Agave is a genus of monocots native to the hot and arid regions of the Americas, although some Agave species are native to tropical areas of South America. The genus Agave is known for its succulent and xerophytic species that form large rosettes of strong, fleshy leaves. Plants in this genus may be considered perennial, because they require several to many years to mature and flower. However, most Agave species are more described as monocarpic rosettes or multiannuals, since each individual rosette flowers only once and dies. Along with plants from the related genera Yucca and Hesperaloe, various Agave species are popular ornamental plants in hot, dry climates, as they require little supplemental water to survive. Most Agave species grow slowly; some Agave species are known by the common name "century plant". The succulent leaves of most Agave species have sharp marginal teeth, an sharp terminal spine, are fibrous inside; the stout stem is extremely short, which may make the plant appear as though it is stemless.

Agave rosettes are monocarpic, though some species are polycarpic. During flowering, a tall stem or "mast" grows apically from the center of the rosette and bears a large number of short, tubular flowers and sometimes vegetatively produced bulbils. After pollination/fertilization and subsequent fruit development, in monocarpic species, the original rosette dies. However, throughout the lifetime of many Agave species, rhizomatous suckers develop above the roots at the base of the rosette; these suckers dies. Not all agaves produce suckers throughout their lifetimes. Agaves can be confused with cacti, aloes, or stonecrops, but although these plants all share similar morphological adaptations to arid environments, each group belongs to a different plant family and experienced convergent evolution. Further and stonecrop lineages are eudicots, while aloes and agaves are monocots. Agave species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species, including Batrachedra striolata, recorded on A. shawii.

The agave root system, consisting of a network of shallow rhizomes, allows the agave to efficiently capture moisture from rain and dew. In addition to growing from seeds, most agaves produce'pups' – young plants from runners. Agave vilmoriniana produces hundreds of pups on its bloom stalk. Agave leaves are crucial to its continued existence; the coated leaf surface prevents evaporation. The leaves have sharp, spiked edges; the spikes discourage predators from eating the plant or using it as a source of water and are so tough that ancient peoples used them for sewing needles. The sap is acidic; some agaves bloom at a height up to 30 ft so that they are far out of reach to animals that might attack them. Smaller species, such as Agave lechuguilla, have smaller bloom stalks. In the APG III system, the genus Agave is placed in the subfamily Agavoideae of the broadly circumscribed family Asparagaceae; some authors prefer to place it in the segregated family Agavaceae. According to the most recent phylogenetic analyses, the genus Agave is shown to be paraphyletic with the embedded genera Manfreda and Prochnyanthes.

These genera are now combined with Agave to form the group described as Agave sensu lato, which contains about 252 species total. Traditionally, the genus Agave was circumscribed to be composed of about 166 species. In the Cronquist system and others, Agave was placed in the family Liliaceae, but phylogenetic analyses of DNA sequences showed it did not belong there. In the APG II system, Agave was placed in the family Agavaceae; when this system was superseded by the APG III system in 2009, the Agavaceae were subsumed into the expanded family Asparagaceae, Agave was treated as one of 18 genera in the subfamily Agavoideae. In some of the older classifications, Agave was divided into two subgenera and Littaea, based on the form of the inflorescence; these two subgenera are not monophyletic. Agaves and close relatives have long presented significant difficulties to the biological field of taxonomy; these difficulties could be due to the young evolutionary age of the group, ease of hybridization between species, incomplete lineage sorting, long generation times.

Within a species, morphological variations can be considerable in cultivation. Some grown species include Agave americana, Agave angustifolia, Agave tequilana, Agave attenuata, Agave parviflora, Agave murpheyi, Agave vilmoriniana, Agave palmeri, Agave parryi, Agave victoriae-reginae. One of the most familiar species is a native of tropical America. Common names include maguey, or American aloe; the name "century plant" refers to the long time. The number of years before flowering occurs depends on the vigor of the individual plant, the richness of the soil, the climate.

Cohen is a Jewish surname of biblical origins. It is a common Jewish surname, the following information discusses only that origin. Bearing the surname indicates that one's patrilineal ancestors were priests in the Temple of Jerusalem. A single such priest was known as a Kohen, the hereditary caste descending from these priests is collectively known as the Kohanim; as multiple languages were acquired through the Jewish diaspora, the surname acquired dozens of variants. Not all persons with related surnames are kohanim, not all kohanim have related surnames. In the Russian Empire, where Jewish males were required to undertake extended compulsory military service, there was an exemption for priests and some men are said to have claimed to be Kohanim to avoid being drafted; some Kohanim have added a secondary appellation to their surname, so as to distinguish themselves from other Kohanim—such as Cohen-Scali of Morocco, who trace their lineage to Zadok, Cohen-Maghari of Yemen, who trace their lineage to the first ward, Jehoiariv, in the division of twenty-four priestly wards.

Being a Kohen imposes some limitations: by Jewish law a Kohen may not marry a divorced woman, may not marry a proselyte. Nor should an observant Kohen come into contact with the dead or enter a cemetery. An effort to trace whether people named'Cohen' have a common genetic origin has been undertaken, using a genealogical DNA test associated with the Cohen Modal Haplotype; the Katz surname is a possible indicator of being a Kohen/Cohen: it may stem from "Kohen Tzedek". The latter word means "righteous or authentic priest."Other last names with similar indication are Kohentov and Kohenteb. Variants of CohenVariant surnames Cahn Coen Cohan Cohn Kahane Kahanow Kahn Kohn Cowan Kaner Kagan Kaganovich Kogan Kogen Kogon Kohányi List of people with surname Cohen “The Tribe: The Cohen-Levi Family Heritage”

MK-ULTRA was a hardcore/thrash band from Chicago, Illinois formed in 1993. They were known for their fast music and outspokenness on political and social topics ranging from capitalism to Christianity. Due to "legal troubles", the band was forced to drop the name "MK-ULTRA" in 1999, they broke up in 2000, although the band continued donating songs to compilations for some years afterwards. MK-ULTRA went on 3 tours, including "roughly 26 states and Montreal". Drummer Ebro Virumbrales played in well-known hardcore bands Charles Bronson and Los Crudos at the same time as MK-ULTRA. Singer Frank Hanney went on to form Fourteen or Fight and The O. S. S. Jeff Jelen went on to form Punch in the Face with Ebro Virumbrales on vocals, VMW with Mark McCoy on vocals, American Mosquito with former vocalist Jeff Bachner. Kirk Syrek plays bass in Sick/Tired and in another band, with Ebro Virumbrales. Original drummer Gary Cihak went on to form Government for Hire. A 56-track double LP with nearly all of their recorded songs was released by Mark McCoy's Youth Attack!

Records on August 12, 2009. The band announced a one-time reunion show to be held on October 2009 in Chicago, their name was taken from the secret CIA Project MKULTRA. Jeff Jelen - Guitar Kirk Syrek - Bass/Vocals Frank Hanney - Vocals Ebro Virumbrales - Drums Gary Cihak - Drums Jeff Bachner - Vocals Statues Stick Figure 7" Melt 7" EP collection Network of Friends Part 3 CD/LP with Seein' Red Split 7" with Los Crudos All That and a Bag o' Dicks 7" No Royalties LP Vida/Life: Benefit 7" for Project Vida 7" Blindspot Mailorder Distro CD Limited Options... Sold as Noble Endeavors: Benefit Compilation 10" Double Dose of Dicks 2x7" The 49th Parallel CD, re-released on LP Bllleeeeaaauuurrrrgghhh!: A Music War 7" re-released on CD as Bllleeeeaaauuurrrrgghhh!: The CD Reality Part No. 3 CD/LP Thrash of the Titans LP Chicago’s on Fire Again 7" Tomorrow Will Be Worse Volume 2 LP Deadly Sins 4x7" Off Target CD Discography 2xLP List of Chicago hardcore punk bands MK ULTRA at the Wayback Machine Discography Official Myspace Page Youth Attack!

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