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Toby Keith

Toby Keith Covel (July 8, 1961 – February 5, 2024) was an American country music singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, and businessman.

Keith released his chart-topping debut single, "Should've Been a Cowboy", in 1993. During the 1990s, Keith released his first four studio albums, each of which earned gold or higher certification. Keith's breakthrough single, "How Do You Like Me Now?!", was the title track to his 1999 album of the same name. The single was the number one country song of 2000. Keith's next three albums were certified 4× Platinum, and each album produced three number one singles. In 2005, Keith founded the label Show Dog Nashville, which later became Show Dog-Universal Music. Keith also made his acting debut in 2006, starring in the film Broken Bridges. He co-starred with comedian Rodney Carrington in the 2008 film Beer for My Horses, inspired by his song of the same name.

In all, Keith released 19 studio albums, two Christmas albums, and five compilation albums, totaling worldwide sales of over 40 million albums. He charted 61 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, including 20 number one hits and 22 additional top 10 hits. His longest-lasting number one hits are "Beer for My Horses" (a 2003 duet with Willie Nelson) and "As Good as I Once Was" (2005). He was nominated for seven Grammy Awards. Keith was awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Donald Trump in a closed ceremony alongside Ricky Skaggs on January 13, 2021.

Keith died on February 5, 2024 from stomach cancer. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2024, having been elected just hours after his death.

Early life and education
Toby Keith Covel was born on July 8, 1961, in Clinton, Oklahoma, to Carolyn Joan (née Ross) and Hubert K. Covel Jr. He has a sister and a brother. The family lived in Fort Smith, Arkansas, for a few years when Keith was in grade school, but moved to Moore, Oklahoma (a suburb of Oklahoma City), when he was still young. Before the family moved to Moore, he visited his grandmother in Fort Smith during the summers. His grandmother owned Billie Garner's Supper Club in Fort Smith, where Keith became interested in the musicians who came there to play. He did odd jobs around the supper club and started getting up on the bandstand to play with the band. He got his first guitar at the age of eight.

After the family moved to Moore, Keith attended Highland West Junior High and Moore High School, where he played defensive end on the football team.

Keith graduated from Moore High School and worked as a derrick hand in the oil fields. He worked his way up to become a supervisor. When Keith was 20, he and his friends formed the Easy Money Band, which played at local bars and roadhouses as he continued to work in the oil industry. At times, he would have to leave in the middle of a concert if he was paged to work in the oil field.

In 1982, the oil industry in Oklahoma began a rapid decline and Keith soon found himself unemployed. He fell back on his football training, and tried out for the professional Oklahoma Outlaws. When he did not make the team, he joined its unofficial semi-pro farm club, the Oklahoma City Drillers, and played defensive end while continuing to perform with his band. He then returned to focus once again on music. The Easy Money Band then began playing the honky-tonk circuit in Oklahoma and Texas.

Musical career
Keith went to Nashville, Tennessee, where he busked along Music Row to no avail, until producer Harold Shedd signed him with Mercury Records after receiving a copy of Keith's demo tape from a flight attendant who was a fan of Keith's.

1993–1995: Toby Keith and Boomtown
Keith's debut single, "Should've Been a Cowboy", went to number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart in 1993, and it reached number 93 on the Billboard Hot 100. This song led off his self-titled debut album. Certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipments of one million copies, the album produced three more Top 5 hits on the country charts with "He Ain't Worth Missing" (at #5), "A Little Less Talk and a Lot More Action" (originally the B-side of "Should've Been a Cowboy"), and "Wish I Didn't Know Now" (both at #2). Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic wrote of the album, "It is given a production that's a bit too big, clean, glossy and cavernous for Keith's good—it fits the outsized sound of early-'90s radio, but not his outsized talent—but beneath that sheen the songs are very strong." He also thought that it showed the signs of the style that Keith would develop on subsequent albums. The album's success led to Keith touring with then-labelmates Shania Twain and John Brannen. Keith and Twain also appeared in Tracy Lawrence's music video for "My Second Home" in 1993.

Keith then signed with Polydor Records Nashville and released his second album, Boomtown, in September 1994. Also certified platinum, this album was led off by the number one single "Who's That Man". After it, "Upstairs Downtown" and "You Ain't Much Fun" both made the Top 10, while "Big Ol' Truck" peaked at number 15. By late-1995, he released his first Christmas album, Christmas to Christmas, via Mercury. Composed entirely of original songs, the album produced one chart entry in "Santa I'm Right Here", which reached as high as number 50 based on Christmas airplay.

1996–1998: Blue Moon, Dream Walkin', and Greatest Hits Volume One
Keith then signed with the short-lived Nashville division of A&M Records to release his third album Blue Moon in April 1996. That album received a platinum certification and produced three singles. Its first single, "Does That Blue Moon Ever Shine on You", which Keith wrote in 1987, peaked at number 2. Following it were "A Woman's Touch" at number 6, and "Me Too", which became his third number one hit in March 1997. Keith also appeared on The Beach Boys' now out-of-print 1996 album Stars and Stripes Vol. 1 performing a cover of their 1963 hit "Be True to Your School" with the Beach Boys themselves providing the harmonies and backing vocals.

Following a corporate merger, Keith returned to Mercury in 1997. His fourth studio album, Dream Walkin', was also his first produced by James Stroud, who would also serve as Keith's co-producer until 2005. It produced two consecutive number 2 hits with "We Were in Love" and a cover of Sting's 1996 single "I'm So Happy I Can't Stop Crying". Sting also sang duet vocals and played bass guitar on it, and the two also performed the song at the 1997 Country Music Association awards. After this song, the album's title track reached number 5, while "Double Wide Paradise" peaked at number 40.

Keith's last Mercury release was Greatest Hits Volume One in October 1998. The album included twelve of his prior singles and two new songs: the country rap "Getcha Some" and "If a Man Answers". Both were released as singles, with "Getcha Some" reaching the Top 20, but "If a Man Answers" became his first single to miss the Top 40. According to Keith, these two songs were originally to be put on a studio album, but Mercury executives, dissatisfied with the album that Keith had made, chose to put those two songs on a greatest hits package, and asked him to "go work on another album". After he recorded two more songs which the label also rejected, he asked to terminate his contract with the label. After exiting Mercury, Keith co-wrote Shane Minor's debut single "Slave to the Habit" with Chuck Cannon and Kostas.

1999–2002: How Do You Like Me Now?! and Pull My Chain
In 1999, Keith moved to DreamWorks Records' Nashville division, of which Stroud served as president. His first release for the label was "When Love Fades", which also failed to make Top 40. Upon seeing the single's poor performance, Keith requested that it be withdrawn and replaced with "How Do You Like Me Now?!", a song that he wrote with Chuck Cannon, and which had previously been turned down by Mercury. It also served as the title track to his first DreamWorks album, How Do You Like Me Now?! The song spent five weeks at number 1 on the country charts, and became his first top 40 pop hit, with a number 31 peak on the Hot 100. It was also the top country song of 2000 according to the Billboard Year-End chart. The album, which was certified platinum, produced a Top 5 hit in "Country Comes to Town" and another number 1 in "You Shouldn't Kiss Me Like This". It was also his first album to feature songs co-written by Scotty Emerick, who would be a frequent collaborator of Keith's for the next several albums. Steve Huey wrote that this album "had a rough, brash attitude that helped give Keith a stronger identity as a performer." In 2001, Keith won the Academy of Country Music's Top Male Vocalist and Album of the Year awards.

Following this album was Pull My Chain, released in August 2001. The album's three singles—"I'm Just Talkin' About Tonight", "I Wanna Talk About Me", and "My List"—all went to number 1 on the country charts, with the latter two both holding that position for five weeks. "I Wanna Talk About Me", written by Bobby Braddock, also displayed a country rap influence with its spoken-word lyrics. The Country Music Association named "My List" as Single of the Year in 2002. Of Pull My Chain, Erlewine wrote that "this is a bigger, better record than its predecessor, possessing a richer musicality and a more confident sense of humor".

2002–2004: Unleashed and Shock'n Y'all
In 2002, he released the Unleashed album which included four singles. First was "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)", which Keith wrote in 20 minutes as a response to the September 11, 2001 attacks. The song references Keith's father, a United States Army veteran who died that March in a car accident. Both this song and "Who's Your Daddy?" were number 1 hits, with "Rock You Baby" reaching number 13. The last single was "Beer for My Horses", a duet with Willie Nelson which spent six weeks at the top of the country charts. At the time, it was also Keith's highest entry on the Hot 100, at number 22. In July 2003, Keith made a guest appearance on Scotty Emerick's debut single "I Can't Take You Anywhere", which was previously recorded by Keith on Pull My Chain. Emerick's version of the song was his only top 40 country hit, at number 27.

Shock'n Y'all, his eighth studio album, was released in November 2003. The album's title is a pun on the military term "shock and awe". It became his second album from which all singles went to number 1: "I Love This Bar", "American Soldier", and "Whiskey Girl". Also included on the disc were "The Taliban Song" and "Weed with Willie", two live songs recorded with Emerick. The album was followed in late 2004 by Greatest Hits 2, which included three new songs: "Stays in Mexico", "Go with Her", and a cover of Inez and Charlie Foxx's "Mockingbird", recorded as a duet with his daughter, Krystal Keith. "Stays in Mexico" was a number 3 hit on the country charts, while "Mockingbird" peaked at number 27.

Keith's final DreamWorks album was Honkytonk University in early 2005. Lead-off single "Honkytonk U" peaked at number 8, followed by "As Good as I Once Was", which spent six weeks at number 1, and "Big Blue Note" at number 5. After the release of the latter, DreamWorks Records ceased operations.

2005–2024: After DreamWorks
On August 31, 2005, Keith founded a new label, Show Dog Nashville. Its first release was his 2006 album White Trash with Money, followed by the soundtrack to Broken Bridges. He also abandoned Stroud as co-producer in favor of Cannon's wife, Lari White. The album included three singles: "Get Drunk and Be Somebody", "A Little Too Late", and "Crash Here Tonight". Big Dog Daddy followed in 2007, with Keith serving as sole producer. Its singles were "High Maintenance Woman", "Love Me If You Can", and "Get My Drink On". "Love Me If You Can" became Keith's first number 1 hit since "As Good as I Once Was" more than two years prior. A two-disc Christmas album, A Classic Christmas, followed later in 2007. In 2008, Keith completed his Biggest and Baddest Tour. On May 6, 2008, he released 35 Biggest Hits, a two-disc compilation featuring most of his singles to date, as well as the new song "She's a Hottie", which peaked at number 13 on Billboard's country songs chart.

Keith released "She Never Cried in Front of Me", which went to number 1 in 2008. Its corresponding album, That Don't Make Me a Bad Guy, followed on October 28, 2008. It was followed by "God Love Her", also a number 1 hit, and "Lost You Anyway". American Ride, in 2009, produced another number 1 in its title track. It was followed by the Top 10 hit "Cryin' for Me (Wayman's Song)", a tribute to basketball player and jazz bassist Wayman Tisdale, a friend of Keith's who died in May 2009.

Bullets in the Gun was released on October 5, 2010. This was Keith's first album not to produce any top 10 singles, with "Trailerhood" reaching number 19, followed by the title track and "Somewhere Else" both at number 12. Keith produced the album with Mills Logan.

On October 25, 2011, Clancy's Tavern was released. The album included the single "Made in America", written by Keith along with Bobby Pinson and Scott Reeves, which went to number 1. Following it was "Red Solo Cup", which had previously been made into a music video which became popular. Upon release as a single, "Red Solo Cup" became Keith's best-peaking crossover, reaching number 15 on the Hot 100. The album's final single was "Beers Ago" at number 6 in 2012. In December 2011, Keith was named "Artist of the Decade" by the American Country Awards.

Keith's sixteenth album, Hope on the Rocks, was released in late 2012. It produced only two singles, both of which are top 20 hits: "I Like Girls That Drink Beer" reached at number 17 and the title track peaked at number 18.

In mid-2013, he entered the charts with "Drinks After Work", the first single from his seventeenth album, also titled Drinks After Work. The album's second single is "Shut Up and Hold On".

In October 2014, Keith released "Drunk Americans", the lead single from his eighteenth studio album, 35 MPH Town. In April 2015, Keith released "35 MPH Town", the album's title track and second single. In 2015, Keith was also inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

In September 2017, Keith released the compilation album, The Bus Songs. The album contains twelve songs: two new, five re-recorded, and five previously released songs. The new songs on the album are "Shitty Golfer" and "Wacky Tobaccy". In the U.S. The Bus Songs topped the Billboard Comedy Albums chart for 11 weeks. It also reached number 6 on the Top Country Albums chart and 38 on the Billboard 200 chart.

In 2021, Keith featured on the Brantley Gilbert single "The Worst Country Song of All Time" with Hardy.

On January 13, 2021, President Trump awarded Keith the National Medal of Arts. The award was given in a closed ceremony, alongside fellow country musician Ricky Skaggs.

On September 28, 2023, after receiving the first Country Icon Award at the People's Choice Country Awards, Keith performed publicly for the first time since his June 2022 cancer diagnosis announcement. His performance of "Don't Let the Old Man In", which was previously used in Clint Eastwood's 2018 film The Mule, received a standing ovation.

Keith's final performance was held in Las Vegas, Nevada, at the Park MGM, on December 14, 2023. In March 2024, one month after his death, it was announced that Keith will be posthumously inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, having been elected just hours after his death.

Television appearances
Keith performed on a series of television advertisements for Telecom USA for that company's discount long-distance telephone service 10-10-220. He also starred in Ford commercials, singing original songs such as "Ford Truck Man" and "Look Again" while driving Ford trucks.

Keith made an appearance at the first Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (then NWA-TNA) weekly pay-per-view on June 19, 2002, where his playing of "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue" was interrupted by Jeff Jarrett. He would later enter the Gauntlet for the Gold main event and eliminate Jarrett from the match. He appeared the next week, on June 26, and helped Scott Hall defeat Jarrett in singles action.

In 2009, Keith participated in the Comedy Central Roast of Larry the Cable Guy, which aired on March 14, 2009.

Keith received the "Colbert Bump" when he appeared on Comedy Central's The Colbert Report. He holds the distinction of being the only musical artist to have received a five star rating from Stephen Colbert on iTunes. Keith furthered this connection when he appeared in Colbert's 2008 Christmas special as a hunter. Keith also made an appearance as a musical guest on the October 27, 2011, episode of The Colbert Report.

On October 29, 2011, Keith appeared on Fox Channel's Huckabee with former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. He played "Bullets in the Gun" and he joined with Huckabee's house band to play a song at the end of the show.

In December 2018, Keith appeared as a guest on Darci Lynne: My Hometown Christmas.

Films
In the Autumn of 2005, he filmed Broken Bridges, written by Cherie Bennett and Jeff Gottesfeld, and directed by Steven Goldmann. This feature film from Paramount/CMT Films was released on September 8, 2006. In this contemporary story set in small-town Tennessee, Keith plays Bo Price, a washed-up country musician. The movie also stars Kelly Preston, Burt Reynolds, Tess Harper, and Lindsey Haun.

Keith wrote and starred in the 2008 movie Beer for My Horses, which is based on the 2003 hit song of the same name recorded by Keith and Willie Nelson.

Business ventures
In 2005, Keith opened Toby Keith's I Love This Bar & Grill in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, as well as Syracuse, New York, and Tulsa, Oklahoma, and later also had restaurants in Thackerville, Oklahoma; Auburn Hills, Michigan; Kansas City; Las Vegas; Mesa, Arizona; Peoria, Arizona; St. Louis Park, Minnesota; Foxborough, Massachusetts; Cincinnati, Ohio; Newport News, Virginia; and Denver, Colorado. Keith did not actually own the new restaurants; the new restaurant is the first in a franchise under Scottsdale, Arizona-based Capri Restaurant Group Enterprises LLC, which purchased the master license agreement to build more Toby Keith restaurants nationwide. Capri Restaurant Group is owned by Frank Capri, who opened the restaurant in Mesa in the shopping center known as Mesa Riverview and is planning on opening multiple locations across the country.

In 2009, Capri Restaurant Group announced that it will open another "I Love this Bar & Grill" location in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania's South Side Works shopping and entertainment district.

In 2009, Keith also established a line of clothing, TK Steelman.

February 2010 marked the opening of the Toby Keith's I Love This Bar & Grill in the Winstar World Casino, exit 1 on Interstate 35 in Oklahoma. Other locations opened in 2010 by the Capri Restaurant Group included those in Great Lakes Crossing in Auburn Hills, Michigan, and in the Shops at West End in St. Louis Park, Minnesota. Both of which closed in 2015.

In 2011, Keith introduced a new drink named "Wild Shot". At first it was only available in Mexico, but now is sold and served in America. It is a featured drink in his restaurant chain.

Keith's music career and his various other business ventures made him one of the wealthiest celebrities in the United States. The July 15, 2013, edition of Forbes magazine features Keith on the cover with the caption "Country Music's $500 million man". The article titled "Cowboy Capitalist" by Zack O'Malley Greenburg also contains information regarding Keith's earnings as a musician over the course of his career, such as earning $65 million in the past 12 months, which surpasses the earnings of even more well known musicians such as Jay-Z and Beyoncé and that he hasn't earned less than $48 million a year over the past 5 years. Keith wrote at least one #1 country single per year over the past 20 years and the partnership between his own label, Show Dog-Universal, and Big Machine Records, which Keith also helped found in 2005.

Political beliefs
Keith had made numerous trips to the Middle East, starting in 2002, to perform for those serving in the U.S. military. "My father was a soldier. He taught his kids to respect veterans", said Keith. "It's that respect and the thank-you that we have a military that's in place and ready to defend our nation; our freedom."

In 2004, Keith called himself "a conservative Democrat who is sometimes embarrassed for his party". He endorsed the re-election of President George W. Bush in the 2004 presidential election and performed at a Dallas, Texas, rally on the night before the election. Keith also endorsed Democrat Dan Boren in his successful run in Oklahoma's 2nd congressional district and was good friends with former Democratic New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson.

In a January 2007 interview with Newsday, Keith was asked whether he supported the Iraq War. He responded with "Never did", and said he favors setting a time limit on the campaign. He also said, "I don't apologize for being patriotic... If there is something socially incorrect about being patriotic and supporting your troops, then they can kiss my ass on that, because I'm not going to budge on that at all. And that has nothing to do with politics. Politics is what's killing America."

In April 2008, Keith said that Barack Obama "looks like a great speaker and a great leader. And I think you can learn on your feet in there, so I don't hold people responsible for not having a whole bunch of political background in the House and Senate." His remarks continued, "I think [John] McCain is a great option too." In August 2008, he called Obama "the best Democratic candidate we've had since Bill Clinton".

In October 2008, Keith told CMT that he had left the Democratic Party and he re-registered as an independent. "My party that I've been affiliated with all these years doesn't stand for anything that I stand for anymore", he said. "They've lost any sensibility that they had, and they've allowed all the kooks in. So I'm going independent." He also told CMT that he would likely vote for the Republican ticket, partially because of his admiration for Sarah Palin.

In March 2009, Keith received the Johnny "Mike" Spann Memorial Semper Fidelis Award during a New York ceremony held by the Marine Corps-Law Enforcement Foundation. The trophy is named for the CIA operative (and former Marine Corps captain) who was the first U.S. casualty in the war in Afghanistan. "Spending time with our soldiers around the world is something I've always regarded as a privilege and honor", he said. "I'm certainly happy to accept this award, but I won't forget for a second who's really doing the heavy lifting to keep this country safe. And that's why I'll keep going back and spending time with those good folks every chance I get."

In April 2009, he voiced support for Obama on Afghanistan and other decisions: "He hired one of my best friends who I think should run for president someday...Gen. James Jones as a national security adviser. He's sending troops into Afghanistan, help is on the way there. And I'm seeing some really good middle range stuff. I'm giving our commander in chief a chance before I start grabbing. So far, I'm cool with it."

Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue
On March 24, 2001, Keith's father, H.K. Covel, was killed in a car accident. That event and the September 11 attacks in 2001 prompted Keith to write the song "Courtesy of the Red, White, & Blue", a song about his father's patriotism and faith in the United States, originally intended only for live shows. According to Keith, following a performance for military leadership, Commandant of the Marine Corps James L. Jones told Keith it was his "duty as an American citizen" to record the song. As the lead single from the album Unleashed (2002), "Courtesy of the Red, White, & Blue" peaked at number one on the July 20, 2002, Billboard Hot Country Songs chart.

ABC invited Keith to perform on a 2002 Fourth of July concert it was producing. According to Keith, he was dropped from the show after host Peter Jennings heard the song "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue" and rejected it. Keith was further quoted as saying "Isn't he Canadian?", and "I bet Dan Rather wouldn't kick me off his show." Dan Rather, in response, stated "And I'm not gonna be a hypocrite, you wouldn't want me to. I like Peter, he's a good guy." ABC, however, stated that it was the network that did not want to begin the show with an angry song. Jennings later stated that, while the situation was regrettable, opening the show with the song "probably wouldn't set the right tone."

Feud with The Dixie Chicks
Keith had a public feud with the Dixie Chicks over the song "Courtesy of the Red, White, & Blue" in 2002 and over comments they made about President George W. Bush on stage during a concert in London in March 2003. The lead singer of the Dixie Chicks, Natalie Maines, publicly stated that Keith's song was "ignorant, and it makes country music sound ignorant". Keith responded by displaying a backdrop at his concerts showing a doctored photo of Maines with Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. On May 21, 2003, Maines wore a T-shirt with the letters "FUTK" on the front at the Academy of Country Music Awards. While a spokesperson for the Dixie Chicks said that the acronym stood for "Friends United in Truth and Kindness", many, including host Vince Gill, took it to be a shot at Keith ("Fuck You Toby Keith"). In an October 2004 appearance on Real Time with Bill Maher, Maines finally confessed that it was indeed a shot at Keith, and that she "thought that nobody would get it."

In August 2003, Keith's representation publicly declared he was done feuding with Maines "because he's realized there are far more important things to concentrate on." Keith was referring specifically to the terminal illness of a former bandmate's daughter, Allison Faith Webb. However, he continued to refuse to say Maines's name, and claimed that the doctored photo was intended to express his opinion that Maines's criticism was an attempt to squelch Keith's free speech.

In April 2008, a commercial spot to promote Al Gore's "We Campaign", involving both Keith and the Dixie Chicks, was proposed. However, the idea was eventually abandoned due to scheduling conflicts.

Donald Trump
On January 19, 2017, Toby Keith performed at the pre-Inaugural "Make America Great Again! Welcome Celebration" held at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., in celebration of the beginning of the presidency of Donald Trump. Keith thanked outgoing president Barack Obama for his service and thanked president-elect Trump at the start of the celebration. Keith then played several of his patriotic songs, including "American Soldier", "Made in America", "Beer For My Horses", and "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue".

At the performance, he dedicated "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue" to his father who, as he sings early in the song, lost an eye while serving in the U.S. Army. "Responding to the criticism around the performance, Keith said in a statement that 'I don't apologize for performing for our country or military. I performed at events for previous presidents Bush and Obama and over 200 shows in Iraq and Afghanistan for the U.S.O.' Speaking to The Atlantic, he said, more pointedly, that if 'the president of the frickin' United States asks you to do something and you can go, you should go.'

Personal life
Keith married Tricia Lucus on March 24, 1984. He was the father of three children, including Krystal Keith.

Keith's father, H. K. Covel, was killed after a charter bus collided with his car on Interstate 35 on March 24, 2001. The Covel family was awarded $2.8 million for his wrongful death on December 25, 2007. Elias and Pedro Rodriguez, operators of Rodriguez Transportes of Tulsa, and the Republic Western Insurance Co. were found liable, as they failed to equip the bus with properly working air brakes.

Keith had an honorary degree from Villanova University, which he attended from 1979 to 1980. He planned to be a petroleum engineer.

He was an avid University of Oklahoma sports fan, and Keith was often seen at Oklahoma Sooners games and practices. He was also a fan of professional wrestling, being seen in the front row of numerous WWE shows that took place in Oklahoma, as well as performing "Courtesy of the Red, White, & Blue" live at the first ever TNA Wrestling show on June 19, 2002. He was also a fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers football team. He was a Free Will Baptist.

Philanthropy
In 2004, Keith helped found Ally's House, a cancer charity named after Allison Webb, the deceased daughter of one of Keith's former bandmates. Webb died a month before her third birthday to Wilms' tumor.

"This is a special charity to me. I saw firsthand how a child's cancer diagnosis can devastate a family. Please join me in supporting these kids through Ally's House. We're gonna make it better for the kids."

In 2006, he established the Toby Keith Foundation to build housing for pediatric cancer patients and their families. In late 2013, the foundation built the OK Kids Korral, a place for child OU Medical Center cancer patients to live in. Over two decades since its creation, the annual Toby Keith & Friends Golf Classic has raised more than $15 million for the OK Kids Korral. He described it to The Oklahoman in 2019 as his greatest accomplishment.

Keith filmed a PSA for Little Kids Rock, a national nonprofit that works to restore and revitalize music education in disadvantaged U.S. public schools.

Cancer diagnosis and death
In June 2022, Keith announced that he had been diagnosed with stomach cancer at the end of 2021, having undergone chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery for the past six months. Keith said that his battle with cancer had been "pretty debilitating" in a December 2022 press release. Keith died in his sleep in Oklahoma, on February 5, 2024, at the age of 62.

Upon news of Keith's death, Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt ordered U.S. and Oklahoma flags on state property to be flown at half-staff all day February 6 until sunset the following day, "as a show of respect and mourning for the loss of American music legend Toby Keith."

On February 10, 2024, the University of Oklahoma men's basketball team hosted rival Oklahoma State. The song "Red Solo Cup", recorded by Keith, inspired the university to honor him by handing out red Solo cups with any purchase of a drink. Videos of fans singing "Red Solo Cup" while holding their drinks aloft circulated on social media after the game.

Fellow country artists and bands who paid tribute included Dolly Parton, Carrie Underwood, Jason Aldean, Old Dominion, Jelly Roll, Zach Bryan, John Rich, Lady A, Jake Owen, Luke Combs, Morgan Wallen, Cole Swindell, and others such as First Lady Jill Biden, actor Stephen Baldwin, comedian Stephen Colbert, and radio and television personality Bobby Bones.

Tours

 * Brooks and Dunn's Neon Circus and Wild West Show 2001
 * Unleashed Tour 2002
 * with Jamie O'Neal, Emerson Drive and Rascal Flatts (Select Dates)
 * USO 2002–13 (11 tours, visiting 15 countries and 3 naval ships)
 * Shock'N Y'all Tour 2003
 * with Blake Shelton
 * Big Throwdown Tour 2004
 * with Lonestar and Gretchen Wilson
 * with Sawyer Brown and Terri Clark
 * Big Throwdown Tour II 2005
 * with Jo Dee Messina
 * White Trash With Money Tour 2006
 * Hookin' Up and Hangin' Out Tour 2007
 * with Miranda Lambert, Trace Adkins, Josh Gracin
 * Big Dog Daddy Tour 2007
 * Biggest and Baddest Tour 2008–09
 * with Montgomery Gentry and Trailer Choir
 * America's Toughest Tour 2009
 * with Trace Adkins Also Julianne Hough (Few Dates)
 * Toby Keith's American Ride Tour 2010
 * with Trace Adkins and James Otto
 * Locked and Loaded Tour 2011
 * with Eric Church and JT Hodges
 * Live in Overdrive Tour
 * with Brantley Gilbert
 * Hammer Down Tour 2013
 * with Kip Moore
 * Hammer Down Under Tour 2014
 * With Kellie Pickler and Eli Young Band
 * Shut Up and Hold On Tour 2014
 * With Colt Ford and Krystal Keith
 * Good Times and Pick Up Lines Tour 2015
 * With Eli Young Band and Chris Janson
 * Interstates and Tailgates Tour 2016
 * With Eric Paslay
 * Should've Been A Cowboy XXV 2018

Studio albums

 * Toby Keith (1993)
 * Boomtown (1994)
 * Blue Moon (1996)
 * Dream Walkin' (1997)
 * How Do You Like Me Now?! (1999)
 * Pull My Chain (2001)
 * Unleashed (2002)
 * Shock'n Y'all (2003)
 * Honkytonk University (2005)
 * White Trash with Money (2006)
 * Big Dog Daddy (2007)
 * That Don't Make Me a Bad Guy (2008)
 * American Ride (2009)
 * Bullets in the Gun (2010)
 * Clancy's Tavern (2011)
 * Hope on the Rocks (2012)
 * Drinks After Work (2013)
 * 35 MPH Town (2015)
 * Peso in My Pocket (2021)

Compilation albums

 * Greatest Hits Volume One (1998)
 * 20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection (2003)
 * Greatest Hits 2 (2004)
 * 35 Biggest Hits (2008)
 * The Bus Songs (2017)
 * Greatest Hits: The Show Dog Years (2019)

Christmas albums

 * Christmas to Christmas (1995)
 * A Classic Christmas (2007)

Number one singles

 * "Should've Been a Cowboy"
 * "Who's That Man"
 * "Me Too"
 * "How Do You Like Me Now?!"
 * "You Shouldn't Kiss Me Like This"
 * "I'm Just Talkin' About Tonight"
 * "I Wanna Talk About Me"
 * "My List"
 * "Courtesy of the Red, White, & Blue (The Angry American)"
 * "Who's Your Daddy?"
 * "Beer for My Horses" – duet with Willie Nelson
 * "I Love This Bar"
 * "American Soldier"
 * "Whiskey Girl"
 * "As Good as I Once Was"
 * "Love Me If You Can"
 * "She Never Cried in Front of Me"
 * "God Love Her"
 * "American Ride"
 * "Made in America"

Filmography

 * Broken Bridges (2006) also starring Kelly Preston and Lindsey Haun
 * CMT Music Awards (2003–2012) Co-Host With Pamela Anderson and Kristen Bell
 * Beer for My Horses (2008)

title: Toby Keith


text:
South Moravian Region

The South Moravian Region (Jihomoravský kraj; Südmährische Region, ; Juhomoravský kraj), or just South Moravia, is an administrative unit (kraj) of the Czech Republic, located in the south-western part of its historical region of Moravia (an exception is Jobova Lhota which traditionally belongs to Bohemia). The region's capital is Brno, the nation's 2nd largest city. South Moravia is bordered by the South Bohemian Region to the west, Vysočina Region to the north-west, Pardubice Region to the north, Olomouc Region to the north-east, Zlín Region to the east, Trenčín and Trnava Regions, Slovakia to the south-east and Lower Austria, Austria to the south.

Administrative divisions
The South Moravian Region is divided into 7 districts (Czech: okres):

There are in total 673 municipalities in the region, of which 49 have the status of towns. There are 21 municipalities with extended powers and 34 municipalities with a delegated municipal office.

The region is famous for its wine production. The area around the towns of Mikulov, Znojmo, Velké Pavlovice, Bzenec, Strážnice, Kyjov along with the Slovácko region provide 94% of the Czech Republic's vineyards.

Population
The region has approximately 1,217,000 inhabitants. The net migration has been positive in all years since 2003, reaching its peak in 2007 when it reached 7,374 people. Since 2007 the region has also experienced natural population growth. In 2012 there were 37 thousand foreigners living in the region, forming 3.2% of the total population of the region.

The average age of citizens in the region was 42.4 years in 2019. The average age has grown by 5 years over the last two decades. The life expectancy at birth in 2012 was 75.2 years for men and 81.7 years for women. Life expectancy has been growing over recent years. The divorce-marriage ratio in the region was 60.3 in 2012.

One third of the region's population lives in the capital Brno. The share of inhabitants living in towns and cities on the total population of the region has been steadily decreasing due to suburbanization. The table below displays 12 municipalities with the highest number of inhabitants in the region (as of 1 January 2024):

Geography
With an area of 7,187.8 km2 the South Moravian Region is the fourth largest region of the Czech Republic. The highest point of the region is located in the eastern part on Durda mountain (842 m). The point with the lowest elevation (150 m) is situated in Břeclav District at the meeting of the rivers Morava and Dyje.

The northern and north-western part of the region is covered by the Bohemian-Moravian Highlands (Czech: Českomoravská vrchovina) and the Moravian Karst. There is an extensive cave complex in the Moravian Karst with a 138.5 m depth in the Macocha Gorge in the Punkva Caves. In the eastern part, the region reaches to the Carpathian Mountains. The Bohemian-Moravian Highlands and the Carpathian Mountains are separated by the Lower-Moravian Valley (Czech: Dolnomoravský úval). The southern part of the region is predominantly flat and dominated by fields, meadows, and the remainders of riparian forests.

The largest river of the region is the Morava river. Other significant rivers are the Dyje, Svratka (and its tributary the Svitava), which are all tributaries of the Morava river. The whole region belongs to the drainage basin of the Danube and subsequently of the Black Sea.

There are a number of landscape parks (Czech: chráněná krajinná oblast) located across the region: the White Carpathians Landscape Park, the Moravian Karst Landscape Park and Pálava Landscape Park. Moreover, Podyjí National Park is situated in the south-eastern part of the region.

2021 tornado
On the evening of 24 June 2021, a large IF4 tornado, the most powerful in modern Czech history, devastated multiple villages within the Břeclav and Hodonín districts. It killed at least 6 people and injured at least 200 others. The tornado tracked 27.1 kilometers (16.8 miles) with a max width of 2.8 kilometers (1.7 miles) This tornado was one of seven that touched down in Europe that day. It is estimated that this tornado caused over 15 billion CZK in damages. A total of 1,202 buildings were damaged by the tornado, 180 of which had to be demolished completely or partially. Well constructed homes were partly or entirely destroyed, including one that indicated IF5 intensity. However, a rather weak connection between the roof and the walls was found, which prevented the damage to be assigned an IF5 rating. Cars were mangled distances and into buildings. A car was thrown 200 meters into a field, with the engine found 150 meters away. Trucks, trailers, busses and other large vehicles were overturned or tossed. pylon of 400 kV power lines were toppled. Trees were uprooted, snapped, debranched and debarked. A factory in Lužice was heavily damaged with multiple vehicles mangled into the building. Some trees at the factory sustained severe denuding. Empty large containers were thrown and a solar farm was severely damaged. In Hodonín, a large and multi-story building found at the northern edge of the town had Its roof and interior significantly damaged. Wooden and steel beams from the roof were found impaled into the ground around the buildings and bent by the wind. Large concrete floor tiles were plucked out of the ground and thrown away. In Mikulčice, A bus with several passengers inside was thrown over a small hill, impacting a one-storey brick home. large concrete panels measuring 3 x 1 x 0.1 m were moved several meters. In hrusky, a caravan weighing 7 tonnes was tossed 20 meters away, flying over a garage. Several heavy trailers and tractors as well as large concrete blocks from a hay storing structure were lifted and thrown by the tornado.

Living conditions
In 2016, three-quarters of households in the region had a computer and 75% of the households had Internet connection. There were in total 781 thousand motor vehicles, of which 482 thousand were cars and 110 thousand were motorbikes.

The unemployment rate in the region was 4.3% as of October 2017.

Economy
The nominal gross domestic product of the South Moravian Region was 671.259 billion CZK in 2021, which is nearly 11% of the national GDP. Among other regions, South Moravian Region had the third largest share on the national GDP out of fourteen. The GDP per capita was 562.278 CZK (23.428 EUR) in the same period, which is 98.5% of the national average and the second highest result after region Prague. Mechanical engineering has an essential role in the economy of the region. Important centers of mechanical engineering are Brno (PBS, Siemens, Zetor Brno), Blansko (ČKD Blansko, Metra Blansko), Kuřim (TOS Kuřim), Boskovice (Minerva, Novibra) and Břeclav (OTIS). Electrical engineering has a tradition for more than a century. Significant producers are Siemens Drásov, VUES Brno and ZPA Brno. Food industry forms another important sector, especially in the southern and eastern part of the region. Important activities are the meat processing, canning of fruits and vegetables (Znojmia, Fruta), sugar industry, brewing (Starobrno, Černá Hora, Vyškov and Hostan) and winemaking (Lahofer, Znovín Znojmo, Vinium Velké Pavlovice). Chemical and pharmaceutical industry is concentrated especially in Brno (Pliva-Lachema), Ivanovice na Hané (Bioveta) and Veverská Bítýška (Hartmann Rico). The South-Moravian Region has an important role in the nation and international transit. It is served by a network of motorways and roads of almost 4,500 km. The motorways D1 and D2 and the expressways R43 and R52 form the skeleton of the road network in the region. Brno is an important crossing of road and railway transport and a hub of the integrated regional public transport system.
 * Industry
 * Transport

Brno has an international airport Brno–Tuřany. The airport was opened in 1954 and in 2012 it served 535 thousand passengers. The agricultural land covers 426 thousand ha, which is 59.3% of all land in the regions. The arable land occupies 49% of the total area. Znojmo District and Vyškov District have the highest proportion of arable land in the region. The agricultural production is oriented on the production of cereals, rapeseed and sugar beet. Other important agricultural sectors in the region are viticulture, fruit farming and vegetable growing. The viticulture is especially developed in Břeclav District, which has 46% of the total area of Czech vineyards.
 * Agriculture

Science and education
There are several public and state universities in Brno - Janáček Academy of Performing Arts, Masaryk University, Mendel University in Brno, University of Defense, University of Veterinary Sciences Brno and Brno University of Technology. The South Moravian Region spent 856 million euros, 3.2% of its GDP on science and research in 2022, the highest share of the Czech Republic. The city of Brno in particular stands out for its support of science and research, especially in the field of IT.

Places of interest

 * Brno with Cathedral of St. Peter and Paul, Villa Tugendhat, Capuchin Crypt, etc.
 * Dolní Věstonice archeological site
 * Lednice-Valtice - inscribed in UNESCO World Heritage List
 * Macocha Gorge
 * Automobile and motorbike races at Masaryk Circuit
 * Podyjí National Park
 * Slavkov u Brna (Austerlitz) - a town well known for the Battle of Austerlitz
 * Vranov nad Dyjí and its castle
 * White Carpathians biosphere reservation

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

title: South Moravian Region


text:
User talk:Wadsworth

Contributions
Thanks, Wadsworth, for your contributions. And thanks for being bold in making them. I hope you will continue to be bold in making many Wikipedia contributions. Tom (hawstom) 05:11, 27 May 2004 (UTC)

LDS view regarding angels
I'm not sure what you mean...the angel page has a short teaser for each religion's beliefs, with a link to the Main article on their view. Is there already a separate page for the LDS view? freestylefrappe 02:09, 14 October 2005 (UTC)

Thanks/re category
Hi, I had been doing random article searching out of curiosity, and found there were really good articles with no categories at the base. It's a good art, and thanks for finding it a home! Best Wishes vcxlor 15:20, 24 October 2005 (UTC)

Eschatology and End Times
I agree that End Times should be merged and redirected into eschatology or the individual religion-eschatology pages. KI 20:55, 31 January 2006 (UTC)

"Sqrjn, stop just deleting text in this article. This isn't the place to show your bias."
Please don't use edit summaries to criticize other people. This is considered bad form. Thanks, – Quadell (talk) (bounties) 18:42, 7 February 2006 (UTC)

Joseph Smith, Jr.
A request for mediation has been filed with the Mediation Committee that lists you as a party. The Mediation Committee requires that all parties listed in a mediation must be notified of the mediation. Please review the request at Requests for mediation/Joseph Smith, Jr., and indicate whether you agree or refuse to mediate. If you are unfamiliar with mediation, please refer to Mediation. There are only seven days for everyone to agree, so please check as soon as possible.

Juanita Brooks
Brooks is best (if not solely) known for her works condemning the Church, which are a mainstay of anti-Mormon book vendors nationwide. Her Wikipedia bio only lists two books, both of which condemn the Church. I think that pretty much proves my point, and that means that it is a violation of the Neutrality Policy to quote her as an "historical expert" without noting that fact.
 * Let's move this conversation over to Juanita's discussion page. Wadsworth 21:58, 10 April 2006 (UTC)

I'm checking something. I may have mixed her up with Brodie. I'm going back through my stuff to find an article that I thought she had written in which Brigham Young was "clearly the force behind the evil which took place that day." Until I have the answer, I've gone ahead and re-edited the MMM page to remove the reference.

 * ROFL... yeah, being confused with Brodie would have Brooks spinning in her grave! Wadsworth 22:14, 10 April 2006 (UTC)

Roger that! I've just got back from fixing the MMM page. I dunno whether to blame it on early senility or lack of sleep (on the 8th day I rest).

John D. Lee
Hey - just saw on JS JR that you are a desendant of John D. Lee. - so is my wife. Which wife and geographic area do you come through? If you'd rather continue this via email, shoot me one (visorstuff AT yahoo DOT com). -Visorstuff 21:45, 13 April 2006 (UTC)
 * I sent you an email. AIM me (wad4ever), or email me (eric@wadhome.org) if you didn't get it. Wadsworth 17:00, 14 April 2006 (UTC)

FamilySearch
As you have contributed to this article, you might want to know about the AfD for it. -- 63.224.136.62 03:33, 16 November 2006 (UTC)

Seine (fishing)
Hi Wadsworth. I see you have reinstated the stuff on using seines in Alaska in Seine (fishing). That stuff was not deleted, as you state. If you look at the edit summaries you will find it was transferred to Commercial fishing in Alaska. This is the proper place for specific details about the local use of seines in Alaska. Danish seines are not the same thing at all. Danish seining is the name of a techniqe, a way of using seines, that is widely used around the world, and not just in Denmark. What I suggest is that you could perhaps put a brief summary of seine use in Alaska and then link to the main article covering the details. As it is, you have swamped the article, which is trying to explain how seines are used in general, with all this detail about what goes on in a particular fishery. It's not that that mightn't be interesting, it's just that it's in the wrong place. Cheers --Geronimo20 (talk) 22:28, 30 April 2008 (UTC)

 * Ah! I looked and looked, and could not find that material anywhere. Thanks for pointing this out to me! I'll revert my change, and put in a link as you suggested, once I get a moment to do so. Wadsworth (talk) 16:04, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

I was hoping you could help me sort something out on Commons. I'm sure you would know better than I: I'm basically a landlubber who happens to live in a port city. Right now we have an arrangement of categories for seine fishing that doesn't make sense:
 * Commons:Category:Purse seiners is in both Commons:Category:Seiners and Commons:Category:Fishing ships.
 * Commons:Category:Seiners is in Commons:Category:Fishing boats.

Are seiners (of any type) ever large enough to be considered ships? - Jmabel | Talk 01:08, 12 February 2009 (UTC)
 * If so, we should add Commons:Category:Fishing ships to Commons:Category:Seiners and remove Commons:Category:Fishing ships from Commons:Category:Purse seiners.
 * If not, we should simply remove Commons:Category:Fishing ships from from Commons:Category:Purse seiners.

May 2010
Welcome to Wikipedia. Although everyone is welcome to contribute to the encyclopedia, one or more of the external links you added to the page Corruption in the United States do not comply with our guidelines for external links and have been removed. Wikipedia is not a collection of links; nor should it be used as a platform for advertising or promotion, and doing so is contrary to the goals of this project. Because Wikipedia uses nofollow tags, external links do not alter search engine rankings. If you feel the link should be added to the article, please discuss it on the article's talk page before reinserting it. Please take a look at the welcome page to learn more about contributing to this encyclopedia. * --- Barek (talk • contribs) - 19:29, 8 May 2010 (UTC)

December 2011
Thank you for your contributions to Wikipedia. Before saving your changes to an article, please provide an edit summary, which you forgot to do before saving your recent edit to Rock-paper-scissors-lizard-Spock. Doing so helps everyone understand the intention of your edit (and prevents legitimate edits from being mistaken for vandalism). It is also helpful to users reading the edit history of the page. Thank you. Elizium23 (talk) 01:51, 15 December 2011 (UTC)

IP block exempt
I have granted your account an exemption from IP blocking. This will allow you to edit through full blocks affecting your IP address when you are logged in.

Please read the page IP block exemption carefully, especially the section on IP block exemption conditions.

Note in particular that you are not permitted to use this newly-granted right to edit Wikipedia via anonymous proxies, or disruptively. If you do, or there is a serious concern of abuse, then the right may be removed by any administrator.

Appropriate usage and compliance with the policy may be checked periodically, due to the nature of block exemption, and block exemption will be removed when no longer needed (for example, when the block it is related to expires).

I hope this will enhance your editing, and allow you to edit successfully and without disruption. Ron h jones (Talk) 22:36, 25 May 2012 (UTC)

File:JSMB foyer.jpg listed for deletion
A file that you uploaded or altered, File:JSMB foyer.jpg, has been listed at. Please see the to see why it has been listed (you may have to search for the title of the image to find its entry). Feel free to add your opinion on the matter below the nomination. File:JSMB interior.JPG --- ARTEST4ECHO(Talk) 14:36, 20 April 2015 (UTC)  --- ARTEST4ECHO(Talk) 14:36, 20 April 2015 (UTC)

ArbCom elections are now open!
Hi, You appear to be eligible to vote in the current Arbitration Committee election. The Arbitration Committee is the panel of editors responsible for conducting the Wikipedia arbitration process. It has the authority to enact binding solutions for disputes between editors, primarily related to serious behavioural issues that the community has been unable to resolve. This includes the ability to impose site bans, topic bans, editing restrictions, and other measures needed to maintain our editing environment. The arbitration policy describes the Committee's roles and responsibilities in greater detail. If you wish to participate, you are welcome to review the candidates' statements and submit your choices on the voting page. For the Election committee, MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 22:17, 30 November 2015 (UTC)

Nomination of Entish for deletion
A discussion is taking place as to whether the article Entish is suitable for inclusion in Wikipedia according to Wikipedia's policies and guidelines or whether it should be deleted.

The article will be discussed at Articles for deletion/Entish until a consensus is reached, and anyone, including you, is welcome to contribute to the discussion. The nomination will explain the policies and guidelines which are of concern. The discussion focuses on high-quality evidence and our policies and guidelines.

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title: User talk:Wadsworth


text:
T. V. Olsen

Theodore Victor Olsen (April 25, 1932, in Rhinelander, Wisconsin – July 13, 1993, in Rhinelander) was an American western fiction author. The films The Stalking Moon and Soldier Blue were based on his works.

Biography
Olsen's family migrated from Norway in 1901. Theodore Olsen was born on April 25, 1932, in Rhinelander, Wisconsin. He went to school in Rhinelander and began to write in high school. He began a Western novel at that time. He went to college in Stevens Point, Wisconsin.

Olsen finally finished his novel, Haven of the Hunted, and it was published in 1956. He also began to sell Western stories to pulp magazines at this time. Though he occasionally traveled west, he lived his whole life in Rhinelander and used exhaustive research to help accurately portray scenes of the West in his stories.

Olsen was married to fellow fiction author Beverly Butler.

Olsen died in Rhinelander on July 13, 1993, and several works were published posthumously.

Much of Olsen's family still lives in the Rhinelander region. They own a 300 acre ranch with a century-old farm house and dairy barn.

Novels
Western
 * Haven of the Hunted, Ace Books 1956, new ed. Chivers Press 6/2000, ISBN 978-0-7540-3839-9
 * The Man from Nowhere, Ace 1959, new ed. Chivers 3/1992, ISBN 978-0-7451-4515-0
 * McGivern, Gold Medal Books 1960, new ed. Thorndike Press 4/2001, ISBN 978-0-7838-9412-6
 * High Lawless, Fawcett 1960, new ed. Sagebush Westerns 7/2010, ISBN 978-0-7531-8518-6
 * Gunswift, Fawcett Books 1960, new ed. Center Point Print 7/2006, ISBN 978-1-58547-795-1
 * Brand of the Star, Fawcett Gold Medal 1961, new ed. Thorndike 4/2011, ISBN 978-1-4104-3589-7
 * Ramrod Rider, Fawcett Gold Medal 1961, new ed. Center Point 9/2005, ISBN 978-1-58547-644-2
 * Savage Sierra, Gold Medal 1963, new ed. Thorndike 3/1998, ISBN 978-0-7838-8420-2
 * A Man Called Brazos, Fawcett Gold Medal 1964, new ed. Gunsmoke Westerns 8/2005, ISBN 978-1-4056-8040-0
 * Canyon of the Gun, Fawcett Gold Medal 1965, new ed. Gunsmoke 9/2007, ISBN 978-1-4056-8149-0
 * The Stalking Moon, Doubleday (publisher) 1965, new ed. Leisure Books 5/2010, ISBN 978-0-8439-4180-7
 * The Hard Men, Star Weekly Novel 1966, new ed. Gunsmoke 7/2001, ISBN 978-0-7540-8132-6
 * Blizzard Pass, Fawcett 1/1968, new ed. Thorndike 10/2004, ISBN 978-0-7862-6704-0
 * Soldier Blue a.k.a. Arrow in the Sun, Star Weekly 1970, new ed. Thorndike ISBN 978-0-7862-5718-8
 * The Burning Sky, Star Weekly 1/1971, new ed. Chivers 5/1998, ISBN 978-0-7451-8861-4
 * A Man Named Yuma, Gold Medal 1/1971, new ed. Chivers 3/2011, ISBN 978-1-4084-9279-6
 * Bitter Grass, Sphere Books 4/1971, ISBN 978-0-7221-6535-5
 * There Was a Season, Doubleday 1972
 * Summer of the Drums, Doubleday 1972
 * Mission to the West, Ace 1/1973, new ed. Leisure 9/1997, ISBN 978-0-8439-4308-5
 * Eye of the Wolf, Sphere 3/1973, ISBN 978-0-7221-6538-6
 * Run to the Mountain, Fawcett Gold Medal 1/1974, new ed. Gunsmoke 11/2008, ISBN 978-1-4056-8228-2
 * Starbuck's Brand, Belmont Tower 1974, new ed. Leisure 11/1997, ISBN 978-0-8439-4326-9
 * Day of the Buzzard, Fawcett Gold Medal 1/1976, new ed. Gunsmoke 1/2009, ISBN 1-4056-8232-9
 * Westward They Rode, Ace 1/1976, new ed. Leisure 7/1996, ISBN 978-0-8439-4021-3
 * Track the Man Down, Manor Books 1976, new ed. Leisure 10/1998, ISBN 0-8439-4369-6
 * Bonner's Stallion, Fawcett Gold Medal 1/1977, new ed. Center Point May 2010, ISBN 978-1-60285-738-4
 * Rattlesnake, Doubleday 2/1979, ISBN 978-0-385-14290-8
 * The Lockhart Breed, Walker & Company 3/1982, ISBN 978-0-8027-4006-9
 * Red is the River, Fawcett 1/1983, ISBN 978-0-449-12407-9
 * Lazlo's Strike, Doubleday 1/1983, new ed. Gunsmoke 2/2010, ISBN 978-1-4084-6242-3
 * Blood of the Breed, Ulverscroft Print 1/1985, ISBN 0-7089-1262-1
 * Lonesome Gun, Fawcett 10/1985, ISBN 978-0-449-12808-4
 * Blood Rage, Ballantine Books 6/1987, ISBN 978-0-449-13052-0
 * A Killer is Waiting, Fawcett 2/1988, ISBN 978-0-449-13058-2
 * Break the Young Land, Avon Books 1988, new ed. Center Point 9/2004, ISBN 1-58547-462-2
 * Under the Gun, Fawcett 9/1989, ISBN 978-0-449-14621-7
 * Keno, Chivers 4/1991, ISBN 978-0-7451-1336-4
 * The Golden Chance, Fawcett 9/1992, ISBN 978-0-449-14803-7
 * Deadly Pursuit, Thorndike 8/1995, ISBN 978-0-7862-0507-3, sequel to Golden Chance
 * Treasures of the Sun, Five Star Publishing Westerns 11/1998, ISBN 978-0-7862-0995-8
 * The Lost Colony, Five Star 9/1999, ISBN 978-0-7862-1582-9
 * The Vanishing Herd, Five Star 5/2001, ISBN 978-0-7862-2113-4
 * The Vanishing Herd, Five Star 5/2001, ISBN 978-0-7862-2113-4

Other Novels
 * Brothers of the Sword, Berkley Books 1962 (Vikings)

Anthologies

 * War Whoop and Battle Cry, collection of stories together with Clifton Adams, Clay Fisher and Luke Short, edited by Brian Garfield, Scholastic Corporation 1/1968
 * Lone Hand (Frontier Stories), Thorndike 6/1998, ISBN 978-0-7862-0761-9
 * Man without a Past (Frontier Stories), Five Star 11/2001, ISBN 978-0-7862-2732-7

Non-fiction
Rhinelander Country series
 * 1) Roots of the North, Pineview Publishing 1979
 * 2) Birth of a City, Pineview 1983,
 * 3) Our First Hundred Years, Pineview 1983

Filmography

 * The Stalking Moon, 1968 directed by Robert Mulligan, with Gregory Peck and Eva Marie Saint
 * Soldier Blue, 1970 directed by Ralph Nelson, with Peter Strauss and Candice Bergen

Awards

 * 1992: Golden Spur Award in the category Paperback Original for Golden Chance

title: T. V. Olsen


text:
Minivet

The minivets are passerine birds belonging to the genus Pericrocotus in the cuckooshrike family Campephagidae. There are about 15 species, occurring mainly in forests in southern and eastern Asia. They are fairly small, slender birds with long tails and an erect posture. Many species have bright red or yellow markings. They feed mainly on insects, foraging in groups in the tree canopy.

Species list
The genus contains 15 species:
 * Rosy minivet, Pericrocotus roseus
 * Swinhoe's minivet or brown-rumped minivet, Pericrocotus cantonensis
 * Ashy minivet, Pericrocotus divaricatus
 * Ryukyu minivet, Pericrocotus tegimae
 * Small minivet, Pericrocotus cinnamomeus
 * Fiery minivet, Pericrocotus igneus
 * Little minivet, Pericrocotus lansbergei
 * White-bellied minivet, Pericrocotus erythropygius
 * Jerdon's minivet, Pericrocotus albifrons
 * Grey-chinned minivet, Pericrocotus solaris
 * Long-tailed minivet, Pericrocotus ethologus
 * Short-billed minivet, Pericrocotus brevirostris
 * Sunda minivet, Pericrocotus miniatus
 * Scarlet minivet, Pericrocotus speciosus
 * Orange minivet, Pericrocotus flammeus

title: Minivet


text:
The Adventure Series

The Adventure Series by Enid Blyton, a prolific English children's author, is a series of eight children's novels. These books feature the same child characters: Philip, Jack, Dinah, and Lucy-Ann, along with several adult characters. Jack's pet parrot, Kiki, is also a standard feature in each novel.

The stories show the four children off on their own, discovering and solving mysteries without much adult assistance. Although the publication dates span a decade, Blyton reportedly wrote each of the novels in less than a week.

The colourful dust jackets and line illustrations were by Stuart Tresilian.

Characters
(family names are provided based on first appearances)

Following the events in The Ship of Adventure, Bill marries Mrs Mannering and adopts all the children as his own. The children call him Bill Smugs due to the fact that he introduced himself under that alias on their first adventure.
 * Philip Mannering: A boy with a growth of hair which stands up above the forehead, earning him (as well as his sister and mother) the nickname "Tufty" from Jack. Like his late father, Philip has a gift of befriending any type of land-based animal he comes across, and always has a veritable zoo of small animals somewhere within his clothes. He is quite a tease with his sister Dinah about her squeamishness and often gets into fights with her about it. He is Jack's best friend and is quite kind to Lucy-Ann when Dinah is a little mean.
 * Jack Trent: A boy about Philip's age, who has red hair, green eyes and many freckles on his face, the latter of which earning him the nickname "Freckles" from Philip. He and his sister Lucy-Ann are orphans and used to live with an unfriendly uncle until they are adopted by Mrs Mannering. Jack has a special passion for birds, and spends most of his time observing them. His greatest dream is becoming an ornithologist. He loves Mrs Mannering very much and cares greatly about his sister Lucy-Ann. Following his first adventure, Jack nearly always carries a rope and his field glasses, among other things, as basic equipment.
 * Dinah Mannering: Philip's younger sister of about twelve at the beginning of the series. Like her brother, she has a tuft of hair standing up atop her head, but she shares neither his gift in attracting, nor his love for, animals, especially the small creeping types (mice, insects, snakes etc.). Temperamental as she is, she often finds herself the target of her brother's teasing, but otherwise she is quite level-headed, intelligent and grown-up for her age.
 * Lucy-Ann Trent: Jack's little sister is the youngest of the foursome (about 11 at the beginning of the series) and also the most timid one. Like her brother, she has red hair, green eyes and freckles, and in several instances she is described as very pretty. Lucy-Ann is very affectionate towards the people she loves, particularly her brother Jack, though sometimes she is a little jealous that Jack seems to love birds more than her. She also loves her adopted "parents" Bill and Mrs Mannering very much, is Dinah's best friend, and quite fond of Philip.
 * Kiki: Jack's female pet parrot, physically described as a cockatoo with a crest on her head. Her most noticeable trait is her enormous repertoire of command phrases and peculiar noises, which she seems to pick up very easily. Her commands originally came from Jack and Lucy-Ann's unfriendly uncle and his stern caretaker, with whom they had to live until Jack and Lucy-Ann were adopted by Mrs Mannering. In the stories Kiki serves usually either as comic relief or as a saviour from tight situations, as her voice is sometimes mistaken for a real person.
 * Bill Cunningham: An important member (holding the rank of inspector) of an unspecified secret service force (possibly based upon the British Secret Intelligence Service). His most prominent bodily feature is his half-bald head. He meets the children upon their very first adventure and makes regular appearances in the series from that point on. Mostly the children get tangled up in adventures which are connected with Bill's work at the time and end up solving them for him.
 * Mrs Alison Mannering (later Cunningham, aka "Aunt Allie"): Philip and Dinah's mother is a widow (not much is revealed about her late husband, only that he seems to have possessed the same animal-charming ability Philip demonstrates throughout the series), and like her children she has a tuft of hair upon the top of her head. At first she adopts Jack and Lucy-Ann into her family, providing them a loving home; later she marries their common friend Bill and finds a new family with all of them. She is affectionately called "Aunt Allie" by Jack and especially by Lucy-Ann.

Novels

 * The Island of Adventure (1944) AKA Mystery Island (US, 1945)
 * The Castle of Adventure (1946)
 * The Valley of Adventure (1947)
 * The Sea of Adventure (1948)
 * The Mountain of Adventure (1949)
 * The Ship of Adventure (1950)

Originally, the series was supposed to end after this episode, but under the great demand of dedicated fans, Blyton wrote two more episodes:

 * The Circus of Adventure (1952)
 * The River of Adventure (1955)

All of the books are in print, and the original editions are expensive collectors' items.

TV versions of all eight novels were produced by Cloud 9 Entertainment Studios in 1996. The Castle of Adventure was earlier dramatised by TVS for ITV in 1990, and the series has been Blyton's most used on the BBC; in 1974 The Island of Adventure was told on Jackanory while in 1986 The Circus of Adventure followed. These were the only Blyton stories ever to be told on Jackanory. In 1988, The Castle of Adventure was adapted as part of the Radio 4 children's programme Cat's Whiskers, while in 1993, The Island of Adventure was read on the old Radio 5.

The Island of Adventure
Philip meets Jack and Lucy-Ann and Jack's pet bird Kiki, and after they sneak home with him, they move in with Philip, his sister Dinah and their Aunt Polly and Uncle Jocelyn at an ancient mansion at the coast. Strange lights on the nearby mysterious island leads to the four's first adventure inside an abandoned copper mine and a network of secret undersea tunnels.

The Castle of Adventure
Philip and Dinah's mother takes the four on a summer adventure to a valley in the countryside overlooked by an ominous abandoned castle. When the four go looking for eagles, they find that the castle isn't as abandoned as they were led to believe. They investigate and get caught up in an encounter with a gang of dangerous spies.

The Valley of Adventure
When Bill buys a plane, he decides to take the four children for a holiday, but events at the airport lead to the four getting into the wrong plane. When the plane lands they find themselves in an unfamiliar valley scarred by war and, once again, the four children fall into an adventure involving a lost treasure sought by a band of villains.

The Sea of Adventure
Bill takes the foursome on a trip to a Scottish island to help them recover from measles. But amongst the islands, they stumble upon a sinister plot; Bill disappears, and the children are left alone to find out where he is, what is going on and how they will escape.

The Mountain of Adventure
Hoping for a quiet holiday for once, the children, Kiki, Mrs. Mannering and Bill go to a mountain farm in Wales for some wandering. But on the search for the Vale of Butterflies, the children get lost and find themselves near a mysterious mountain. Ominous rumblings from the ground, a pack of wolves roaming the area, a black fugitive, and Philip's disappearance are but a few of the mysteries the children have to unravel about the mountain. This is one of few novels by Enid Blyton to have science fiction elements.

The Ship of Adventure
All the children are aboard for a quiet cruise among the Greek islands. But when Micky, Philip's new monkey, breaks his birthday present, all the children are plunged into an exciting quest to find the lost treasure of the Andra with some ruthless villains hot on their trail.

The Circus of Adventure
Who is the strange, pompous foreign boy Gustavus Barmilevo invited to the children's home by Bill for the holidays? The children soon discover that he is a prince, named Aloysius Gramondie, and has enemies on his trail. The enemies want to overthrow his uncle, who is too strong a ruler for them, and place the prince on the throne as a puppet ruler. Jack and Kiki find themselves following the others, who are kidnapped and taken to the strange country of Tauri Hessia; but he finds help with a circus. Will Jack be able to rescue the others with the help of his new friends and decide the fate of an entire nation?

The River of Adventure
Recovering from a very bad flu, the four children and their family make a river trip in the Middle East. But there is another reason for this choice of destination: Bill has been asked to watch a crook named Raya Uma. The children soon find another adventure revolving around a magnificent buried city filled with treasure beyond imagination.

Television and film adaptations
In the 1990s, the Adventure Series was adapted for New Zealand television. The main characters were all the same as in the books, but the stories were set in modern times. This did not greatly affect the plot of the stories, though Jack owned a pocket computer which played a significant role in a couple of the adventures, particularly in "The Ship of Adventure". "The Mountain of Adventure" was set in the German Alps, rather than the Welsh mountains as in the books. Also, many of the TV adaptations featured bumbling henchmen for comic relief. Probably the most notable henchman was Ray Uma's henchman, Taj, in "The River of Adventure", who appeared to be more intelligent than his master, and had a major role in the episode's plot. The TV series also introduced a character who was not in the books- Sir George Houghton, Cunningham's rich, underworked boss, who appeared in every episode except "The Valley of Adventure". A running gag was that he always phoned Cunningham with an urgent assignment just as the family were planning a holiday- in "The Ship of Adventure", Bill had to postpone his wedding for this reason- yet Sir George appeared to be a gentleman of leisure. He was only seen doing real work a couple of times in the entire series- he was shown playing pool and golf, and on one occasion, he was seen fishing, though he lied that he was in the office. The series, which cost 6.2 million pounds, was released on DVD in Australia by Umbrella Entertainment in 2012.

The Island of Adventure was adapted into a 1982 British film directed by Anthony Squire, and starring Norman Bowler as Bill along with Wilfrid Brambell and Eleanor Summerfield.

title: The Adventure Series


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Yoruba religion

The Yoruba religion (Yoruba: Ìṣẹ̀ṣe), West African Orisa (Òrìṣà), or Isese (Ìṣẹ̀ṣe), comprises the traditional religious and spiritual concepts and practice of the Yoruba people. Its homeland is in present-day Southwestern Nigeria, which comprises the majority of Oyo, Ogun, Osun, Ondo, Ekiti, Kwara and Lagos States, as well as parts of Kogi state and the adjoining parts of Benin and Togo, commonly known as Yorubaland (Ilẹ̀ Káàárọ̀-Oòjíire).

It shares some parallels with the Vodun practiced by the neighboring Fon and Ewe peoples to the west and with the religion of the Edo people to the east. Yoruba religion is the basis for a number of religions in the New World, notably Santería, Umbanda, Trinidad Orisha, and Candomblé. Yoruba religious beliefs are part of Itàn (history), the total complex of songs, histories, stories, and other cultural concepts which make up the Yoruba society.

Term
This religion also extend to Okun/Yagba/Yoruba people of Kogi State, as it is practice among them.

The Yoruba name for the Yoruba indigenous religion is Ìṣẹ̀ṣẹ, which also refers to the traditions and rituals that encompass Yorùbá culture. The term comes from a contraction of the words Ìṣẹ̀, meaning "source/root origin", and ìṣe, meaning "practice/tradition" coming together to mean "The original tradition"/"The tradition of antiquity" as many of the practices, beliefs, traditions, and observances of the Yoruba originate from the religious worship of Olodumare and the veneration of the Orisa.

Beliefs

According to Kola Abimbola, the Yorubas have evolved a robust cosmology. Nigerian Professor for Traditional African religions, Jacob K. Olupona, summarizes that central for the Yoruba religion, and which all beings possess, is known as "Ase", which is "the empowered word that must come to pass," the "life force" and "energy" that regulates all movement and activity in the universe".  Every thought and action of each person or being in Aiyé (the physical realm) interact with the Supreme force, all other living things, including the Earth itself, as well as with Orun (the otherworld), in which gods, spirits and ancestors exist.  The Yoruba religion can be described as a complex form of polytheism, with a Supreme but distant creator force, encompassing the whole universe.

The anthropologist Robert Voeks described Yoruba religion as being animistic, noting that it was "firmly attached to place".

Each person living on earth attempts to achieve perfection and find their destiny in Orun-Rere (the spiritual realm of those who do good and beneficial things).

One's ori-inu (spiritual consciousness in the physical realm) must grow in order to consummate union with one's "Iponri" (Ori Orun, spiritual self).

Iwapẹlẹ (or well-balanced) meditative recitation and sincere veneration is sufficient to strengthen the ori-inu of most people. Well-balanced people, it is believed, are able to make positive use of the simplest form of connection between their Ori and the omnipotent Olu-Orun: an Àwúre (petition or prayer) for divine support.

In the Yoruba belief system, Olodumare has ase over all that is. Hence, it is considered supreme.

Cosmology

 * Olodumare
 * Orishas
 * Ancestors
 * Human
 * Animal, Plant, etc

Olódùmarè
Olódùmarè is the most important "state of existence". "They" are the owner of all heads, for during human creation, Olódùmarè gave "èmí" (the breath of life) to humankind. In this, Olódùmarè is Supreme.

Perhaps one of the most important human endeavors extolled within the Yoruba literary corpus is the quest to improve one's "Ìwà" (character, behaviour). In this way the teachings transcend religious doctrine, advising as they do that a person must also improve their civic, social and intellectual spheres of being; every stanza of the sacred Ifá oracular poetry (Odu Ifa) has a portion covering the importance of "Ìwà". Central to this is the theme of righteousness, both individual and collective.

Creation
Adherents of the Yoruba religion regard Olodumare as the principal force of creation.

According to one of the Yoruba accounts of creation, at a certain stage in the process, the "truth" was sent to confirm the habitability of the planets that were newly formed. The earth, being one of these, was visited but considered too wet for conventional living.

After a successful period of time, a number of divinities led by Obatala were sent to accomplish the task of helping earth develop its crust. On one of their visits to the realm, the arch-divinity Obatala took to the stage equipped with a mollusk that concealed some form of soil, winged beasts, and some cloth like material. The contents were emptied onto what soon became a large mound on the surface of the water and soon after, the winged-beasts began to scatter this around until the point where it gradually made into a large patch of dry land; the various indentations they created eventually becoming hills and valleys.

Obatala leaped onto a high-ground and named the place Ife. The land became fertile and plant life began to flourish. From handfuls of earth he began to mold figurines. Meanwhile, as this was happening on earth, Olodumare gathered the gases from the far reaches of space and sparked an explosion that shaped into a fireball. He subsequently sent it to Ife, where it dried much of the land and simultaneously began to bake the motionless figurines. It was at this point that Olodumare released the "breath of life" to blow across the land, and the figurines slowly came into "being" as the first people of Ife.

For this reason, Ife is locally referred to as "Ife Oodaye" – "cradle of existence".

Orisha Practice
Yoruba Religion is a blend and combination various practice of indigenous beliefs, myths and legends, proverbs, and songs, all influenced by the cultural and social contexts. Traditional Yoruba beliefs hold that all people experience Ayanmo, which is destiny or fate. As a part of this, there is an expectation that everyone will eventually achieve the state of Olodumare, which is becoming one with the divine creator who is the source of all energy in the Yoruba religion belief system. This list below emphasized on the name of various orisha religion name.

Orisha Pantheon
The Orisha, (Òrìṣà) are entities that possess the capability of reflecting some of the manifestations of Olodumare. Yoruba Orishas (commonly translated "unique/special/selected heads") are often described as intermediaries between humankind and the supernatural. The term has also been variously translated as "Deities", "Divinities" or "Gods".

The Yoruba have developed a robust pantheon of divinities, each well developed in their different rites and traditions. Many of these have attained national/pan Yoruba statuses and are known all across Yoruba country, even when they are more strongly or closely associated with certain places, occupations or locations spread across Yorubaland. There are said to be 400 plus 1 of them in total; The 200 of the right (Igba Ọ̀tún), the 200 of the left (Igba Òsì) and one more.

Orisha(s) are revered for having control over specific elements of nature. They are thus also referred to as Imole. There are those of their number that are more akin to ancient heroes and/or sages than to primordial divinities. These are best addressed as dema deities. Even though the term Orisha is often used to describe both classes of divine entities, it is properly reserved for the former one.

Irunmalẹ
The Irúnmalẹ̀, from the words; Ìrun meaning ' Origin ' and Imalẹ̀ meaning ' Primal divinity ' are the original entities sent by Olorun to complete given tasks, often acting as liaisons between Òde Ọ̀run (the invisible realm) and Ilé Ayé (the physical realm). Irunmale(s) can therefore best be described in English as the highest ranking divinities; whereby such divinities are regarded as principal Orishas. The Irunmale or Imalẹ̀ are the primary foundational divinities or divine entities. In summary, all Imale are also Orisha, but not all Orisha are Imale.

Reincarnation
The Yoruba believe in Atunwa, the possibility of reincarnation within the family. The names Babatunde (father returns), Yetunde (Mother returns), Babatunji (Father wakes once again) and Sotunde (The wise man returns) all offer vivid evidence of the Ifa concept of familial or lineal rebirth. There is no simple guarantee that one's grandfather or great uncle will "come back" in the birth of a child, however.

Whenever the time arrives for a spirit to return to Earth (otherwise known as The Marketplace) through the conception of a new life in the direct bloodline of the family, one of the component entities of a person's being returns, while the other remains in Heaven (Ikole Orun). The spirit that returns does so in the form of a Guardian Ori. One's Guardian Ori, which is represented and contained in the crown of the head, represents not only the spirit and energy of one's previous blood relative, but the accumulated wisdom he or she has acquired through myriad lifetimes. This is not to be confused with one's spiritual Ori, which contains personal destiny, but instead refers to the coming back to The Marketplace of one's personal blood Ori through one's new life and experiences. The Primary Ancestor (which should be identified in your Itefa) becomes—if you are aware and work with that specific energy—a "guide" for the individual throughout their lifetime. At the end of that life they return to their identical spirit self and merge into one, taking the additional knowledge gained from their experience with the individual as a form of payment.

African diaspora religions
According to Professor Adams Abdullahi Suberu, the Yoruba were exquisite statesmen who spread across the globe in an unprecedented fashion; the reach of their culture is largely due to migration—the most recent migration occurred with the Atlantic slave trade, and with Nigerian and Beninoise Yorùbá emigrating to the United States, the UK, Brazil, and other countries of the Americas and Europe. During the pre-colonial period, many Yoruba were captured and sold into the slave trade and transported to Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Trinidad and Tobago, St. Vincent & The Grenadines, Uruguay, Venezuela, and other parts of the Americas. With them, they carried their religious beliefs. The school-of-thought integrated into what now constitutes the core of the "New World lineages" which are a variety of Yorùbá-derived contemporary African religions:
 * Candomblé (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay)
 * Santería (Cuba, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic)
 * Trinidad Orisha (Trinidad and Tobago)
 * Venezuelan spiritism (Venezuela)
 * Spiritual Baptist (St. Vincent & The Grenadines)
 * Umbanda (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay)

The Vodun faith, which originated amongst a different ethnic group (the Gbe speaking peoples of present-day Benin, Togo, and Ghana), holds influential aspects on the African diaspora in countries such as Haiti and Cuba, also New Orleans, Louisiana in the United States.

In Latin America, Yoruba religion has been in intense Syncretism with Christianity, Indigenous religions and Spiritism since the first arrival of African immigrants. In Brazil, the religion of Umbanda was born from the rich interaction of beliefs that Latin America provided. Followers of Umbanda typically consider themselves Monotheistic, but honor Catholic Saints and Orisha as manifestations from god or as Tutelary deities. Umbanda worship also include elements from Native South American rituals such as the ritual use of Tobacco and communication with the spirits of deceased Indian warriors (Caboclo).

In the 1949 documentary Fiestas de Santiago Apóstol en Loíza Aldea, anthropologist Ricardo Alegría noted a similar tendency at Loíza, Puerto Rico, arguing that the affinity between the black population in the municipality and the Catholic saint Santiago Apóstol may derive from the way in which he is depicted as a warrior; a similar theme to some depictions of Shango and Adams. This theory supposed that this resemblance was used by the population as a covert form to honor their ancestral deity.

Japan
Koshikawa Yoshiaki, professor of literature at Meiji University, became the first Japanese person to be initiated as a babalawo in 2013.

title: Yoruba religion


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British Columbia Highway 2

Highway 2, known locally as the Tupper Highway, is one of the two short connections from Dawson Creek to the border between British Columbia and Alberta.

Route decription
Highway 2 of the present day is 42 km long. It starts in Dawson Creek at its junction with Highway 97, and proceeds southeast for 39 km past the small settlement of Pouce Coupe, to its junction with Highway 52 near Tupper. Highway 2 connects with Alberta Highway 43 at the provincial border, 3 km southeast of Tupper.

History
The actual Highway 2 designation has a more complex history than that of the highway that carries it today. When Highway 2 was first designated in 1941, it followed the present-day route of the Cariboo Highway between Cache Creek and Prince George. In 1952, Highway 2 was extended along the John Hart Highway all the way through Dawson Creek to the border between B.C. and Alberta at Tupper. In 1953, the section of Highway 2 between Cache Creek and Dawson Creek renumbered Highway 97, and the designations co-existed until 1962, when the Highway 2 designation was removed from the Cariboo and John Hart Highways.

Major intersections
The entire route is in the Peace River Regional District.

title: British Columbia Highway 2


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User:Jcw69

Jerome West

I am a Digital Strategist, SEO specialist, Lead Generation specialist, web and multimedia designer/developer living in Johannesburg, South Africa for the last 3 decades after moving up from the south coast of KwaZulu-Natal. My pet project is a daily photo blog at One Day in the Life of Jerome which started on the 1 January 2007 and depicts one photo per day from my life, well much more now.

I discovered wikis when a client asked me for one for their website. The client gave me wikipedia.org as an example when I returned a blank look. The following week wikipedia won a Webby award so I had to go look for myself. Since May 2004 I have since become addicted to wikipedia and to the way information has become accessible to the masses.

I started editing on 19 May 2004 and passed the 9000 edit mark. (see: X!'s Edit Counter)

My contributions so far have been centered around my love for Africa. I have compiled this list (most of them stubs) below so that I can find articles that I am still working on quickly.

title: User:Jcw69


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Scarlet minivet

The scarlet minivet (Pericrocotus speciosus) is a small passerine bird. This minivet is found in tropical southern Asia from Northeast India to southern China, Indonesia, and the Philippines. They are common resident breeding birds in forests and other well-wooded habitats including gardens, especially in hilly country. While the male of most subspecies are scarlet to orange with black upper parts, the females are usually yellow with greyish olive upper parts. Several former subspecies have been elevated to a species status in recent works. These include the orange minivet. All subspecies have the same habits of gleaning for insects and are often seen in mixed-species foraging flocks, usually foraging in small groups, high up in the forest canopy.

Description
The scarlet minivet is 20 – long with a strong dark beak and long wings. The male has black upperparts and head, and scarlet underparts, tail edges, rump and wing patches. The shape and colour of the wing patches and the shade or orange in the male varies across populations. In the subspecies nigroluteus and marchesae from south Philippines the scarlet/orange is entirely replaced by yellow. The female is grey above, with yellow underparts (including the face), tail edges, rump and wing patches.

Taxonomy and systematics
There is considerable geographic variation in this species and several disjunct populations exist. Some former races are sometimes considered full species requiring the reorganization of other former subspecies. An example of a split from P. speciosus is the orange minivet (Pericrocotus flammeus). As many as nineteen subspecies have been described: Several isolated island forms that have been described include:
 * speciosus (Latham, 1790) along the Himalayas
 * fraterculus Swinhoe, 1870 is found in the northeast of India and extends into Myanmar, Yunnan and Hainan
 * semiruber Whistler & Kinnear, 1933 is found in southern Myanmar and Thailand
 * andamanensis Beavan, 1867 - Andaman Islands
 * fohkiensis Buturlin, 1910 is found in southeastern China
 * flammifer Hume, 1875 is found in southern Myanmar, southern Thailand and Peninsular Malaysia
 * xanthogaster (Raffles, 1822) is found in the southern part of Peninsular Malaysia and Sumatra
 * minythomelas Oberholser, 1912 is an insular form described from Simeulue Island off Sumatra.
 * modiglianii Salvadori, 1892 from Enggano Island
 * insulanus Deignan, 1946 from Borneo.
 * siebersi Rensch, 1928 from Java and Bali.
 * exul Wallace, 1864 from Lombok
 * novus McGregor, 1904 from Luzon and Negros
 * leytensis Steere, 1890 from Samar, Leyte and Bohol
 * gonzalesi Ripley & Rabor, 1961 from N & E Mindanao
 * nigroluteus Parkes, 1981 from south central Mindanao
 * johnstoniae Ogilvie-Grant, 1905 from Mt. Apo in southeastern Mindanao
 * marchesae Guillemard, 1885 from the Sulu Archipelago

Ecology and behaviour
This minivet catches insects in trees by flycatching or while perched. It flushes insects out of foliage by beating its wings hard. Scarlet minivet will form small flocks. Its song is a pleasant whistling. This bird nests high up in the treetops. The nest is a cup-like structure woven with small twigs and spiders' webs to increase the strength of the nest. Two or three spotted pale green eggs are laid. Incubation is mainly by the female, but both birds help to raise the offspring.

title: Scarlet minivet


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Baba ghanoush

Baba ghanoush (, ,  ;    بابا غنوج ), also spelled baba ganoush or baba ghanouj,     is a Levantine appetizer consisting of finely chopped roasted eggplant, olive oil,  lemon juice, various seasonings, and tahini. The eggplant is traditionally baked or broiled over an open flame before peeling, so that the pulp is soft and has a smoky taste. It is a typical meze (starter) of the regional cuisine, often served as a side to a main meal and as a dip for pita bread.

A very similar dish is mutabbal (متبل), which is sometimes said to be a spicier version of baba ghanoush.

Etymology
The word bābā in Arabic is a term of endearment for 'father', while Ġannūj could be a personal name. The word combination is also interpreted as 'father of coquetry' or 'indulged/pampered/flirtatious daddy' or 'spoiled old daddy'. However, it is not certain whether the word bābā refers to an actual person indulged by the dish or to the eggplant (bāḏinjān or bātinjān in Arabic).

Varieties
Eastern Arabian cuisine versions of the dish vary slightly from those of the Levant by spicing it with coriander and cumin; those versions might be minimally spiced and topped with thinly chopped parsley or coriander leaves.

In Turkey, the dish is known as babaganuş or abugannuş. While the ingredients vary from region to region, the essentials (eggplants, tahini, garlic, lemon) are generally the same.

In Armenia, the dish is known as mutabal. The essential ingredients in Armenian mutabal are eggplant, tahini, garlic, lemon, and onion; and most Armenians also add cumin.

In Romania, a similar dish is known as salată de vinete ('eggplant salad'). It lacks tahini and is made from finely chopped roasted eggplant, finely chopped onions, sunflower oil (explicitly not olive oil because it would make the appetizer bitter), salt and, optionally, mayonnaise.

In Syria, the dish is often mixed with sheep cheese, which turns it into a creamier dish.

Food writer and historian Gil Marks writes in his book that "Israelis learned to make baba ghanouj from the Arabs". An Israeli variant, salat ḥatzilim ('eggplant salad'), is made with fried or grilled eggplants mixed with mayonnaise, salt, lemon and chopped fried onions. It is usually topped with olive oil when served.

Health effects
Baba ghanoush is nutritious, mainly from eggplant, low in calories but high in fiber and antioxidants, good for digestion and fighting free radicals. Heart-healthy fats from tahini and olive oil, plus vitamins and minerals like vitamin C and potassium, support overall health when part of a balanced diet.

Individuals with allergies or sensitivities should be cautious, especially regarding sesame, a common ingredient in baba ghanoush, as sesame allergy is a common food allergy. Moreover, the eggplant's oxalate content may pose risks for those prone to kidney stones, and its solanine content could worsen inflammation in specific individuals.

title: Baba ghanoush


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Croaker

Croaker may refer to:

 * The fish family Sciaenidae
 * USS Croaker, a World War II submarine
 * Croaker, Virginia, United States, an unincorporated community
 * Croaker, a main character in The Black Company science fiction novel series - see The Black Company (novel)
 * Croaker, one of Kermit's childhood friends from Kermit's Swamp Years
 * Croaker, a type of Tom Swifty pun

title: Croaker


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Linda Pétursdóttir

Linda Pétursdóttir (born 27 December 1969) is an Icelandic businesswoman and beauty queen who won Miss World 1988.

Linda was born in Húsavík and raised there and in Vopnafjörður. She won Miss Iceland on 23 May 1988 and Miss World that November.

She operated a spa company named Baðhúsið for over 20 years, which closed in 2014. In 2003, with Reynir Traustason, she published her autobiography, Linda - ljós & skuggar.

In 2015, she was guest judge in the final Miss World 2015 beauty pageant in Sanya, Hainan, China PR.

In 2019, Pétursdóttir became the license holder for Miss World Iceland.

title: Linda Pétursdóttir