman Paul Somohardjo, started as the deputy minister of Public Works & Traffic, but was moved in October 2012 to the ministry of Agriculture.

The president's four top advisors are Jules Wijdenbosch, who handles the country's administrative and constitutional affairs; Errol Alibux, who advises the president about foreign affairs and international laws; Eddy Jozefzoon, who deals with the country's social and educational issues; and Andy Rusland, who oversees the nation's economy. The president appointed Cliffton Limburg as his press secretary and cabinet's spokesman; he was a propagandist for Bouterse and a talkshow host. Bouterse installed Gillmore Hoefdraad, a former International Monetary Fund (IMF) official, as the new governor of the Central Bank of Suriname.

After the 2015 Surinamese legislative election, Bouterse's NDP won 26 seats; he was reelected unopposed on 14 July 2015.

On 23 June 2020, Bouterse announced that he did not want to take his seat in the National Assembly even though he had been elected in the 2020 Surinamese general election. As such, Soewarto Moestadja, who was on seventh place on the NDP list, had become eligible for taking the seat in the National Assembly. Moestadja, being the oldest member, chaired the first meeting of the Assembly. Bouterse was not a candidate for the presidency in the 2020 elections, and as no other candidates other than Chan Santokhi had been nominated by the deadline of 8 July 2020 at 15:00 (UTC−3), Santokhi was elected as his successor on 13 July in an uncontested election. Bouterse announced his retirement from politics on 16 July 2020.

Controversial honouring of the coup
After his inauguration as president, Bouterse immediately honoured the nine surviving conspirators, who together with him had conducted the violent 1980 Surinamese coup d'état; he awarded them the Grand Cordon of the Honorary Order of the Yellow Star, the highest honor of Suriname. This action was met with international outrage, all nine (and Bouterse) having been involved with the December murders.

After becoming president, Bouterse designated 25 February, the anniversary of the coup d'état, as a national holiday. Former president Ronald Venetiaan has said that 25 February should not be a holiday, but a national day of mourning.

Pardons
In December 2011, President Bouterse granted a pardon to his foster son Romano Meriba, who in 2005 was convicted to 15 years' imprisonment for the 2002 murder and robbery of a Chinese trader. Meriba was also convicted for throwing a hand grenade at the house of the Dutch ambassador. Judge Valstein-Montnor ruled that the evidence proved that Meriba tried to commit a robbery at the ambassador's house similar to that of the trader. After it was prevented by guards from the Dutch embassy, Meriba threw a hand grenade from a car at the ambassador's residence.

The pardon was controversial, as it is the first time a Surinamese President has pardoned someone convicted of murder and robbery. "People that have committed such heavy offends should not get a pardon" said former justice minister Chan Santokhi. "Besides, the requirement that a thorough investigation must be conducted and that the decision should be based on the advice by the judge who passed the sentence was ignored." Bouterse's staff said that Meriba's status as the foster son of President Bouterse was not part of the decision, and that there were strong legal arguments for the pardon. According to rumors, after Meriba was released from jail, he was hired by the heavily armed Counter Terror Unit (CTU). Dino Bouterse, son of President Bouterse, was appointed to head this unit.

Bouterse has hired other convicts. His delegation that visited a South American summit had two members besides Bouterse who had criminal drug records: former military Etienne Boerenveen and Hans Jannasch. "Such people now circulate around the state power", said Ronald Venetiaan, former president of Suriname.

Meriba was arrested again on 23 March 2012 in Paramaribo on charges of assaulting a citizen and police officer the night before in a nightclub. He was not long held in police custody because the complaint was retracted the following day.

title: Dési Bouterse


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Bud Abbott

William Alexander "Bud" Abbott (October 2, 1897 – April 24, 1974) was an American comedian, actor and producer. He was best known as the straight man half of the comedy duo Abbott and Costello.

Early life
Abbott was born in Asbury Park, New Jersey on October 2, 1897, into a show business family. His parents, Rae Fisher and Harry Abbott, had met while working for the Barnum and Bailey Circus. She was a bareback rider of German Jewish background and he was a concessionaire and forage agent. Bud was the third of the couple's four children. When Bud was a toddler, the family relocated to Harlem, then to the Coney Island section of Brooklyn, and his father became a longtime advance man for the Columbia Burlesque Wheel.

During the summer, when burlesque was on hiatus, his father worked at Dreamland Park in Coney Island. Bud dropped out of grammar school to work at the park. In his teens, Abbott signed on as a cabin boy on a Norwegian steamer, but was soon forced to shovel coal. He worked his way back to the United States a year later.

Career
In his late teens, Abbott began working in the box office of the Casino Theatre in Brooklyn, a burlesque house on the Columbia wheel. He spent the next few years in burlesque box offices, rising to treasurer. In 1918, while working in Washington, D.C., he met and married Jenny Mae Pratt (1902–1981), a burlesque dancer and comedienne who performed as Betty Smith. They remained together until his death 55 years later. Betty performed on the Columbia Wheel, while Bud mostly remained behind the scenes. In 1923, he produced a cut-rate vaudeville tab show called Broadway Flashes, which toured on the small-time Gus Sun circuit. Abbott began performing as a straight man in the show when he could no longer afford to pay one. He continued producing and performing in burlesque shows on the Mutual Burlesque wheel, and as his reputation grew, he began working with veteran comedians like Harry Steppe and Harry Evanson.

Lou Costello and Hollywood
Abbott crossed paths with Lou Costello in the early 1930s, when Abbott was producing and performing in Minsky's Burlesque shows in New York, and Costello was a rising comic. They worked together for the first time in 1935 at the Eltinge Theatre on 42nd Street, after an illness sidelined Costello's regular partner. They formally teamed up in 1936, and performed together in burlesque, minstrel shows, what was left of vaudeville, and stage shows.

In 1938, they received national exposure as regulars on the Kate Smith Hour radio show, which led to roles in a Broadway musical, The Streets of Paris in 1939. In 1940, Universal signed the team for their first film, One Night in the Tropics. Despite having minor roles, Abbott and Costello stole the film with several classic routines, including an abbreviated version of "Who's on First?" Universal signed the team to a two-picture deal, and the first film, Buck Privates (1941), became a major hit and led to a long-term contract with the studio.

Arthur Lubin, who directed the team's first five starring films, later said: "I don't think there has ever been a finer straight man in the business than Bud Abbott. Lou would go off the script – because he was that clever with lines – and Bud would bring him right back."

During World War II, Abbott and Costello were among the most popular and highest-paid stars in the world. Between 1940 and 1956, they made 36 films and earned a percentage of the profits on each. They were among the Top 10 box office stars from 1941 through 1951, and placed No. 1 in 1942. They also had their own radio program (The Abbott and Costello Show) throughout the 1940s, first on NBC from 1942 to 1947, and from 1947 to 1949 on ABC. During a 35-day tour in the summer of 1942, the team sold $85 million worth of War Bonds.

In the 1950s, they introduced their comedy to live television on The Colgate Comedy Hour, and launched their own half-hour filmed series, The Abbott and Costello Show (1952–54).

Strain and split
Relations between Abbott and Costello were strained by egos and salary disputes. In burlesque, they split their earnings 60/40, favoring Abbott, because the straight man was always viewed as the more valuable member of the team. This was eventually changed to 50/50, but after a year in Hollywood, Costello insisted on a 40/60 split in his favor. It remained 40/60 for the rest of their careers. Costello also demanded that the team be renamed "Costello and Abbott," but this was rejected by Universal because the studio had been promoting "Abbott and Costello" for years. Abbott's top billing resulted in a "permanent chill" between the two partners, according to Lou's daughter Chris Costello in her biography Lou's on First. Their relationship was further strained by Abbott's alcohol abuse, a habit motivated by his desire to stave off epileptic seizures.

In mid-1945, the comedians were not on speaking terms after Costello fired a maid and Abbott, having no grievance with the maid, hired her. As Costello recalled in 1958: "She went to work for Abbott. I explained to Bud why I let her go, and asked him to fire her, but he wouldn't." Costello refused to speak to Abbott except when they were working. In 1946, the team's box office ranking dropped out of the Top 10 and the studio, with Costello's assent, split the team in character roles in two films: Little Giant and The Time of Their Lives. "Bud didn't like doing them at all," said Abbott's nephew Norman Abbott. "He felt that Lou wanted to go on and be a different kind of comedian, that he didn't want to be a team anymore. So the parts were written that way in couple of pictures, and it didn't work." Abbott resolved their personal situation when he suggested that the team's ongoing plans to build a civic center for underprivileged children be named after Costello's son, who drowned before his first birthday. The Lou Costello, Jr. Youth Foundation opened in Los Angeles in 1947 and is still serving the community.

The team's popularity waned in the mid-1950s, and the IRS demanded substantial back taxes, forcing the partners (both of whom had been free spenders and serious gamblers) to sell most of their assets, including the rights to many of their films. When the team's long-term contract with Universal was up in 1954, they demanded more money than the studio was willing to pay, and they were dropped after 14 years at the studio.

In November 1956, Costello was the subject of the Ralph Edwards–produced TV show This Is Your Life. A month later the team opened in Las Vegas. The act went badly. Witnesses differ on exactly what happened (one version has Costello leading a drunk Abbott off the stage), but the accounts agree that Abbott's timing had slowed down noticeably, throwing Costello's responses off and embarrassing him.

Abbott and Costello split in 1957, shortly before Costello appeared on Steve Allen's variety show. Costello made solo appearances on several TV shows, including the Steve Allen show, and did one film, The Thirty-Foot Bride of Candy Rock (released posthumously in 1959). Costello died on March 3, 1959.

Later years
Abbott faced financial difficulties in the late 1950s when the IRS disallowed $500,000 in tax exemptions which forced him to sell his home and come out of semi-retirement.

In 1960, Abbott began performing with a new partner, Candy Candido, to good reviews. But Abbott called it quits, remarking that "No one could ever live up to Lou." The following year, Abbott played a straight role in a dramatic television episode of General Electric Theater titled "The Joke's on Me". In 1962, he was interviewed by NBC's Jack Lescoulie, in a nostalgic segment. That year, as it's reported, Abbott was considered for a cameo in Stanley Kramer's comedy It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. In 1964, he suffered the first in a series of strokes and recuperated at the Motion Picture Country Home. The following year, he was filmed on the set of the Elvis Presley movie, Frankie and Johnny, with Barbara Stanwyck, Frank Sinatra and other celebrities when Presley donated $50,000 to the Motion Picture Relief Fund to help its $40 million building and endowment drive. In 1967, Abbott provided his own voice for the Hanna-Barbera animated series The Abbott and Costello Cartoon Show. Stan Irwin provided the voice of Lou Costello.

Personal life
Abbott suffered from epilepsy starting from about 1926.

Bud and Betty Abbott were married for 55 years. The couple adopted two children: Bud Jr. (August 23, 1939 – January 19, 1997 ) in 1942 and Rae Victoria (Vickie) (March 27, 1942 – April 28, 2021 ) in 1949.

Norman and Betty Abbott, the children of Bud's older sister, Olive, started their careers in Hollywood working behind the scenes on the Abbott and Costello films. Betty became Blake Edwards' longtime script supervisor, and Norman directed many episodic television series, including Leave It to Beaver, The Jack Benny Program, Sanford and Son and Welcome Back, Kotter.

Bud has three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame: the radio star is located at 6333 Hollywood Boulevard, the motion pictures star is located at 1611 Vine Street, and the television star is located at 6740 Hollywood Boulevard.

Abbott was a Freemason via Daylight Lodge No. 525 in Michigan.

Death
Abbott died of cancer at age 76 on April 24, 1974, at his home in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles. He was cremated at Grandview Crematory in Glendale, California, and his ashes scattered in the Pacific Ocean three miles out from Santa Monica.

His widow, Betty, died on September 12, 1981.

When asked about Abbott shortly after his death, Groucho Marx replied that Abbott was "the greatest straight man that ever lived."

Honors and awards
Abbott and Costello are among the few non-baseball personnel to be memorialized in the Baseball Hall of Fame, although they are not inductees of the Hall itself. A plaque and a gold record of the "Who's On First?" sketch have been on permanent display there since 1956, and the routine has run on an endless video loop in the exhibit area since 1967.

Abbott and Costello each have three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for their work in radio, television and motion pictures.

In 1942, they were voted the country's No. 1 Box Office Stars by exhibitors. They ranked among the Top Ten in 1941, 1942, 1943, 1944, 1948, 1949, 1950 and 1951.

Abbott received the Lifetime Achievement Award for Acting (posthumously) from the Garden State Film Festival in 2006; it was accepted on his behalf by his daughter Vickie Abbott Wheeler.

Abbott is a 2009 inductee of the New Jersey Hall of Fame.

title: Bud Abbott