who plays ruben amaro jr on the goldbergs

A teenage Amaro (portrayed by Niko Guardado) is a recurring minor character in the ABC series The Goldbergs, which is set in the 1980s. Amaro attended the same school as TV and film producer Adam F. Goldberg, on whose adolescence the show is based. Amaro portrayed his own father in Season 5, Episode 11.

Rubén Amaro Jr.

As general manager

Rubén Amaro Jr. (born February 12, 1965) is an American former professional baseball player and General Manager who is the first base coach of the New York Mets of Major League Baseball. He played in Major League Baseball as an outfielder from 1991 to 1998. Amaro was named the General Manager of the Philadelphia Phillies on November 3, 2008, succeeding Pat Gillick and remained in that position until September 10, 2015. He previously served as the first base coach for the  Boston Red Sox. He is the son of former Major League Baseball player Rubén Amaro Sr.

Born and raised in the Rhawnhurst neighborhood of Northeast Philadelphia, Amaro played Little League Baseball for Crispin Gardens. Amaro is Jewish; his mother Judy Amaro-Perez (née Herman)[1] is of Russian-Jewish heritage and his father was a Marrano Sephardic Mexican-Cuban.[2][3] He later was a batboy for the Phillies from 1980 to 1983 when his father, Rubén Amaro Sr., was their first base coach.[4]

Amaro graduated from William Penn Charter School in 1983, where he played baseball and soccer. He graduated from Stanford University in 1987.[4] He was a member of the Stanford team that won the NCAA 1987 College World Series. He led the team in runs (77), triples (6), and stolen bases (38) that year.

Drafted by the California Angels in the 11th round of the 1987 amateur draft, he signed June 16, 1987.[5]

In 1989 he began the season by batting.360 for Quad Cities of the Midwest League, and then ended it by hitting.382 for the Midland of the Texas League. In 1990 he batted.317 between AA and AAA. He followed that by batting.326 in 1991 in AAA. In 3,117 at bats in the minor leagues, he batted.301 with a.399 on-base percentage and 235 stolen bases.[6]

He debuted in the major leagues on June 8, 1991. On December 8, 1991, he was traded by the Angels with Kyle Abbott to the Philadelphia Phillies for Von Hayes.

In 1992 he finished third in the NL with 9 hit-by-pitches. On November 2, 1993, he was traded by the Phillies to the Cleveland Indians for Heathcliff Slocumb.

Amaro made the Cleveland Indians World Series roster in 1995 over Dave Winfield. On November 9, 1995, he was released by the Indians.

On January 24, 1996, he was signed as a free agent by the Toronto Blue Jays. On May 5, 1996, he was released by the Blue Jays, and the following day he signed as a free agent with the Phillies. He batted.313 for the Phillies that year with a.380 on-base percentage.

In eight seasons in the major leagues, Amaro appeared in 485 games, batting.235 with 16 home runs and 100 RBIs. He played for both the 1993 NL champion Phillies and the 1995 AL champion Indians.[4]

Amaro joined the Phillies front office immediately after his playing career ended in 1998, hired by then Phillies general manager Ed Wade. He served as assistant GM for the Phillies for 10 seasons before being named general manager. His first seven were under Wade, followed by three seasons under Gillick.[7]

On November 1, 2008, the day after the Philadelphia Phillies second Broad Street Parade, it was confirmed that Amaro would be the new general manager as well as senior vice president of the Philadelphia Phillies.[8] Amaro signed a three-year contract.[4] The Phillies won the National League East the first three years of his tenure, appearing in the 2009 World Series and finishing with the best record in baseball during the 2010 and 2011 regular seasons. They have failed to reach the postseason since.

Shortly after Amaro fired manager Charlie Manuel in 2013, Manuel admitted he knew the Phillies roster lacked enough "pieces to win" in 2012 and 2013. [9] In July 2014, a "Stay Or Go" poll was conducted by Philly.com with over 10,000 fans involved, and 93.6% of voters wanted Amaro to be removed from his position, with only 6.4% wanting Amaro to remain GM.[10]

His performance with the Phillies was unlike his predecessor;[11] in May 2014, Sporting News ranked Amaro the worst general manager in Major League Baseball, noting his propensity to sign aging veterans who fail to perform at a level commensurate with their contract.[12] He was removed from his position with the Phillies on September 10, 2015.[13]

Amaro was hired as first base coach by the Boston Red Sox for the 2016 season, returning to the field for the first time since retiring as a player.[14][15] After the 2017 season, Amaro was named the first base coach of the New York Mets under manager Mickey Callaway.[16]

In 2008, Amaro was one of three people inducted into the All-American Amateur Baseball Association Hall of Fame.[17]

In 2009, Amaro was inducted into the Philadelphia Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.[3][18]

That same year, baseball fans nationwide voted him the MLB "This Year in Baseball Awards" 2009 Executive of the Year.[19]

Also in 2009, the Philadelphia Sports Writers Association (PSWA) named him its Executive of the Year.

Amaro is co-founder of the Richie Ashburn Harry Kalas Foundation, which provides baseball camps for underprivileged children in the Delaware Valley. He also serves on the local YMCA board in Philadelphia.[4]


who plays julie williams on days of our lives

Susan Seaforth Hayes (born Susan Seabold on July 11, 1943 in Oakland, California)[1] is an American dramatic actress. She is best known for her portrayal of Julie Williams on the NBC drama Days of Our Lives, and her intermittent portrayal of Joanna Manning on the CBS daytime drama The Young and the Restless. She began playing the role of Julie Olsen Williams on Days of Our Lives in 1968, and is the only actor to appear on the show for all six decades (1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s) in which it has been on the air. Seaforth Hayes still regularly appears on Days as Julie Olsen Williams.

Susan Seaforth Hayes

Susan Seaforth grew up in Hollywood, where she was active in theater as a teenager. Her mother, Elizabeth Harrower (1918â€“2003), was an actress and writer who eventually became a part of the writing teams of The Young and the Restless and Days of Our Lives. Her father, Harry Seabold, lived with his bride for ninety days during World War II, through his basic training near Oklahoma City. He shipped out after his daughter was conceived and remained overseas for thirty-three months; during this time, Harrower returned to her family home in Berkeley.

Seaforth Hayes had a number of featured roles on prime-time television in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. Ms. Seaforth appeared in the TV Series Cheyenne in the episode, "The Bad Penny", portraying a young murderess avenging the hanging of her outlaw father. She appeared as Martha Otis, the wife of Jim Otis (Gil Peterson), a gold prospector who finds an unexpected bonanza in silver in the 1967 episode "Solid Foundation" of the syndicated television series, Death Valley Days, hosted by Robert Taylor.[2] She guest starred in National Velvet, The Fugitive, Redigo, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., at least two appearances on My Three Sons, plus episodes of Emergency!, Adam-12, the 1967-1970 version of Dragnet, and Matlock, starring Andy Griffith. She was in 2 separate episodes of "Cheyenne" with Clint Walker in 1962. She had a guest appearance on Perry Mason in 1962 as title character Helen Gregory in "The Case of the Stand-in Sister." In the mid 1960s, she appeared on General Hospital as the flirtatious Dorothy Bradley (1964) and later on The Young Marrieds as Carol West (1965), giving her some experience into the hectic world of daytime television soap opera.

She is best known for her work on the daytime soap opera Days of Our Lives in the role of Julie Olson Williams, which she played continuously from 1968 to 1984 and again from 1990 to 1993, with recurring appearances in 1994 and 1996. Since 1999, she has appeared on the show in a recurring capacity, often doing double duty between "Days" and "Y&R", in one case appearing on both shows on the very same day, a feat possible because of their different shooting and airing schedules.

For her work on Days, Seaforth Hayes has received four Daytime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, in 1975,[3] 1976,[4] 1978,[5] and 1979;[6] and one nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series, in 2018.[7] She was voted Best Actress in Daytime TV's Annual Reader's Poll in 1976,[8] 1977,[9] and 1978.[10] Additionally, in 1977, she won two Soapy Awards for Actress of the Year and Favorite Heroine.[11] She was awarded Photoplay Gold Medal Awards in 1977 and 1978, for Favorite Daytime Female Star.[12][13] She earned a degree in history from L.A's City College, and the stack of books at her deskside reflects an intense interest in the American West and diverse Native American cultures. Seaforth Hayes has lectured at universities in Los Angeles and Boston.

Her onscreen and real-life romance with co-star Bill Hayes (Doug Williams) was widely covered by both the soap opera magazines and the mainstream press (they married in 1974).[14] The characters of Doug and Julie were Days of our Lives', as well as daytime TV's, first supercouple,[14] and are widely believed to be the first supercoupling on the American daytime serials.[citation needed] Their appearance together on the January 12, 1976 cover of Time magazine was the only time daytime actors have appeared there.[1]

As of March 2010, she is the only actor to appear on Days of Our Lives in all six decades that it has been in production. In between appearances, she starred from November 1984 to May 1989 as Joanna Manning, mother to Tracey E. Bregman's character, Lauren Fenmore, on The Young and the Restless and as District Attorney Patricia Steele on Sunset Beach in that show's final months on the air.

In 2005, she and Hayes published their joint autobiography, Like Sands Through The Hourglass.

The role of Stephanie Forrester on The Bold and the Beautiful was created for her by former Days headwriter William J. Bell. When she turned it down, her former Days costar Susan Flannery took the role.[citation needed] However, when the character of Lauren Fenmore crossed over, Susan did reprise her role of Joanna Manning on that show for one episode in 2003, and has made several return appearances as that character on "Y&R" as Lauren's storyline required the character to be there.

Most recently, Susan made a cameo appearance in a music video for Chip Chocolate's "Cookie Dance" as Mrs. Fields.[15]

On February 1, 2018, the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences announced that Bill Hayes and Susan Seaforth Hayes would receive Lifetime Achievement Awards at the 45th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards, to be held on April 29, 2018.[16]

For many years, she and her mother lived in the Alvarado Terrace Historic District of Los Angeles.


who did ice cube sign with after nwa

O'Shea Jackson Sr. (born June 15, 1969), known professionally as Ice Cube, is an American rapper and actor. He began his career as a member of the hip-hop group C.I.A. and later joined the seminal rap group N.W.A (Niggaz Wit Attitudes). After leaving N.W.A in December 1989,[1] he began both a successful solo music career and an acting career which included roles in films such as Boyz n the Hood (1991), Friday (1995), for which he also co-wrote the screenplay, and Barbershop (2002). Additionally, he has served as one of the producers of the Showtime television series Barbershop and the TBS series Are We There Yet?, both of which are based upon films in which he portrayed the main character.

Ice Cube

Ice Cube is one of the founding artists of gangsta rap, and much of his musical output has contained harsh socio-political commentary. He was ranked number 8 on MTV's list of the 10 Greatest MCs of All Time, while fellow rapper Snoop Dogg ranked Ice Cube as one of the greatest MC of all time.[2] AllMusic has called him one of hip-hop's best and most controversial artists,[3] as well as "one of rap's greatest storytellers".[4] In 2012, The Source ranked him number 14 on their list of the Top 50 Lyricists of All Time.[5] In 2014, About.com ranked him number 11 on their list of the "50 Greatest MCs of All Time".[6]

O'Shea Jackson was born on June 15, 1969, in Baldwin Hills, South Central Los Angeles, the son of Doris, a hospital clerk and custodian, and Hosea Jackson, who worked as a groundskeeper at UCLA and a machinist.[7][8][9][10] He has an older brother[11] as well as a half-sister who was killed when Ice Cube was 12.[12] His cousin is Teren Delvon Jones, also known as Del tha Funkee Homosapien, who is a part of the rap group Hieroglyphics and who has also worked with Gorillaz; another cousin is Kam of rap group The Warzone. In his early teens, Ice Cube developed an interest in hip hop music, and began writing raps in Los Angeles George Washington Preparatory High School's typewriting class.[13] Jackson penned his first rap song in the ninth grade after a friend, whom Jackson names "Kiddo", challenged him to write a song during a typewriting class. He claims Kiddo lost the challenge.[14] On the origins of his rapper name, Ice Cube says that it came from his older brother. He is quoted as saying "He threatened to slam me into a freezer and pull me out when I was an ice cube. I just started using that name, and it just caught on." [15][16][17]

At the age of 16, Jackson sold his first song to future N.W.A. member Eazy-E.[7] Jackson also attended William Howard Taft High School in Woodland Hills, California.[7] He enrolled at the Phoenix Institute of Technology in the fall of 1987 in Arizona. Being passionate about architecture, he studied architectural drafting.[7][18] He completed his diploma within one year and returned to Los Angeles to pursue a rap career. Not sure of whether his rap career would work out, he would turn to become an architecture draftsman as a career backup.[7][19]

With friend Sir Jinx, Ice Cube formed the C.I.A., and they performed at parties hosted by Dr. Dre. Dre soon entered the recording industry as a member of the World Class Wreckin' Cru. Dre saw Cube's potential as a writer and had him assist with writing Wreckin Cru's big L.A. hit track, "Cabbage Patch" as well as joining Cube on a side partnership which the duo called Stereo Crew. Stereo Crew produced a twelve-inch record, "She's a Skag" released on Epic Records in 1986.[20]

While Dr. Dre was DJing at L.A. dance club Eve After Dark, Ice Cube would rap over his music, often parodying songs by other artists. One such example of this was the song "My Penis," a parody of Run-DMC's "My Adidas."[21] In a 2015 interview, club-owner Alonzo Williams said that he felt that this song damaged his reputation and asked for it not to be performed.[22]

In 1987, Ice Cube released the Dr. Dre produced single My Posse under with his group C.I.A. (Cru' In Action!). After the collaboration, Ice Cube showed Eazy-E the lyrics to "Boyz-n-the-Hood".[23] Eazy-E, although initially rejecting the lyrics, eventually recorded the song for N.W.A. and the Posse, the debut album for the group N.W.A that also included Dr. Dre, MC Ren, and DJ Yella. Ice Cube was the only member of N.W.A who is not from Compton, California (where it was formed).

By this point Ice Cube was a full-time member of N.W.A along with Dr. Dre and MC Ren. Ice Cube wrote Dr. Dre's and Eazy-E's rhymes for the group's landmark album, Straight Outta Compton, released in 1988. However, towards the end of 1989, Ice Cube found himself at odds with the group's manager, Jerry Heller, after rejecting Heller's proposed contract terms.[24]

Ice Cube wrote the lyrics to approximately half of both Straight Outta Compton, and Eazy-E's solo album, Eazy-Duz-It, but he was only paid $32,000 and his contract did not confirm that he was an official member of N.W.A.[25] This led Ice Cube to leave the group and bring a private lawsuit against Jerry Heller, which was later settled out of court.[25] In response, the remaining N.W.A members attacked him on the EP 100 Miles and Runnin', and on their next and final album, Niggaz4Life.

In 1989, Ice Cube recorded his debut solo album, AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted, in New York with the Bomb Squad (Public Enemy's production team). It was released in May 1990 and was an instant hit, riding and contributing to the rising tide of rap's popularity in mainstream society. The album was charged with controversy, and he was accused of misogyny and racism. Subsequently, Ice Cube appointed the female rapper Yo-Yo (who appeared on AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted) to the head of his own record label and helped produce her debut album, Make Way for the Motherlode. This was followed by a critically acclaimed role as Doughboy in John Singleton's violent crime drama, Boyz n the Hood. In the same year as AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted, Ice Cube released the acclaimed EP, Kill At Will which sold well, becoming the first hip hop EP to go Platinum.[23]

His second album Death Certificate was released in 1991. The album was regarded as more focused, yet even more controversial, and critics accused him again of being anti-white, misogynist, and antisemitic. The album is thematically divided into two sides: the 'Death Side' ("a vision of where we are today") and the 'Life Side' ("a vision of where we need to go"). It features "No Vaseline", a scathing response to N.W.A's ''100 Miles and Runnin'' as well as "Black Korea," a track regarded by some as prophetic of the 1992 Los Angeles riots, but also interpreted as racist by many.[23] Ice Cube toured with Lollapalooza in 1992, which widened his fan base.[26]

Ice Cube released his third album, The Predator, in November 1992. Referring specifically to that year's Los Angeles riots, in the first single, "Wicked", he rapped "April 29 was power to the people, and we might just see a sequel". The Predator debuted at number one on both the pop and R&B charts, the first album in history to do so. Singles from The Predator included "It Was a Good Day" and "Check Yo Self", and the songs had a two-part music video. The album was generally well received by critics and remains his most successful release commercially, with over three million copies sold in the US. However, after The Predator, Ice Cube's rap audience diminished. Cube's fourth album Lethal Injection, which was released at the end of 1993 and represented Ice Cube's first attempt at imitating the G-Funk sound of Dr. Dre's The Chronic, was not well received by critics. He had more successful hits from Lethal Injection, including "Really Doe", "Bop Gun (One Nation)", "You Know How We Do It" & "What Can I Do?". After 1994, he took a hiatus from music and concentrated on film work and developing the careers of other rap musicians, Mack 10, Mr. Short Khop, Kausion, and Da Lench Mob.[23]

In 1994, Ice Cube had reunited with former N.W.A member Dr. Dre, who was now part of Death Row Records, in their duet "Natural Born Killaz".[23] In 1998, he released his long-awaited fifth solo album, War & Peace Vol. 1 (The War Disc). The delayed sixth album Volume 2, was released in 2000. The albums featured appearances from Westside Connection as well as a reunion with fellow N.W.A members, Dr. Dre and MC Ren, though many fans maintained that the two albums were not on par with his past work, especially the second volume.[27] In 2000, Ice Cube also joined Dr. Dre, Eminem & Snoop Dogg for the Up in Smoke Tour.[28]

In 2006, Ice Cube released his seventh solo album, Laugh Now, Cry Later, on his Lench Mob Records label, debuting at number four on the Billboard Charts and selling 144,000 units in the first week.[29] The album featured production from Lil Jon and Scott Storch, who produced the lead single "Why We Thugs". He released his eighth studio album, Raw Footage, on August 19, 2008, featuring the controversial single "Gangsta Rap Made Me Do It".

On October 12, 2009, he released a non-album track called 'Raider Nation' in tribute to the Oakland Raiders.[30]

On May 11, 2010, Ice Cube released a 30 for 30 documentary, "Straight Outta L.A.", for ESPN on the relationship between the gangsta rap scene in Los Angeles and the tenure of the Raiders there.[31][32] He has been voted as eighth of MTV's "greatest emcees of all time."[33]

On September 28, 2010, Ice Cube released his ninth solo album, I Am the West. The album featured the single "I Rep That West". It debuted at #22 on the Billboard 200 and sold 22,000 copies in its first week.

In September 2012, Ice Cube released his second anthem for the Oakland Raiders, "Come and Get It", as a part of Pepsi's NFL Anthems campaign.[34]

In 1996, Ice Cube formed Westside Connection with Mack 10 and WC, and together they released an album called Bow Down. Some of the album was used to engage in the East Coast–West Coast hip hop rivalry of the 1990s. The album's eponymous single reached number 21 on the singles charts, and the album itself was certified Platinum by the end of 1996. With Bow Down, Westside Connection brought their own agenda to the hip hop scene. Ice Cube, Mack 10 and WC had grown tired of being overlooked by most East Coast media outlets; the album was designed to instil a sense of pride in West Coast hip hop fans and to start a larger movement that some people who felt underappreciated might identify with. Songs like "Bow Down" and "Gangstas Make the World Go 'Round" make reference to this. Ice Cube would also eventually make amends with Eazy-E shortly before his death in March 1995.

After a seven-year hiatus, Westside Connection returned with their second effort Terrorist Threats in 2003. The album fared well critically, but its sales fell short of Bow Down. "Gangsta Nation" was the only single released from the album, which was produced by Fredwreck and featured Nate Dogg; it was a radio hit. After a rift between Ice Cube and Mack 10 about Ice Cube's commitments to film work rather than touring with the group, Westside Connection disbanded.

In 1992, Ice Cube assisted on debut albums from Del the Funky Homosapien (I Wish My Brother George Was Here), Da Lench Mob (Guerillas in tha Mist, 1992) and Kam (Neva Again, 1993), all of which enjoyed critical acclaim and some moderate commercial success. He handled most of the production on Guerillas in tha Mist.

In 1993, Lench Mob member, J-Dee, was sentenced to life imprisonment for attempted murder, and Ice Cube did not produce their next album, Planet of tha Apes. Around this time in 1993, he also worked with Tupac Shakur on his album Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z., appearing on the track "Last Wordz" with Ice-T. He also did a song with Dr. Dre for the first time since he left N.W.A: "Natural Born Killaz", for the Murder Was The Case soundtrack, and also contributed to the Office Space soundtrack. He also featured on Kool G Rap's song "Two To The Head" from the Kool G Rap & DJ Polo album "Live And Let Die". He also collaborated with David Bowie and Trent Reznor from Nine Inch Nails for a remix of Bowie's "I'm Afraid of Americans". Ice Cube appeared on the song "Children of the Korn" by the band Korn, joining them on the Family Values Tour 1998, and they also collaborated on 'Fuck Dying' from Cube's fifth album. He also lent his voice to British DJ Paul Oakenfold's solo debut album, Bunkka, on the track "Get Em Up". Ice Cube appeared in several songs in WC Guilty by Affiliation like "Keep it 100", "80's babies" and "Jack and the bean stalk". Ice Cube also appeared in D.A.Z. in the song "Iz You Ready to die" and in DJ Quik in the song "Boogie Till You Conk Out" in 2011.

In 2014 Ice Cube appeared on MC Ren's remix for Rebel Music. This was the first time the duo had worked together since the N.W.A reunion in 2000.[35]

In 2004, he appeared in the Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz song, "Real Nigga Roll Call". In late 2005, Ice Cube and R. J. Cutler teamed up to create the six-part documentary series titled Black. White., which was broadcast on cable network FX. In May 2006 Ice Cube complained that Oprah Winfrey would not welcome him and other rappers on her show.[36] Ice Cube's other movie projects include Teacher of the Year, released in 2007,[37] and The Extractors, released in 2008.

He has signed on to star in and produce Welcome Back, Kotter, a big-screen adaptation of the 1970s television series.[38] Ice Cube will play the title character, originally portrayed by Gabe Kaplan and his film company, Cube Vision Productions, has sealed a deal with Dimension Films to bring the show to the big screen.

In October 2006, Xzibit, Lil Jon and WC from the Westside Connection honored Ice Cube at VH1's Annual Hip Hop Honors, performing some classic Ice Cube tracks, and Ice Cube also performed "Why We Thugs" and "Go To Church" from his album Laugh Now, Cry Later, where the New York crowd were greeted with Cube's vintage Cali sound. After launching that comeback album, Ice Cube toured across the world to promote it. The tour is known as "Straight Outta Compton Tour", and accompanying him is his friend and fellow rapper WC from the Westside Connection. Some places he has recently performed include the Paradiso in Amsterdam and various venues in England. After touring the U.S. and Europe, he performed all around Australia, from Sydney's Enmore Theatre to The Forum Arena in Melbourne, before heading to Japan.

Ice Cube collaborated with Tech N9ne on the song "Blackboy" that appears on Tech N9ne's July 2008 album Killer. The eighth Ice Cube studio LP, titled Raw Footage, was released on August 19, 2008, and featured the singles Gangsta Rap Made Me Do It and Do Ya Thang. Ice Cube appeared on a song by rapper The Game titled "State of Emergency" off The Game's album, L.A.X. In 2009, Ice Cube performed at the Gathering of the Juggalos, and returned to perform at the 2011 festival.[39]

Despite rumors of conflicts with other rappers in 2010, Ice Cube stated in an interview with DJ Whoo Kid on Sirius Shade 45 that he has "no beef."[40]

Ice Cube's ninth studio album I Am the West was released on September 28, 2010. Ice Cube has stated this album has a different direction than any one of his other albums. He received beats from West coast veteran producers such as DJ Quik, Dr. Dre, E-A-Ski, and Sir Jinx, not having worked on a solo album with the latter in nearly 20 years. The album was released independently under his label Lench Mob. Ice Cube has stated that "being independent is beautiful because we can do things 'out the box' He also signed a upcoming recording artist named 7Tre The Ghost, that record companies would usually frown at. Instead of working from a ready-made cookie-cutter marketing plan, we can tailor make a marketing plan specifically for me."

In November 2011, Ice Cube stated via Twitter that he was seven songs into the current album he's recording. He also stated he "always got an album coming out" which suggests that he isn't thinking of rap retirement to focus on acting in the near future.

In 2012, Ice Cube recorded a verse for a remix of the Insane Clown Posse song "Chris Benoit", from ICP's The Mighty Death Pop! album, appearing on the album Mike E. Clark's Extra Pop Emporium.[41] Also in 2012, Ice Cube had released more details on his upcoming tenth studio album titled, Everythang's Corrupt. A music video for the album's first single of the same name was released on the day before the 2012 USA Election. Ice Cube explained the inspiration and reason for the song saying, "You know, this record is for the political heads. This to me is more a leak at the right time, in time, to drop it. We could have dropped a more catchier tune, but the time wouldn't have been right. The time is right for "Everythang's Corrupt," so that's what we wanted to do. We wanted to drop it at this point and time, and then come with a visual to highlight what we're saying in the music."[42] Everythang's Corrupt was released on iTunes in January 2013.[43] The second single "Crowded" was released to iTunes on March 29.[44] Ice Cube confirmed on his Twitter account that the album will be released in the fall of 2013 and will also be released via Lench Mob Records.[45] However, the album would be pushed back once again with no release date currently set.

Ice Cube released a new single off Everythang's Corrupt after a lengthy break since "Crowded." The new single, which was released on Monday, February 10, 2014 is called Sic Them Youngins On 'Em and is also available on iTunes.[46] The music video for the new single was released on February 11, 2014.[47] Ice Cube will release a new Music Video for his upcoming single Drop Girl featuring Redfoo and 2 Chainz which is directed by Will Kindrick. On July 22, 2014 Ice Cube released the video to his Club Banger Drop Girl featuring Redfoo and 2 Chainz. During an interview with Hallway Productionz Ice Cube stated that Everythang's Corrupt would be pushed back again, because he was focused on completing Straight Outta Compton. In October 2016, Billboard reported that the album would be released in 2017.[48]

Following his role as Doughboy in Boyz n the Hood in 1991, he then starred alongside Ice-T, and Bill Paxton in Walter Hill's action film, Trespass, and then in The Glass Shield.

Ice Cube was offered a co-star role with Janet Jackson for the 1993 romantic film Poetic Justice, but he refused to play the role, which was given to Tupac Shakur instead.

John Singleton had encouraged Ice Cube to try his hand at screenwriting, telling him, "If you can write a record, you can write a movie."[49] With this encouragement, Ice Cube wrote the screenplay for what became the 1995 comedy Friday, in which he also starred, alongside then up-and-coming comedian Chris Tucker. Friday earned $28 million worldwide on a $3.5 million budget, and spawned two sequels, Next Friday and Friday After Next. In 1995, he also starred in his second collaboration with John Singleton, Higher Learning, as university student Fudge.[50]

In 1997, Ice Cube starred in the action thriller Dangerous Ground as a South African exiled to America who returns 15 years later. He also had a supporting role in the film Anaconda that same year. He wrote, executive produced, and made his directorial debut in The Players Club in 1998. and in 1999 starred alongside George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg in the critically acclaimed Three Kings. In 2000, he wrote, produced and appeared in the Friday sequel Next Friday. In 2002, Ice Cube starred in the commercially successful movie Barbershop, as well as All About the Benjamins and the third film in the Friday trilogy, Friday After Next (which he again wrote and produced). In 2004, he appeared in Barbershop 2: Back in Business, and Torque; in 2005, he starred in the action movie XXX: State of the Union as well as his cameo appearance in XXx: Return of Xander Cage[51] and the family comedy Are We There Yet?, a role he reprised in its 2007 sequel, Are We Done Yet? Ice Cube also starred in the 2014 box office hit Ride Along, alongside comedian Kevin Hart, and reprised his role in the sequel Ride Along 2 (2016). Also in 2016, he returned to his Barbershop role for a 3rd installment called Barbershop: The Next Cut. In 2017, he starred alongside Charlie Day in the comedy film Fist Fight.

In early April 2007, Ice Cube was a guest on Angie Martinez's Hot97 radio show and stated that he was interested in bringing back Chris Tucker as Smokey in a possible Friday sequel, but that was only possible "if New Line cuts the check."[52] In an interview with BlackFilm.com, Ice Cube stated that he would be interested in involving all major characters from the Friday franchise in a possible sequel, but added "I know I'm not going to get Chris [Tucker] back, but I'd love to get everybody else back."[53] As of December 2011, Chris Tucker has agreed to be in Last Friday.

In the Movies is a compilation album of Ice Cube songs that have appeared in movie soundtracks, which was released on September 4, 2007.[54]

Ice Cube and basketball star LeBron James paired up to pitch a one-hour special to ABC based on James' life.[55] Ice Cube's Are We There Yet? television series premiered on TBS on June 2, 2010. Based on the 2005 feature film of the same name, the show revolves around a family adjusting to the matriarch's new husband (Terry Crews) and trying to deal with normal family situations. On August 16, 2010, Are We There Yet? was renewed for 90 additional episodes.[56] In an August 2010 interview with UrbLife.com, Ice Cube expressed excitement about the show being picked up for the run, which will pan out to around six seasons. He also credits Tyler Perry for opening the door for him at TBS.[57] He also had a role in 21 Jump Street and in its sequel 22 Jump Street. In 2014, he appeared with Elmo as a guest on PBS children's show Sesame Street.[58]

Ice Cube has licensed a clothing line, Solo by Cube, which features hooded sweatshirts with built-in headphones in the hood strings.

Since 2011, Ice Cube has appeared in advertisements for Coors Light beer. He was previously a spokesman for St. Ides malt liquor.[59]

On January 11, 2017, Ice Cube announced BIG3, a 3-on-3 concept professional basketball league featuring former NBA greats and players. Play will begin in June and feature 8 teams, with an 8-week regular schedule, a playoff system and a championship game.[60]

On April 26, 1992, he married Kimberly Woodruff (47),[61][62] with whom he has four children, O'Shea Jr. (26), Darrell (24), Kareema (23), and Shareef (22).[63] His son O'Shea, Jr. played his father in the 2015 N.W.A. biopic, Straight Outta Compton.[64]

When Ice Cube, a father of four, was asked in January 2005 on NPR by Fresh Air's Terry Gross[65] whether he allowed his children to listen to his music, he responded: "What's worked for me is instilling in my kids a level of self-respect", and helping them to understand the content of not just music but the violence found on the evening news. When asked what he tells his children about profanity, he recalled telling his kids that there are "appropriate times to use any kind of language.... Adults should never hear you use these words. If you want to use these words around your friends, that's really all on you."[65]

Jackson is also the cousin of rapper Del the Funky Homosapien who started his career writing for Jackson's group Da Lench Mob. With Cube's help Del released his debut album I Wish My Brother George Was Here when he was 18.[66]

In the mid-1990s, Ice Cube converted to Islam,[67] and was associated at that time with the Nation of Islam, although he denies ever being a part of it.[68] He does not regularly attend services at a mosque, and calls himself a "... natural Muslim, 'cause it's just me and God. You know, going to the mosque, the ritual and the tradition, it's just not in me to do. So I don't do it."[67][69] When asked in a 2017 interview if he was a practicing Muslim, Ice Cube replied, "Yeah. But, you know, I’m gonna live a long life, and I might change religions three or four times before I die. I’m on the Islam tip—but I’m on the Christian tip, too. I’m on the Buddhist tip as well. Everyone has something to offer to the world, and to be honest, we’re not fighting over religions, man. We’re fighting over resources. That’s just a smokescreen. And it’s not just oil, too—it’s water, it’s land, it’s everything. It’s greed."[70]

In a 2016 web video for Wired magazine, he stated that his favorite movie is Jaws, and that his favorite song overall and to perform live is "It Was a Good Day".[71]

Ice Cube has received nominations for several films in the past. To date, he has won two awards:


is hemp illegal to grow in the united states

Hemp was made illegal to grow without a permit in the U.S. under the Controlled Substances Act passed in 1970 because of its relation to marijuana,[17] and any imported hemp products must meet a zero tolerance level.[105] Some states have made the cultivation of industrial hemp legal, but farmers in many states have not yet begun to grow it because of resistance from the federal Drug Enforcement Administration,[106] making "large-scale hemp growing" in the United States "not viable" as late as 2013.[107] In 2013, after the legalization of cannabis in the state, several farmers in Colorado planted and harvested several acres of hemp, bringing in the first hemp crop in the United States in over half a century.[108] Colorado,[109] Vermont, California, and North Dakota have passed laws enabling hemp licensure. All four states are waiting for permission to grow hemp from the DEA. Currently,[110] Oregon has licensed industrial hemp as of August 2009[update].[111] Congress included a provision in the Agricultural Act of 2014 that allowed colleges and state agencies to grow and conduct research on hemp in states where it is legal.[17] Hemp production in Kentucky, formerly the United States' leading producer, resumed in 2014.[112]

Hemp

Hemp, or industrial hemp (from Old English hÃ¦nep),[1] typically found in the northern hemisphere, is a variety of the Cannabis sativa plant species that is grown specifically for the industrial uses of its derived products.[2] It is one of the fastest growing plants[3] and was one of the first plants to be spun into usable fiber 10,000 years ago.[4] It can be refined into a variety of commercial items including paper, textiles, clothing, biodegradable plastics, paint, insulation, biofuel, food, and animal feed.[5]

Although cannabis as a drug and industrial hemp both derive from the species Cannabis sativa and contain the psychoactive component tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), they are distinct strains with unique phytochemical compositions and uses.[6] Hemp has lower concentrations of THC and higher concentrations of cannabidiol (CBD), which decreases or eliminates its psychoactive effects.[6] The legality of industrial hemp varies widely between countries. Some governments regulate the concentration of THC and permit only hemp that is bred with an especially low THC content.[7][8]

The etymology is uncertain but there appears to be no common Proto-Indo-European source for the various forms of the word; the Greek term kánnabis is the oldest attested form, which may have been borrowed from an earlier Scythian or Thracian word.[9][10] Then it appears to have been borrowed into Latin, and separately into Slavic and from there into Baltic, Finnish, and Germanic languages.[11] Following Grimm's law, the "k" would have changed to "h" with the first Germanic sound shift,[9][12] after which it may have been adapted into the Old English form, hænep. However, this theory assumes that hemp was not widely spread among different societies until after it was already being used as a psychoactive drug, which Adams and Mallory (1997) believe to be unlikely based on archaeological evidence.[9] Barber (1991) however, argued that the spread of the name "kannabis" was due to its historically more recent drug use, starting from the south, around Iran, whereas non-THC varieties of hemp are older and prehistoric.[11] Another possible source of origin is Assyrian qunnabu, which was the name for a source of oil, fiber, and medicine in the 1st millennium BC.[11]

Cognates of hemp in other Germanic languages include Dutch hennep, Danish and Norwegian hamp, German Hanf, and Swedish hampa.[9]

Hemp is used to make a variety of commercial and industrial products including rope, clothes, food, paper, textiles, plastics, insulation and biofuel.[5] The bast fibers can be used to make textiles that are 100% hemp, but they are commonly blended with other organic fibers such as flax, cotton or silk, to make woven fabrics for apparel and furnishings. The inner two fibers of the plant are more woody and typically have industrial applications, such as mulch, animal bedding and litter. When oxidized (often erroneously referred to as "drying"), hemp oil from the seeds becomes solid and can be used in the manufacture of oil-based paints, in creams as a moisturizing agent, for cooking, and in plastics. Hemp seeds have been used in bird feed mix as well.[13] A survey in 2003 showed that more than 95% of hemp seed sold in the European Union was used in animal and bird feed.[14]

Hemp seeds can be eaten raw, ground into a meal, sprouted, or made into dried sprout powder. The leaves of the hemp plant can be consumed raw in salads. Hemp can also be made into a liquid and used for baking or for beverages such as hemp milk, hemp juice,[citation needed] and tea.[15] Hempseed oil is cold-pressed from the seed and is high in unsaturated fatty acids.[16] In 2011, the U.S. imported $11.5 million worth of hemp products, mostly driven by growth in demand for hemp seed and hemp oil for use as ingredients in foods such as granola.[17]

In the UK, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) treats hemp as a purely non-food crop, but with proper licensing and proof of less than 0.2% THC concentration, hemp seeds can be imported for sowing or for sale as a food or food ingredient.[18] In the U.S., imported hemp can be used legally in food products and as of 2000[update], was typically sold in health food stores or through mail order.[16]

100 grams of hulled hemp seeds supply 586 calories. They are 5% water, 5% carbohydrates, 49% total fat and 31% protein. Hemp seeds are notable in providing 64% of the Daily Value (DV) of protein per 100 gram serving.[19]

Hempseed amino acid profile is comparable to other sources of protein such as meat, milk, eggs and soy.[20] Protein Digestibility Corrected Amino Acid Score values (PDCAAS), which measure the degree to which a food for humans is a "complete protein", were 0.49-0.53 for whole hemp seed, 0.46-0.51 for hemp seed meal, and 0.63-0.66 for dehulled hemp seed.[21]

Hemp seeds are a rich source of B vitamins, the dietary minerals, manganese (362% DV), phosphorus (236% DV), magnesium (197% DV), zinc (104% DV), iron (61% DV) and dietary fiber (20% DV) (table).

Approximately 73% of the energy in hemp seeds is in the form of fats and essential fatty acids,[19] mainly polyunsaturated fatty acids, linoleic, oleic and alpha-linolenic acids.[20]

Hemp oil oxidizes and turns rancid within a short period of time if not stored properly;[16] its shelf life is extended when stored in a dark airtight container and refrigerated.

Hemp fiber has been used extensively throughout history, with production climaxing soon after being introduced to the New World. Items ranging from rope, to fabrics, to industrial materials were made from hemp fiber. Hemp was often used to make sail canvas, and the word canvas derives from cannabis.[22][23] Today, a modest hemp fabric industry exists, and hemp fibers can be used in clothing.[24] Pure hemp has a texture similar to linen.[25]

100% hemp fabric

Hemp sack (Japan)

Traditionally the hemp stalks would be water-retted first before the fibers were beaten off the inner hurd by hand; a process known as scutching. As mechanical technology evolved, separating the fiber from the core was accomplished by crushing rollers and brush rollers that would produce a nearly clean fiber. After the Marijuana Tax Act was implemented in 1938, the technology for separating the fibers from the core remained "frozen in time".

Only in 1997, starting with Ireland, did the Commonwealth countries and then other countries begin to legally grow industrial hemp again. Iterations of the 1930s decorticator have been met with limited success, along with steam explosion and chemical processing known as thermomechanical pulping.[citation needed]

Concrete-like blocks made with hemp and lime have been used as an insulating material for construction. Such blocks are not strong enough to be used for structural elements; they must be supported by a brick, wood, or steel frame.[26] However hemp fibres are extremely strong and durable, and have been shown to be usable as a replacement for wood for many jobs including creating very durable and breathable homes.

The first example of the use of hempcrete was in 1986 in France with the renovation of the Maison de la Turque in Nogent-sur-Seine by the innovator Charles Rasetti.[27] In the UK hemp lime was first used in 2000 for the construction of two test dwellings in Haverhill.[28] Designed by Modece Architects,[29] who pioneered hemp's use in UK construction, the hemp houses were monitored in comparison with other standard dwellings by BRE. Completed in 2009, The Renewable House is one of the most technologically advanced made from hemp-based materials.[30] The first US home made of hemp-based materials was completed in August 2010 in Asheville, North Carolina.[31]

A panellized system of hemp-lime panels for use in building construction is currently under test in a European Union funded research collaboration led by the University of Bath. The panels are being designed to assure high quality construction, rapid on-site erection, optimal hygrothermal performance from day one and energy and resource efficient buildings. The 36-month-long work programme aims to refine product and manufacturing protocols, produce data for certification and marketing, warranty, insurance cover and availability of finance. It also includes the development of markets in Britain, France and Spain.[32]

Hemp is used as an internal plaster and is a mixture of hemp hurd (shive) mixed with larger proportions of a lime based binder. Hemp plaster has insulative qualities.[33]

Hemp fiber board

Hemp thermal insulation

Hemp interior thermal insulation blocks

Hemp acoustic ceiling insulation

Concrete block made with hemp in France

A mixture of fiberglass, hemp fiber, kenaf, and flax has been used since 2002 to make composite panels for automobiles.[34] The choice of which bast fiber to use is primarily based on cost and availability. Various car makers are beginning to use hemp in their cars, including Audi, BMW, Ford, GM, Chrysler, Honda, Iveco, Lotus, Mercedes, Mitsubishi, Porsche, Saturn, Volkswagen[35] and Volvo. For example, the Lotus Eco Elise[36] and the Mercedes C-Class both contain hemp (up to 20Â kg in each car in the case of the latter).[37]

An aircraft constructed mostly from hemp, the Hempearth Hemp Plane, is also under development for launch in late 2017.[38]

Hemp plastic interior of a car door

Hemp plastic automobile glove box

Hemp plastic column, automobile

Hemp composite sink basin

Hemp paper is used for packaging, stationery, journals, fine art papers and business cards.

Before the industrialisation of the paper production the most common fibre source was recycled fibres from used textiles, called rags. The rags were from hemp, linen and cotton.[39] A process for removing printing inks from recycled paper was invented by German jurist Justus Claproth in 1774.[39] Today this method is called deinking. It was not until the introduction of wood pulp in 1843 that paper production was not dependent on recycled materials from ragpickers.[39]

The first identified coarse paper, made from hemp, dates to the early Western Han Dynasty, two hundred years before the nominal invention of papermaking by Cai Lun, who improved and standardized paper production using a range of inexpensive materials, including hemp ends, approximately 2000 years ago.[40] Recycled hemp clothing, rags and fishing nets were used as inputs for paper production.

The Saint Petersburg, Russia, paper mill of Goznak opened in 1818. It used hemp as its main input material. Paper from the mill was used in the printing of "bank notes, stamped paper, credit bills, postal stamps, bonds, stocks, and other watermarked paper."[41]

In 1916, U.S. Department of Agriculture chief scientists Lyster Hoxie Dewey and Jason L. Merrill created paper made from hemp pulp and concluded that paper from hemp hurds was "favorable in comparison with those used with pulp wood."[42][43] The chemical composition of hemp hurds is similar to that of wood,[44] making hemp a good choice as a raw material for manufacturing paper. Modern research has not confirmed the positive finding about hemp hurds from 1916. A later book about hemp and other fibers by the same L.H. Dewey(1943) have no words about hemp as a raw material for production of paper.[45] Dried hemp has about 57% cellulose (the principal ingredient in paper), compared to about 40-50% in wood.[46][47][48] Hemp also has the advantage of a lower lignin content: hemp contains only 5-24% lignin[49] against the 20-35% found in wood.[50] This lignin must be removed chemically and wood requires more use of chemicals in the process.[51] The actual production of hemp fiber in the U.S continued to decline until 1933 to around 500 tons/year. Between 1934 and 1935, the cultivation of hemp began to increase but still at a very low level and with no significant increase of paper from hemp.[52][53]

Currently there is a small niche market for hemp pulp, for example as cigarette paper.[54] Hemp fiber is mixed with fiber from other sources than hemp. In 1994 there was no significant production of 100% true hemp paper.[55] World hemp pulp production was believed to be around 120,000 tons per year in 1991 which was about 0.05% of the world's annual pulp production volume.[56] The total world production of hemp fiber had in 2003 declined to about 60,000 from 80,000 tons.[54] This can be compared to a typical pulp mill for wood fiber, which is never smaller than 250,000 tons per annum.[55][57] The cost of hemp pulp is approximately six times that of wood pulp,[56] mostly because of the small size and outdated equipment of the few hemp processing plants in the Western world, and because hemp is harvested once a year (during August)[citation needed] and needs to be stored to feed the mill the whole year through. This storage requires a lot of (mostly manual) handling of the bulky stalk bundles. Another issue is that the entire hemp plant cannot be economically prepared for paper production. While the wood products industry uses nearly 100% of the fiber from harvested trees, only about 25% of the dried hemp stem—the bark, called bast—contains the long, strong fibers desirable for paper production.[58] All this accounts for a high raw material cost. Hemp pulp is bleached with hydrogen peroxide, a process today also commonly used for wood pulp.

Around the year 2000, the production quantity of flax and hemp pulp total 25000-30000 tons per year, having been produced from approximately 37000-45000 tonnes fibers. Up to 80% of the produced pulp is used for specialty papers (including 95% of cigarette paper). Only about 20% hemp fiber input goes into the standard pulp area and are here mostly in lower quality (untreated oakum high shive content added) wood pulps. With hemp pulp alone, the proportion of specialty papers probably at about 99%. The market is considered saturated with little or no growth in this area.[59][60]

Hemp jewelry is the product of knotting hemp twine through the practice of macramé. Hemp jewellery includes bracelets, necklaces, anklets, rings, watches and other adornments. Some jewellery features beads made from crystals, glass, stone, wood and bones. The hemp twine varies in thickness and comes in a variety of colors. There are many different stitches used to create hemp jewellery, however, the half knot and full knot stitches are most common.

Hemp rope was used in the age of sailing ships, though the rope had to be protected by tarring, since hemp rope has a propensity for breaking from rot, as the capillary effect of the rope-woven fibers tended to hold liquid at the interior, while seeming dry from the outside.[61] Tarring was a labor-intensive process, and earned sailors the nickname "Jack Tar". Hemp rope was phased out when Manila, which does not require tarring, became widely available. Manila is sometimes referred to as Manila hemp, but is not related to hemp; it is abacá, a species of banana.

Hemp shives are the core of the stem, hemp hurds are broken parts of the core. In the EU, they are used for animal bedding (horses, for instance), or for horticultural mulch.[62] Industrial hemp is much more profitable if both fibers and shives (or even seeds) can be used.

Hemp can be used as a "mop crop" to clear impurities out of wastewater, such as sewage effluent, excessive phosphorus from chicken litter, or other unwanted substances or chemicals. Additionally, hemp is being used to clean contaminants at the Chernobyl nuclear disaster site, by way of a process which is known as phytoremediationâ€”the process of clearing radioisotopes as well as a variety of other toxins from the soil, water, and air.[63]

Hemp, because of its height, dense foliage and its high planting density as a crop, is a very effective and long used method of killing tough weeds in farming by minimizing the pool of weed seeds of the soil.[64] Using hemp this way can help farmers avoid the use of herbicides, to help gain organic certification and to gain the benefits of crop rotation. Due to its rapid, dense growth characteristics, in some jurisdictions hemp is considered a prohibited noxious weed, much like Scotch Broom.[citation needed]

Biodiesel can be made from the oils in hemp seeds and stalks and alcohol fuel (ethanol or, less commonly, methanol) from the fermentation of the whole plant. Biodiesel produced from hemp is sometimes known as "hempoline".[65]

Filtered hemp oil can be used directly to power diesel engines. In 1892, Rudolf Diesel invented the diesel engine, which he intended to power "by a variety of fuels, especially vegetable and seed oils, which earlier were used for oil lamps, i.e. the Argand lamp."[66][67][68]

Production of vehicle fuel from hemp is very small. Commercial biodiesel and biogas is typically produced from cereals, coconuts, palmseeds and cheaper raw materials like garbage, wastewater, dead plant and animal material, animal feces and kitchen waste.[69]

Hemp is usually planted between March and May in the northern hemisphere, between September and November in the southern hemisphere.[70] It matures in about three to four months.

Millennia of selective breeding have resulted in varieties that look quite different. Also, breeding since circa 1930 has focused quite specifically on producing strains which would perform very poorly as sources of drug material. Hemp grown for fiber is planted closely, resulting in tall, slender plants with long fibers. "Until the early 1900s industrial hemp was a valuable crop used all over the world for its strong fibers and oil seeds. Today, however, the common perception of the industrial hemp plant is generally negative and associated with the drug marijuana. This perception is the legacy of a century of powerful influences construing hemp as a dangerous drug, even though it is not a drug and it has the potential to be a profitable alternative crop. In the United States, the public's perception of hemp as marijuana has blocked hemp from becoming a useful crop and product,"[71] in spite of its vital importance prior to World War II.[72] Ideally, according to Britain's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the herb should be desiccated and harvested towards the end of flowering. This early cropping reduces the seed yield but improves the fiber yield and quality.[73] In these strains of industrial hemp the tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) content would have been very low.[71]

The seeds are sown from mid-April to mid-May with grain drills to 4–6 cm sowing depth. Hemp needs less fertilizer than corn does. A total of 60–150 kg of nitrogen, 40–140 kg phosphorus (P2O5) and 75–200 kg of potassium [5] per acre for hemp fiber made before sowing and again later, maybe three to four weeks. When practiced, especially in France double use of fiber and seed fertilization with nitrogen doses up to 100 kg / ha rather low. Organic fertilizers such as manure can utilize industrial hemp well. Neither weeds nor crop protection measures are necessary.[71]

A total of 26 varieties of hemp with low levels of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) are certified by the European Union (EU).[74] They have, unlike other types, a very high fiber content of 30-40%. In contrast to cannabis for medical use, varieties grown for fiber and seed have less than 0.2% THC and they are unsuitable for producing hashish and marijuana.[75] The most important cannabinoid in industrial hemp is cannabidiol (CBD) with a proportion of 1 to 5%.[citation needed]

Cannabis sativa L. subsp. sativa var. sativa is the variety grown for industrial use, while C. sativa subsp. indica generally has poor fiber quality and female buds from this variety are primarily used for recreational and medicinal purposes. The major differences between the two types of plants are the appearance, and the amount of Î”9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) secreted in a resinous mixture by epidermal hairs called glandular trichomes, although they can also be distinguished genetically.[76] Oilseed and fiber varieties of Cannabis approved for industrial hemp production produce only minute amounts of this psychoactive drug, not enough for any physical or psychological effects. Typically, hemp contains below 0.3% THC, while cultivars of Cannabis grown for medicinal or recreational use can contain anywhere from 2% to over 20%.[77]

Smallholder plots are usually harvested by hand. The plants are cut at 2 to 3Â cm above the soil and left on the ground to dry. Mechanical harvesting is now common, using specially adapted cutter-binders or simpler cutters.

The cut hemp is laid in swathes to dry for up to four days. This was traditionally followed by retting, either water retting (the bundled hemp floats in water) or dew retting (the hemp remains on the ground and is affected by the moisture in dew, and by molds and bacterial action).

For profitable hemp farming, particularly deep, humus-rich, nutrient-rich soil with controlled water flow is preferable. Waterlogged acidic, compressed or extremely light (sandy) soils primarily affect the early development of plants.[citation needed] Steep and high altitudes of more than 400 m above sea level are best avoided. Hemp is relatively insensitive to cold temperatures and can withstand frost down to −5 °C.[citation needed] Seeds can germinate down to 1–3 °C.[citation needed] Hemp needs a lot of heat, so earlier varieties come to maturation. The water requirement is 300–500 l/kg dry matter.[citation needed] Up to 3 feet growing roots into the soil can also use water supplies from deeper soil layers. Worth noting is that the water requirement of hemp is at least 14 times lower than that of cotton, which takes between 7,000 and 29,000 l/kg, according to WWF.[citation needed]

Hemp benefits crops grown after it. For this reason, it is generally grown before winter cereals. Advantageous changes are high weed suppression, soil loosening by the large hemp root system and the positive effect on soil tilth. Since hemp is very self-compatible, it can also be grown several years in a row in the same fields (monoculture).

Hemp plants can be vulnerable to various pathogens, including bacteria, fungi, nematodes, viruses and other miscellaneous pathogens. Such diseases often lead to reduced fiber quality, stunted growth, and death of the plant. These diseases rarely affect the yield of a hemp field, so hemp production is not traditionally dependent on the use of pesticides.

Hemp is considered by a 1998 study in Environmental Economics to be environmentally friendly due to a decrease of land use and other environmental impacts, indicating a possible decrease of ecological footprint in a US context compared to typical benchmarks.[78] A 2010 study, however, that compared the production of paper specifically from hemp and eucalyptus concluded that "industrial hemp presents higher environmental impacts than eucalyptus paper"; however, the article also highlights that "there is scope for improving industrial hemp paper production".[79] Hemp is also claimed to require few pesticides and no herbicides, and it has been called a carbon negative raw material.[80][81] Results indicate that high yield of hemp may require high total nutrient levels (field plus fertilizer nutrients) similar to a high yielding wheat crop.[82]

Hemp production in tonnes 2003 & 2013
FAOSTAT (FAO)

The world-leading producer of hemp is China, which produces more than 70% of the world output. France ranks second with approximately a quarter of the world production. There is smaller production in Europe, Chile and North Korea. Over thirty countries produce industrial hemp, including Australia, Austria, Canada, Chile, China, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, Great Britain, Germany, Greece,[83] Hungary, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey and Ukraine.[84][85]

The United Kingdom and Germany resumed commercial production in the 1990s. British production is mostly used as bedding for horses; other uses are under development. Companies in Canada, the UK, the United States and Germany, among many others, process hemp seed into a growing range of food products and cosmetics; many traditional growing countries still continue to produce textile-grade fibre.

Air dry stem yields in Ontario have from 1998 and onward ranged from 2.6-14.0 tonnes of dry, retted stalks per hectare (1-5.5 t/ac) at 12% moisture. Yields in Kent County, have averaged 8.75 t/ha (3.5 t/ac). Northern Ontario crops averaged 6.1 t/ha (2.5 t/ac) in 1998. Statistic for the European Union for 2008 to 2010 say that the average yield of hemp straw has varied between 6.3 and 7.3 ton per ha.[86][87] Only a part of that is bast fiber. Approximately one tonne of bast fiber and 2-3 tonnes of core material can be decorticated from 3-4 tonnes of good quality, dry retted straw. For an annual yield of this level is it in Ontario recommended to add nitrogen (N):70–110 kg/ha, phosphate (P2O5): up to 80 kg/ha and potash (K2O): 40–90 kg/ha.[88] The average yield of dry hemp stalks in Europe was 6 ton/ha (2.4 ton/ac) in 2001 and 2002.[14]

FAO argue that an optimum yield of hemp fiber is more than 2 tonnes per ha, while average yields are around 650Â kg/ha.[89]

In the Australian states of Tasmania, Victoria, Queensland and, most recently, New South Wales, the state governments have issued licences to grow hemp for industrial use. The first to initiate modern research into the potential of cannabis was the state of Tasmania pioneered the licensing of hemp during the early 1990s. The state of Victoria was an early adopter in 1998, and has reissued the regulation in 2008.[90]

Queensland has allowed industrial production under licence since 2002,[91] where the issuance is controlled under the Drugs Misuse Act 1986.[92] Most recently, New South Wales now issues licences[93] under a law, the Hemp Industry Regulations Act 2008 (No 58), that came into effect as of 6 November 2008.[94]

Commercial production (including cultivation) of industrial hemp has been permitted in Canada since 1998 under licenses and authorization issued by Health Canada (9,725 ha in 2004, 5450 ha in 2009).[95]

In the early 1990s, industrial hemp agriculture in North America began with the Hemp Awareness Committee at the University of Manitoba. The Committee worked with the provincial government to get research and development assistance, and was able to obtain test plot permits from the Canadian government. Their efforts led to the legalization of industrial hemp (hemp with only minute amounts of tetrahydrocannabinol) in Canada and the first harvest in 1998.[96][97]

The cultivated area for hemp in the Prairie provinces of Canada is stable at about 90,000 acres (36,000 ha) over 2013–15.[98]

France is the world's biggest producer with 8,000 hectares cultivated.[citation needed] 70-80% of the hemp fibre produced in Europe in 2003 was used for specialty pulp for cigarette papers and technical applications. About 15% is used in the automotive sector and 5-6% were used for insulation mats. Approximately 95% of hurds were used as animal bedding, while almost 5% were used in the building sector.[14] In 2010/2011, a total of 11 000 ha was cultivated with hemp in the EU, a decline compared with previous year.[87][99]

From the 1950s to the 1980s, the Soviet Union was the world's largest producer of hemp (3,000 km² in 1970). The main production areas were in Ukraine,[100] the Kursk and Orel regions of Russia, and near the Polish border. Since its inception in 1931, the Hemp Breeding Department at the Institute of Bast Crops in Hlukhiv (Glukhov), Ukraine, has been one of the world's largest centers for developing new hemp varieties, focusing on improving fiber quality, per-hectare yields, and low THC content.[101][102]

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the commercial cultivation of hemp declined sharply. However, it is estimated that at least 2.5 million acres of hemp grows wild in the Russian Far East and Black Sea regions.[103]

In the United Kingdom, cultivation licences are issued by the Home Office under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. When grown for non-drug purposes, hemp is referred to as industrial hemp, and a common product is fibre for use in a wide variety of products, as well as the seed for nutritional aspects and for the oil. Feral hemp or ditch weed is usually a naturalized fibre or oilseed strain of Cannabis that has escaped from cultivation and is self-seeding.[104]

As of 2015 the hemp industry estimated that annual sales of hemp products were around US$580 million annually; hemp seeds have been the major force driving this growth.[113]

Yet, even with this progress, hemp businesses seem to face difficulty expanding in the US as they face challenges in traditional marketing and sales approaches. According to a case study done by Forbes, hemp businesses and startups have had difficulty marketing and selling non-psychoactive hemp products, as social media and financial institutions refuse to distinguish between hemp and marijuana.[114]

Hemp is possibly one of the earliest plants to be cultivated.[116][117] An archeological site in the Oki Islands near Japan contained cannabis achenes from about 8000Â BC, probably signifying use of the plant.[118] Hemp use archaeologically dates back to the Neolithic Age in China, with hemp fiber imprints found on Yangshao culture pottery dating from the 5th millennium BC.[115][119] The Chinese later used hemp to make clothes, shoes, ropes, and an early form of paper.[115] The classical Greek historian Herodotus (ca. 480 BC) reported that the inhabitants of Scythia would often inhale the vapors of hemp-seed smoke, both as ritual and for their own pleasurable recreation.[120]

Textile expert Elizabeth Wayland Barber summarizes the historical evidence that Cannabis sativa, "grew and was known in the Neolithic period all across the northern latitudes, from Europe (Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Romania, Ukraine) to East Asia (Tibet and China)," but, "textile use of Cannabis sativa does not surface for certain in the West until relatively late, namely the Iron Age."[121] "I strongly suspect, however, that what catapulted hemp to sudden fame and fortune as a cultigen and caused it to spread rapidly westwards in the first millennium B.C. was the spread of the habit of pot-smoking from somewhere in south-central Asia, where the drug-bearing variety of the plant originally occurred. The linguistic evidence strongly supports this theory, both as to time and direction of spread and as to cause."[122]

Jews living in Palestine in the 2nd century were familiar with the cultivation of hemp, as witnessed by a reference to it in the Mishna (Kil'ayim 2:5) as a variety of plant, along with Arum, that sometimes takes as many as three years to grow from a seedling. In late medieval Germany and Italy, hemp was employed in cooked dishes, as filling in pies and tortes, or boiled in a soup.[123] Hemp in later Europe was mainly cultivated for its fibers, and was used for ropes on many ships, including those of Christopher Columbus. The use of hemp as a cloth was centered largely in the countryside, with higher quality textiles being available in the towns.

The Spaniards brought hemp to the Western Hemisphere and cultivated it in Chile starting about 1545.[124] However, in May 1607, "hempe" was among the crops Gabriel Archer observed being cultivated by the natives at the main Powhatan village, where Richmond, Virginia is now situated;[125] and in 1613, Samuell Argall reported wild hemp "better than that in England" growing along the shores of the upper Potomac. As early as 1619, the first Virginia House of Burgesses passed an Act requiring all planters in Virginia to sow "both English and Indian" hemp on their plantations.[126] The Puritans are first known to have cultivated hemp in New England in 1645.[124]

George Washington pushed for the growth of hemp and even grew hemp himself, as it was a cash crop commonly used to make rope and fabric. In May 1765 he noted in his diary about the sowing of seeds each day until mid-April. Then he recounts the harvest in October which he grew 27 bushels that year.

There is some speculation that George Washington smoked the flower of the cannabis plant in order to achieve a recreational high ("Like all farmers, Washington probably sampled the quality and potency of what he grew, and he may have used this hemp to treat his chronic tooth aches"),[72] but there is no evidence in any of his writings that he grew hemp for anything other than industrial purposes. It is sometimes supposed that an excerpt from Washington's diary, which reads "Began to seperate [sic] the Male from the Female hemp at Do.&â€”rather too late" is evidence that he was trying to grow female plants for the THC found in the flowers. However, the editorial remark accompanying the diary states that "This may arise from their [the male] being coarser, and the stalks larger"[127] In subsequent days, he describes soaking the hemp[128] (to make the fibers usable) and harvesting the seeds,[129] suggesting that he was growing hemp for industrial purposes, not recreational.

George Washington also imported the Indian Hemp plant from Asia, which was used for fiber and, by some growers, for intoxicating resin production. In a letter to William Pearce who managed the plants for him Washington says, "What was done with the Indian Hemp plant from last summer? It ought, all of it, to be sown again; that not only a stock of seed sufficient for my own purposes might have been raised, but to have disseminated seed to others; as it is more valuable than common hemp."[citation needed]

Additional presidents known to have farmed hemp include Thomas Jefferson,[130] James Madison, James Monroe, Andrew Jackson, Zachary Taylor, and Franklin Pierce. [131]

Historically, hemp production had made up a significant portion of antebellum Kentucky's economy. Before the American Civil War, many slaves worked on plantations producing hemp.[132]

In 1937, the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 was passed in the United States, levying a tax on anyone who dealt commercially in cannabis, hemp, or marijuana. The passing of the Act to destroy the US hemp industry has been disputed to involve businessmen Andrew Mellon, Randolph Hearst and the Du Pont family.[133][134][135]

One claim is that Hearst believed[dubious – discuss] that his extensive timber holdings were threatened by the invention of the decorticator which he feared would allow hemp to become a cheap substitute for the paper pulp used for newspaper.[133][136] Historical research indicates this fear was unfounded because improvements of the decorticators in the 1930s – machines that separated the fibers from the hemp stem – could not make hemp fiber a cheaper substitute for fibers from other sources. Further, decorticators did not perform satisfactorily in commercial production.[45][133]

Another claim is that Mellon, Secretary of the Treasury and the wealthiest man in America at that time, had invested heavily in DuPont's new synthetic fiber, nylon, and believed[dubious â€“ discuss] that the replacement of the traditional resource, hemp, was integral to the new product's success.[133][137][138][139][140][141][142][143] The company DuPont and many industrial historians dispute a link between nylon and hemp, nylon became immediately a scarce commodity.[clarification needed] Nylon had characteristics that could be used for toothbrushes (sold from 1938) and very thin nylon fiber could compete with silk and rayon in various textiles normally not produced from hemp fiber, such as very thin stockings for women.[45][144][145][146][147]

Hemp was used extensively by the United States during World War II to make uniforms, canvas, and rope.[148] Much of the hemp used was cultivated in Kentucky and the Midwest. During World War II, the U.S. produced a short 1942 film, Hemp for Victory, promoting hemp as a necessary crop to win the war.

Hemp has been grown for millennia in Asia and the Middle East for its fibre. Commercial production of hemp in the West took off in the eighteenth century, but was grown in the sixteenth century in eastern England.[149] Because of colonial and naval expansion of the era, economies needed large quantities of hemp for rope and oakum. In the early 1940s, world production of hemp fiber ranged from 250 000 to 350 000 metric tonnes, Russia was the biggest producer.[45]

In Western Europe, the cultivation of hemp was not legally banned by the 1930s, but the commercial cultivation stopped by then, due to decreased demand compared to increasingly popular artificial fibers.[150] Speculation about the potential for commercial cultivation of hemp in large quantities has been criticized due to successful competition from other fibers for many products. The world production of hemp fiber fell from over 300,000 metric tons 1961 to about 75,000 metric tons in the early 1990s and has after that been stable at that level.[151]

In Japan, hemp was historically used as paper and a fiber crop. There is archaeological evidence cannabis was used for clothing and the seeds were eaten in Japan back to the Jōmon period (10,000 to 300 BC). Many Kimono designs portray hemp, or asa (Japanese: 麻), as a beautiful plant. In 1948, marijuana was restricted as a narcotic drug. The ban on marijuana imposed by the United States authorities was alien to Japanese culture, as the drug had never been widely used in Japan before. Though these laws against marijuana are some of the world's strictest, allowing five years imprisonment for possession of the drug, they exempt hemp growers, whose crop is used to make robes for Buddhist monks and loincloths for Sumo wrestlers. Because marijuana use in Japan has doubled in the past decade, these exemptions have recently been called into question.[152]

The cultivation of hemp in Portuguese lands began around the fourteenth century onwards, it was raw material for the preparation of rope and plugs for the Portuguese ships. Colonies for factories for the production of flax hemp, such as the Royal Flax Hemp Factory in Brazil.

After the Restoration of Independence in 1640, in order to recover the ailing Portuguese naval fleet, were encouraged its cultivation as the Royal Decree of D. John IV in 1656. At that time its cultivation was carried out in Trás-os-Montes, Zone Tower Moncorvo, more precisely in Vilariça Valley, fertile land for any crop irrigation, and a very large area, flat and very fertile culture still wide until the last century grew up tobacco, a plant that needs a large space to expand and grow, the area lies in the valley of Serra de Bornes.

In 1971, the cultivation of hemp became illegal, and the production was substantially reduced. Because of EU regulations 1308/70, 619/71 and 1164/89, this law was revoked (for some certified seed varieties).[153]


where do cat's eye shells come from

The operculum of certain species of Turbinidae is sometimes used as a very inexpensive organic "gemstone" in rings, bracelets, amulets etc. These opercula are commonly known as "cats eye" (or more recently "Shiva's eye").

Operculum (gastropod)

The operculum, meaning little lid, (plural: opercula or operculums) is a corneous or calcareous anatomical structure like a trapdoor which exists in many (but not all) groups of sea snails and freshwater snails, and also in a few groups of land snails. In other words, this structure is found in some marine and freshwater gastropods, and in a minority of terrestrial gastropods, including the families Helicinidae, Cyclophoridae, Aciculidae, Maizaniidae, Pomatiidae, etc.

The operculum is attached to the upper surface of the foot and in its most complete state, it serves as a sort of "trapdoor" to close the aperture of the shell when the soft parts of the animal are retracted. The shape of the operculum varies greatly from one family of gastropods to another. It is fairly often circular, or more or less oval in shape. In species where the operculum fits snugly, its outline corresponds exactly to the shape of the aperture of the shell and it serves to seal the entrance of the shell.

Many families have opercula that are reduced in size, and which are not capable of closing the shell aperture. Opercula have sometimes been modified: in the Strombidae the operculum is claw-shaped and is used to push into the substrate in a leaping form of locomotion.

Virtually all pulmonate snails are inoperculate, i.e. they do not have an operculum, with the exception of the Amphiboloidea. However, some terrestrial pulmonate species are capable of secreting an epiphragm, a temporary structure that can in some cases serve some of the same functions as an operculum. The epiphragm may be distinguished from the true operculum by its homogeneity and want of growth marks.

In ammonites (extinct shelled cephalopods), a calcareous structure known as the aptychus (plural aptychi) existed. When these were first described they were thought to be valves of a bivalve species, then for many years after that they were considered to be a form of paired or single operculum-like structures belonging to ammonites. More recently the aptychus or paired aptychi have been hypothesized to be a jaw apparatus of ammonites.

Perhaps the most essential function of the operculum in gastropods is to allow snails to resist drying out, or desiccation. This is very important in intertidal marine snails during low tide, and this also enables operculate freshwater and land snails to survive periods of drought and dry weather.

In those marine species where the operculum completely seals the shell, it can also serve as a protection against predators when the snail body is retracted.

In life, the operculum is attached at the ending of the columellar muscle with an opercular disc dorsally to the upper surface of the posterior part of the foot. However, in Buccinum a layer of long cylindrical epithelial cells, with mostly distinct nuclei, and long divided processes enter between the muscular fibres. The operculum, a cuticular development of these cells, is composed, as may be seen in the corneous opercula of Murex, Purpura, Triton, of very thin superimposed layers. The cylindrical cells are attached with their head to the lowermost layer.[1]

The operculum grows in size as the shell grows, such that the operculum remains in proportion to the apertural size. In many species, when the animal is active and crawling, part of the underside of the shell rests on the outer surface of the operculum.

In many species of marine shelled snails which live subtidally, the operculum is greatly reduced in size, and no longer serves to seal the shell entrance. In a large number of families it has been eliminated completely.

In species of conchs, the operculum is elongated and pentagram-shaped, and is used to dig into the sand to enable the conch to perform a leaping type of locomotion.

The structure of the operculum can be described as follows:[1]

Example of a concentric operculum (Filopaludina martensi)

Example of a polygyrous spiral with eccentric nucleus in the operculum of Marstonia comalensis, scale bar: 200 Î¼m

Example of an oligogyrous spiral in Cremnoconchus syhadrensis

Fossil spiral opercula (both sides) from the Pliocene of Cyprus

In 1998 Checa and Jimeneze proposed three types of opercula:[2]

There are two basic types of opercula in terms of their material composition:

The different shapes of opercula can include ungulate (hooflike), claw-like, or ovate. The type and shape of the operculum is used to help identify and classify related groups (genera) of land operculates, and likewise some marine operculates.

The oldest known human depiction of an operculum together with the shell of Charonia tritonis is a seal made by the Minoan civilization.[3]

Opercula of certain gastropods, especially varieties from the Red Sea, have long served as an incense material in ancient Jewish tradition, as well as Arabian cultures. The operculum of conch species Strombus tricornis and Lambis truncata sebae are most commonly used in regions near the Middle East. Opercula from these conches may be the onycha incense material which is described in the Book of Exodus.

Operculum powder is also an important ingredient in Chinese and Japanese incense making. Here it is called "bèi xiāng" (Chinese: 貝香; lit. sea shell fragrance) or "kai kou" (Japanese: 甲香, lit. shell/armour fragrance) respectively. Incense producers in these countries use the operculum of many conches and other marine snails, including those found in Southeast Asia, South America, and East Africa. The opercula are traditionally treated with vinegar, alcohol and water in order to remove any fishy smell. The clean opercula are then ground to a powder and used as a scent fixative, in a technique similar to that used in perfumes with certain plant resins.

When burnt on its own, high quality operculum reportedly smells of castoreum or other animal musks, while that of lower quality is reminiscent of burnt hair.

The turban snail Turbo petholatus is the species whose operculum is most widely used, although the operculum of other species of Turbo are sometimes used. The operculum is almost always given a solid setting, because it has one unattractive flat and corneous side where it was attached to the animal, and one roughly hemispherical glossy side, which, in the case of T. petholatus has a dark green area.

Opercula are often used in Northwest Coast art of North America, as detailing in masks, panels and paddles. These objects are used to represent the teeth in masks, and are used as a decorative element in many of the objects which play an important part in the art and culture of Northwest Coast peoples, including dishes for food, bentwood boxes, and rattles.

Friedrich Ratzel in The History of Mankind[4] reported in 1896 that, in Oceania, chains and girdles composed of the coloured opercula of certain shells were considered valuable ornaments.

The largest opercula of Turbo marmoratus have been used as paperweights.[5]