document_title: Florida International University pedestrian bridge collapse

question_text: who built pedestrian bridge at florida international university

text: Background[edit]

text: The FIU Sweetwater UniversityCity pedestrian Bridge, located just west of the intersection of Tamiami Trail (Southwest 8th Street) and Southwest 109th Avenue[3], was planned to connect the FIU campus to student housing neighborhoods in Sweetwater.[4] It was intended to improve pedestrian safety, as the busy crosswalks at this wide, busy intersection had been identified as a safety hazard and the site of fatal collisions.[5] The $14.2 million project was funded with a $19.4 million Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant from the United States Department of Transportation in 2013, along with state agencies.[6] The bridge itself cost $9 million to construct.[7]

text: The main companies behind the construction project are Munilla Construction Management (MCM), a Miami-based construction management firm, and FIGG Bridge Engineers, a Tallahassee-based firm.[8] Unlike most bridges in Florida, the design for this project was overseen by the university itself, not the Florida Department of Transportation.

text: Florida International University is known for its expertise in accelerated bridge construction, and has attracted international scholars as PhD students. It is home to the federally-funded Accelerated Bridge Construction University Transportation Center, which sponsors industry conferences and seminars.[9][10]

text: Bridge layout[edit]

text: The full 320-foot-long (98 m) pedestrian bridge was to cross both a major roadway and a parallel water canal with two separate spans connected at a faux cable-stay tower. The main, roadway-crossing span was 175 ft long, the shorter canal span was to be 99 ft long. An elevator and stairs at the south end added 31 ft, and at the north end, 15 feet, for a total bridge length of 320 feet.[11] At the bridge site, the Tamiami Trail roadway has six lanes of traffic plus two turn lanes. The main span was rolled into place and set on support columns on March 10, five days before the collapse. The canal span, access ramps, and faux cable-stay tower had not yet been built. Pedestrian use was to begin when the whole project was complete. The school was on spring break at the time of collapse.[1] The section of the bridge that collapsed weighed 950 short tons (860 metric tons) and fell onto several vehicles on the roadway below.

text: Bridge construction and design[edit]

text: Construction of the bridge began in March 2016 and was scheduled to be completed in December 2018.[7][12] The bridge's main span was assembled adjacent to the highway using accelerated bridge construction (ABC), a technique promoted at the university.[1] It was lifted into place on the morning of March 10, five days before the collapse, during a weekend closure of the highway.[13][14]

text:
FIU-Sweetwater UniversityCity Bridge

Coordinates
25°45′40″N 80°22′22″W / 25.7612°N 80.3728°W / 25.7612; -80.3728Coordinates: 25°45′40″N 80°22′22″W / 25.7612°N 80.3728°W / 25.7612; -80.3728

Carries
Pedestrian traffic

Crosses
Tamiami Trail

Locale
University Park and Sweetwater, Florida, U.S.

Characteristics

Total length
320 feet (98 m)

Longest span
175 feet (53 m)

History

Engineering design by
FIGG Bridge Engineers

Constructed by
Munilla Construction Management

Construction cost
$14.2 million

Collapsed
March 15, 2018

University Park

Location in Florida

University Park

University Park (the US)

Show map of FloridaShow map of the USShow all

text: The new pedestrian bridge was designed to connect the campus to student housing in a dramatic sculptural way, and also to showcase the school's leadership in the ABC method of rapid bridge construction.[15][16]

text: The bridge was a post-tensioned concrete structure.[15] Concrete structures are generally 10 times heavier than equivalent steel designs.[17] The bridge was made using a new formulation for concrete intended to stay cleaner than standard concrete formulations.[18]In the main bridge span, the concrete floor deck, roof, and diagonal struts each contained post-tensioning cables whose compressive effect on the concrete could be adjusted after the concrete was cured.[15] Adjustments were expected each time the span was moved onto a different foundation with different support points.

text: The full bridge project was styled to look like a cable-stayed bridge with pylon tower and high cables for dramatic effect. But functionally and structurally it was actually a truss bridge, with the spans being fully self-supporting.[15][19][20] The bridge spans used a novel concrete truss design invented for this project, a "re-invented I-beam concept". Concrete truss bridges are rarely constructed, and few exist.[21] The vertical web of the beam was a series of triangulated concrete diagonal struts along the centerline, and the diagonal angles of the struts varied across the bridge so they would align with pipes from the center pylon, in the eventual faux cable-stayed appearance.[22] A specification change late in the project required moving the bridge’s main pylon tower 11 feet (3 meters) north to allow for future highway widening, increasing the gap between the bridge end supports and requiring some new structural design.[23]

text: The concrete walkway deck was to act as the horizontal bottom flange of a wide I-beam, and the concrete roof canopy was to function as the horizontal top flange of the I-beam.[15] The walkway was thus nearer to ground level than in a standard design where the walkway is placed on top of the structural support system.[15] This reduced the number of steps to climb. The deck carries the entire weight of the bridge span, as a tension load.

text: The canopy carries the structure's main compressive loads. The diagonal struts carry either compression or tension forces, depending on their angle and position. The struts contain post-tensioning rods that connect the flanges, and are adjusted as needed.[24] VSL was the company contracted for the post tensioning (PT) of the new bridge. Post-tensioning of a diagonal member may be one of the reasons for the structural failure of the FIU bridge. Concrete is much more prone to crack than steel in trusses. [25] Certain cracks could compromise the cable/rod anchorings, making failure inevitable when the post-tensioning operation began.[26]

text: The bridge was meant to last more than 100 years, and to withstand a Category 5 hurricane, according to a statement by the university.[27]

text: Collapse[edit]

text: Reports of cracking[edit]

text: On March 13, the third day after lifting of the main span, the project's lead engineer discovered cracks at the north end of the span (the end that later broke). He reported this by voicemail to a Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) employee. He thought this was not an immediate safety issue, merely something that would need to be repaired later. The FDOT recipient was away for several days and did not hear this message until the day after the collapse.[28][29]

text: At 9 a.m. on March 15, a university employee heard a loud "whip cracking" sound while under the bridge span, waiting for a red traffic light.[30] At the same time, the design-build team met for about two hours at the construction site to discuss the cracks discovered on March 13. Representatives from both FIU and the FDOT were present. The FIGG lead engineer's conclusions were that the structural integrity of the bridge was not compromised and that there were no safety concerns raised by the presence of the crack.[31]

text: The mayor of Miami-Dade County, Carlos A. Giménez, said that workers conducted a stress test on the morning of March 15.[32]

text: Collapse[edit]

text: At 1:47 p.m., the north end of the installed bridge span sagged deeply as the first diagonal fractured, folded, and immediately dropped the heavy full span onto the roadway below. A surveillance video shows the collapse sequence took only a few video frames.[33]

text: United States Senator and FIU adjunct professor Marco Rubio tweeted that engineers were tightening loosened cables on March 15:[32] Workers were adding more tension to the steel rod (tendon) inside a concrete diagonal strut at the north end.[28] The National Transportation Safety Board, who are investigating the collapse, stated that crews were applying "post-tensioning force" on the bridge before the collapse.[34]

text: At this time, it is not clear why the post-tensioning operation by VSL company was being carried out at the time of the collapse as the bridge diagonal member support they were working on would have already been in compression. The bottom joint of diagonal member #11 (which contains the anchor nut for the post-tensioning rod) apparently failed explosively, during the post-tensioning operation, causing the bridge to collapse. Currently, it remains unknown why the joint may have failed, although post-tensioning remains a possible contributor.[35]

text: The span that collapsed weighed 950 short tons (861 tonnes).[36]

text: At the time of the collapse, the roadway was open and there were multiple cars stopped at a traffic light under the span.[37][38] A driver who survived the collapse reported small rocks fell onto her car just before the car got smashed.[39] A worker saved himself when he heard cracking and locked his safety harness just before the collapse.[40] Eight cars were reported to have been crushed. Six people were killed and nine others were injured; while early reports said that the death toll was expected to rise,[2] authorities said on March 18 that all bodies had been accounted for.[41] Five of the victims were killed immediately when the bridge fell; one died at the hospital. An employee of VSL, Navaro Brown, 37, worked for the company contracted to apply post-tensioning and died in the collapse. Two other employees of the company were hospitalized. The other deceased victims of the tragedy were identified as Alberto Arias, 53, Brandon Brownfield, 39, FIU student Alexa Duran, 18, Rolando Fraga, 60, and Oswaldo Gonzalez, 57.[42][43][44]

text: Aftermath[edit]

text: On March 16, the Florida Highway Patrol announced Southwest 8th Street between Southwest 107th and 117th Avenues and the eastbound Southwest 8th Street exit from the Homestead Extension of Florida's Turnpike would be closed indefinitely while debris removal and investigations were conducted.[45] Debris from the bridge was cleared by March 24, allowing Southwest 8th Street to be reopened.[46] A team of 15 people from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) began their investigation on the morning of March 16.[47] On March 19, 2018 the first civil lawsuit was filed against Figg Bridge Engineers, MCM, Bolton Perez & Associates, the project’s consulting engineer, Louis Berger, and Network Engineering Services for reckless negligence.[48]

text: Inquiry[edit]

text: On March 15, 2018 the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) launched a Go-team to investigate the bridge collapse incident. The accident number assigned is HWY18MH009. [49] On March 16, 2018 the NTSB Investigators held their first press conference to discuss the inquiry into the bridge collapse. Noteworthy points from the meeting included a statement that the inquiry was in the very early stages, that cracks in the bridge superstructure did not necessarily make the bridge unsafe, that on-site investigations would take about a week, that preserving perishable evidence was crucial, and that bridge workers were applying a "post-tensioning force" on the bridge before the failure.[50] On March 21, 2018 the NTSB sent out the following press release:

text: Investigators secured a contract Tuesday to have a company remove components from the bridge that we believe warrant additional examination and testing. These components include sections of the floor, the canopy, a vertical member and a diagonal member; all from the north end of the structure. These components were in the area of where the failure occurred. In addition to these components, we obtained additional core samples from this area to supplement the core samples we obtained earlier. Shipping the core samples along with some recovered rebar and tensioning rods to the Turner Fairbank Highway Research Center, in McLean, Virginia, for testing and evaluation. The investigative team has obtained an exemplar tensioning rod and hydraulic unit used by the construction crew to make tension adjustments to the tensioning rods. These items are also being shipped to the Turner Fairbank Highway Research Center for evaluation and testing. The larger bridge components the investigative team is removing, are being stored at a secured Florida Department of Transportation facility, under the control of the NTSB. The additional examinations and forensic deconstruction of these components will occur there. The investigative team has confirmed that workers were adjusting tension on the two tensioning rods located in the diagonal member at the north end of the span when the bridge collapsed. They had done this same work earlier at the south end, moved to the north side, and had adjusted one rod. They were working on the second rod when the span failed and collapsed. The roadway was not closed while this work was being performed.

text: On March 21, 2018 U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao asked the department’s inspector general to probe whether a federally funded UniversityCity pedestrian bridge complied with all rules.[51] A subsequent internal memorandum from the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Transportation, dated March 22, 2018 included the following statements:[52]

text: The Florida International University pedestrian bridge was funded in part through the Department of Transportation's (DOT) Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) discretionary grant program.1 The Federal Highway Administration administered the grant funds for the project. On March 19, the Secretary of Transportation requested that we initiate an audit to evaluate whether the project complied with Federal requirements and specifications. On March 20, Senator Bill Nelson, Ranking Member of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, requested that we also review the implementation and oversight roles of all parties on the project. We share these concerns about the collapse, and we are committed to supporting the Department's efforts to improve transportation safety. Accordingly, the objective of our audit will be to assess whether the Florida International University pedestrian bridge met Federal and DOT requirements for the TIGER application, approval, and grant agreement processes.

text: On March 28, 2018 the Miami Herald reported they were denied access to FIU documents related to the bridge construction, citing federal regulations that prevent release of non-public information related to the bridge construction and design project when an NTSB investigation is in progress. A lawyer for Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press indicated more information should be released under the Florida Sunshine Law, due to intense public interest in the collapse.[53]


document_title: Seafloor spreading

question_text: what observation led to the theory of seafloor spreading

root

text: Seafloor spreading

text: Significance[edit]

text: Seafloor spreading helps explain continental drift in the theory of plate tectonics. When oceanic plates diverge, tensional stress causes fractures to occur in the lithosphere. The motivating force for seafloor spreading ridges is tectonic plate pull rather than magma pressure, although there is typically significant magma activity at spreading ridges.[1] At a spreading center basaltic magma rises up the fractures and cools on the ocean floor to form new seabed. Hydrothermal vents are common at spreading centers. Older rocks will be found farther away from the spreading zone while younger rocks will be found nearer to the spreading zone. Additionally spreading rates determine if the ridge is a fast, intermediate, or slow. As a general rule, fast ridges have spreading (opening) rates of more than 9 cm/year. Intermediate ridges have a spreading rate of 5–9 cm/year while slow spreading ridges have a rate less than 5 cm/year.[2][3]:2

tag: p

text: Earlier theories (e.g. by Alfred Wegener and Alexander du Toit) of continental drift postulated that continents "ploughed" through the sea. The idea that the seafloor itself moves (and also carries the continents with it) as it expands from a central axis was proposed by Harry Hess from Princeton University in the 1960s.[4] The theory is well accepted now, and the phenomenon is known to be caused by convection currents in the asthenosphere, which is ductile, or  plastic, and the brittle lithosphere (crust and upper mantle).[5][clarification needed]

text: Spreading center[edit]

text: Seafloor spreading occurs at spreading centers, distributed along the crests of mid-ocean ridges. Spreading centers end in transform faults or in overlapping spreading center offsets. A spreading center includes a seismically active plate boundary zone a few kilometers to tens of kilometers wide, a crustal accretion zone within the boundary zone where the ocean crust is youngest, and an instantaneous plate boundary - a line within the crustal accretion zone demarcating the two separating plates.[6] Within the crustal accretion zone is a 1-2 km-wide neovolcanic zone where active volcanism occurs.[7][8]

text: Incipient spreading[edit]

text: This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

tag: table

text:
In the general case, sea floor spreading starts as a rift in a continental land mass, similar to the Red Sea-East Africa Rift System today.[9] The process starts by heating at the base of the continental crust which causes it to become more plastic and less dense. Because less dense objects rise in relation to denser objects, the area being heated becomes a broad dome (see isostasy). As the crust bows upward, fractures occur that gradually grow into rifts. The typical rift system consists of three rift arms at approximately 120 degree angles. These areas are named triple junctions and can be found in several places across the world today. The separated margins of the continents evolve to form passive margins.
Hess' theory was that new seafloor is formed when magma is forced upward toward the surface at a mid-ocean ridge.

text: If spreading continues past the incipient stage described above, two of the rift arms will open while the third arm stops opening and becomes a 'failed rift'. As the two active rifts continue to open, eventually the continental crust is attenuated as far as it will stretch. At this point basaltic oceanic crust begins to form between the separating continental fragments. When one of the rifts opens into the existing ocean, the rift system is flooded with seawater and becomes a new sea. The Red Sea is an example of a new arm of the sea. The East African rift was thought to be a "failed" arm that was opening somewhat more slowly than the other two arms, but in 2005 the Ethiopian Afar Geophysical Lithospheric Experiment[10] reported that in the Afar region, September 2005, a 60 km fissure opened as wide as eight meters.[11] During this period of initial flooding the new sea is sensitive to changes in climate and eustasy. As a result, the new sea will evaporate (partially or completely) several times before the elevation of the rift valley has been lowered to the point that the sea becomes stable. During this period of evaporation large evaporite deposits will be made in the rift valley. Later these deposits have the potential to become hydrocarbon seals and are of particular interest to petroleum geologists.

text: Sea floor spreading can stop during the process, but if it continues to the point that the continent is completely severed, then a new ocean basin is created. The Red Sea has not yet completely split Arabia from Africa, but a similar feature can be found on the other side of Africa that has broken completely free. South America once fit into the area of the Niger Delta. The Niger River has formed in the failed rift arm of the triple junction.

text: Continued spreading and subduction[edit]

text: As new seafloor forms and spreads apart from the mid-ocean ridge it slowly cools over time. Older seafloor is therefore colder than new seafloor, and older oceanic basins deeper than new oceanic basins due to isostasy. If the diameter of the earth remains relatively constant despite the production of new crust, a mechanism must exist by which crust is also destroyed. The destruction of oceanic crust occurs at subduction zones where oceanic crust is forced under either continental crust or oceanic crust. Today, the Atlantic basin is actively spreading at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Only a small portion of the oceanic crust produced in the Atlantic is subducted. However, the plates making up the Pacific Ocean are experiencing subduction along many of their boundaries which causes the volcanic activity in what has been termed the Ring of Fire of the Pacific Ocean. The Pacific is also home to one of the world's most active spreading centers (the East Pacific Rise) with spreading rates of up to 13 cm/yr. The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is a "textbook" slow-spreading center, while the East Pacific Rise is used as an example of fast spreading. Spreading centers at slow and intermediate rates exhibit a rift valley while at fast rates an axial high is found within the crustal accretion zone.[2] The differences in spreading rates affect not only the geometries of the ridges but also the geochemistry of the basalts that are produced.[12]

text: Since the new oceanic basins are shallower than the old oceanic basins, the total capacity of the world's ocean basins decreases during times of active sea floor spreading. During the opening of the Atlantic Ocean, sea level was so high that a Western Interior Seaway formed across North America from the Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic Ocean.

text: Debate and search for mechanism[edit]

text: At the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (and in other areas), material from the upper mantle rises through the faults between oceanic plates to form new crust as the plates move away from each other, a phenomenon first observed as continental drift. When Alfred Wegener first presented a hypothesis of continental drift in 1912, he suggested that  continents ploughed through the ocean crust. This was impossible: oceanic crust is both more dense and more rigid than continental crust. Accordingly, Wegener's theory wasn't taken very seriously, especially in the United States.

text: Since then, it has been shown that the motion of the continents is linked to seafloor spreading by the theory of plate tectonics. In the 1960s, the past record of geomagnetic reversals was noticed by observing the magnetic stripe "anomalies" on the ocean floor.[13] This results in broadly evident "stripes" from which the past magnetic field polarity can be inferred by looking at the data gathered from simply towing a magnetometer on the sea surface or from an aircraft. The stripes on one side of the mid-ocean ridge were the mirror image of those on the other side. The seafloor must have originated on the Earth's great fiery welts, like the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and the East Pacific Rise.

text: The driver for seafloor spreading in plates with active margins is the weight of the cool, dense, subducting slabs that pull them along. The magmatism at the ridge is considered to be "passive upswelling", which is caused by the plates being pulled apart under the weight of their own slabs.[14][15] This can be thought of as analogous to a rug on a table with little friction: when part of the rug is off of the table, its weight pulls the rest of the rug down with it.

text: Sea floor global topography: half-space model[edit]

text: The depth of the seafloor (or the height of a location on a mid-ocean ridge above a baselevel) is closely correlated with its age (age of the lithosphere where depth is measured). The age-depth relation can be modeled by the cooling of a lithosphere plate[16][17] or mantle half-space in areas without significant subduction.[18]

text:
In the half-space model,[18] the seabed height is determined by the oceanic lithosphere temperature, due to thermal expansion.
Oceanic lithosphere is continuously formed at a constant rate at the mid-ocean ridges. The source of the lithosphere has a half-plane shape (x = 0, z < 0) and a constant temperature T1.
Due to its continuous creation, the lithosphere at x > 0 is moving away from the ridge at a constant velocity v, which is assumed large compared to other typical scales in the problem.
The temperature at the upper boundary of the lithosphere (z=0) is a constant T0 = 0. Thus at x = 0 the temperature is the Heaviside step function

T

1

⋅
Θ
(
−
z
)

{\displaystyle T_{1}\cdot \Theta (-z)}

.
Finally, we assume the system is at a quasi-steady state, so that the temperature distribution is constant in time, i.e. T=T(x,z).

text:
By calculating in the frame of reference of the moving lithosphere (velocity v), which have spatial coordinate x' = x-vt, we may write T = T(x',z,t) and use the heat equation:

∂
T

∂
t

=
κ

∇

2

T
=
κ

∂

2

T

∂

2

z

+
κ

∂

2

T

∂

2

x
′

{\displaystyle {\frac {\partial T}{\partial t}}=\kappa \nabla ^{2}T=\kappa {\frac {\partial ^{2}T}{\partial ^{2}z}}+\kappa {\frac {\partial ^{2}T}{\partial ^{2}x'}}}

where

κ

{\displaystyle \kappa }

 is the thermal diffusivity of the mantle lithosphere.

text:
Since T depends on x' and t only through the combination

x
=

x
′

+
v
t

{\displaystyle x=x'+vt}

, we have:

∂
T

∂

x
′

=

1
v

⋅

∂
T

∂
t

{\displaystyle {\frac {\partial T}{\partial x'}}={\frac {1}{v}}\cdot {\frac {\partial T}{\partial t}}}

text:
Thus:

∂
T

∂
t

=
κ

∇

2

T
=
κ

∂

2

T

∂

2

z

+

κ

v

2

∂

2

T

∂

2

t

{\displaystyle {\frac {\partial T}{\partial t}}=\kappa \nabla ^{2}T=\kappa {\frac {\partial ^{2}T}{\partial ^{2}z}}+{\frac {\kappa }{v^{2}}}{\frac {\partial ^{2}T}{\partial ^{2}t}}}

text:
We now use the assumption that

v

{\displaystyle v}

 is large compared to other scales in the problem; we therefore neglect the last term in the equation, and get a 1-dimensional diffusion equation:

∂
T

∂
t

=
κ

∂

2

T

∂

2

z

{\displaystyle {\frac {\partial T}{\partial t}}=\kappa {\frac {\partial ^{2}T}{\partial ^{2}z}}}

with the initial conditions

T
(
t
=
0
)
=

T

1

⋅
Θ
(
−
z
)

{\displaystyle T(t=0)=T_{1}\cdot \Theta (-z)}

.

text:
The solution for

z
≤
0

{\displaystyle z\leq 0}

 is given by the error function

erf

{\displaystyle \operatorname {erf} }

:

text: Due to the large velocity, the temperature dependence on the horizontal direction is negligible, and the height at time t (i.e. of sea floor of age t) can be calculated by integrating the thermal expansion over z:

text:
where

α

e
f
f

{\displaystyle \alpha _{\mathrm {eff} }}

 is the effective volumetric thermal expansion coefficient, and h0 is the mid-ocean ridge height (compared to some reference).

text:
Note that the assumption the v is relatively large is equivalently to the assumption that the thermal diffusivity

κ

{\displaystyle \kappa }

 is small compared to

L

2

/

T

{\displaystyle L^{2}/T}

, where L is the ocean width (from mid-ocean ridges to continental shelf) and T is its age.

text:
The effective thermal expansion coefficient

α

e
f
f

{\displaystyle \alpha _{\mathrm {eff} }}

 is different from the usual thermal expansion coefficient

α

{\displaystyle \alpha }

 due to isostasic effect of the change in water column height above the lithosphere as it expands or retracts. Both coefficients are related by:

text:
where

ρ
∼
3.3
g

/

c

m

3

{\displaystyle \rho \sim 3.3g/cm^{3}}

 is the rock density and

ρ

0

=
1
g

/

c

m

3

{\displaystyle \rho _{0}=1g/cm^{3}}

 is the density of water.

text:
By substituting the parameters by their rough estimates:

κ
∼
8
⋅

10

−
7

{\displaystyle \kappa \sim 8\cdot 10^{-7}}

 m2/s,

α
∼
4
⋅

10

−
5

{\displaystyle \alpha \sim 4\cdot 10^{-5}}

 °C−1 and T1 ~1220 °C (for the Atlantic and Indian oceans) or ~1120 °C (for the eastern Pacific), we have:

text: for the eastern Pacific Ocean, and:

text:
for the Atlantic and the Indian Ocean, where the height is in meters and time is in millions of years.
To get the dependence on x, one must substitute t = x/v ~ Tx/L, where L is the distance between the ridge to the continental shelf (roughly half the ocean width), and T is the ocean age.


document_title: De La Rosa

question_text: where does the name de la rosa come from

text: De La Rosa

text: De la Rosa is a Spanish surname, which means "of the rose". It may refer to:

text:
Dane De La Rosa (born 1983), American baseball player
Domingo Vega de la Rosa (born 1953), Spanish painter
Eduardo Verano de la Rosa (born 1950), Colombian politician
Erika de la Rosa (born 1980), Mexican actress
Eury De La Rosa (born 1990), Dominican baseball player
Francisco de la Rosa, (1966–2011), Dominican baseball player
Jaime de la Rosa (1921–1992), Filipino actor
James de la Rosa (born 1987), Mexican boxer
Javier de la Rosa, Spanish businessman
Jesús de la Rosa (born 1953), Dominican baseball player
Jorge de la Rosa (born 1981), Mexican baseball player
José de la Rosa, Mexican musician
Lenny de la Rosa (born 1983), Cuban actor
Nelson de la Rosa (1968–2006), Dominican actor
Oscar De La Rosa (born 1960), American singer
Pedro de la Rosa (born 1971), Spanish racing driver
Rodrigo de la Rosa (born 1982), Mexican actor
Rogelio de la Rosa (1916–1986), Filipino politician
Rolando de la Rosa (born 1953), Filipino educator
Rubby De La Rosa, (born 1989), Dominican baseball player
Secun de la Rosa (born 1969), Spanish actor
Tomás de la Rosa, (born 1978), Dominican baseball player

tag: ul


document_title: List of 2018 box office number-one films in the United States

question_text: what is the number one movie in the usa

question_tokens: what is the number one movie in the usa

text: This is a list of films which placed number one at the weekend box office for the year 2018.[1]

text:
#
Date
Film
Gross
Note(s)

1
000000002018-01-07-0000January 7, 2018
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle
$37,233,653
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle reached #1 in its third weekend of release.

2
000000002018-01-14-0000January 14, 2018
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle
$28,101,972

3
000000002018-01-21-0000January 21, 2018
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle
$19,505,170
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle became the first film of 2018 to top the box office for three consecutive weekends.

4
000000002018-01-28-0000January 28, 2018
Maze Runner: The Death Cure
$24,167,011

5
000000002018-02-04-0000February 4, 2018
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle
$10,930,222
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle reclaimed the #1 spot on its seventh weekend of release, making it the first film since Avatar to top the box office in its seventh weekend. It also became the first film since The Martian to top the box office for four non-consecutive weekends.

6
000000002018-02-11-0000February 11, 2018
Fifty Shades Freed
$38,560,195

7
000000002018-02-18-0000February 18, 2018
Black Panther
$202,003,951
Black Panther broke Captain America: Civil War's record ($179.1 million) for the highest weekend debut for a film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe outside of the Avengers films. It also broke Deadpool's records ($132.4 million) for the highest weekend debut in February, for a winter release, and for the President's Day weekend. It currently has the highest weekend debut of 2018.

8
000000002018-02-25-0000February 25, 2018
Black Panther
$111,658,835

9
000000002018-03-04-0000March 4, 2018
Black Panther
$66,306,935

10
000000002018-03-11-0000March 11, 2018
Black Panther
$40,817,579
Black Panther became the first film since Star Wars: The Force Awakens to top the box office for four consecutive weekends.

11
000000002018-03-18-0000March 18, 2018
Black Panther
$26,650,690
Black Panther became the first film since Avatar to top the box office for five consecutive weekends.

12
000000002018-03-25-0000March 25, 2018
Pacific Rim Uprising
$28,116,535
During the weekend, Black Panther became the highest-grossing superhero film ever domestically, surpassing The Avengers.

13
000000002018-04-01-0000April 1, 2018
Ready Player One
$41,764,050

14
000000002018-04-08-0000April 8, 2018
A Quiet Place
$50,203,562

15
000000002018-04-15-0000April 15, 2018
Rampage
$35,753,093

16
000000002018-04-22-0000April 22, 2018
A Quiet Place
$20,911,809
A Quiet Place reclaimed the #1 spot in its third weekend of release.

text: Highest-grossing films[edit]

text:
Highest-grossing films of 2018[2]

Rank
Title
Distributor
Domestic gross

1.
Black Panther
Disney
$683,104,575

2.
A Quiet Place
Paramount
$136,276,142

3.
Ready Player One
Warner Bros.
$127,918,181

4.
Peter Rabbit
Columbia
$114,332,081

5.
Fifty Shades Freed
Universal
$100,407,760

6.
A Wrinkle in Time
Disney
$93,895,454

7.
I Can Only Imagine
Lionsgate
$79,392,663

8.
Rampage
Warner Bros.
$70,011,486

9.
Game Night
$68,253,986

10.
Insidious: The Last Key
Universal
$67,347,895

text:
Highest-grossing films by MPAA rating of 2018

G
TBD

PG
Peter Rabbit

PG-13
Black Panther

R
Fifty Shades Freed

NC-17
N/A


document_title: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

question_text: when did the first ninja turtles come out

question_tokens: when did the first ninja turtles come out

text: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

text: History[edit]

text: This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

text: The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles first appeared in an American comic book published by Mirage Studios in 1984 in Dover, New Hampshire. The concept arose from a humorous drawing sketched out by Eastman during a casual evening of brainstorming and bad television with Laird.[3] Using money from a tax refund, together with a loan from Eastman’s uncle, the young artists self-published a single-issue comic intended to parody four of the most popular comics of the early 1980s: Marvel Comics’ Daredevil and New Mutants, Dave Sim’s Cerebus, and Frank Miller’s Ronin.[4] The TMNT comic book series has been published in various incarnations by various comic book companies since 1984.

text: The Turtles started their rise to mainstream success when a licensing agent, Mark Freedman, sought out Eastman and Laird to propose wider merchandising opportunities for the franchise. In 1986, Dark Horse Miniatures produced a set of 15-mm (approximately 0.6 inch) lead figurines. In January 1987, Eastman and Laird visited the offices of Playmates Toys, a small California toy company that wanted to expand into the action-figure market. Development was undertaken by a creative team of companies and individuals: Jerry Sachs, advertising agent of Sachs-Finley Agency, brought together the animators at Murakami-Wolf-Swenson headed by Fred Wolf. Wolf and his team combined concepts and ideas with the Playmates marketing crew, headed by Karl Aaronian, vice president (VP) of sales Richard Sallis, and VP of Playmates Bill Carlson.[5]

text: Aaronian brought on several designers and concepteur and writer John C. Schulte, and worked out the simple backstory that would live on toy packaging for the entire run of the product and show.[5] Sachs called the high concept pitch "Green Against Brick". The sense of humor was honed with the collaboration of the Murakami-Wolf-Swenson animation firm's writers. Playmates and their team essentially served as associate producers and contributing writers to the miniseries that was first launched to sell-in the toy action figures. Phrases like "Heroes in a half shell" and many of the comical catch phrases and battle cries ("Turtle power!") came from the writing and conceptualization of this creative team. As the series developed, veteran writer Jack Mendelsohn came on board as both a story editor and scriptwriter. David Wise, Michael Charles Hill, and Michael Reaves wrote most of the scripts.

text: The miniseries was repeated three times before it found an audience.[clarification needed] Once the product started selling, the show got syndicated and picked up and backed by Group W, which funded the next round of animation. The show then went network, on CBS. Accompanied by the popular Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1987 TV series, and the subsequent action figure line, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles became a mainstream success. At the height of the frenzy, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Turtles' likenesses could be found on a wide range of children's merchandise, from Pez dispensers to skateboards, breakfast cereal, video games, school supplies, linens, towels, cameras, and toy shaving kits.

text: While the animated TV series, which lasted for 10 seasons until 1996, was more light-hearted, the comic-book series continued in a much darker and grittier tone. In 1990, a live-action feature film was released, with the Turtles and Splinter being portrayed by actors in partially animatronic suits created by Jim Henson's Creature Shop. The film became one of the most successful independent films and spawned two sequels, as well as inspiring a three-dimensional animated film set in the same continuity, which was released in 2007 under the title TMNT. After the end of the cartoon series, a live-action series in the vein of the films was created in 1997 in conjunction with Saban Entertainment. The series was called Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation and introduced a fifth, female turtle called Venus de Milo. However, the series was largely unsuccessful and was canceled after one season.

text: The property lay dormant until 2003, when a new animated TV series also entitled Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles began to air on Fox Box (4Kids TV). The series storyline stuck much closer to the original Mirage comic book series, but was still less violent. It lasted for seven seasons and 156 episodes, ending in February 2009.

text: On October 21, 2009, it was announced that cable channel Nickelodeon (a subsidiary of Viacom) had purchased all of Mirage's rights to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles property. Mirage retains the rights to publish 18 issues a year, though the future involvement of Mirage with the Turtles and the future of Mirage Studios itself is unknown.[6] Nickelodeon has developed a new CGI-animated TMNT television series and partnered with fellow Viacom company Paramount Pictures to bring a new TMNT movie to theaters. The TV show premiered on Nickelodeon on September 29, 2012.[7] The live-action film, produced by Platinum Dunes, Nickelodeon Movies, and Paramount Pictures, directed by Jonathan Liebesman, and produced by Michael Bay, was released on August 8, 2014.[8]

text: Main characters[edit]

text:
Leonardo (Leo) – The tactical, courageous leader and devoted student of his sensei, Leonardo wears a blue mask and wields two katana. As the most conscientious of the four, he often bears the burden of responsibility for his brothers, which commonly leads to conflict with Raphael. Leonardo was named after the Italian polymath, painter, engineer, inventor, writer, anatomist, and sculptor, Leonardo da Vinci.
Michelangelo (Mikey) –  The most stereotypical teenager of the team, Michelangelo is a free-spirited, relaxed, and often goofy jokester, and known for his love of pizza. Michelangelo wears an orange mask and wields a pair of nunchucks. He provides the comic relief, though he still has an adventurous side. The least mature of the four Turtles, he shows characteristics of a "surfer" type and is often depicted with a Southern Californian accent. He is named after the Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet, and engineer, Michelangelo. His name was originally misspelled "Michaelangelo" by Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman.[9]
Donatello (Donnie or Don) – The scientist, inventor, engineer, and technological genius, Donatello wears a purple mask and wields a bo staff. Donatello is perhaps the least violent turtle, preferring to use his knowledge to solve conflicts, but never hesitates to defend his brothers. He is named after the early Renaissance Italian artist and sculptor from Florence, Donatello.
Raphael (Raph) – The team's bad boy, Raphael wears a red mask and wields a pair of sai. He has an aggressive nature, and seldom hesitates to throw the first punch. He is often depicted with a very pronounced New York accent. His personality can be fierce and sarcastic, and oftentimes delivers deadpan humor. He is intensely loyal to his brothers and sensei. He is named after the Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance, Raphael.[9]
Splinter – The Turtles' sensei and adoptive father, Splinter is a Japanese mutant rat that learned the ways of ninjutsu from his owner and master, Hamato Yoshi. In the 1987 TV series, Archie Comics series, and the 2012 TV series, Splinter was Hamato Yoshi mutated into a humanoid rat. In the 2003 TV series, he was Hamato Yoshi's pet rat. He was mutated from a mysterious ooze from the TCRI building. In the IDW comics, he is Hamato Yoshi reincarnated as a mutated rat.
April O'Neil – A former lab assistant to the mad scientist Baxter Stockman, April is the plucky human companion of the Turtles. April first met the Turtles when they saved her from Baxter's Mouser robots. She embarks on many of the Turtles' adventures and aids them by doing the work in public that the Turtles cannot. In the 1987 TV series, Archie Comics series, the subsequent three films, and the 2014 film reboot, April was a television news reporter. In the 2007 CGI film (following the continuity from the original three films), Casey Jones and she work for a shipping firm. In the 2012 series, April is a teenager who is rescued by the TMNTs and later given some "crash courses" in being a ninja by Splinter.
Casey Jones – A vigilante who wears a hockey mask to protect his identity, Casey Jones has become one of the Turtles' closest allies, as well as a love interest to April. Casey first encountered the Turtles after having a fight with Raphael. He fights crime with an assortment of sporting goods he carries in a golf bag, such as baseball bats, golf clubs, and hockey sticks.
The Shredder – A villainous ninjutsu master called Oroku Saki, he is the leader of the Foot Clan, an evil ninja clan. In every incarnation of the TMNT franchise, he has been the archenemy of Splinter and the Turtles. The Shredder prefers to use his armor instead of weapons in some versions.
Foot Soldiers/Ninjas – The ninjas of the Foot Clan, working for the Shredder.
Karai – A female high-rank member of the Foot Clan, she has appeared in several different TMNT comics, cartoons, and films, as well as in multiple video games. In some incarnations of the character, she is closely related to Shredder as his adopted daughter or biological granddaughter. In most works, she shares an ambiguous rivalry with Leonardo, which occasionally even borders on romantic interest.

text: Comics[edit]

text: Mirage[edit]

text: Eastman and Laird's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles premiered in May 1984, at a comic book convention held at a local Sheraton Hotel in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. It was published by Mirage Studios in an oversized magazine-style format using black and white artwork on cheap newsprint, limited to a print run of only 3,250 copies.[10] Through a clever media kit that included a press release in Comic Buyer's Guide #542 and a full-page ad placed in Comic Buyer's Guide #547, the public's interest was piqued and thus began the Turtle phenomenon. The small print runs made these early comics and trade magazines instant collector items, and within months, they were trading for over 50 times their cover price. The name "Mirage Studios" was chosen because of Eastman and Laird's lack of a professional art studio at the start of their career, before their creation made them both multimillionaires.

text: Mirage also published a bimonthly companion book entitled Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, featuring art by Ryan Brown and Jim Lawson, which was designed to fill in the gaps of continuity in the TMNT universe. This put the original series and Tales in the same mainstream continuity, and the two are thus canon to each other. The title's first volume was from 1987–1989, released in alternating months with the regular Eastman and Laird book. All seven issues of volume one have been collected in trade paperback form twice, and 25 issues of volume two have been collected in trades of five issues each.

text: As the TMNT phenomenon proliferated to other media, Eastman and Laird found themselves administrating an international merchandising juggernaut. However, this prevented the two creators from participating in the day-to-day work of writing and illustrating a monthly comic book. So, many guest artists were invited to showcase their unique talents in the TMNT universe. The breadth of diversity found in the various short stories gave the series a disjointed, anthology-like feel. Fans stuck with the series, and what was originally intended as a one-shot became a continuing series that lasted for 129 issues, spanning four separate volumes (having 62, 13, 23, and 32 issues in the four distinct volumes).

text: In June 1996, Image Comics took over publishing the title in what is considered "volume 3" of the series. It was a slightly more action-oriented TMNT series and although notable for inflicting major physical changes on the main characters, Peter Laird, co-creator of the TMNT, has said this volume is no longer in canon as he began publishing volume 4 at Mirage Publishing. As an explanation, he offered in the pages of the volume 4 (issue #8) letter column: "It just didn't feel right." [11]

text: After taking back the series from Image Comics, Mirage Studios resumed publication of a fourth volume in December 2001, under the simple title TMNT. After the publication of issue number 28, writer Peter Laird placed the series on an eight-month hiatus to devote himself to production of the 2007 TMNT movie. However, after that eight months had passed, Mirage's official website went on to list the series as in "indefinite hiatus". In January 2008, Mirage had finally confirmed that the series would return in May 2008. Issues 29 and 30 had a limited printing of 1,000 copies each, and were available through the official TMNT website. Although the purchase agreement with Nickelodeon allows Laird to produce up to 18 comics a year set in the original Mirage continuity, no new material was released in the next few years. The latest issue of TMNT volume 4 was issue #32 which came out in print May 4, 2014, and online on May 9, 2014, almost 4 years after issue #31 was last released.

text: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures[edit]

text: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures was a comic-book series published from August 1988 to October 1995 by Archie Comics. The initial storylines were close adaptations of the 1987 TV series, but with the fifth issue, Eastman and Laird decided to hand the series over to Mirage Studios employees Ryan Brown and Stephen Murphy, who immediately abandoned the animated series adaptations and took the title in a decidedly different direction with all-new original adventures, including the uniting of several of the series' recurring characters as a separate team, the Mighty Mutanimals.

text: Dreamwave[edit]

text: A monthly comic inspired by the 2003 TV series was published by Dreamwave Productions from June to December 2003. It was written by Peter David and illustrated by LeSean Thomas. In the first four issues, which were the only ones directly adapted from the TV series, the story was told from the perspectives of April, Baxter, Casey, and a pair of New York City police officers.

text: IDW[edit]

text: In April 2011, IDW Publishing announced that they had acquired the license to publish new collections of Mirage storylines and a new ongoing series.[12] The first issue of the new series was released on August 24, 2011. Turtles co-creator Kevin Eastman and Tom Waltz write, with Eastman and Dan Duncan handling art chores.

text: Manga[edit]

text: The Turtles have appeared in several manga series.

text:
Mutant Turtles (ミュータント・タートルズ, Myūtanto Tātoruzu) is a 15-issue series by Tsutomu Oyamada, Zuki mora, and Yoshimi Hamada that simply adapted episodes of the original American animated series.
Super Turtles (スーパータートルズ Sūpā Tātoruzu) is a three-issue miniseries by Hidemasa Idemitsu, Tetsurō Kawade, and Toshio Kudō that featured the "TMNT Supermutants" Turtle toys that were on sale at the time. The first volume of the anime miniseries followed this storyline.
Mutant Turtles Gaiden (ミュータント・タートルズ外伝, Myūtanto Tātoruzu Gaiden) by Hiroshi Kanno is a reinterpretation of the Turtles story with no connection to the previous manga.
Mutant Turtles III (ミュータント・タートルズ３, Myūtanto Tātoruzu Tsuri) is Yasuhiko Hachino's adaptation of the third feature film.
Mutant Turtles '95 (ミュータント・タートルズ９５, Myūtanto Tātoruzu Kyūjūgo) is a 1995 series by Ogata Nobu which ran in Comic BomBom.
Mutant Turtles '96 (ミュータント・タートルズ９６, Myūtanto Tātoruzu Kyūjūroku) is a continuation of the 1995 series when it continued to run through 1996.

text: Comic strip[edit]

text: A daily comic strip written and illustrated by Dan Berger began in 1990. It featured an adventure story Monday through Friday and activity puzzles on weekends (with fan art appearing later). The comic strip was published in syndication until its cancellation in December 1996. At its highest point in popularity, it was published in over 250 newspapers.

text: Television series[edit]

text: First animated series (1987–1996)[edit]

text: When little-known Playmates Toys, Inc. was approached about producing a TMNTs action figure line, they were cautious of the risk and requested that a television deal be acquired first.[13][14] On December 28, 1987, the TMNT's first cartoon series began, starting as a five-part miniseries and becoming a regular Saturday-morning syndicated series on October 1, 1988, with 13 more episodes. The series was produced by Murakami-Wolf-Swenson Film Productions, Inc. (later Fred Wolf Films). Mirage Studios does not own the rights to this cartoon series. The show places a much stronger emphasis on humor than the comics do. Here, the Ninja Turtles are portrayed as four wise-cracking, pizza-obsessed superheroes that fight the forces of evil from their sewer hideout, and they make their first appearance in masks color-coded to each turtle, where previously they had all worn red.[15]

text: The cast included new and different characters, such as Bebop and Rocksteady and the Neutrinos. Original characters such as Splinter, Shredder, and the Foot Soldiers stayed true to the comics in appearance and alignment only. Instead of being Hamato Yoshi's mutated pet rat, Splinter was a mutated Hamato himself. The Foot Soldiers changed from human ninjas to an endless supply of robotic grunts, allowing large numbers of them to be destroyed without anyone dying (this was a very important decision in terms of the show's child audience; excessive violence would have alienated parents of children, the show's target demographic). Krang, one of the series' most memorable villains, was inspired by the design of the Utrom, a benign alien race from the Mirage comics. The animated Krang, however, was instead an evil warlord from Dimension X. Baxter Stockman, whose race was changed from black to white either due to apprehension toward depicting a villainous African American character in a children's cartoon or that for Shredder to boss around a black Stockman would be perceived as racist. Either way, Stockman was rewritten as a shy and meek lackey to Shredder, later mutating into an anthropomorphic housefly. During the final two seasons of the show, to combat the rising popularity of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, the lead villain switched to Lord Dregg, an evil alien overlord bent on world conquest by trying to distract the public into believing that the Turtles were the enemy instead of himself.

text: Starting on September 25, 1989, the series was expanded to weekdays and it had 47 more episodes for the new season. There were 28 new syndicated episodes for season 4 and only 13 of those episodes aired in 1990. The "European Vacation" episodes were not seen in the United States until USA Network started showing reruns in late 1993 and the "Awesome Easter" episodes were not seen until 1991. These episodes were delayed because of animation or scheduling problems.[16] The turtles are also well known for their use of idiomatic expressions characteristic of the surfer lingo of the time, especially by Michelangelo. Words and phrases included "bummer", "dude", "bogus", "radical", "far-out", "tubuloso", "bodacious", and possibly the most recognized, "cowabunga".[17] On April 21, 1990, a drug-prevention television special was broadcast on ABC, NBC, and CBS named Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue that featured some of the most popular cartoons at the time; representing TMNT was Michelangelo, voiced by Townsend Coleman.

text: Starting on September 8, 1990 (with a different opening sequence), the show began its run on CBS. The CBS weekend edition ran for a full hour until 1994, initially airing a few Saturday-exclusive episodes back-to-back. Also, a brief "Turtle Tips" segment aired between the two episodes, which served as public-service announcement about the environment or other issues. After 1994, the show was reduced to just a half-hour and only eight episodes per season were produced, grouped into a "CBS Action Zone" block that also featured WildC.A.T.s. and Skeleton Warriors, both of which were canceled after one season; though TMNTs retained their "Action Zone" introduction. The two shows in the block were also produced by Fred Wolf Films. The series ran until November 2, 1996, when it aired its final episode. Its enormous popularity gave rise to its numerous imitators, including the Battletoads, Cheetahmen, Wild West C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa, Road Rovers, Street Sharks, Extreme Dinosaurs, and Biker Mice from Mars. Currently, all 193 episodes are available on DVD and VHS.

text: Original video animation[edit]

text: In addition to the American series, a Japan-exclusive two-episode anime original video animation (OVA) series was made in 1996, titled Mutant Turtles: Choujin Densetsu-hen. The OVA is similar in tone to the 1987 TV series and uses the same voices from TV Tokyo's Japanese dub of the 1987 TV series. The first episode was made to advertise the TMNT Supermutants toys. It featured the Turtles as superheroes, that gained costumes and superpowers with the use of Mutastones, while Shredder, Bebop and Rocksteady gained supervillain powers with the use of a Dark Mutastone. As with the Super Sentai and Power Rangers franchises, the four Turtles could combine to form the giant Turtle Saint. The second episode was created to advertise the Metal Mutants toys in which the characters gain Saint Seiya-esque mystical metal armor that can transform into beasts.

text: Live-action series (1997–1998)[edit]

text: In 1997–1998, the Turtles starred in a live-action television series called Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation that directly follows the events of the first three movies. A fifth turtle was introduced, a female named Venus de Milo, who was skilled in the mystical arts of the shinobi.[15] The series was intended as a loose continuation of the movie franchise, as Shredder had been defeated and the Ninja Turtles encountered new villains. Other connections to the feature films include the fact that Splinter's ear was cut, the Foot Soldiers were humans, and the Turtles lived in the abandoned subway station seen in the second and third movies. The Next Mutation Turtles made a guest appearance on Power Rangers in Space.[18] It was canceled after one season of 26 episodes.

text: Second animated series (2003–2009)[edit]

text: In 2003, a new TMNT series produced by 4Kids Entertainment began airing on the "FoxBox" (later renamed "4Kids TV") programming block. It later moved to "The CW4Kids" block. The series was co-produced by Mirage Studios,[19] and Mirage owned one-third of the rights to the series. Mirage's significant stake in creative control resulted in a cartoon that hews more closely to the original comics, creating a darker and edgier feel than the 1987 cartoon, but still remains lighthearted enough to be considered appropriate for children.

text: This series lasted until 2009, ending with a feature-length television movie titled Turtles Forever, which was produced in conjunction with the 25th anniversary of the TMNTs franchise and featured the Turtles of the 2003 series teaming up with their counterparts from the 1987 series. 4Kidstv.com featured all the episodes of the series, until September 2010, when Nickelodeon brought the series and air the series occasionally on Nicktoons and Nickelodeon normally during TMNTs marathons.

text: Third animated series (2012–2017)[edit]

text: Nickelodeon acquired the global rights to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles from the Mirage Group and 4Kids Entertainment, Inc. and announced a new CGI-animated TMNT television series.[20][21][22] The 2012 version is characterized by anime-like iconography and emphasis on mutagen continuing to wreak havoc on the everyday lives of the Turtles and their enemies. The series ran for five seasons.

text: Fourth animated series (2018)[edit]

text: Nickelodeon announced a new 2D animated series based on the franchise titled Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which will debut in Fall 2018.[23][24]

text: Feature films[edit]

text: The Turtles have appeared in six feature films. The first three are live-action features produced in the early 1990s: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze (1991), and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III (1993). The Turtles were played by various actors in costumes featuring animatronic heads, initially produced by Jim Henson's Creature Shop. The fourth film is a CGI-animated film titled simply TMNT and released in 2007.

text: A reboot, titled Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles produced by Platinum Dunes, Nickelodeon Movies, and Paramount Pictures, directed by Jonathan Liebesman, and produced by Michael Bay, was released on August 8, 2014.[8] A sequel, Out of the Shadows was released on June 3, 2016.[25]

text: Merchandise[edit]

text: Among the first licensed products to feature the TMNT was a tabletop role-playing game titled Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness, published by Palladium Books in 1985, and featuring original comics and illustrations by Eastman and Laird. The game features a large list of animals, including elephants and sparrows, that are available as mutant player characters. Several more titles were in this genre, including Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures, Truckin' Turtles, Turtles Go Hollywood, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Guide to the Universe, and Transdimensional Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

text: In 1986, Dark Horse Miniatures in Boise, Idaho, produced an attendant set of lead figurines; unlike later incarnations, the bandannas on the store's display set were painted all black before the multicolored versions were released to help younger readers distinguish between the four characters other than their weaponry. Palladium allowed the license to lapse in 2000, in part due to declining sales stemming from the "kiddification" of the animated and live-action incarnations to that point. However, Palladium's publisher, Kevin Siembieda, has indicated a potential willingness to revisit the license given the franchise's recent moves closer to its roots.[26]

text: Toys[edit]

text: During the run of the 1987 TV series, Playmates Toys produced hundreds of TMNT action figures, along with vehicles, playsets, and accessories, becoming one of the top collectibles for children.[27] Staff artists at Northampton, Massachusetts-based Mirage Studios provided conceptual designs for many of the figures, vehicles, and playsets and creator credit can be found in the legal text printed on the back of the toy packaging. In addition, Playmates produced a series of TMNTs/Star Trek crossover figures, due to Playmates holding the Star Trek action-figure license at the time. Playmates employed many design groups to develop looks and styles for the toy line, including Bloom Design, White Design, Pangea, Robinson-Clarke, and McHale Design. The marketing vice president of Playmates, Karl Aaronian, was largely responsible for assembling the talented team of designers and writers, which in turn, helped germinate continued interest in the toy line.

text: Never before in toy history did an action-figure line have such an impact for over two decades, generating billions of dollars in licensing revenue. The series was highly popular in the UK, where in the run-up to Christmas, the Army & Navy Store in London's Lewisham devoted its entire basement to everything Turtle, including games, videos, costumes, and other items. Playmates continue to produce TMNT action figures based on the 2003 animated series. The 2007 film TMNT also gave Playmates a new source from which to make figures, while National Entertainment Collectibles Association produced a series of high-quality action figures based on character designs from the original Mirage comics. In 2012, a new toy line and a new classic toy line from Playmates were announced to be released.[28]

text: Video games[edit]

text: The first console video game based on the franchise, titled Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, was released for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) by Konami under their "Ultra Games" label in 1989 and later ported to home computers and eventually for the Wii on the Virtual Console. Also released by Konami in 1989 was an arcade game, also titled simply Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, later ported to the NES as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game, leading to an NES-only sequel, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project, which used the look of the arcade game, as opposed to the first NES game. The next Turtles game, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time, was released in 1991 as an arcade game, and was later ported to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (Super NES) in 1992. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Hyperstone Heist was also created for the Sega Genesis in the same year, and used many of the art assets from TMNT IV. There was also a trilogy of TMNT video games for the original Game Boy system made by Konami, consisting of: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fall of the Foot Clan, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Back from the Sewers, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: Radical Rescue. As the video game series progressed, and the Ninja Turtles' popularity began to decline in the mid-1990s, the video games changed direction. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters was released as a set of one-on-one fighting game similar to the Street Fighter series; versions were released for the NES, SNES, and Genesis, each a distinct game.

text: Konami also acquired the license to adapt the 2003 TV series into a video game franchise, resulting in a new series of games with 3D gameplay inspired by the old TMNT beat 'em up games, consisting of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003 video game), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: Battle Nexus, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3: Mutant Nightmare.

text: In 2006, Ubisoft acquired the rights for TMNT games, beginning with a game based on the 2007 animated feature film, along with a distinct game for the Game Boy Advance similar in style to the Konami arcade games.[29][30] A beat 'em up game Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Arcade Attack was released for the Nintendo DS in 2009, to coincide with the series' 25th anniversary.[31] In 2013, Activision released the downloadable game Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, based on the 2012 TV series and developed by Red Fly Studio for the Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network and Steam.[32]

text: On January 25, 2016, Activision and PlatinumGames announced Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox One, Xbox 360, and PC. The game is described as a third-person, team-based brawler. The campaign will be playable either single-player or co-op and will have an original story written by Tom Waltz, IDW comic writer and editor. The art style is based on long time TMNT comic artist Mateus Santolouco.[33]

text: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Legends, a Free to play Role-playing video game has been released by Ludia in summer 2016 for iPhone, iPad, Android, and Kindle Fire. It is based on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012 TV series).

text: The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are set to appear as playable characters in the DC Comics fighting game Injustice 2 as a part of the "Fighter Pack 3" downloadable content.

text: In other media[edit]

text: Tabletop role playing game[edit]

text: In 1985, Palladium Books published Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness.[34] This was a stand-alone game, as well as acting as an expansion for their game Rifts. The game used many key mechanics from the Palladium system. The game itself is limited to which martial arts are available, but a separate book, Ninjas and Superspies,[35] increased the amount available to a choice of 41 martial arts styles. Examples of animals created are included in the appendices as potential antagonists, including the Terror Bears, Caesers Weasels, and Sparrow Eagles, as well as including stats for the Turtles and other characters.

text: Food tie-ins[edit]

text: During the height of their popularity, the Turtles had a number of food tie-ins.[36] Among the most notable of these products was Ninja Turtles Cereal, produced by Ralston-Purina as a kind of "Chex with TMNT-themed marshmallows" which also came with a small pouch of Pizza Crunchabungas, pizza-flavored corn snacks in the shape of pizzas (the commercial starred the Ninja Turtles as Will Vinton-created claymations); Hostess Ninja Turtles Pudding Pies, featuring a green sugar crust and vanilla pudding inside; and Royal OOZE Gelatin Desserts, distributed by Nabisco under "Royal Gelatin" in three different flavors: orange, strawberry, and lime. Shreddies used to give out TMNT toys in their boxes when the cereal advertising was still geared toward children. One example of a TMNT prize was rings featuring a character on the cartoon (1992). There was also green Ninja Turtle ice cream with different toppings according to which turtle flavor one ordered. Chef Boyardee also released a canned pasta with the pasta in the shapes of the four turtles.[37]

text: Concert tour[edit]

text: To capitalize on the Turtles' popularity, a concert tour was held in 1990, premiering at Radio City Music Hall on August 17.[38][39] The "Coming Out of Their Shells" tour featured live-action turtles playing music as a band (Donatello, keyboards; Leonardo, bass guitar; Raphael, drums and sax; Michelangelo, guitar) on stage around a familiar plotline: April O'Neil is kidnapped by the Shredder, and the turtles have to rescue her.[40] The story had a very Bill-n'-Ted-esque feel, with its theme of the power of rock n' roll literally defeating the enemy, in the form of the Shredder (who only rapped about how he hates music) trying to eliminate all music. A pay-per-view special highlighting the concert was shown, and a studio album was also released.[41] The track listing is as follows:

text:
"Coming Out of Our Shells!"
"Sing About It"
"Tubin'"
"Skipping Stones"
"Pizza Power"
"Walk Straight"
"No Treaties"
"Cowabunga"
"April Ballad"
"Count on Us"

text: Since the tour was sponsored by Pizza Hut in real life, many references are made to their pizza. Empty Pizza Hut boxes are seen onscreen in the "Behind the Shells" VHS. As part of a cross-marketing strategy, Pizza Hut restaurants gave away posters, audio cassettes of "Coming Out of Their Shells", and "Official Tour Guides" as premiums. The original show of the tour was released on video with a making of video also released. The song "Pizza Power" was later used by Konami for the second arcade game Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time.

text: At the Disney-MGM Studios theme park[edit]

text: On June 30, 1990, the TMNT appeared in the "New York Street" section of Disney-MGM Studios theme park in Orlando. Emerging from their Turtle Party Wagon, they would "ninja dance" across the stage while April performed the theme song to the show. After the main show was done, they posed for pictures and signed autographs. The Turtles also made appearances in Disney's Very Merry Christmas Parade to sing their own rendition of "Santa Claus is Coming to Town". They also appeared during the Easter parade dancing to their single "Pizza Power!" The Turtles' live shows and appearances ceased production in 1996.

text: Parodies[edit]

text: Although the TMNT had originated as something of a parody, the comic's explosive success led to a wave of small-press, black and white comic parodies of TMNT itself, including Adolescent Radioactive Black Belt Hamsters, Pre-Teen Dirty-Gene Kung Fu Kangaroos, and a host of others. Dark Horse Comics' Boris the Bear was launched in response to these TMNT clones; its first issue was titled "Boris the Bear Slaughters the Teenage Radioactive Black Belt Mutant Ninja Critters". Once the Turtles broke into the mainstream, parodies also proliferated in other media, such as in satire magazines Cracked and Mad magazine and numerous TV series of the period. The satirical British television series Spitting Image featured a recurring sketch "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turds".[42]

text: Controversies[edit]

text: Departure from origins[edit]

text: The Turtles engaged in a greater amount of overt violence in the pages of the early Mirage comic book series by Eastman and Laird. As the TMNT were introduced into the mainstream, they were radically redesigned. In issue #19 of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the creators published an editorial addressing any possible concerns of readers as a result of this. It stated, in part: "We've allowed the wacky side to happen, and enjoy it very much. All the while, though, we've kept the originals very much ours – forty pages of what we enjoy and want to see in our books, whether it comes from our own hands or from those of the talented people we work with."[43] In the film Turtles Forever, the original Mirage Turtles refer to their descendants as "sell-outs", in reference to their colorful accessories (the originals are conveyed in black and white).

text: Teenage Mutant "Hero" Turtles [edit]

text: Upon TMNT's first arrival in the United Kingdom and Ireland the name was changed to "Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles" (or TMHT, for short), since local censorship policies deemed the word ninja to have excessively violent connotations for a children's program (in Ireland, however, the first season aired as "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" before the change to "Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles").[44] Consequently, everything related to the Turtles (comic books, video games, toys, etc.) had to be renamed before being released in these nations, as well as in the German-speaking countries.

text: The lyrics were also changed, such as changing "Splinter taught them to be ninja teens" to "Splinter taught them to be fighting teens". The policies also had other effects, such as editing out use of Michelangelo's nunchaku (which were at the time banned by James Ferman, chairman of the BBFC, from appearing in films and generally toning down the usage of all the turtles' weapons.[45] To head this problem off, the showrunners elected to remove Michelangelo's nunchaku entirely during season three, replacing them with a grappling hook called the "Turtle Line" that served as Mikey's signature weapon for the rest of the show's run.[3]

text: In Italy, Spain and Portugal, they kept Michelangelo's nunchaku but the "TMHT" logo could be seen in the intro, as it was not edited to reflect the title in each of those translations. In Spain the cartoon was originally aired in regional TV channels and thus had different dubs in addition to Castillian: Galician and Catalan;[citation needed] in the Galician version, the title As Tartarugas Mutantes ("The Mutant Turtles") was used. The Italian and European Portuguese dubs also had few edits.

text: However, when the live-action movie came out in 1990, the Ninja of the title was kept even in the UK. In time, nunchaku scenes were retained in previously-censored movies such as those of Bruce Lee. The same went for the PAL releases of the early video games, which had Michelangelo's weapon of choice fully visible and usable. By the time of the 2003 TV series, these censorship policies had been abolished, and no changes have occurred in the content of the show. The name "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" remained unchanged for the 2003 TV series. As a result, in the UK, the 1987 TV series is still called Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles and the 2003 TV series is called Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. In 2009, Lionsgate Home Entertainment released the 25th Anniversary Collectors Edition on Region 2 DVD in the UK. This 3-Disc set contains all the episodes of Seasons 1 and 2 and 4 episodes from the final season, as well as a 1-Disc DVD with the first few episodes of Season 1. This release features the original, unedited episodes under the "Ninja Turtles" title, and also marks the first time the show has been released and left uncensored in the UK.[citation needed]

text: Ownership rights[edit]

text: Due to various movie and television deals, the various TMNT films and television series have split between various companies, with Mirage Studios having retained copyright and trademark until October 19, 2009, at which point the rights for the entire TMNT franchise were sold by co-creator Peter Laird to Nickelodeon.[46]

text: Television[edit]

text: The original animated series (1987–1996) was produced by Fred Wolf Films Dublin (as Murakami Wolf Swenson (MWS) and Murakami Wolf Dublin (MWD) during earlier seasons), and syndicated by Group W. The series itself is owned by Wolf Films, with home entertainment rights residing with Lions Gate Entertainment, and until recently, syndication rights belonged to Nickelodeon's former corporate sibling CBS Television Distribution.[citation needed] The initial five-part miniseries (retroactively considered the first season) was copyrighted by Playmates Toys, although their rights to those episodes were bought out by Fred Wolf Films.

text: Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation was produced by Saban Entertainment, and as of September 2011, is owned and distributed by Saban Brands.[47][48][49]

text: The second animated series (2003–2009) was a co-production between Mirage Studios and 4Kids Entertainment. Nickelodeon's October 19, 2009 buyout of the TMNT franchise included an approximate $9.75 million payment to 4Kids to terminate its right to serve as the merchandise licensing agent prior to the scheduled expiration of the representation agreement in 2012.[7][50] Due to the buyout, all future TMNT film and television series rights are owned by Nickelodeon.[46] Nickelodeon also gained the rights to the 2003 series after terminating 4Kids' contract.

text: Films[edit]

text: The first three TMNT live-action films were produced by Golden Harvest, with New Line Cinema (now a sister company of Warner Bros. Entertainment) distributing the films in the United States, with 20th Century Fox distributing the second and third films in most other territories. The first two films were copyrighted by the UK-based Northshore Investments. The third film was copyrighted by Clearwater Holdings. The fourth film was produced by Imagi Animation Studios, and released by Warner Bros. Entertainment in association with the Weinstein Company.

text: Michael Bay produced a feature film directed by Jonathan Liebesman simply titled Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and was released on August 8, 2014. A sequel, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, was released on June 3, 2016, with Megan Fox and Will Arnett reprising their roles and debuting Stephen Amell as Casey Jones. Dave Green replaced Liebesman as the director.

text: Comic books[edit]

text: Initially, Mirage allowed employees and freelancers to retain the rights to characters they created for the TMNT Universe but had never licensed for media and merchandise outside comic books. Eventually, due to the difficulty of keeping track of everyone's rights, Mirage made TMNT character creators sign retroactive work-for-hire contracts. One creator who did not sign over the rights to his TMNT work was Swamp Thing veteran Rick Veitch.[51]


document_title: Legends and myths regarding RMS Titanic

question_text: what song did the titanic band play when it sank

text: Legends and myths regarding RMS Titanic

text: Unsinkable[edit]

text: Contrary to popular mythology, Titanic was never described as "unsinkable", without qualification, until after she sank.[2][3] Three trade publications (one of which was probably never published) described Titanic as practically unsinkable prior to her sinking. Many survivors recalled in video interviews as well as in testimony that they had considered the ship "unsinkable." Harland and Wolff did not claim she was unsinkable, but a promotional item from the White Star Line stressed the safety of Olympic and Titanic, claiming that "as far as it is possible to do so, these two wonderful vessels are designed to be unsinkable".[4] Claims by trade publications that vessels were unsinkable or being practically unsinkable were not unique to the Olympic class liners or other White Star ships. Similar claims were made about the Cunarders Lusitania and Mauretania, and German liners Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse and Kaiser Wilhelm II. Advanced safety features on these liners were heavily publicized, de-emphasizing the likelihood of these ships' sinking in a serious accident.

text: The Titanic was designed to comply with the Grade 1 subdivision proposed by the 1891 Bulkhead Committee, meaning that it could stay afloat with any 2 adjoining out of its 16 main compartments open to the sea. The height of the bulkhead deck above the water line in flooded condition was well above the requirements, and the vessel would have been able to float with 3 adjoining compartments flooded in 11 of 14 possible combinations.[6] The subdivisions could be sealed from communication with each other with cast iron watertight doors. To somewhat lower the chance of a sailor's being caught in them, a geared system dropped the doors gradually, over 25 to 30 seconds, by sliding them vertically on hydraulic cataract cylinders.[7]

text: The first unqualified assertion of Titanic's unsinkability appeared in The New York Times on 16 April 1912, a day after the tragedy. Philip A. S. Franklin, vice president of the International Mercantile Marine Company (White Star Line's holding company) stated after being told of the sinking, "I thought her unsinkable, and I based my opinion on the best expert advice available. I do not understand it."[8] This comment was seized upon by the press, and the idea that the White Star Line had previously declared Titanic unsinkable (without qualification) gained immediate and widespread currency.[9]

text: David Sarnoff, wireless reports and the use of SOS[edit]

text: An often-quoted story that has been blurred between fact and fiction states that the first person to receive news of the sinking was David Sarnoff, who would later lead media giant RCA. In modified versions of this legend, Sarnoff was not the first to hear the news (though Sarnoff willingly promoted this notion), but he and others did staff the Marconi wireless station (telegraph) atop the Wanamaker Department Store in New York City, and for three days, relayed news of the disaster and names of survivors to people waiting outside. However, even this version lacks support in contemporary accounts. No newspapers of the time, for example, mention Sarnoff. Given the absence of primary evidence, the story of Sarnoff should be properly regarded as a legend.[10][11][12][13][14]

text: Despite popular belief, the sinking of Titanic was not the first time the internationally recognised Morse code distress signal "SOS" was used. The SOS signal was first proposed at the International Conference on Wireless Communication at Sea in Berlin in 1906. It was ratified by the international community in 1908 and had been in widespread use since then. The SOS signal was, however, rarely used by British wireless operators, who preferred the older CQD code. First Wireless Operator Jack Phillips began transmitting CQD until Second Wireless Operator Harold Bride half jokingly suggested, "Send SOS; it's the new call, and this may be your last chance to send it." Phillips then began to intersperse SOS with the traditional CQD call.[15]

text: There are reports that, in 1936, a ham radio operator named Gordon Cosgrave claimed to be receiving long delayed echo SOS messages from the Carpathia and Titanic 24 years after their transmission.[16][17]

text: Titanic's band[edit]

text: One of the most famous stories of Titanic is of the ship's band. On 15 April the eight-member band, led by Wallace Hartley, had assembled in the first-class lounge in an effort to keep passengers calm and upbeat. Later they moved on to the forward half of the boat deck. The band continued playing, even when it became apparent the ship was going to sink, and all members perished.[18]

text: There has been much speculation about what their last song was.[19] A first-class Canadian passenger, Mrs. Vera Dick, and several other passengers, alleged that the final tune played was that of the hymn "Nearer, My God, to Thee".[20] Hartley reportedly once said to a friend if he were on a sinking ship, "Nearer, My God, to Thee" would be one of the songs he would play.[21] But Walter Lord's book A Night to Remember popularised wireless operator Harold Bride's 1912 account (New York Times) that he heard the song "Autumn" before the ship sank.[22] It is considered Bride either meant the hymn tune known as "Autumn" or the tune of the then-popular waltz "Songe d'Automne" but neither was in the White Star Line songbook for the band.[21] Bride is one of only two witnesses who were close enough to the band, as he floated off the deck before the ship went down. Some consider his statement to be reliable. Mrs. Dick had left by lifeboat an hour and 20 minutes earlier and could not possibly have heard the band's final moments. The notion that the band played "Nearer, My God, to Thee" as a swan song is possibly a myth originating from the wrecking of SS Valencia, which had received wide press coverage in Canada in 1906 and so may have influenced Mrs. Dick's recollection.[2]

text: There are three, very different versions of the hymn using the lyrics of "Nearer, My God, to Thee": Horbury, written in 1861 by the Rev John Dykes was popular in Britain, and another, Bethany, written in 1856 by Dr Lowell Mason was popular in the U.S. The third tune associated with the hymn was Propior Deo, was written by Sir Arthur Sullivan and was also popular in Britain.[23] Additionally, the British melody might sound like the other hymn ("Autumn").[21] On 24 May 1912, the seven chief London orchestras performed at a memorial for the musicians who perished, as they played Horbury, two Titanic survivors in the audience became emotional and stated that this was the tune they heard while they were in their lifeboat. The film A Night to Remember (1958) uses the tune Horbury; while the 1953 film Titanic, with Clifton Webb, uses the tune Bethany as does James Cameron's 1997 Titanic. To further complicate things, Horbury was the Anglican version of the hymn, while Propior Deo was the Methodist version. The Titanic's bandmaster, Wallace Hartley was a devout Methodist and son of a Methodist choirmaster leading a band containing several devout Methodists. Propior Deo was not only sung at Hartley's funeral but was also carved into his headstone.[23] Recently, another possibility has been raised. Among items left behind by Hartley's fiancée, Maria Robinson, was the sheet music of a third tune to the hymn written by Lewis Carey in 1902 and made popular by the Australian contralto Ada Crossley. As Crossley performed in both Britain and America, it is possible that this may have been a tune known to passengers on both sides of the Atlantic.[24]

text: Colonel Archibald Gracie, an amateur historian who was aboard the ship until the final moments, and was later rescued on a capsized collapsible lifeboat, wrote his account immediately after the sinking but died from his injuries eight months later. According to Gracie, the tunes played by the band were "cheerful" but that he didn't recognise any of them, claiming that if they had played "Nearer, My God, to Thee" as claimed in the newspaper, "I assuredly should have noticed it and regarded it as a tactless warning of immediate death to us all and one likely to create panic."[25]

text: The stories of W.T. Stead[edit]

text: Another oft-cited Titanic legend concerns perished first-class passenger William Thomas Stead. According to this folklore, Stead had, through precognitive insight, foreseen his own death on the Titanic. This is apparently suggested in two fictional sinking stories, which he penned decades earlier. The first, "How the Mail Steamer Went Down in Mid-Atlantic, by a Survivor" (1886), tells of a mail steamer's collision with another ship, resulting in high loss of life due to lack of lifeboats.[26] The second, "From the Old World to the New" (1892) features a White Star Line vessel, Majestic, that rescues survivors of another ship that had collided with an iceberg.[27]

text: Mystery ship[edit]

text: Some believe that there was another ship, the Norwegian sealer Samson, in the vicinity of Titanic when she sank. There is also speculation that this was the ship Titanic saw in the distance instead of the Californian. If correct, the coordinates of Samson place her within 10 miles of Titanic's position as the ship was sinking. The story of crewmate Hendrik Bergethon Naess suggests that when Titanic set off her distress rockets, Samson did not come to the rescue because she was illegally hunting seals, and instead thought that the rockets being fired off was a signal to other ships in regard to Samson being there. His statement allegedly states that they sailed north to avoid detection after seeing the rockets.[28] However, research of Lloyd's List records suggests that Samson was in port in Iceland for engine repairs on the date of the Titanic's sinking, making her presence near the incident on the night of April 14 impossible.[29][30] Another possible candidate is the SS Mount Temple.[citation needed][clarification needed]

text: The Titanic curse[edit]

text: When Titanic sank, claims were made that a curse existed on the ship. The press quickly linked the "Titanic curse" with the White Star Line practice of not christening their ships.[2]

text: One of the most widely spread legends linked directly into the sectarianism of the city of Belfast, where the ship was built. It was suggested that the ship was given the number 390904 which, when reflected, resembles the letters "NOPOPE", a sectarian slogan attacking Roman Catholics, widely used by extreme Protestants in Northern Ireland, where the ship was built. In the extreme sectarianism of the region at the time, the ship's sinking was alleged to be on account of anti-Catholicism by her manufacturers, the Harland and Wolff company, which had an almost exclusively Protestant workforce and an alleged record of hostility towards Catholics (Harland and Wolff did have a record of hiring few Catholics; whether that was through policy or because the company's shipyard in Belfast's bay was located in almost exclusively Protestant East Belfast—through which few Catholics would travel—or a mixture of both, is a matter of dispute). In fact, RMS Olympic and Titanic were assigned the yard numbers 400 and 401 respectively.[31][32]

text: Jessie's premonition[edit]

text: On the night of the sinking, a young girl by the name of Jessie Sayre lay dying in the town of Kirkudbright, Scotland. In her delirious state she described seeing a large ship sinking and a man named Wally (a nickname for Wallace) playing a fiddle. Just hours after her death, Wallace Hartley continued to play his violin with the rest of his band as Titanic went down.[33]

text: Literary foreshadowing of the disaster[edit]

text: At the time the Titanic sank, the 1 May 1912 issue of The Popular Magazine, an American pulp magazine, was on the news stands. It contained the short story "The White Ghost of Disaster," which described the collision of an ocean liner with an iceberg in the Atlantic Ocean, the sinking of the vessel, and the fate of the passengers. The story, by Mayn Clew Garnett (the pseudonym of sea-story author T. Jenkins Hains), created a minor sensation.[34][35] In 1898, fourteen years prior to the Titanic disaster, Morgan Robertson wrote a book called Futility, or the Wreck of the Titan. This story features an enormous British passenger liner called the Titan, which, deemed to be unsinkable, carries insufficient lifeboats. On a voyage in the month of April, the Titan hits an iceberg and sinks in the North Atlantic with the loss of almost everyone on board. There are some similarities between the fictional sinking of the Titan and the real-life sinking of the RMS Titanic.[36]

text: In 1912, the German Berliner Tageblatt newspaper published a book in serial form that ran from January 9 until April 24.[37][38] This work of fiction was written by Gerhard Hauptmann, who would receive the Nobel Prize in Literature later that year.[39] One month before the fateful April maiden voyage of the RMS Titanic, the story was published by S. Fischer Verlag as the novel Atlantis. Atlantis is a romantic tale set aboard the fictitious ocean liner Roland, which is coincidentally doomed to a fate very similar to that of the RMS Titanic. This perceived anticipation of the Titanic disaster received considerable attention at the time.[40] A Danish silent film also titled Atlantis was produced by Nordisk Film based on the novel. The film was released less than a year following the actual tragic event. The association became evident, and it was banned in Norway, perceived as being in "bad taste".[41]