text:
Imaging radar

Imaging radar is an application of radar which is used to create two-dimensional images, typically of landscapes. Imaging radar provides its light to illuminate an area on the ground and take a picture at radio wavelengths. It uses an antenna and digital computer storage to record its images. In a radar image, one can see only the energy that was reflected back towards the radar antenna. The radar moves along a flight path and the area illuminated by the radar, or footprint, is moved along the surface in a swath, building the image as it does so.

Digital radar images are composed of many dots. Each pixel in the radar image represents the radar backscatter for that area on the ground (terrain return): brighter areas represent high backscatter, darker areas represents low backscatter.

The traditional application of radar is to display the position and motion of typically highly reflective objects (such as aircraft or ships) by sending out a radiowave signal, and then detecting the direction and delay of the reflected signal. Imaging radar on the other hand attempts to form an image of one object (e.g. a landscape) by furthermore registering the intensity of the reflected signal to determine the amount of scattering. The registered electromagnetic scattering is then mapped onto a two-dimensional plane, with points with a higher reflectivity getting assigned usually a brighter color, thus creating an image.

Several techniques have evolved to do this. Generally they take advantage of the Doppler effect caused by the rotation or other motion of the object and by the changing view of the object brought about by the relative motion between the object and the back-scatter that is perceived by the radar of the object (typically, a plane) flying over the earth. Through recent improvements of the techniques, radar imaging is getting more accurate. Imaging radar has been used to map the Earth, other planets, asteroids, other celestial objects and to categorize targets for military systems.

Description
An imaging radar is a kind of radar equipment which can be used for imaging. A typical radar technology includes emitting radio waves, receiving their reflection, and using this information to generate data. For an imaging radar, the returning waves are used to create an image. When the radio waves reflect off objects, this will make some changes in the radio waves and can provide data about the objects, including how far the waves traveled and what kind of objects they encountered. Using the acquired data, a computer can create a 3-D or 2-D image of the target.

Imaging radar has several advantages. It can operate in the presence of obstacles that obscure the target, and can penetrate ground (sand), water, or walls.

Applications
Applications include: surface topography & coastal change; land use monitoring, agricultural monitoring, ice patrol, environmental monitoring;weather radar- storm monitoring, wind shear warning;medical microwave tomography; through wall radar imaging; 3-D measurements, etc.

Through wall radar imaging
Wall parameter estimation uses Ultra Wide-Band radar systems. The handle M-sequence UWB radar with horn and circular antennas was used for data gathering and supporting the scanning method.

3-D measurements
3-D measurements are supplied by amplitude-modulated laser radars—Erim sensor and Perceptron sensor. In terms of speed and reliability for median-range operations, 3-D measurements have superior performance.

Techniques and methods
Current radar imaging techniques rely mainly on synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR) imaging. Emerging technology utilizes monopulse radar 3-D imaging.

Real aperture radar
Real aperture radar (RAR) is a form of radar that transmits a narrow angle beam of pulse radio wave in the range direction at right angles to the flight direction and receives the backscattering from the targets which will be transformed to a radar image from the received signals.

Usually the reflected pulse will be arranged in the order of return time from the targets, which corresponds to the range direction scanning.

The resolution in the range direction depends on the pulse width. The resolution in the azimuth direction is identical to the multiplication of beam width and the distance to a target.

AVTIS radar
The AVTIS radar is a 94 GHz real aperture 3D imaging radar. It uses Frequency-Modulated Continuous-Wave modulation and employs a mechanically scanned monostatic with sub-metre range resolution.

Laser radar
Laser radar is a remote sensing technology that measures distance by illuminating a target with a laser and analyzing the reflected light.

Laser radar is used for multi-dimensional imaging and information gathering. In all information gathering modes, lasers that transmit in the eye-safe region are required as well as sensitive receivers at these wavelengths.

3-D imaging requires the capacity to measure the range to the first scatter within every pixel. Hence, an array of range counters is needed. A monolithic approach to an array of range counters is being developed. This technology must be coupled with highly sensitive detectors of eye-safe wavelengths.

To measure Doppler information requires a different type of detection scheme than is used for spatial imaging. The returned laser energy must be mixed with a local oscillator in a heterodyne system to allow extraction of the Doppler shift.

Synthetic aperture radar (SAR)
Synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) is a form of radar which moves a real aperture or antenna through a series of positions along the objects to provide distinctive long-term coherent-signal variations. This can be used to obtain higher resolution.

SARs produce a two-dimensional (2-D) image. One dimension in the image is called range and is a measure of the "line-of-sight" distance from the radar to the object. Range is determined by measuring the time from transmission of a pulse to receiving the echo from a target. Also, range resolution is determined by the transmitted pulse width. The other dimension is called azimuth and is perpendicular to range. The ability of SAR to produce relatively fine azimuth resolution makes it different from other radars. To obtain fine azimuth resolution, a physically large antenna is needed to focus the transmitted and received energy into a sharp beam. The sharpness of the beam defines the azimuth resolution. An airborne radar could collect data while flying this distance and process the data as if it came from a physically long antenna. The distance the aircraft flies in synthesizing the antenna is known as the synthetic aperture. A narrow synthetic beam width results from the relatively long synthetic aperture, which gets finer resolution than a smaller physical antenna.

Inverse aperture radar (ISAR)
Inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR) is another kind of SAR system which can produce high-resolution on two- and three-dimensional images.

An ISAR system consists of a stationary radar antenna and a target scene that is undergoing some motion. ISAR is theoretically equivalent to SAR in that high-azimuth resolution is achieved via relative motion between the sensor and object, yet the ISAR moving target scene is usually made up of non cooperative objects.

Algorithms with more complex schemes for motion error correction are needed for ISAR imaging than those needed in SAR. ISAR technology uses the movement of the target rather than the emitter to make the synthetic aperture. ISAR radars are commonly used on vessels or aircraft and can provide a radar image of sufficient quality for target recognition. The ISAR image is often adequate to discriminate between various missiles, military aircraft, and civilian aircraft.

Disadvantages of ISAR
Rolling is side to side. Pitching is forward and backwards, yawing is turning left or right.
 * 1) The ISAR imaging cannot obtain the real azimuth of the target
 * 2) There sometimes exists a reverse image. For example, the image formed of a boat when it rolls forwards and backwards in the ocean.
 * 3) The ISAR image is the 2-D projection image of the target on the Range-Doppler plane which is perpendicular to the rotating axis. When the Range-Doppler plane and the coordinate plane are different, the ISAR image can not reflect the real shape of the target. Thus, the ISAR imaging can not obtain the real shape information of the target in most situations.

Monopulse radar 3-D imaging technique
Monopulse radar 3-D imaging technique uses 1-D range image and monopulse angle measurement to get the real coordinates of each scatterer. Using this technique, the image doesn't vary with the change of the target's movement. Monopulse radar 3-D imaging utilizes the ISAR techniques to separate scatterers in the Doppler domain and perform monopulse angle measurement.

Monopulse radar 3-D imaging can obtain the 3 views of 3-D objects by using any two of the three parameters obtained from the azimuth difference beam, elevation difference beam and range measurement, which means the views of front, top and side can be azimuth-elevation, azimuth-range and elevation-range, respectively.

Monopulse imaging generally adapts to near-range targets, and the image obtained by monopulse radar 3-D imaging is the physical image which is consistent with the real size of the object.

4D imaging radar
4D imaging radar leverages a Multiple Input Multiple Output (MiMo) antenna array for high-resolution detection, mapping and tracking of multiple static and dynamic targets simultaneously. It combines 3D imaging with Doppler analysis to create the additional dimension – velocity. A 4D imaging radar system measures the time of flight from each transmitting (Tx) antenna to a target and back to each receiving (Rx) antenna, processing data from the numerous ellipsoids formed. The point at which the ellipsoids intersect – known as a hot spot - reveals the exact position of a target at any given moment. Its versatility and reliability make 4D imaging radar ideal for smart home, automotive, retail, security, healthcare and many other environments. The technology is valued for combining all the benefits of camera, LIDAR, thermal imaging and ultrasonic technologies, with additional benefits:

 * Resolution: the large MiMo antenna array enables accurate detection and tracking of multiple static and dynamic targets simultaneously.
 * Cost efficiency: 4D imaging radar costs around the same as a 2D radar sensor, but with immense added value: richer data, higher accuracy and more functionality, while offering an optimal price-performance balance.
 * Robustness and privacy: There are no optics involved, so this technology is robust in all lighting and weather conditions. 4D imaging radar does not require line of sight with targets, enabling its operation in darkness, smoke, steam, glare and inclement weather. It also ensures privacy and discreet surveillance by design, an increasingly important concern across all industries.

title: Imaging radar


text:
Edward Dahlberg

Edward Dahlberg (July 22, 1900 – February 27, 1977) was an American novelist, essayist, and autobiographer.

Background
Edward Dahlberg was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to Elizabeth Dahlberg. Together, mother and son led a vagabond existence until 1905 when she operated the Star Lady Barbershop in Kansas City. Edward was sent to a Catholic orphanage in Kansas City at the age of six for one year. In April 1912, Dahlberg was sent to the Jewish Orphan Asylum in Cleveland, Ohio, where he lived until 1917. He eventually attended the University of California, Berkeley (1922–23) and Columbia University (B.S. in philosophy. 1925).

Career
Dahlberg enlisted in the U.S. Army during World War I, in which he lost the use of an eye after being struck with a rifle butt. In the late 1920s, Dahlberg became part of the expatriate group of American writers living in Paris. His first novel, Bottom Dogs, was based on his childhood experiences at the orphanage and his travels in the American West; it was published in London with an introduction by D. H. Lawrence. With his advance money, Dahlberg returned to New York City and resided in Greenwich Village. In 1933 he visited Germany, where he wrote anti-Nazi articles for The Times and counseled many German intellectuals, Jews, communists and anarchists to flee Germany. In 1934 he published the first American anti-Nazi novel, Those Who Perish. From the 1940s onwards, Dahlberg made his living as an author and also taught at various colleges and universities. From 1944 to 1948 he taught at Boston University. In 1948, he taught briefly at the experimental Black Mountain College. He was replaced on the staff by his friend and fellow author, Charles Olson.

During his years as an expatriate writer in 1920s Paris, he knew James Joyce, Samuel Beckett, Sean O'Casey, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, Yeats, D.H. Lawrence and many others. A proletarian novelist of the 1930s, a spokesman for a fundamental humanism in the 1940s, he was an important member and editor for the Stieglitz Group, which promoted human rights all over the world. He spoke out against the mistreatment of African Americans, Indigenous Americans (Native Americans), Jews, immigrants, and workers. He was jailed three or four times for standing up to inhumanity. For a number of years, Dahlberg devoted himself to literary study. His extensive readings of the works of Dante, Shakespeare, Thoreau, Sir Thomas Browne, Robert Burton, Isaac D'Israeli, and many others resulted in a writing style quite different from the social realism that characterized his earlier writing.

He moved to the Danish island of Bornholm in 1955 while working on The Flea of Sodom. The Sorrows of Priapus was published in 1957, becoming his most successful book thus far. He later moved to Sóller, on Mallorca, while working on Because I Was Flesh, an autobiography which was published in 1964 and which was nominated for the National Book Award. During the 1960s and 1970s, he became quite prolific and further refined his unique style through the publication of poetry, autobiographical works, fiction and criticism. He also lived in Dublin and Wicklow, London, Madrid, Malaga, Mexico City and the Seychelles.

Personal life
In 1942 he married Winifred Donlea O'Carroll. Winifred had two children from her previous marriage to the writer and professor Harry Thornton Moore. Edward and Winifred had two children together. His second marriage was to R'lene LaFleur Howell in 1950 and his third, in 1967, to his longtime mistress, Julia Lawlor. Edward, R'lene, and Julia lived in Dublin from the early 1960s to the early 1970s where Edward was a member of an Irish literary group that met at McDaid's Pub near Trinity College, Dublin. Members of this group included Frank O'Connor, Brendan Behan and Dominic Behan, Patrick Kavanagh, James Liddy, Garech Browne, Patrick Galvin and occasionally Frank McCourt and many others, with music often provided by The Dubliners. In 1968, he was elected to the National Institute of Arts and Letters. In 1976, he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship. Dahlberg died in Santa Barbara, California, on February 27, 1977.

Selected works

 * 1929 – Bottom Dogs (novel)
 * 1932 – From Flushing to Calvary (novel)
 * 1934 – Those Who Perish (novel)
 * 1941 – Do These Bones Live (essays, cultural criticism)
 * 1947 – Sing O Barren (revision of Do These Bones Live)
 * 1950 – Flea of Sodom (essays and parables)
 * 1957 – The Sorrows of Priapus (essay)
 * 1960 – Can These Bones Live (second revision of Do These Bones Live)
 * 1961 – Truth Is More Sacred: A Critical Exchange on Modern Literature with Sir Herbert Read
 * 1964 – Because I Was Flesh (autobiography)
 * 1964 – Alms for Oblivion (essays and reminiscences)
 * 1965 – Reasons of the Heart: Maxims
 * 1966 – Cipango’s Hinder Door (poems)
 * 1967 – The Dahlberg Reader, ed. Paul Carroll (poet)
 * 1967 – Epitaphs of Our Times (letters)
 * 1967 – The Leafless American (miscellany)
 * 1968 – The Carnal Myth: A Search Into Classical Sensuality (essay)
 * 1971 – The Confessions of Edward Dahlberg (autobiography)
 * 1972 - The Sorrows of Priapus, consisting of The Sorrows of Priapus and The Carnal Myth (essays)
 * 1972 – (editor) The Gold of Ophir: Travels, myths, and legends in the New World
 * 1976 – The Olive of Minerva: Or, The Comedy of a Cuckold (novel)
 * 1989 – Samuel Beckett's Wake & Other Uncollected Prose
 * 1990 – In Love, In Sorrow: The Complete Correspondence of Charles Olson and Edward Dahlberg, ed. Paul Christensen

Legacy
Dahlberg is the subject of the title essay of Jonathan Lethem's The Disappointment Artist, a 2006 essay collection. In his 2005 memoir Teacher Man, Frank McCourt remembered Dahlberg as an exceptionally belittling personality who enjoyed bullying his party guests. McCourt recounted that on their first meeting, Dahlberg insulted McCourt unprovoked and then threw McCourt out of Dahlberg’s cocktail party.

Other sources

 * Billings, Harold. A Bibliography of Edward Dahlberg (Harry Ransom Humanities; 1971) ISBN 978-0-87959-037-6
 * Cech, John. Charles Olson and Edward Dahlberg: A Portrait of a Friendship (ESL Monography, University of Victoria, 1982)
 * Moramarco, Fred S. Edward Dahlberg (Twayne Publishing. 1972) ISBN 978-0-8057-0180-7
 * DeFanti, Charles. The Wages of Expectation: A Biography of Edward Dahlberg (New York University Press. 1978) ISBN 978-0-8147-1764-6
 * Lethem, Jonathan. The Disappointment Artist (Doubleday: 2005) ISBN 0-385-51217-1
 * Solomon, William. Literature, Amusement, and Technology in the Great Depression (Cambridge University Press: 2002) ISBN 0-521-81343-3
 * Williams, Jonathan, ed. Edward Dahlberg: A Tribute (Northwestern University Press, 1970)

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

title: Edward Dahlberg


text:
Parthenocissus quinquefolia

Parthenocissus quinquefolia, known as Virginia creeper, Victoria creeper, five-leaved ivy, or five-finger, is a species of flowering vine in the grape family, Vitaceae. It is native to eastern and central North America, from southeastern Canada and the eastern United States west to Manitoba and Utah, and south to eastern Mexico and Guatemala.

Etymology
"Parthenocissus" is derived from Greek and means "virgin ivy". "Quinquefolia" means "five-leaved". "Quinque" – "five" and "folia" – "foliage", "leaves".

Names
The name "Virginia creeper", referring to one of its native locations, is also used for the whole genus Parthenocissus, and for other species within the genus. The name Parthenocissus is from the Greek literally meaning "virgin ivy", and may derive from the common English name of this species. It is not closely related to the true ivy, Hedera. The specific epithet quinquefolia means "five-leaved", referring to the leaflets on each compound (palmate) leaf.

This plant is also known in North America as woodbine, although woodbine can refer to other plant species.

Description
Parthenocissus quinquefolia is a prolific deciduous climber, reaching heights of 20 - 30 m in the wild. It climbs smooth surfaces using small forked tendrils tipped with small strongly adhesive pads 5 mm in size.

Leaves
The leaves are palmately compound, composed of five leaflets (rarely three leaflets, particularly on younger vines, and sometimes seven) joined from a central point on the leafstalk, and range from 3 to 20 cm (rarely to 30 cm) across. The leaflets have a toothed margin. Seedlings have heart-shaped cotyledon leaves. The species is often confused with P. vitacea or "False Virginia creeper", which has the same leaves, but does not have the adhesive pads at the end of its tendrils.

It is sometimes mistaken for Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy), despite having five leaflets (poison ivy has three). While the leaves of P. quinquefolia do not produce urushiol, the sap within the leaves and stem contains raphides (needle-shaped crystals of calcium oxalate) which can puncture the skin causing irritation and blisters in sensitive people.

The leaves sometimes turn a decorative bright red in the fall.

Flowers and berries
The flowers are small and greenish, produced in inconspicuous clusters in late spring, and mature in late summer or early fall into small hard purplish-black berries 5 to 7 mm diameter. These berries contain toxic amounts of oxalic acid and have been known to cause kidney damage and death to humans. The berries are not toxic to birds and provide an important winter food source for many bird species.

Cultivation and uses
Parthenocissus quinquefolia is grown as an ornamental plant, because of its ability to rapidly cover walls and buildings, and its deep red to burgundy fall (autumn) foliage. It can easily be propagated by stem cuttings taken in spring.

It is frequently seen covering telephone poles or trees. It may kill other plants it covers by shading its support and thus limiting the supporting plants' ability to photosynthesize. With its aggressive growth, it can overburden slower-growing understory trees with its weight, damaging them. Its ability to propagate via its extensive root system makes it difficult to eradicate.

In the UK, this plant is listed on Schedule 9 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 as an invasive non-native species. While this does not prevent it from being sold in the UK, or from being grown in gardens, the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) encourages those that do grow it to take great care with managing it and with disposing of unwanted material. The RHS also encourages gardeners to find alternative plants to grow to those listed on Schedule 9.

Parthenocissus quinquefolia can be used as a shading vine for buildings on masonry walls. Because the vine, like its relative P. tricuspidata (Boston ivy), adheres to the surface by disks rather than penetrating roots, it does not harm the masonry but will keep a building cooler by shading the wall surface during the summer. As with ivy, ripping the plant from the wall will leave the adhesive disks behind. If the plant clings to fragile surfaces it can first be killed by severing the vine from the root. The adhesive pads will then eventually deteriorate and release their grip.

The plant should be trimmed regularly to keep it from growing into areas where it is not wanted. If allowed to penetrate into the wall of a frame house, it will grow upward within the wall until it finds a place to emerge. The roots can penetrate a rock foundation and grow into the basement of an old house, extending long distances in search of moisture, and growing into floor cracks or drains.

title: Parthenocissus quinquefolia


text:
Guan Xing

Guan Xing (fl. third century), courtesy name Anguo, was an official of the state of Shu Han in the Three Kingdoms period of China.

History
He was the second son of Guan Yu and a younger brother of Guan Ping.

Little information about Guan Xing is found in historical records. The biography of Guan Yu in the Records of the Three Kingdoms contains only a few lines on Guan Xing. In his youth, Guan Xing was knowledgeable, and Zhuge Liang saw him as an exceptional talent. When he reached adulthood (around 19 years old), he served as an official in Shu Han, but died some years later. Guan Xing held the peerage of the Marquis of Hanshou Village (漢壽亭侯), which he inherited from his father. His cause of death was not documented. He had two known sons – Guan Tong (關統) and Guan Yi (關彝).

Guan Xing appears as a character in the 14th-century historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, in which he plays a significant role after the death of his father.

In Romance of the Three Kingdoms
Guan Xing plays a significant role in the 14th-century historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which romanticises the historical events before and during the Three Kingdoms period of China.

In Chapter 81, Guan Xing competes with Zhang Bao, Zhang Fei's son, for the position of leading the vanguard force just before the Battle of Yiling. However, Liu Bei stops them and orders them to become oath brothers in the same manner he did with their fathers many years ago. The two of them then join Wu Ban, who leads the vanguard force into battle.

In Chapter 83, Guan Xing slays Pan Zhang, the Wu general who captured his father during the Wu invasion of Jing Province, and retrieves his father's weapon, the Green Dragon Crescent Blade. Later, he executes Mi Fang and Fu Shiren before an altar dedicated to Guan Yu.

In Chapter 91, Guan Xing serves as Commander of the Left Guard (帳前左護衛使) and Prancing Dragon General (龍驤將軍) in the Shu army. He follows Zhuge Liang on the Northern Expeditions against Shu's rival state Wei. He dies of illness in Chapter 102.

In popular culture
Guan Xing is first introduced as a playable character in the eighth instalment of Koei's Dynasty Warriors video game series.

Guan Xing's appointment and the Northern Expeditions are depicted in the 2008 film Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon.

title: Guan Xing


text:
Emperor Ningzong

Emperor Ningzong of Song (19 November 1168 – 17 September 1224), personal name Zhao Kuo, was the 13th emperor of the Song dynasty of China and the fourth emperor of the Southern Song dynasty. He reigned from 1194 until his death in 1224.

He was the second son and the only surviving child of his predecessor Guangzong and like his father, Ningzong was weak-minded; easily dominated by women. During Ningzong's reign, he had built 75 commemorative shrines and steles, the most in Song history. He was a great patron of art, promoting artists such as Liang Kai and Ma Yuan to painter-in-waiting and writing poems about their paintings. Upon Ningzong's death, a minor official and a remote relative of Ningzong became Emperor Lizong.

Reign
He was noted for the cultural and intellectual achievements made during his reign. In particular, Zhu Xi wrote some of his most famous Neo-Confucianist works during this period. However, Emperor Ningzong was known for his aversion towards the spread of Neo-Confucianism in his imperial court due to the influence of his chancellor Han Tuozhou and on the political side, however, Emperor Ningzong saw his government being plagued by rising inflation that threatened the economy and the military advances by the Jurchens from the north during the wars between the Song dynasty and Jurchen-led Jin dynasty.

In absence of a son, he adopted a relative named Zhao Xun in 1197 who was only 6 years old.

In 1198, Neo-Confucianism was banned for two years until the ban was repelled in 1202.

Song Invasion of Jin
As the Jin were weakening because of natural disasters, Ningzong's chancellor Han Tuozhou continually provoked the weak Jin by launching raids. War against the Jin was officially declared on June 14, 1206, by Han Tuozhou. The war was a disaster. Despite the Jin's weakness due to the natural disasters, it had repulse the attacks from the Song and even counter-attacked. To make things worse, Ningzong was not interested in the war effort and morale was low. There was not enough supplies and many of the army deserted. Wu Xi (吳曦; d. 1207), the governor-general of Sichuan, defected to the Jin in December 1206. This was bad, as Wu was holding the western front, however, Song loyalists assassinated Wu on March 29, 1207, before Jin troops could take control of the surrendered territories. Fighting continued in 1207, but by the end of that year the war was at a stalemate. The Song was now on the defensive, while the Jin failed to make gains in Song territory. The failure of Han Tuozhou's aggressive policies led to his demise. On December 15, 1207, Han was beaten to death by the Imperial Palace Guards.

Peace
A peace treaty was signed on November 2, 1208, and the Song tribute to the Jin was reinstated. The Song annual indemnity increased by 50,000 taels of silver and 50,000 packs of fabric. The treaty also stipulated that the Song had to present to the Jin the head of Han Tuozhou, who the Jin held responsible for starting the war. The heads of Han and Su were severed from their exhumed corpses, exhibited to the public, then delivered to the Jin finally ending the war.

In 1210, the Mongols, formerly a Jin tributary, ended their vassalage and attacked the Jin in 1211. In light of this event, the Song court debated ending tributary payments to the weakened Jin, but they chose to avoid antagonizing the Jin. As the Mongols expanded, the Jin suffered territorial losses and attacked the Song in 1217 to compensate for their shrinking territory. The Jin continued attacking the Song until they agreed to a peace treaty and the Jin returned home. However, the Song would never regain their lost land.

In 1220, his adopted heir Zhao Xun died from dysentery. Zhao Xun was only 29 years old. Shi Miyuan decided when Ningzong died, another relative named Zhao Hong was to succeed him but Zhao Hong was never placed as heir-apparent due to conflicts with Shi Miyuan and when Ningzong died, he was replaced by Zhao Yun, the future Emperor Lizong.

He fell ill before dying a few days later in 1224. Ningzong may have been poisoned; it is also worth mentioning that Ningzong was physically weak as a nearly emaciated which suggested physical ailments of some gravity was shown in his official portrait. He was succeeded by another relative named Zhao Yun as all of Ningzong's children died young without any clear evidence of foul play who later became Emperor Lizong.

The Emperor's woman
He was a good monarch but sickly at times and this allowed his wife the Empress Yang to exploit his inadequacies and become the de facto ruler of the Empire for nearly 30 years.

Family
Consorts and Issue:
 * Empress Gongshu, of the Han clan (恭淑皇后 韓氏; 1165–1200)
 * Zhao Jun, Prince Yanchonghui (兗衝惠王 趙埈; 1196), second son
 * Zhao Tan, Prince Bin (邠王 趙坦; 1200), third son
 * Empress Gongsheng, of the Yang clan (恭聖皇后 楊氏; 1162–1233), personal name Guizhi (桂枝)
 * Zhao Zeng, Prince Ying (郢王 趙增; 1200–1201), fourth son
 * Zhao Jiong, Prince Hua (華王 趙埛; 1202), fifth son
 * Jieyu, of the Cao clan (婕妤 曹氏)
 * Princess Yuping (玉屏公主)
 * Married Lin Cun (林存)
 * Furen, of the Zhong clan (夫人 鍾氏)
 * Zhao Qi, Prince Shun (順王 趙圻; 1207), sixth son
 * Zhao Zhi, Prince Shen (申王 趙墌; 1207), seventh son
 * Unknown
 * Zhao Ji, Prince Su (肅王 趙垍; 1208), eighth son
 * Zhao Zhi, Prince Pi (邳王 趙坻; 1223), ninth son
 * Princess Qi (祁公主), first daughter

Adopted Issue:
 * Zhao Xun, Crown Prince Jingxian (景獻皇太子 趙詢; 1192–1220)
 * Zhao Hong, Prince Zhenzhaosu (鎮昭肅王 趙竤; d. 1225)
 * Zhao Yun, Lizong (理宗 趙昀; 1205–1264)

title: Emperor Ningzong


text:
Herbert Asquith (poet)

Herbert Dixon Asquith (11 March 1881 – 5 August 1947) was an English poet, novelist, and lawyer. Nicknamed "Beb" by his family, he was the second son of H. H. Asquith, British Prime Minister and the younger brother of Raymond Asquith.

Asquith was greatly affected by his service with the Royal Artillery in World War I. His poems included "The Volunteer" and "The Fallen Subaltern", the latter being a tribute to fallen soldiers. His poem "Soldiers at Peace" was set to music by Ina Boyle. His novels include the best-selling Young Orland (set during and after the First World War), Wind's End, Mary Dallon, and Roon.

In 1910, he married Lady Cynthia Charteris, who was also a writer. She was the eldest daughter of Hugo Charteris, 11th Earl of Wemyss, and his wife, Mary Constance Wyndham. They had three sons.

title: Herbert Asquith (poet)


text:
New Amsterdam, Guyana

New Amsterdam (Nieuw Amsterdam) is the regional capital of East Berbice-Corentyne, Guyana and one of the country's largest towns. It is 62 mi from the capital, Georgetown and located on the eastern bank of the Berbice River, 4 mi upriver from its mouth at the Atlantic Ocean, and immediately south of the Canje River. New Amsterdam's population is 17,329 inhabitants as of 2012.

History
New Amsterdam has its origins in a village which grew up alongside Fort Nassau in the 1730s and 1740s. The first Nieuw Amsterdam, as it was called then, was situated about 56 mi up the Berbice River on the right bank. Before the 1763 slave uprising it comprised a Court of Policy building, a warehouse, an inn, two smithies, a bakery, a Lutheran church and a number of houses, among other buildings. Built in 1740 by the Dutch, New Amsterdam was first named Fort Sint Andries. It was made seat of the Dutch colonial government in 1790. In 1803 it was taken over by the British.

The little township was a pioneer in several by-laws; it boasted the first sanitation regulations on record (no privies near the public path, drains to be dug and places kept weeded) and the first price controls in the only hostelry in town as well as alcoholic beverages, including madeira, jenever, kilthum (the forerunner of rum) and even a drink made by the Amerindians. Of course, alcohol was not considered an indulgence in those days, but rather a necessity, since it was erroneously believed that it warded off diseases like malaria, which it was claimed came from exposure to 'miasmas'.

In March 1763, the rebel leader Cuffy made the Court of Policy building in the little town his headquarters, and on either side of its doorway he placed two cannon, which had been repaired for him by the blacksmith Prins. When the revolutionaries were forced to retreat upriver in 1764, New Amsterdam was torched under the supervision of Prins, and only the brick Lutheran church survived. After the uprising was crushed, he was charged with arson and executed.

While the village was rebuilt afterwards, by the 1770s it was already becoming apparent that it had ceased to be the centre of the colony. The planters had begun to move to the more fertile soils of the lower river, leaving the township somewhat isolated upstream. At first the Dutch authorities had some grandiose plans to construct imposing government buildings there - plans which can still be seen in the State Archives in The Hague. However, eventually they had to recognize that such development would be futile in a context where Berbice's economic activity was centred on the lower river, and in 1785 they took a decision to relocate the town to the mouth of the Canje.

By June 1790, the authorities were ready for private residents, and in January of the following year they published an ordinance laying down the conditions for the granting of house lots in the present New Amsterdam. Each resident had to empolder his land and dig drainage ditches, and anyone who had not built a house within six months of the government being transferred from upstream, was to lose his lot.

Five years later, Berbice's capital fell into British hands, although not all its early visitors from that quarter of Europe were impressed by its appearance. Gradually, however, it acquired a character of its own, and to its credit it still boasts (among many other advantages) what is arguably the best example of Cesar Castellani's architecture extant, namely, the New Amsterdam Public Hospital (The Palms in Georgetown is another example of his work).

In 1831, New Amsterdam lost its status as a capital, when the two colonies of Berbice and Essequibo/Demerara were combined into one to become British Guiana.

The present town is fairly small, consisting of three main roads with about a dozen cross streets. It has a mayor, Kirt Wynter, and a thriving market. From New Amsterdam you can get to Crabwood Creek (about 45 mi away) via the Courantyne River or to the East Canje area of Berbice. A road also leads up the Berbice River bank to the town of Mara about 25 mi south.

Points of interest
New Amsterdam serves as a port and has a government-run hospital. The town has many old colonial buildings, some dating back to the time of Dutch colonisation. Mission Chapel has been designated a National Heritage Site.

The main schools in New Amsterdam are Berbice High School, Berbice Educational Institute, Vryman's Erven Secondary, Tutorial Academy, and New Amsterdam Secondary formerly known as New Amsterdam Multilateral High School (opened in 1975).

The Esplanade is the name of an open public ground west of Esplanade Road and immediately opposite The Gardens. It was a picnic resort and rendezvous for the people of Berbice. The bandstand featured the British Guiana Militia Band.

Travel
There are several hotels in the town, including Church View Guest House, Astor Hotel, Little Rock Hotel, Leisure Inn Hotel, The Penguin International Hotel, and the Parkway Hotel. The newly built Little Rock Suites on Main Street (Not to be confused with Little Rock Hotel in Vryman's Erven).

In December 2008, travel to New Amsterdam was made easier by the opening of the Berbice Bridge providing a direct connection to Georgetown.

Notable people

 * David Dabydeen (b. 1955), novelist, poet and academic
 * Jocelyn Dow (b. 1951), human rights activist and entrepreneur
 * Jill Gomez (b. 1942), Soprano singer
 * Carl Barrington Greenidge (b. 1949), former Vice-President
 * Edward Luckhoo (1912–1998), Governor General and former acting President
 * Lionel Luckhoo (1914–1997), lawyer and politician
 * Edgar Mittelholzer (1909–1965), novelist
 * Shridath Ramphal (b. 1928), former Commonwealth Secretary-General

Utilities
New Amsterdam has three television stations: DTV-8, located in the heart of the town, Little Rock Television Station (LRTVS) Channel 10 located in Vryman's Erven, TVG located in St. Ann Street. LRTVS was the first television station in Berbice. The first radio station broadcasting from New Amsterdam was also launched in 2014 by Little Rock and broadcasts on FM 88.5 MHz.

Climate
New Amsterdam has a tropical rainforest climate (Af) with heavy rainfall year-round.

Sister City

 * 🇺🇸 – Midland, Texas (United States)

title: New Amsterdam, Guyana


text: User talk:69.2.148.179

title: User talk:69.2.148.179


text:
Test automation

In software testing, test automation is the use of software separate from the software being tested to control the execution of tests and the comparison of actual outcomes with predicted outcomes. Test automation can automate some repetitive but necessary tasks in a formalized testing process already in place, or perform additional testing that would be difficult to do manually. Test automation is critical for continuous delivery and continuous testing.

General approaches
There are many approaches to test automation, however below are the general approaches used widely:

 * Graphical user interface testing. A testing framework that generates user interface events such as keystrokes and mouse clicks, and observes the changes that result in the user interface, to validate that the observable behavior of the program is correct.
 * API driven testing. A testing framework that uses a programming interface to the application to validate the behaviour under test. Typically API driven testing bypasses application user interface altogether. It can also be testing public (usually) interfaces to classes, modules or libraries are tested with a variety of input arguments to validate that the results that are returned are correct.

Model-based testing
One way to generate test cases automatically is model-based testing through use of a model of the system for test case generation, but research continues into a variety of alternative methodologies for doing so. In some cases, the model-based approach enables non-technical users to create automated business test cases in plain English so that no programming of any kind is needed in order to configure them for multiple operating systems, browsers, and smart devices.

Regression testing
Some software testing tasks (such as extensive low-level interface regression testing) can be laborious and time-consuming to do manually. In addition, a manual approach might not always be effective in finding certain classes of defects. Test automation offers a possibility to perform these types of testing effectively.

Once automated tests have been developed, they can be run quickly and repeatedly many times. This can be a cost-effective method for regression testing of software products that have a long maintenance life. Even minor patches over the lifetime of the application can cause existing features to break which were working at an earlier point in time.

API testing
API testing is also being widely used by software testers as it enables them to verify requirements independent of their GUI implementation, commonly to test them earlier in development, and to make sure the test itself adheres to clean code principles, especially the single responsibility principle. It involves directly testing APIs as part of integration testing, to determine if they meet expectations for functionality, reliability, performance, and security. Since APIs lack a GUI, API testing is performed at the message layer. API testing is considered critical when an API serves as the primary interface to application logic.

Graphical user interface (GUI) testing
Many test automation tools provide record and playback features that allow users to interactively record user actions and replay them back any number of times, comparing actual results to those expected. The advantage of this approach is that it requires little or no software development. This approach can be applied to any application that has a graphical user interface. However, reliance on these features poses major reliability and maintainability problems. Relabelling a button or moving it to another part of the window may require the test to be re-recorded. Record and playback also often adds irrelevant activities or incorrectly records some activities.

A variation on this type of tool is for testing of web sites. Here, the "interface" is the web page. However, such a framework utilizes entirely different techniques because it is rendering HTML and listening to DOM Events instead of operating system events. Headless browsers or solutions based on Selenium Web Driver are normally used for this purpose.

Another variation of this type of test automation tool is for testing mobile applications. This is very useful given the number of different sizes, resolutions, and operating systems used on mobile phones. For this variation, a framework is used in order to instantiate actions on the mobile device and to gather results of the actions.

Another variation is script-less test automation that does not use record and playback, but instead builds a model of the application and then enables the tester to create test cases by simply inserting test parameters and conditions, which requires no scripting skills.

Test-driven development
Test automation, mostly using unit testing, is a key feature of extreme programming and agile software development, where it is known as test-driven development (TDD) or test-first development. Unit tests can be written to define the functionality before the code is written. However, these unit tests evolve and are extended as coding progresses, issues are discovered and the code is subjected to refactoring. Only when all the tests for all the demanded features pass is the code considered complete. Proponents argue that it produces software that is both more reliable and less costly than code that is tested by manual exploration. It is considered more reliable because the code coverage is better, and because it is run constantly during development rather than once at the end of a waterfall development cycle. The developer discovers defects immediately upon making a change, when it is least expensive to fix. Finally, code refactoring is safer when unit testing is used; transforming the code into a simpler form with less code duplication, but equivalent behavior, is much less likely to introduce new defects when the refactored code is covered by unit tests.

Continuous testing
Continuous testing is the process of executing automated tests as part of the software delivery pipeline to obtain immediate feedback on the business risks associated with a software release candidate. For Continuous Testing, the scope of testing extends from validating bottom-up requirements or user stories to assessing the system requirements associated with overarching business goals.

Factors to consider for the decision to implement test automation
What to automate, when to automate, or even whether one really needs automation are crucial decisions which the testing (or development) team must make. A multi-vocal literature review of 52 practitioner and 26 academic sources found that five main factors to consider in test automation decision are: 1) System Under Test (SUT), 2) the types and numbers of tests, 3) test-tool, 4) human and organizational topics, and 5) cross-cutting factors. The most frequent individual factors identified in the study were: need for regression testing, economic factors, and maturity of SUT.

Plateau effect
While the reusability of automated tests is valued by software development companies, this property can also be viewed as a disadvantage. It leads to the so-called "Pesticide Paradox", where repeatedly executed scripts stop detecting errors that go beyond their frameworks. In such cases, manual testing may be a better investment. This ambiguity once again leads to the conclusion that the decision on test automation should be made individually, keeping in mind project requirements and peculiarities.

What to test
Testing tools can help automate tasks such as product installation, test data creation, GUI interaction, problem detection (consider parsing or polling agents equipped with test oracles), defect logging, etc., without necessarily automating tests in an end-to-end fashion.

One must keep satisfying popular requirements when thinking of test automation:
 * Platform and OS independence
 * Data driven capability (Input Data, Output Data, Metadata)
 * Customization Reporting (DB Data Base Access, Crystal Reports)
 * Easy debugging and logging
 * Version control friendly – minimal binary files
 * Extensible & Customization (Open APIs to be able to integrate with other tools)
 * Common Driver (For example, in the Java development ecosystem, that means Ant or Maven and the popular IDEs). This enables tests to integrate with the developers' workflows.
 * Support unattended test runs for integration with build processes and batch runs. Continuous integration servers require this.
 * Email Notifications like bounce messages
 * Support distributed execution environment (distributed test bed)
 * Distributed application support (distributed SUT)

Test automation tools
Test automation tools can be expensive and are usually employed in combination with manual testing. Test automation can be made cost-effective in the long term, especially when used repeatedly in regression testing. A good candidate for test automation is a test case for common flow of an application, as it is required to be executed (regression testing) every time an enhancement is made in the application. Test automation reduces the effort associated with manual testing. Manual effort is needed to develop and maintain automated checks, as well as reviewing test results.

Test engineer
In automated testing, the test engineer or software quality assurance person must have software coding ability since the test cases are written in the form of source code which when run produce output according to the assertions that are a part of it. Some test automation tools allow for test authoring to be done by keywords instead of coding, which do not require programming.

Testing at different levels
A strategy to decide the amount of tests to automate is the test automation pyramid. This strategy suggests to write three types of tests with different granularity. The higher the level, less is the amount of tests to write.

Unit, service, and user interface levels

 * As a solid foundation, unit testing provides robustness to the software products. Testing individual parts of the code makes it easy to write and run the tests. Developers write unit tests as a part of each story and integrate them with CI.
 * The service layer refers to testing the services of an application separately from its user interface, these services are anything that the application does in response to some input or set of inputs.
 * At the top level we have UI testing which has fewer tests due to the different attributes that make it more complex to run, for example the fragility of the tests, where a small change in the user interface can break a lot of tests and adds maintenance effort.

Unit, integration, and end-to-end levels
One conception of the testing pyramid contains unit, integration, and end-to-end unit tests. According to Google's testing blog, unit tests should make up the majority of your testing strategy, with fewer integration tests and only a small amount of end-to-end tests.

 * Unit tests: These are tests that test individual components or units of code in isolation. They are fast, reliable, and isolate failures to small units of code.
 * Integration tests: These tests check how different units of code work together. Although individual units may function properly on their own, integration tests ensure that they operate together coherently.
 * End-to-end tests: These test the system as a whole, simulating real-world usage scenarios. They are the slowest and most complex tests.

Framework approach in automation
A test automation framework is an integrated system that sets the rules of automation of a specific product. This system integrates the function libraries, test data sources, object details and various reusable modules. These components act as small building blocks which need to be assembled to represent a business process. The framework provides the basis of test automation and simplifies the automation effort.

The main advantage of a framework of assumptions, concepts and tools that provide support for automated software testing is the low cost for maintenance. If there is change to any test case then only the test case file needs to be updated and the driver Script and startup script will remain the same. Ideally, there is no need to update the scripts in case of changes to the application.

Choosing the right framework/scripting technique helps in maintaining lower costs. The costs associated with test scripting are due to development and maintenance efforts. The approach of scripting used during test automation has effect on costs.

Various framework/scripting techniques are generally used:

 * 1) Linear (procedural code, possibly generated by tools like those that use record and playback)
 * 2) Structured (uses control structures - typically ‘if-else’, ‘switch’, ‘for’, ‘while’ conditions/ statements)
 * 3) Data-driven (data is persisted outside of tests in a database, spreadsheet, or other mechanism)
 * 4) Keyword-driven
 * 5) Hybrid (two or more of the patterns above are used)
 * 6) Agile automation framework

The Testing framework is responsible for:

 * 1) defining the format in which to express expectations
 * 2) creating a mechanism to hook into or drive the application under test
 * 3) executing the tests
 * 4) reporting results

Unit testing frameworks
A growing trend in software development is the use of unit testing frameworks such as the xUnit frameworks (for example, JUnit and NUnit) that allow the execution of unit tests to determine whether various sections of the code are acting as expected under various circumstances. Test cases describe tests that need to be run on the program to verify that the program runs as expected.

Test automation interface
Test automation interfaces are platforms that provide a single workspace for incorporating multiple testing tools and frameworks for System/Integration testing of application under test. The goal of Test Automation Interface is to simplify the process of mapping tests to business criteria without coding coming in the way of the process. Test automation interface are expected to improve the efficiency and flexibility of maintaining test scripts.

Test Automation Interface consists of the following core modules:

 * Interface Engine
 * Interface Environment
 * Object Repository

Interface engine
Interface engines are built on top of Interface Environment. Interface engine consists of a parser and a test runner. The parser is present to parse the object files coming from the object repository into the test specific scripting language. The test runner executes the test scripts using a test harness.

Object repository
Object repositories are a collection of UI/Application object data recorded by the testing tool while exploring the application under test.

Defining boundaries between automation framework and a testing tool
Tools are specifically designed to target some particular test environment, such as Windows and web automation tools, etc. Tools serve as a driving agent for an automation process. However, an automation framework is not a tool to perform a specific task, but rather infrastructure that provides the solution where different tools can do their job in a unified manner. This provides a common platform for the automation engineer.

There are various types of frameworks. They are categorized on the basis of the automation component they leverage. These are:

 * 1) Data-driven testing
 * 2) Modularity-driven testing
 * 3) Keyword-driven testing
 * 4) Hybrid testing
 * 5) Model-based testing
 * 6) Code-driven testing
 * 7) Behavior driven development

General references

 * Roman Savenkov: How to Become a Software Tester. Roman Savenkov Consulting, 2008, ISBN 978-0-615-23372-7
 * Hayes, Linda G., "Automated Testing Handbook", Software Testing Institute, 2nd Edition, March 2004
 * Kaner, Cem, "Architectures of Test Automation ", August 2000
 * Roman Savenkov: How to Become a Software Tester. Roman Savenkov Consulting, 2008, ISBN 978-0-615-23372-7
 * Hayes, Linda G., "Automated Testing Handbook", Software Testing Institute, 2nd Edition, March 2004
 * Kaner, Cem, "Architectures of Test Automation ", August 2000
 * Hayes, Linda G., "Automated Testing Handbook", Software Testing Institute, 2nd Edition, March 2004
 * Kaner, Cem, "Architectures of Test Automation ", August 2000

title: Test automation


text: File:Deep Blue Sea (1999 film) poster.jpg


text:
Deep Blue Sea (1999 film)

Deep Blue Sea is a 1999 American science fiction horror film directed by Renny Harlin and starring Saffron Burrows, Thomas Jane, Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Rapaport, and LL Cool J. It is the first film of the film series by the same name. Set in an isolated underwater facility, the film follows a team of scientists and their research on mako sharks to help fight Alzheimer's disease. The situation plunges into chaos when multiple genetically engineered sharks go on a rampage and flood the facility.

Deep Blue Sea had a production budget of $60 million and represented a test for Harlin, who had not made a commercially successful film since Cliffhanger in 1993. The film was primarily shot at Fox Baja Studios in Rosarito, Mexico, where the production team constructed sets above the large water tanks that had been built for James Cameron's 1997 film Titanic. Although Deep Blue Sea features some shots of real sharks, most of the sharks used in the film were either animatronic or computer generated. Trevor Rabin composed the film score; LL Cool J contributed two songs to the film: "Deepest Bluest (Shark's Fin)" and "Say What".

Released in theaters on July 28, 1999, Deep Blue Sea grossed $165 million worldwide. It received generally mixed reviews from critics, who praised its suspense, pacing, and action sequences, but criticized its unoriginality and B movie conventions. Retrospectively, Deep Blue Sea has been regarded as a successful shark film, especially within a limited genre that has been dominated by Steven Spielberg's 1975 thriller Jaws. Two direct-to-video sequels have been released: Deep Blue Sea 2 in 2018 and Deep Blue Sea 3 in 2020.

Plot
In a remote underwater facility, doctors Susan McCallister and Jim Whitlock are conducting research on mako sharks to help in the re-activation of dormant human brain cells like those found in Alzheimer's disease patients. After one of the sharks escapes the facility and attempts to attack a boat full of young adults, financial backers send corporate executive Russell Franklin to investigate the facility.

Susan and Jim prove their research is working by testing a certain protein complex that was removed from the brain tissue of their largest shark, which bites off Jim's right arm upon awakening in the laboratory. Brenda Kerns, the tower's operator, calls a helicopter that braves heavy rain and strong winds to evacuate Jim. As Jim is being lifted the cable jams, dropping Jim and his stretcher into the shark pen. The largest shark grabs the stretcher and pulls the helicopter into the tower, killing Brenda and the pilots, as well as causing massive explosions that severely damage the facility.

In the laboratory, Susan, Franklin, wrangler Carter Blake, marine biologist Janice Higgins, and engineer Tom Scoggins witness the shark smash the stretcher against the laboratory's main window, which then shatters, drowning Jim and flooding the facility. The group goes to the facility's wet entry, where they plan to take a submersible to escape. Susan confesses to the others that she and Jim genetically engineered the sharks to increase their brain size, as they were not naturally large enough to harvest sufficient amounts of the protein complex; this broke protocol and made the sharks smarter and deadlier. In the facility's kitchen, which has been partially flooded, cook Sherman "Preacher" Dudley, whose parrot is eaten by a shark, manages to kill the big fish by setting off an explosion with his lighter.

When the group reaches the wet entry, they discover that the submersible has been damaged, and is unsuitable for use. While delivering a monologue emphasizing the need for group unity, Franklin is dragged into the submersible pool by a shark and devoured. The remaining crew opt to climb up the elevator shaft at the risk of destabilizing the pool. As they climb, explosive tremors cause the ladder to break, and Janice loses her grip and falls into the water. Despite Carter's attempt to save her, a shark drags Janice under and eats her. The rest of the group moves on, encountering Preacher. Carter and Scoggins go to the flooded laboratory to activate a control panel that drains a stairway to the surface, while Susan heads to her room to collect her research material. Carter and Scoggins reach the control panel, but the largest shark storms in, ripping Scoggins apart and wrecking the controls. In her room, Susan encounters another shark and electrocutes it with a power cable, destroying her research in the process.

After regrouping, Carter, Susan, and Preacher go to a decompression chamber and swim to the surface while using oxygen tanks to bait the last shark as it attacks. Upon reaching the surface, Preacher is grabbed by the shark, suffering injuries to his leg, but he is released when he stabs the shark in the eye with his crucifix. Carter realizes that the sharks have been using them to flood the facility so that they can ram their way through the fences at the surface. To keep the shark from escaping to the open sea, Susan deliberately cuts her hand and dives into the water. Although she manages to distract the shark with her blood, she is unable to get out of the water and is devoured, despite Carter's efforts to save her. While Carter is holding the shark's dorsal fin, Preacher shoots the shark with a harpoon but also pierces Carter's thigh. Carter orders Preacher to connect the trailing wire to a battery, sending an electric current to an explosive charge in the harpoon, killing the shark. Carter manages to free himself just in time after the shark manages to breach through the fence right before it gets blown. He resurfaces and swims to shore, reuniting with Preacher. Moments later, they see a boat approaching the sinking facility.

Cast

 * Thomas Jane as Carter Blake
 * Saffron Burrows as Dr. Susan McCallister
 * LL Cool J as Sherman "Preacher" Dudley
 * Jacqueline McKenzie as Janice "Jan" Higgins
 * Michael Rapaport as Tom Scoggins
 * Aida Turturro as Brenda Kerns
 * Stellan Skarsgård as Jim Whitlock
 * Samuel L. Jackson as Russell Franklin

Development
The story of Deep Blue Sea was conceived by Australian screenwriter Duncan Kennedy after he witnessed the result of a "horrific" shark attack on a beach near his home. The tragedy contributed to a recurring nightmare of him "being in a passageway with sharks that could read his mind". This motivated him to write a spec script, while acknowledging the challenge of approaching a shark film without repeating Steven Spielberg's 1975 thriller Jaws. Although Warner Bros. bought the script in late 1994, actual development on the project did not start until two years later. When Renny Harlin was chosen to direct the film, Kennedy's screenplay, which had already been re-written by several writers at Warner Bros., was presented to Donna Powers and Wayne Powers, who turned it into the film's final script. According to Wayne, "The movie became essentially what we wrote. The draft we were first presented by [Warner Bros.] was much more of a military espionage, high-tech action movie, grenade launchers, that kind of thing. We wanted our team to include more blue-collar types and not to have weapons to fight back, to play it more as a horror film."

In a wide-ranging August 2021 interview with leading horror site Bloody Disgusting on the development and production of the film based on his original screenplay, screenwriter Duncan Kennedy stated that when he initially researched the project, scientists "agreed to talk because I presented DBS's sharks as man-made, unlike Jaws which demonized natural sharks." He revealed his original title was Deep Red before he changed it to Deep Blue Sea. On development, he discussed in detail what changed and what stayed the same from original screenplay to final film, describing his own studio rewrites and those of many subsequent writers, emphasizing a "DBS team effort" and that "all of these writers made contributions that are identifiable in the final film." In terms of the final product, he stated that despite major changes, "development overall stuck within the basic story framework seen in my original drafts" and that the final film is "very different on multiple levels. But also in a more generalized sense... not that different." Kennedy confirmed that the development timeline of the project "was in fact under three years - nothing in Hollywood development time" with the original screenplay selling in late July 1995 and production commencing early August 1998 for a July 1999 release date. He revealed that as production approached, he "helped to brainstorm ideas for sequences that weren't working" and that DBS producer and acclaimed writer Akiva Goldsman did the final rewrites on the film. On the final film he stated he felt "the decision to steer just a little closer to Alien in multiple ways somewhat limited the film from breaking out even bigger at the box office. Smart sharks in 'our world' made the movie fresh, but being a little too Alien-esque overall maybe held it back." However Kennedy concluded that the final film "was very much the movie I'd envisioned in terms of the visuals, the world, the story journey and the audience experience."

Deep Blue Sea had a budget of $82 million and represented a test for Harlin, who had not made a commercially successful film since Cliffhanger in 1993. Harlin's main goal was to bring the horror genre back to the serious and high-budget production values of films like The Exorcist, Jaws, The Shining, as opposed to the tongue-in-cheek style of subsequent films in the genre. Ridley Scott's 1979 film Alien was an influence on the casting process, as Harlin wanted to cast the characters in a way as to make it impossible for the audience to know who was going to die or survive. To achieve this, he combined relatively unknown actors who could deliver solid performances and meet the physical demands of the diving and stunts with a star, Academy Award nominee Samuel L. Jackson, who "anchors the whole piece". Harlin also forced the studio into hiring rapper LL Cool J because he wanted a character who could bring "a lot of warmth and humor to the film without it being joke-type humor".

Filming
Principal photography for Deep Blue Sea began on August 3, 1998. Most of the film was shot at Fox Baja Studios in Rosarito, Mexico, where the production team constructed sets above the large water tanks that had been built for James Cameron's 1997 film Titanic. Some of the sets were designed so that they could be submerged, while others were built on sound stages with fishtanks used as windows. At Fox Baja Studios, the cast worked with sharks that were either animatronic or computer generated. As the shark used in Jaws was 25 feet long, Harlin decided to increase their animatronic shark to 26 feet. Jackson recalled, "When they first brought it into the lab we were all in awe of the size of this machine [...] It was a real monster. I would walk up to it slowly and touch it and they said it felt like a real shark. The gills moved and it had a mind of its own sometimes." As an added homage to Jaws, the license plate pulled from the shark's teeth by Carter is the same plate found in the tiger shark carcass from Spielberg's film.

After the shoot at Fox Baja Studios wrapped, Harlin insisted the team go to The Bahamas to shoot with real sharks. Recounting his experience there, actor Thomas Jane, who played shark wrangler Carter, said, "The first day, I was in a cage, but the next day, they swam me 30 feet down... Then this guy yanks the breather off me and the water's churning with blood and guts and stuff... It was so terrifying that I don't want to remember it." The idea was to mix footage of real sharks with animatronic and computer generated sharks to ensure a seamless transition between them all. To distinguish Deep Blue Sea from Jaws, where the shark is frequently hidden, Harlin decided to show theirs more prominently because he felt that audience expectations had changed since then.

The scene where the cast is trying to get back to the elevator after hooking up actor Stellan Skarsgård to the helicopter is actually an accident that made it into the finished film. As Jackson explained, "At one point three tons of water got thrown on us by accident and we got swept toward those cargo bays and everyone thought we were going into the drink and people were tumbling around this metal grating [...] We scrambled up and kept acting [...] That was not supposed to happen and we didn't have safety harnesses on and we were flailing around on this deck." Jackson was initially offered the role played by LL Cool J, but his management team did not like the idea of him playing a chef, so Harlin created the role of Russell Franklin for him. Additionally, LL Cool J's character was supposed to die early on, but the director ultimately decided to keep him. The production team could not afford to have a fully trained parrot for LL Cool J's character, so they used two parrots: one that was good at flying, and another that could sit on his shoulder.

The film's ending was changed shortly before its theatrical release. Originally, Burrows's character would escape the shark infested water and live. However, the test audience, who saw the film less than a month before its release, were angered by the ending because she was responsible for the shark experiments and was seen as the film's villain aside from the sharks themselves. As a result, the production team did a one-day reshoot in the Universal Studios tank and did some computer generated work on the sharks to change it. A fan petition was created in 2019 calling on Warner Bros. to release the original ending that received support from both Thomas Jane and Renny Harlin.

In 2009, on the film's 10th anniversary, Harlin explained that Deep Blue Sea was the hardest film he had ever made because most of the shooting days involved the team standing in water or being under water for long periods. According to him, "Just the practicality of putting a wet suit on in the morning, being in the water all day. Your script, all your paperwork has to be made of plastic paper. And things that you wouldn't think would ever float, they float. [...] Or then things that you hope would float actually sink and you can't find them anywhere."

Music
The film score for Deep Blue Sea was composed by Trevor Rabin. Rabin's music ranges from orchestral and choral arrangements to electronic soundscapes, and was noted for its use of both dramatic and easily accessible themes. The soundtrack features two songs by LL Cool J—"Deepest Bluest (Shark's Fin)" and "Say What"—which were used in the end credits. Two soundtrack albums were also released for the film. The first album, Deep Blue Sea: Music from the Motion Picture, was released on August 3, 1999 by Warner Bros. Records and features a set of hip hop and R&B tracks by several artists, including Hi-C, Cormega, and Bass Odyssey. The second album, Deep Blue Sea: Original Motion Picture Score, was released on August 24, 1999 by Varèse Sarabande and contains musical tracks by Rabin.

Box office
Deep Blue Sea performed well when it opened on July 30, 1999 in 2,854 theaters, finishing third and grossing around $18.6 million at the US weekend box office. During its second weekend, the film grossed an estimated $11 million and finished in fifth place, behind The Sixth Sense, The Blair Witch Project, Runaway Bride, and The Thomas Crown Affair. Deep Blue Sea grossed over $73.7 million the United States and Canada and $91.4 million internationally, grossing over $165 million worldwide. The film's performance was compared to Stephen Sommers's The Mummy and Jan de Bont's The Haunting, which had a similar budget and made a significant impact on the box office in the summer of 1999.

Critical response
Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 60% based on 114 reviews, with an average rating of 5.7/10. The site's critics consensus reads, "Deep Blue Sea is no Jaws, but action fans seeking some toothy action can certainly do - and almost certainly have done - far worse for B-movie thrills." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 54 out of 100, based on 22 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.

Writing for Chicago Sun-Times, Roger Ebert gave the film three out of four stars and praised it as "a skillful thriller", saying that Deep Blue Sea "is essentially one well-done action sequence after another [...] It doesn't linger on the special effects (some of the sharks look like cartoons), but it knows how to use timing, suspense, quick movement and [especially] surprise". He concluded that the film keeps spectators guessing in an otherwise predictable genre.

In a positive review, Kenneth Turan of Los Angeles Times considered Deep Blue Sea a return to form for Harlin, especially after the "dismal swamps" of Cutthroat Island and The Long Kiss Goodnight. He described the film as "an example of how expert action filmmaking and up-to-the-minute visual effects can transcend a workmanlike script and bring excitement to conventional genre material". Similarly, Desson Howe of The Washington Post remarked that, while the film's premise feels familiar, it "knows its audience and knows what'll get them going – and even wondering". He said that Deep Blue Sea might not be Harlin's finest two hours, but he managed to build "something that, if nothing else, gives you a great big shock every few minutes". In a three-and-a-half out of four review, Robert Lasowski of The Florida Times-Union highly praised the film's pacing, intense action, and chase scenes, stating that Deep Blue Sea is "a great popcorn movie" and "what summer at the cineplex is all about".

Other reviews were less enthusiastic. Writing for The New York Times, Stephen Holden described Deep Blue Sea as "a cut-rate Titanic stripped of romance and historical resonance and fused with Jaws, shorn of mythic symbolism and without complex characters", while Barbara Shulgasser of Chicago Tribune criticized it for being an inferior imitation of Jurassic Park, but praised LL Cool J's performance and the film's realistic setting. Ian Nathan of the British magazine Empire gave the film three out of five stars and criticized its B movie conventions, stating that "You're never entirely sure whether you're laughing at or with Deep Blue Sea." Variety reviewer Robert Koehler felt the computer generated sharks were inconsistently realized, but nevertheless highlighted the flooding of the facility very positively. The dialogue between action sequences was also praised, especially LL Cool J's "blend of Bible talk, smack and wit". Despite his few lines, Jane was seen as a charismatic character and "a genuine new action star".

Home media
Deep Blue Sea was first released on DVD on December 7, 1999, courtesy of Warner Home Video. Special features include the film in a 2.35:1 anamorphic format, two behind-the-scene featurettes, five deleted scenes with extended dialogue and relationships between the characters, and an audio commentary in which Harlin and Jackson discuss the film's technical features and special effects. Warner also released the film on Blu-ray on October 12, 2010, which includes the same special features from the DVD release.

Legacy
In a 2016 retrospective, Wired editor Brian Raftery considered Deep Blue Sea "the greatest non-Jaws shark movie of all time" and superior to Jaume Collet-Serra's The Shallows. He remarked that, within a genre that had been dominated by Jaws, Deep Blue Sea features "genuinely inventive" action sequences, "nicely rounded-out, human" characters, and memorable death scenes. Raftery also noted that the film was among the last of its kind, describing it as "[A]n R-rated B-movie, full of gore and chaos and smart-stupidness, but with a big-budget, big-cast sheen", in a similar way to Paul Verhoeven's Total Recall and Starship Troopers, Roland Emmerich's Stargate, and Luc Besson's The Fifth Element. Samuel L. Jackson's surprising death scene in the film appears on some lists of best film deaths of all time.

Deep Blue Sea has often been cited as one of the greatest shark films of all time. In 2012, PopMatters ranked the film third, behind Jaws and Open Water, and described it as "[O]ne of the last great [films] from action ace Renny Harlin." In 2015, Den of Geek!, a publication of Dennis Publishing, ranked Deep Blue Sea only behind Jaws and credited it for its action-packed scenes and intelligent sharks. In 2017, Slant Magazine ranked it seventh and highlighted Jackson's death scene and LL Cool J's performance, while Complex ranked it third, praising its talented actors and tight action sequences. In 2019, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the release of Deep Blue Sea, the Screamfest Horror Film Festival hosted a screening at the TCL Chinese theaters in Hollywood, California, as part of its "Fears & Beers" program. Cast members including actor Thomas Jane attended for a post-screening Q&A moderated by Brian Collins of Birth.Movies.Death.

Sequels
Two direct-to-video sequels have been released: Deep Blue Sea 2 in 2018 and Deep Blue Sea 3 in 2020.

title: Deep Blue Sea (1999 film)


text:
Martha Jefferson Randolph

Martha "Patsy" Randolph (née Jefferson; September 27, 1772 – October 10, 1836) was the eldest daughter of Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, and his wife, Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson. She was born at Monticello, near Charlottesville, Virginia.

Randolph's mother died when she was nearly 10 years old, when only two out of her five siblings were alive. Her father saw that she had a good education. She spoke four languages and was greatly influenced by the education she received in a Paris convent school with daughters of the French elite. By 1804, she was the lone surviving child of Martha and Thomas Jefferson, the only one of the couple's children to survive past the age of 25.

Martha Jefferson married Thomas Mann Randolph Jr., who was a politician at the federal and state levels and was elected as governor of Virginia (1819–1822), which made her the first lady of Virginia. They had twelve children together.

Randolph oversaw the operation of Varina and Edge Hill with her husband, and Monticello with her father. She was in regular correspondence with her father when they were not together. She provided emotional stability for Jefferson, which helped him weather his tumultuous political career. Besides overseeing Monticello, she lived with Jefferson at the White House, serving as an informal First Lady.

After the White House, Randolph and her children lived at Monticello and cared for her father. Due to debt, the Randolphs sold Varina and lost Edge Hill plantation to foreclosure in 1825. Randolph inheritied Monticello and Jefferson's debts when her father died in 1826. Many of the enslaved people at Monticello were sold to cover some of the debt.

Virginia
Martha Jefferson was born on September 27, 1772, at Monticello, her father's estate in Virginia (then in British America). Her parents were Thomas Jefferson and Martha Wayles Skelton. During her parents' ten-year marriage, they had six children. Randolph was their first born. She was followed by Jane Randolph (1774–1775); a son who lived for only a few weeks in 1777; Mary "Polly" (1778–1804); Lucy Elizabeth (1780–1781); and another Lucy Elizabeth (1782–1784). Only Randolph and Mary survived more than a few years. As a young child, Randolph saw her mother suffer during difficult pregnancies and both parents mourn the deaths of four infant children.

The family lived a genteel lifestyle and Randolph was initially schooled at home. Her studies included dance lessons. When she was seven years of age, her father became the governor of Virginia. He was elected on June 1, 1779, and the family first lived in Williamsburg. They relocated to Richmond when the government moved there in 1780. British troops advanced to Richmond in May 1781 and, due to advance warning, the Jeffersons escaped to their country home, Poplar Forest.

Randolph was almost 10 years of age when her mother died on September 6, 1782, four months after the birth of the Jeffersons' last child. Randolph later wrote about this period and her father's grief, stating "in those melancholy rambles I was his constant companion, a solitary witness to many a violent burst of grief."

Philadelphia

Randolph went to Philadelphia with her father in 1782 and again in the fall of 1783 when he represented Virginia at the Congress of the Confederation. The largest city in America at the time, Philadelphia was the center of American Enlightenment.

Randolph's father did not believe in public education for girls, but arranged for his daughter to receive a private education. Between December 1782 and May 1784, she boarded with a family and studied French, dancing, drawing, and music with private tutors, who received prescribed, strict daily schedules and instructions regarding how her education should be conducted from Thomas Jefferson. His intention was to make her an esteemed, well-read lady. He was particularly focused on cleanliness and spelling, both of which were important to create the image of a proper lady with moral behavior and diction. In the meantime, her father worked in Philadelphia and awaited Congressional orders to go to France.

Paris
Her younger sisters, Mary and Lucy Elizabeth, remained in Virginia with family members as Randolph and her father traveled to Boston with James Hemings. They set sail for Paris on the ship Ceres on July 5, 1784, and arrived in France on August 6, 1784. Randolph lived in Paris from age 12 to 17 while her father served as U.S. Minister to France. In October 1784, her youngest sister, Lucy, died of whooping cough.

Jefferson enrolled her at the Pentemont Abbey, an exclusive convent school, after receiving assurances that Protestant students were exempt from religious instruction. At this boarding school Randolph learned arithmetic, geography, world history, and Latin, as well as music and drawing. She was deeply influenced by the four years at the convent school. Her peers were the French elite who provide a model of "female intelligence, capacity, and energy" and experienced the "rich pageantry of Roman Catholic liturgies". It gave her the ability to conduct witty, intelligent conversation and thought about how she would manage the education of her future children.

"[Martha Jefferson Randolph] was wont to say in after life, that she looked back to her residence in the Convent as to a period of great happiness & great improvement.'"

When she socialized at the Abbey, she learned about women's role in political affairs, the dissension leading to the French Revolution, and palace intrique. Her father had influenced the drafting of the Declaration of the Rights of Man in France. Randolph said of her time in France was "the brightest part of a life much shaded & saddened by care & sorrows."

Mary traveled with Sally Hemings to Paris and joined her sister at the convent school in July 1787. Randolph and her sister Mary contracted typhus during the winter of 1788 and lived with their father until they regained their health. They returned to the convent in spring of 1789. After Randolph expressed a desire to convert to Catholicism and said she was considering religious orders, Jefferson quickly withdrew her and her younger sister Polly from the school. Over the course of her studies, Randolph learned to speak four languages.

Randolph socialized with "free thinking" European women and accomplished women of the French Enlightenment, like Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire and Germaine de Staël. She also met world leaders while in France. She enjoyed a social life that included balls and concerts during the summer. Wayson says that she was able "to observe firsthand the collective power of French women as they marched to the king's palace at Versailles and forced the royal couple's return to Paris under the escort of the Marquis de Lafayette, a Jefferson family friend." In September 1789, after the beginning of the French Revolution, Thomas Jefferson, his daughters, and James and Sally Hemings sailed for America, arriving in 1790.

Marriage and family (1790–1818)
On February 23, 1790, at the age of 17, she married Thomas Mann Randolph Jr., a planter, at Monticello. He was her third cousin, and a descendant of Pocahontas. Her husband, the son of Thomas Jefferson's friend Thomas Mann Randolph Sr., was in many ways a good candidate as her husband, but his family was subject to scandal. Some of the Randolphs were accused but later acquitted of killing a child believed to have been fathered by Richard Randolph. Randolph was a witness in the case of Commonwealth v. Richard Randolph on April 22, 1793. In addition, her father-in-law created a scandal when he married a teenager.

Soon after their marriage, her father, Thomas Jefferson, deeded eight slaves from Monticello as a wedding gift, including Molly Hemings, the eldest daughter of Mary Hemings. Critta Hemings, sister of Sally Hemings, helped Randolph care for the children for many years at Monticello and Edge Hill.

The couple first lived at Randolph's estate, Varina, in Henrico County and Martha had twelve children. She had more children than any daughter of a President. In contrast to her parents and sister, each of whom had most of their children die in childhood, eleven of the Randolphs' children survived to adulthood:

 * Ann Cary Randolph (1791–1826), who married Charles Lewis Bankhead (1788–1833).
 * Thomas Jefferson Randolph (1792–1875), who married Jane Hollins Nicholas (1798–1871) daughter of Wilson Cary Nicholas.
 * Ellen Wayles Randolph (1794–1795), died young during a trip that Randolph and her husband took July 1795 to October 1795 to improve his health.
 * Ellen Wayles Randolph (1796–1876), who was named after deceased sister, and was married to Joseph Coolidge (1798–1879) and was then known as Ellen Randolph Coolidge.
 * Cornelia Jefferson Randolph (1799–1871). In the 1830s, she established a school at Edge Hill, then her brother's estate, where she taught painting, sculpture, and drawing. She translated and published, The Parlor Gardener: A Treatise on the House Culture of Ornamental Plants. Translated from the French and Adapted to American Use. Cornelia never married.
 * Virginia Jefferson Randolph (1801–1881), who married Nicholas Trist (1800–1874).
 * Mary Jefferson Randolph (1803–1876). She lived at Edge Hill and helped her sister-in-law, Jane, supervise the household of her brother Thomas Jefferson Randolph. She and her sister Cornelia also visited the houses of their siblings during times of sickness. She never married.
 * James Madison Randolph (1806–1834) was born at the President's House, now called the White House, on January 17, 1806.
 * Benjamin Franklin Randolph (1808–1871), who married Sarah Champe "Sally" Carter (1808–1896) a member of the Carter family of Virginia.
 * Meriwether Lewis Randolph (1810–1837), who married Elizabeth Anderson Martin (1815–1871). After his death, Martin married Andrew Jackson Donelson, a nephew of President Andrew Jackson.
 * Septimia Anne Randolph (1814–1887), who married Dr. David Scott Meikleham (1804–1849), becoming Septimia Randolph Meikleham.
 * George Wythe Randolph (1818–1867), who briefly in 1862 was Secretary of War of the Confederate States of America, and who married Mary Elizabeth Adams Pope (1830–1871).

Life at Varina, Monticello, and Edge Hill (1790?–1800)
Randolph managed the household affairs at Varina and her father's estate at Monticello in the 1790s. She educated her children at home. Although she was married, she maintained her affection and allegiance to her father, before her husband. Randolph's relationship with her husband Thomas Mann Randolph Jr. was strained by the close relationship that she maintained with her father, having taken up residence at Monticello, as well as the strained finances and feuds of her husband's family, the Randolph family of Tuckahoe.

"I feel every day more strongly the impossibility of becoming habituated to your absence; separated in my infancy from every other friend, and accustomed to look up to you alone, every sentiment of tenderness my nature was susceptible of was for many years centered in you, and no connection formed since that could weaken a sentiment interwoven with my very existence."

For ten years, she was the mistress of Monticello, building a social life that supported Jefferson's political life. Described as a "cosmopolitan salon in the rural Virginia Piedmont", father and daughter entertained visitors. She knew the most influential women in America, like Dolley Madison, and eight of the first nine presidents of country, excluding George Washington who she never met. She was an adept conversationalist, reading and writing in four languages. John Randolph of Roanoke said that she was "the sweetest woman of Virginia". Randolph was a rare southern woman who had significant authority in managing plantation as well as domestic activities. It was at Monticello that Jefferson found "that society where all is peace and harmony". Her role as hostess and mistress of the plantation helped to prepare Randolph for her role at the White House.

Thomas Jefferson sold the couple land for the Edge Hill plantation so that they could be nearer to him at Monticello in Albemarle County. The Randolphs built a house and resided there beginning in January 1800.

White House (1801–1809)
Randolph made several visits to the President's House (now known as the White House) while her father was president. During her visits in the winters of 1802-03 and 1805-06 she temporarily filled the role of hostess at the President’s House. Winter was known as the social season in Washington, D.C., as it was the time when the annual Congressional session brought legislators to the city. Randolph was accompanied on her first visit by two of her children (Ann and Jeff), her sister Mary (known in adulthood as Maria), and Maria's son Francis. While in Washington the president’s hostess and her sister socialized with politicians and society figures during morning visits, balls, church services, races, and President's House dinners and receptions. On her second visit Randolph was accompanied by her entire family and her activities were more focused on family life and managing "gloomy" politics of the time. Randolph's eighth child, James Madison Randolph, was born at the President's House on January 17, 1806.

From 1803 to 1807, her husband Thomas Mann Randolph Jr. served in the House of Representatives in Washington, D.C. He had campaigned against "an ardent supporter" of Jefferson. Jefferson would have like to have had Randolph stay in Washington, D.C., for longer periods of time. Randolph, however, had obligations to manage the plantation, care for her children, and care for herself throughout her pregnancies. In addition, at the time Washington, D.C., was surrounded by swamp land that bred illness, which limited their visits.

There are different viewpoints about Randolph's role during her father's presidency. The Monticello website states that she served as Jefferson's hostess and informal first lady by organizing Jefferson's social schedule and welcoming guests at receptions held by her father. Author Catherine Allgor notes that she was her father's confidante and well respected in Washington. Known for her intelligence and role in the social ladder, "whenever she was in the capital, Mrs. Randolph became the head of whatever occasion she attended. No matter what the social skirmish, no one disputed her right of precedence."

Biographer Billy L. Wayson states that she was not a hostess or a confidant, but was a close companion to her father and "was the emotional foundation" that supported Jefferson's role as president. Whether physically with him or through ongoing correspondence, she helped her father maintain his equilibrium throughout his tumultuous political life. Wayson states that Randolph was a significant influence to the president. "The 'first daughter' was foremost and continuously present in her father's heart, especially during his most difficult political trials."

A few years before becoming president, Jefferson said: "When I look to the ineffable pleasures of my family society, I become more and more disgusted with the jealousies, the hatred, and the rancorous and malignant passions of this scene, and lament my having ever again been drawn into public view."

Randolph was devoted to her father. She had a calming presence and helped divert attention from the rumors of Jefferson's relationship with Sally Hemings. A visitor said that she provided "the best refutation of all the calumnies that have been heaped upon him."

In 1982, the Siena College Research Institute asked historians to assess American first ladies, Randolph and several other "acting" first ladies were included. The first ladies survey, which has been conducted periodically since, ranks first ladies according to a cumulative score on the independent criteria of their background, value to the country, intelligence, courage, accomplishments, integrity, leadership, being their own women, public image, and value to the president. In the 1982 survey, out of 42 first ladies and "acting" first ladies, Randolph was assessed as the 18th most highly regarded among historians. Acting first ladies such as Randolph have been excluded from subsequent iterations of this survey.

Randolph's sister, Mary "Polly", was also a hostess at times, until she died in 1804 during childbirth. Politically attuned Dolley Madison often performed hostess duties for Jefferson. Her husband, James Madison, was then the Secretary of State. Jefferson found that when women attended gatherings at the White House, the conversation would be less contentious and interjected women's viewpoints on government affairs.

After the White House (1809–1825)
Randolph and her children lived primarily at Monticello after Thomas Jefferson's retirement in 1809. While her husband was the governor of Virginia from 1819 to 1822, she continued to live at Monticello. This was done partly to save money. She managed the household activities at the plantation. She had her own room at Monticello where she was generally on her own. Her husband, growingly estranged from his family, visited Monticello occasionally. Concerned about the family's finances and loss of income if her husband served in the military during the War of 1812, Randolph convinced President James Monroe to give him a more lucrative, temporary tax collectorship post.

With three of her children—Mary, Cornelia, and Thomas—she edited the first collection of Jefferson's writings for publication. She worked at spreading untrue claims that denied his paternity of the Hemings children and that would put her father in the best light.

Randolph devoted much of her life to her father's declining years. She had separated from her husband, who was said to suffer from alcoholism and mental instability. By the summer of 1825, Tom Randolph lived in a small house he owned in North Milton.

Debt (1825–1826)
Randolph dealt with the strain of financial concerns over the debts of her husband, her father-in-law Thomas Mann Randolph Sr., and her father upon their deaths. They became indebted due to declining land values, risky investments, failed crops and needy relatives. As a result, Randolph's daughters were threatened to live a life of spinsterhood.

Thomas Mann Randolph sold the Varina plantation in 1825 to Pleasant Akin or Aiken of Petersburg. Edge Hill plantation, along with its crops, buildings, animals, and slaves, was foreclosed in 1825 and the sale proceeds failed to pay back all the family's creditors. The purchaser at the foreclosure auction, who took possession in January 1826, was Randolph's eldest son, Thomas Jefferson Randolph.

Later years and death (1826–1836)
Jefferson describes Randolph as the "cherished companion of his youth and the nurse of his old age". Shortly before his death, he said that the "last pang of life was parting with her." Thomas Jefferson died of uremia on July 4, 1826. He was 83 years old. After his death, she inherited Monticello from her father in 1826, as well as his many debts. Her eldest son Thomas Randolph acted as executor of the estate. Except for five slaves freed in her father's will, and "giving her time" (informal emancipation) to Sally Hemings, they sold the remainder of the 130 slaves at Monticello to try to settle the debts.

Randolph put Monticello on the market two weeks following her father's death in July 1826. She attempted to sell it through a lottery, but was unable to sell it until 1831 to a James S. or James T. Barclay in 1831. After having been on the market for five years, the plantation sold for $7,000, one-tenth of its $71,000 value.

She had a little income from her father's estate and lived "on the edge of poverty". Wanting to ensure successful careers for her family, which included her sons-in-law, she looked to Margaret Bayard Smith, who helped family members procure positions that led to successful careers in Washington. For instance, Nicholas Trist, her son-in-law, was secured the position with Henry Clay, the Secretary of State under President John Quincy Adams.

After Jefferson's death, Randolph lived with Thomas, her eldest son, at Tufton. She stayed at the home of her daughter Ellen and son-in-law Joseph Coolidge in Boston from October 1826 to May 1828. She had her two youngest children with her. She then went to her husband in June 1828, and reconciled with him, she was at his bedside when he died on the 20th of that month.

After her husband's death, she lived with her son at Edgehill estate until November 29 and then in Washington, D.C., and Boston with other married children. To generate income, she hired out her remaining slaves. She also had an income from bank stock donated in tribute of Jefferson by the states of Louisiana and South Carolina. The state legislatures each donated $10,000 to her for her support, totalling $20,000.

A school was established at Edge Hill by her unmarried daughters, Mary and Cornelia, and Patsy, who taught music there at times. Randolph also traveled to the homes of her married children in her later years.

While in Boston, Randolph wrote her final will on January 24, 1836, and returned to the Edge Hill estate in July 1836. She died there on October 10, 1836, at the age of 64 and was buried at the Monticello family graveyard.

Slavery
Randolph's maternal grandfather John Wayles had two families, one with Martha Epps and another with an enslaved woman Betty Hemings, whose children were owned by and served the Wayles family. In 1773, when Randolph had been married one year, her grandfather died and she inherited 135 slaves, which included her half-aunts and uncles of the Hemings family, and 11,000 acres. At Monticello, Sally Hemings (also a granddaughter of John Wayles) raised her children with Thomas Jefferson.

When Randolph lived in Paris, she learned that there were countries where slavery was not legal and said to her father, "I wish with all my soul that the poor Negroes were all freed". She also said, in keeping with the sentiments of her father, that she "detested" the unjust treatment of blacks, and the way that it fostered cruelty in whites. She attempted to keep slaves with their families when she could, and freed some slaves, but she kept many that she was forced to sell by creditors to settle outstanding debts. For instance, in 1827, after her father's death, she sold 130 slaves. As a result, families were separated. The remaining slaves were her most valuable assets, and she hired them out when she could for income. She sold two more slaves in 1833. She also punished slaves who did not do what she wanted, sometimes physically. In 1833 Randolph's daughter Cornelia described an instance where she held a woman down while her mother whipped her, inflicting the flagellation "pretty severely."

Her son Thomas unsuccessfully lobbied for a plan for Virginia to abolish slavery gradually and colonize slaves in Africa in 1831, a proposal that Randolph supported. She also considered moving to a free state. Although she freed several slaves in her wills, she relied on their efforts throughout her life.

In popular culture
Martha Jefferson Randolph is the subject of the historical novel America's First Daughter by Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie, published in March 2016. The novel draws heavily upon Thomas Jefferson's letters.

In the 1995 film Jefferson in Paris, Martha Jefferson was portrayed by actress Gwyneth Paltrow.

In the 2000 four-hour CBS miniseries Sally Hemings An American Scandal written by Tina Andrews, Martha Jefferson was portrayed by actress Mare Winningham.

title: Martha Jefferson Randolph