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28,650,709 | Siege of Trichinopoly (1743) | 1,171,474,292 | 1743 siege and capture of Trichinopoly by Nizam of Hyderabad | [
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| The siege of Trichinopoly (March 1743 – August 1743) was part of an extended series of conflicts between the Nizam of Hyderabad and the Maratha Empire for control of the Carnatic region. On 29 August 1743, after a six-month siege, Murari Rao surrendered, giving Nizam ul Mulk (Nizam) the suzerainty of Trichinopoly. By the end of 1743, the Nizam had regained full control of Deccan. This stopped the Maratha interference in the region and ended their hegemony over the Carnatic. The Nizam resolved the internal conflicts among the regional hereditary nobles (Nawabs) for the seat of governor (Subedar) of Arcot State, and monitored the activities of the British East India company and French East India Company by limiting their access to ports and trading.
## Background
In 1714, the Mughal Emperor Farrukhsiyar appointed Nizam-ul-Mulk (also known as Nizam, Nizam I, and Asaf Jah I) as Viceroy of the Deccan. Deccan consisted of six Mughal governorates (Subah): Khandesh, Bijapur, Berar, Aurangabad, Hyderabad, Bidar; the Carnatic region was a sub-Subah administered partly by the governors of Bijapur and Hyderabad. In 1721, the Nizam was commissioned to Delhi and became the Prime Minister of the Mughal Empire. His differences with the court nobles led him to resign from all the imperial responsibilities in 1723 and leave for Deccan.
Under the influence of the Nizam's opponents, Mughal Emperor Muhammad Shah issued a decree to Mubariz Khan, the governor of Hyderabad, to prevent the Nizam from taking the Deccan province under his control. Nizam and Mubariz Khan confronted each other at Shaker Kheda (a valley in present-day Buldhana district, Berar Subah, 80 kilometres (50 mi) from Aurangabad), resulting in the Battle of Shakar Kheda. On 11 October 1724, the Nizam defeated and killed Mubariz Khan, establishing autonomous rule over the Deccan region. The Nizam remained loyal to the Mughal Emperor, did not assume any imperial title, and continued to acknowledge Mughal suzerainty. The region was renamed Hyderabad Deccan, beginning what is known as the Asaf Jahi dynasty. The Nizam retained the title of "Nizam ul-Mulk", and was referred to as "Asaf Jahi Nizam", or more commonly, the Nizam of Hyderabad. He acquired de facto control over the Deccan and thus all six Mughal governorates became his feudatory.
In the 1720s, the Carnatic region of southern India was an autonomous dominion of the Mughal Empire under the suzerainty of the Nizam of Hyderabad. In 1710, the Nizam appointed Muhammed Saadatullah Khan as Nawab of the Carnatic. Saadatullah died in 1732, and would be succeeded by his nephew Dost Ali Khan. Tukkoji Bhonsle, who was a Maratha ruler of Trichinopoly, died in 1736. He left his son Ekoji II to succeed him and his wife Rani Minakshi, who was acting as a regent for her young son. Dost Ali sent Chanda Sahib, his son-in-law and diwan, to the province and to claim that it owed tribute payments (chauth). Chanda Sahib inveigled into the court of Rani Minakshi, abused her trust to the fortress, and threw her into prison where she died of grief. In 1739, Dost Ali rewarded Chanda Sahib with the title Nawab of Trichinopoly.
This decisive act and the refusal of tributary payment by Dost Ali Khan enraged the Marathas. They took advantage of the absence of the Nizam in Deccan due to his engagement in resolving disputes in North India. In 1740, Raghoji I Bhonsle commanded the Maratha army of 50,000 soldiers in an invasion of the Carnatic region. In the Battle at Damalcherry, a pass near Arcot, Dost Ali was killed. His son and successor Safdar Ali Khan negotiated and agreed to make tribute payments to the Marathas. But Chanda Sahib, confident of his defense, refused to negotiate with Raghoji I Bhonsle, pay tribute, or surrender control of Trichinopoly. In Raghoji I Bhonsle's 1741 siege of Trichinopoly, Chanda Sahib initially resisted the siege. The Marathas bribed an officer who betrayed Chanda Sahib and left a free opening to the Maratha army through an important mountain post. The Marathas occupied Trichinopoly and took Chanda Sahib as prisoner to Satara. Murari Rao Ghorpade was installed as the Maratha governor of Trichinopoly in 1741.
## Prelude
In 1741, the Nizam had just returned from Delhi. He was resolving a dispute between Muhammad Shah and Nadir Shah, who had invaded Northern India. The Nizam demanded that Safdar Ali, who was recognized as the Nawab of Carnatic, settle the debts of Subah Deccan. Safdar Ali, who had recently negotiated with the Marathas to an agreement of the indemnity and tributary payments, was hardly in a position to meet the demands of the Nizam and the Marathas. To manage these double payments, he imposed an additional levy on his regional town administrators. Safdar Ali's brother-in-law, Nawab Murtuza Ali Khan, an administrator of Vellore, refused to pay the increased levy. He prepared a plot with his wife (who was also the sister of Safdar Ali), and murdered Safdar Ali to declare himself as Nawab of the Carnatic. This declaration irritated other nobles and brought Nawab Saeed Muhammad Khan, the son of Safdar Ali who was in Madras, to be recognized as the Nawab of the Carnatic.
In 1742, the Nizam, who was busy with the affairs in Delhi, returned to the Deccan. After the invasion of Nadir Shah in Delhi, the Mughals were not in a position to stop the Marathas in the Carnatic region. The Nizam was enraged to see the rebellion of Nawab of Arcot and the Maratha occupation of the Carnatic, particularly Trichinopoly. He thought about invading the Carnatic to reestablish his authority as the Viceroy of Deccan. However, in January 1743, Dalavayi Devarajaiya of Mysore, after establishing his hold on the Carnatic region, offered the Nizam 10,000,000 rupees in exchange for Trichinopoly. The Nizam accepted the offer and assured Dalavayi that Trichinopoly will be brought under his control. In February 1743, the Nizam marched towards the Carnatic region from Hyderabad.
## Siege
After deposing Muhammed Saadatullah Khan II in Arcot, the Nizam marched towards Trichinopoly. On 14 March 1743, Nizam arrived at Trichinopoly with a large army of 200,000 sepoy, 80,000 Sowar, and 150 war elephants and 200 elephant carried artillery pieces. Nizam camped in the vicinity of Trichinopoly fort and summoned Maratha Governor Murari Rao to present himself in the camp and surrender the fort, failing to which he would siege the fort. Murari Rao dressed in gauntlet decided to defend the fort with 4000 sepoy, 2000 Sowar and a considerable number of artillery that consisted of canons, guns, mortar and grenades. Nizam ordered a siege and his forces installed barracks strategically in the outer three enclosures of the fort, blocking the gateways and mounting cannons towards the defensive walls, to which initially Murari Rao strongly retaliated by constantly firing cannonballs, bullets and grenades from the turrets and bastions of the fort, which kept the Nizam's forces at a distance and protected the defensive walls from attack and wall scaling. Nizam intended to win the siege through attrition, keeping his numerically superior army and artillery on hold, diplomatically avoiding any aggressive action and conflicts with Murari Rao's army.
Murari Rao could not expect any help from his Maratha superiors, as Maratha Emperor Shahu I was actively engaged in the expeditions to expand Maratha supremacy over the Mughal-held Delhi, Bengal and Odisha. Meanwhile, internal conflicts erupted between the Maratha general Raghoji I Bhonsle and Peshwa Balaji Baji Rao, which later caused the Maratha empire to disintegrate. Murari Rao surrendered to the Nizam and came to an agreement whereby the Nizam offered him governance of the hill-fort of Penukonda, the adjacent areas, and 200,000 rupees. The six-month siege ended on 29 August 1743. The surrender of Trichinopoly along with the Madurai territory (administered by the Maratha Lieutenant officer Appaji Rao, captured in 1741) brought an end to the Maratha suzerainty of the Carnatic region, which they lost direct rule over; the Nizam regained the authority over the Deccan region.
As per the agreement of Trichinopoly, if Dalavayi wanted control of Trichinopoly he would have to pay 10,000,000 rupees to the Nizam. The Dalavayi could not pay the sum, as he suffered from a financial crisis after paying heavy tributary taxes, which included 50,000,000 rupees to Maratha ruler Raghoji in 1740–1741 after the Maratha invasion of the Carnatic region. In October 1743, the Nizam left for Golconda.
## Aftermath
When the Nizam took control of Trichinopoly in September 1743, he appointed Khwaja Abdullah as the governor of the city. Khwaja Abdullah accompanied the Nizam to Golconda and left his son, Nimathullah Khan, as the deputy governor of Trichinopoly. They reached Golconda in March 1744, the same year Khwaja Abdullah died on the eve of his departure from Golconda. Thus, the Nizam appointed Anwaruddin Khan as regent, and Saadatullah Khan II, being an infant, was appointed as the Nawab of the Carnatic; he was assassinated by Murtuza Ali Khan in 1744. In 1749, when Anwaruddin Khan died in the Battle of Ambur, his son and deputy governor Muhammed Ali Khan Wallajah were dethroned by Chanda Sahib and sought refuge in Trichinopoly where he set up his base.
From 1744 to 1746, two expeditions were sent by Maratha Emperor Shahu I to expand the Maratha supremacy over the Carnatic region. Babuji Naik of Baramati led the first expedition, which was defeated when he was confronted by Anwaruddin Khan of Arcot and Muzaffar Jung, who had been assigned by the Nizam. The second expedition took place in 1746, led by Babuji Naik and Fateh Singh Bhonsle of Akkalkot; they were unsuccessful at taking back Trichinopoly and were defeated by the Nizam's army. In 1746, three years after the siege, the Marathas, under the rule of Peshwa Balaji Bajirao, sent a military expedition to Carnatic led by Sadashivrao Bhau. The Maratha army overran the region and brought it under their control. Nizam's army, under the rule of Nasir Jung, tried to obstruct the Marathas, but were repulsed by Sadashivrao Bhau. Maratha influence in the Carnatic subsequently waned, opening the way for the French and British East India Companies to split the region between themselves.
The subsequent Siege of Trichinopoly (1751–1752) by Chanda Sahib took place during the Second Carnatic War, with Muhammed Ali Khan Wallajah and the British East India Company on one side and Chanda Sahib and the French East India Company on the other. The British won and Wallajah regained the throne as the Nawab of Arcot. During his reign, he proposed renaming the city Natharnagar after the Sufi saint Nathar Vali, who is thought to have lived there in the 12th century.
## See also
- Anglo-Maratha Wars
- Carnatic Wars
- Nizams of Hyderabad |
38,813,983 | Robert of Cricklade | 1,143,556,715 | 12th century English writer and Augustinian canon | [
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| Robert of Cricklade (c. 1100–1174×79) was a medieval English writer and prior of St Frideswide's Priory in Oxford. He was a native of Cricklade and taught before becoming a cleric. He wrote several theological works as well as a lost biography of Thomas Becket, the murdered Archbishop of Canterbury.
## Life
Robert was from Cricklade in Wiltshire and was of Anglo-Saxon descent. At some point, he taught in the schools, where he was called "master" for his learning. He became an Augustinian canon at Cirencester Abbey before becoming prior of the priory of St Frideswide in Oxford, an office he occupied from sometime before the end of 1139, when he is first securely attested in the office, until after 1174, his last appearance as prior. In 1158 he went to Rome, extending his travels to Sicily and Paris on the same trip. Another trip was to Scotland in the 1160s. Possibly he also traveled to Rome in 1141 and Paris in 1147, but these trips are not securely attested. Although earlier historians claimed that he was chancellor of Oxford, this office did not yet exist during Robert's lifetime. There were students at Oxford in his lifetime, though his precise role in local teaching is unclear.
## Writings
Robert was the author of many works, most of which survive in one or more manuscripts, but some of which are lost. A commentary on the Psalms is also attributed to him, preserved in a single manuscript, but this is more likely the work of Robert of Bridlington.
### De connubio Iacob
On the Marriage of Jacob was written while Robert was at Cirencester. It is an allegorical treatment of the Jacob story from the Bible, written after 1137 and before Robert's move to Oxford in 1138/9. He mentions Bernard of Clairvaux and William of Malmesbury as major influences on his writing. It survives in five manuscripts:
- Antwerp, Museum Plantin-Moretus, MS M. 103 (catalogue no. 107) (once belonged to All Souls College, Oxford)
- Hereford Cathedral, MS P.iv.8 (from Cirencester Abbey)
- London, British Library, Royal MS 8 E. ii
- Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Laud Misc. 725 (from Reading Abbey), fols 92r–184v
- Oxford, Balliol College, MS 167
### Defloratio historie naturalis Plinii
The Anthology of Pliny's Natural History is an epitome of Pliny the Elder's Natural History dedicated to King Henry II of England. It is of some importance in the transmission of Pliny's ideas to medieval Europe, although it is less important as a witness to Pliny's text than once thought.
The book appears to have originally been composed in the 1130s, perhaps as a text for his students, and only later dedicated it to King Henry. It has been printed in a critical edition.
The work survives in five manuscripts:
- Eton College, MS 134
- Hereford Cathedral, MS P.v.10, fols. 125r–177r
- London, British Library, Royal MS 15 C. xiv
- Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana MS Vat. Regin. lat. 598 + 198
- Wolfenbüttel, Herzog August Bibliothek, Cod. Guelf. 160.1 Extrav.
### Speculum fidei
The Mirror of Faith was a theological work that mainly collected texts from the Old and New Testament discussing basic theological concepts, dedicated to Robert de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leicester. It was written between 1164 and 1168, but the surviving manuscript opens with an addition noting a decretal of Pope Alexander III from 1170. It is best known for Robert's refutation of the views of Peter Lombard's theology. It survives in one manuscript:
- Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 380, fols 2r–132v
### Omelie super Ezechielem
The Homilies on Ezechiel are a series of 42 homilies on the Book of Ezekiel and were written about 1172. They are a continuation of the homilies on Ezekiel by Gregory the Great. The work survives in two manuscripts:
- Cambridge, Pembroke College, MS 30 (from Bury St Edmunds Abbey)
- Hereford Cathedral, O.iii.10 (from Cirencester Abbey)
### Vita et miracula sancte Thome Cantuariensis
Robert wrote his Life and Miracles of St Thomas of Canterbury around 1173 to 1174. Though lost, it is one of the main sources for an Icelandic saga on Becket entitled Thómas saga erkibyskups, which survives in a copy dating from the first half of the 14th century. This saga preserves several otherwise unknown details about Becket's life and remains one of the main sources for Becket studies. Robert's life also was a source for the work of Benet of St Albans, another biographer of Becket. A modern historian partially reconstructed Robert's biography from these sources. A major source for Robert's work on Becket was the writings of John of Salisbury. A modern biographer of Becket, Frank Barlow, speculates that Robert's biography was lost because it favored the king's side of the story, rather than Becket's.
### Letter to Benedict of Peterborough
Benedict of Peterborough quotes in his Miracula S. Thome Cantuariensis a letter to him from Robert, giving an account of his healing from a serious illness, for which he credits the intercession of Thomas Becket. Another canon in Oxford, also named Robert, was similarly healed. The account is printed as part of the Rolls Series.
### Life of St Magnus
The earliest account of the death of Magnus Erlendsson, Earl of Orkney, whose Latin original is lost but partially survives in an Icelandic translation was written by a 'Meistari Roðbert'. It has been suggested 'with some confidence' that this may be the work of Robert of Cricklade.
### Vita sancte Frideswide
A Life of St Frideswide, on Frithuswith, the patron of Robert's priory in Oxford, has been shown to have been written by Robert, and has been critically edited. It is a revision of another earlier work. It survives in three manuscripts:
- Oxford, Bodleian Library, Laud Misc. 114, fols 132r–140r
- Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College, 129, fols 167r–177v
- Gotha, Forschungsbibliothek, MM. I.81, fols. 225v–230r
## Death and legacy
Robert died after 1174, and was probably buried in his priory. His successor was Philip of Oxford, who was in office by 1179. Besides his theological works, Robert also searched throughout England for Hebrew texts of the works of Josephus, according to Gerald of Wales, who claims in De principis instructione that Robert knew the Hebrew language. |
52,045,175 | Nicholas Russo | 1,173,828,967 | Italian Jesuit educator (1845–1902) | [
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| Nicholas Russo (April 24, 1845 – April 1, 1902) was an Italian Catholic priest, Jesuit, philosopher, and missionary. Born in Italy, he ran away from his family and joined the Society of Jesus in France in 1862, where he was educated and began teaching. In 1875, Russo was sent to the United States to study at Woodstock College. For ten years, he was a professor and the chair of philosophy at Boston College and became its first faculty member to publish a book. Specializing in Thomism, he was regarded as a successful professor. He served as president of the college from 1887 to 1888.
In the 1890s, Russo left a successful career in academia to minister for more than ten years to the Italian immigrants in New York City's Lower East Side, who faced poverty and discrimination by local priests. He founded the Church of Our Lady of Loreto in 1891, which grew to 3,000 weekly parishioners, as well as schools for boys and girls and parochial clubs and sodalities.
## Early life
Nicholas Russo was born on April 24, 1845, in Ascoli Piceno in the United Provinces of Central Italy, today located in the Marche region of central Italy. His mother died when Russo was a young child. His father was a prominent physician in the town. Russo excelled in school, especially in Latin and Ancient Greek. When he reached the age of six, Russo expressed an interest in entering religious life and, with one of his sisters, made pilgrimages to shrines and observed the Catholic feasts and days of abstinence. Intending Nicholas to also become a physician, Russo's father had Nicholas attend surgeries with him, and a nurse assisted Nicholas and his sister keep their religious practices secret from Russo's father.
Russo desired to enter the Society of Jesus but feared that his father would not permit him to do so. Thus, on August 8, 1862, telling no one but his sister, Russo ran away from home. With two friends, he traveled on foot to France, begging for food and shelter along the way, and ultimately entering the Jesuit novitiate in Pau on September 7, 1862. They were accepted on probationary status and Russo was instructed to obtain the consent of his family. Russo never saw his family again, but received a letter from his father, who was on his deathbed, approving of Russo's decision to enter the Jesuits, and the superiors permitted him to continue his Jesuit formation. Russo's father died shortly thereafter.
After professing his vows, Russo went to Saint-Acheul for two years to complete his juniorate. He then proceeded to Vals for his philosophical studies. Afterwards, he spent five years as a grammar teacher and the prefect at the Jesuit college in Saint-Affrique.
## Academic career
In 1875, the Jesuit province of Naples sent Russo to the United States for his theological studies, and he proceeded to Woodstock College in Maryland. He excelled during his time as a student. Russo was ordained a priest in 1877, and in September of that year, he was sent to Massachusetts to teach logic and metaphysics at Boston College. He remained in this position for nearly ten years, becoming the chair of philosophy, and taking a reprieve only for the academic year of 1872 to 1873, to complete his tertianship in Frederick, Maryland. Russo was also the college librarian, and, during the physical enlargement of the library in 1876, he and another Jesuit instituted an accurate card catalogue.
During his time at Boston College, Russo published his first book, Summa Philosophica, comprising philosophy lectures he had delivered to students. With this, he became the first member of the Boston College faculty to publish a book while associated with the institution. As a teacher, he lectured in Latin, and was known as stern but effective. He also lectured on Catholicism and published his second book on the subject. Russo was well versed in the scholastic tradition, as well as Thomistic philosophy and theology. Given Pope Leo XIII's mandate that the Thomism should be taught at Catholic universities, Russo became a prominent teacher. One of his students was the future cardinal and archbishop of Boston, William Henry O'Connell, who wrote in an 1880 letter:
> Certainly Father Russo is a stern teacher. He never speaks a word to a soul except as he speaks to all in class. He sits at the rostrum looking like some great medieval scholar — great black eyes, a lean sallow face, and a look which turns you into stone if you don't happen to know your lesson.
Russo professed his fourth vow on August 15, 1884.
### President of Boston College
The president of Boston College, Thomas H. Stack, died suddenly on August 30, 1887, after just 17 days. There was not enough time to formally select a new rector, a lengthy process, before the start of classes in autumn. Therefore, Russo was appointed the vice-rector and seventh president to temporarily administer the institution. During his presidency, Russo was also the pastor of the Church of the Immaculate Conception in the South End of Boston. His tenure was uneventful, and after less than one year, Russo was succeeded by Robert J. Fulton on July 4, 1888.
## Ministry in New York City
Following his presidency, Russo became the procurator at St. Francis Xavier Church in New York City. He also was appointed "moderator of the cases of conscience" for the Archdiocese of New York, a position he held for the rest of his life. In 1889, Russo became a professor of philosophy at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. It was there in 1889 that he published his third book, on ethics, completing his Jesuit philosophical education.
Russo returned to New York City, serving as operarius at the Church of St. Lawrence O'Toole (later known as the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola). He also wrote speeches and papers for the archbishop of New York, Michael Corrigan. On February 19, 1891, Russo presided over a conference at St. Patrick's Cathedral of all priests of the archdiocese, which discussed canon law, dogmatic theology, and moral theology.
### Church of Our Lady of Loreto
As hundreds of thousands of Italian immigrants arrived in New York City, many settled in Little Italy in Lower Manhattan. The Jesuit Superior General urged Archbishop Corrigan to tend to their spiritual needs, and Corrigan enlisted the aid of various religious orders to establish churches for Italians throughout Manhattan. For the Lower East Side, he selected the Jesuits, and the Jesuit provincial superior, Thomas J. Campbell, selected Russo to lead the effort.
With that, Russo gave up a successful career in academia and spent the rest of his life ministering to poor Italian immigrants in New York City, who, he wrote, "worked like slaves" for subsistence wages. As one biographer noted, "It must have been, humanly speaking, no small sacrifice...for he had held high positions in Boston and New York and his work had lain almost entirely among the better instructed and wealthy."
When Russo arrived in New York, tensions between Italian immigrants and the city's predominantly Irish clergy had been building for some time, and Italians faced discrimination from local pastors. At St. Patrick's Old Cathedral, the pastor, John F. Kearney, created an Italian sub-congregation in 1882 that was almost entirely segregated from the rest of the parish. Italians were relegated to the basement to celebrate Mass and other sacraments, and Kearney eventually expelled the Italians from the church entirely. Russo first visited St. Patrick's in 1889, and Kearney refused to permit him to celebrate Mass in the main church for "reasons which a priest should feel ashamed to give," according to Russo. While Russo initially believed that the primary obstacle to the Italians' spiritual wellbeing was their own "indifference" to religion, after five years ministering to them, he concluded that neglect by clergy charged with their pastoral care was the foremost problem. As a result, Protestants actively worked to convert Italian immigrants.
Russo and another Italian Jesuit, Aloysius Romano, physically converted a rented barroom on Elizabeth Street it into a chapel holding about 150 people. They built an altar and two confessionals, cleaned the walls, painted, and named the chapel Missione Italiana della Madonna di Loreto. The first Mass was held in the chapel on August 16, 1891, the Feast of San Rocco, with Russo delivering the sermon in Italian and the provincial superior being the main celebrant. Tensions persisted, with Russo writing to Archbishop Corrigan about Kearney's continued hostility. With his congregation shrinking, Kearney reopened St. Patrick's to Italians, who became the majority of parishioners, depleting funds from Russo's indebted church.
Russo's parish soon outgrew its makeshift chapel, and in 1892, he purchased two tenement buildings across the street. After renovations, the new church was dedicated by Corrigan on September 27 under the name Our Lady of Loretto. The church, located at 303 and 305 Elizabeth Street, contained three altars. It accommodated 500 people seated and an additional 200 people standing.
Russo divided the basement of the church into classrooms, opening a school for 200 children. Due to poor conditions in the basement, after two months, he purchased two houses adjoining the church for \$35,000 (equivalent to approximately \$ in ), and renovated them for another \$8,000. A new parochial school for girls opened in October 1895 and one for boys opened in 1898. By 1895, the schools enrolled 700 students. Russo also started two weekend clubs for younger and older boys and a sodality devoted to the Sacred Heart. Eventually, a third Jesuit from Sicily became a curate at the church.
On Easter in 1902, Russo's health deteriorated and he was taken to St. Vincent's Hospital, where it was found he had pneumonia with complications. He died on April 1, 1902, by which time the church drew 3,000 parishioners each Sunday. While it was intended that a Neapolitan Jesuit working in the Rocky Mountains replace Russo at Our Lady of Loreto, he was succeeded by William H. Walsh. Russo's funeral was held at Our Lady of Loreto, with the Mass celebrated by the provincial superior and the absolution of the dead prayed by Archbishop Corrigan.
## See also
- Basilica della Santa Casa |
47,553,636 | Our Lady of Perpetual Exemption | 1,173,591,832 | 2015 US satirical church | [
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| Our Lady of Perpetual Exemption was a legally recognized church in the United States established by the comedian and satirist John Oliver. Announced on August 16, 2015, in an episode of the television program Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, the church's purpose was to highlight and criticize televangelists, such as Kenneth Copeland and Robert Tilton, who Oliver argued used television broadcasts of Christian church services for private gain. Oliver also established Our Lady of Perpetual Exemption to draw attention to the tax-exempt status given to churches and charities.
During his show on September 13, 2015, Oliver announced that the church had received over \$70,000 and a variety of other items from viewers, and announced that the Church would be shutting down. The segments and future spinoff segments featured the comedian Rachel Dratch as Oliver's fictional wife, Wanda Jo. All donations were forwarded to Doctors Without Borders.
Oliver created two spinoffs of the church in later segments. In April 2018, Oliver founded Our Lady of Choosing Choice, which owned the van labeled "Vanned Parenthood", for a segment about crisis pregnancy centers. In June 2021, Oliver set up a church in Florida called Our Lady of Perpetual Health, which owned the health care sharing ministry "JohnnyCare", satirizing the lack of regulations on health care sharing ministries to provide care.
## Creation
On August 16, 2015, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver broadcast a segment about televangelism, the practice of using television broadcasts for Christian church services. In the segment, Oliver criticized televangelists like Kenneth Copeland and Robert Tilton for using donations from their programs to pay for private luxuries and pointed out that the money was tax-exempt because of its recognition by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) as a church donation. Oliver established Our Lady of Perpetual Exemption partly to demonstrate the lack of legal requirements to establish a tax-exempt religious organization and to illustrate the "disturbingly easy" process. The host explained that he was able to found the church due to "vague" legal restrictions. He chose his New York City studio for the church's official location, but registered the nonprofit organization in Texas. During the satirical infomercial segment of the episode, the comedian Rachel Dratch appeared as John Oliver's fictional wife Wanda Jo Oliver; she later reprised the role in episodes featuring spinoffs of the church and in Last Week Tonight's 2019 segment about psychics. The "megachurch" used a toll-free phone number to permit callers to donate to the church, and said that donations would be redistributed to the charitable relief organization Doctors Without Borders upon the church's dissolution.
Oliver criticized the practices used by televangelists for donations, which included promising that donations and prayer would cure sickness or that donations would get rid of credit card debt. In his broadcast on August 16, the host revealed letters of his months-long correspondence with Tilton, in which he initially sent \$20 to Tilton's church and received a letter back asking for more in donations; by the end of the correspondence, he had received a total of 26 letters and donated \$319. Oliver criticized pastors such as Tilton, Copeland and his wife Gloria, Creflo Dollar, and others for using the IRS's religious tax breaks for personal luxuries.
## Response and dissolution
In response to the episode, viewers of Last Week Tonight sent in \$70,000, international currency, a check for \$65 billion, and different packages of seeds, including allegedly, semen (in reference to the "seed faith" gospel the show was parodying). Callers to the toll-free number heard a pre-recorded message from Oliver demanding donations.
A week after the announcement of the church's creation, Oliver devoted a short segment of his show to the donations the church had received, which included money from around the world. Oliver said he had received "thousands of envelopes with thousands of dollars" from donors, displaying several US Post Office containers full of mail. Oliver told viewers that the more money they sent in, the more "blessings" would be returned to them, adding that "that is still something I'm—amazingly—legally allowed to say".
On September 13, 2015, Oliver announced on Last Week Tonight that he was closing Our Lady of Perpetual Exemption. A message found on the church's website stated: "We're also not closing down because you all kept sending us actual seeds, even though we explicitly told you not to. We're closing because multiple people sent us sperm through the mail." Upon the church's dissolution, Oliver announced that the tens of thousands of dollars received would be donated to Doctors Without Borders and mockingly said that "if you want to send money to a fake church, send it to Scientology".
## Reception
Matt Wilstein, writing in Mediaite, compared Oliver's stunt to the comedian Stephen Colbert's "Colbert Super PAC", which Colbert used to test the limits of the 2010 Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. FEC. Many reviewers agreed with Oliver's exposé of televangelists as "frauds", as one reviewer wrote. Some reviewers found that Oliver's criticism of the IRS was incomplete and useless; others criticized Oliver's failure to discuss the long history of tax-exempt status for churches. Peter J. Reilly, writing in Forbes, found his criticism "ironic", as one of the reports Oliver cites describes why the IRS has a difficult time auditing churches. Steve Thorngate, writing in The Christian Century, suggested that the question of religious tax exemption was more difficult and nuanced than Oliver portrayed, and not a simple matter of government regulation. However, Thorngate agreed that Oliver's exposure and criticism of televangelists was accurate. After the segment aired, the IRS was pressured to investigate televangelists and their use of tax-exempt status. The IRS and the televangelists discussed in the segment did not publicly comment.
## Spinoffs
On April 8, 2018, Last Week Tonight broadcast a segment about crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs), which dissuade pregnant women from getting abortions, often through misinformation. Oliver highlighted an image of a van that would park outside centers to advertise free ultrasounds. Oliver filed paperwork in New York to start the nonprofit Our Lady of Choosing Choice, which owned the CPC van labeled "Vanned Parenthood". Oliver announced the van at the end of the segment on CPCs with Rachel Dratch as Wanda Jo, who said multiple incorrect medical claims to point out the right CPC workers have to misinform patients. Oliver finished the segment by saying, "This is all perfectly legal and there is absolutely nothing stopping us from parking outside an abortion clinic tonight and haranguing people in the morning." Pro-life organizations and CPC operators criticized the segment for presenting a "one-sided" argument, with one CPC founder calling it a "hate piece".
On June 27, 2021, Last Week Tonight broadcast a segment about health care sharing ministries (HCSMs), which are religion-based organizations where members' premiums directly pay the healthcare costs of other members, exempt from tax. Oliver discussed the lack of regulation on HCSMs, allowing the organizations to deny coverage for anything, and advocated for states to pass laws mandating HCSMs to disclose their practices and properly allocate funds. In 2018, Florida eased restrictions on HCSMs, changing the criteria from mandating an HCSM have people of the same religion to having people who "share a common set of ethical or religious beliefs". Due to the lax requirements, Oliver founded the church Our Lady of Perpetual Health, which owned the HCSM "JohnnyCare". Oliver announced the new organization in an informercial at the end of the Last Week Tonight segment about HCSMs, bringing back Rachel Dratch as Wanda Jo. Oliver stated that 5,000 Florida residents may sign up for a \$1.99 fee and receive a JohnnyCare-branded set of bandages in return.
## See also
- Free church
- Parody religion
- Religion and politics in the United States
- Religious satire |
35,359,620 | The Boys in the Bar | 1,153,040,003 | null | [
"1983 American television episodes",
"American LGBT-related television episodes",
"Cheers episodes",
"Sexual orientation and sports",
"Television episodes directed by James Burrows"
]
| "The Boys in the Bar" is the sixteenth episode of the first season of the American situation comedy television series Cheers. It originally aired on January 27, 1983, on NBC in the continental U.S.) and on February 10, 1983 in Alaska. It is co-written by Ken Levine and David Isaacs and directed by James Burrows. This episode's narrative deals with homosexuality, coming out, and homophobia. It was inspired by the coming out story of former Los Angeles Dodgers baseball player, Glenn Burke. In this episode, Sam's former teammate, Tom—portrayed by Alan Autry—reveals his homosexuality and Sam slowly becomes supportive of him. The bar's regular customers express their disdain toward Sam's support and fear that because of Sam's support of Tom, the bar will become a place full of homosexuals. The episode's Nielsen ratings at its initial airing were low but improved after subsequent airings on NBC. This episode has received more attention since.
## Plot
Tom Kenderson (Alan Autry), an old friend and baseball teammate of bartender Sam Malone (Ted Danson), announces in his forthcoming autobiography that he is homosexual. At a press conference held at the bar, Sam, having not read the book in advance, is shocked by Tom's revelation. Diane Chambers (Shelley Long) helps Sam to calm down, and they discuss Tom. Moments later, Sam publicly accepts and supports Tom and his sexuality, which local newspapers report. The next day, as they read the newspaper, the bar's regular patrons—including Norm (George Wendt)—express their disdain toward homosexuals. They worry that Sam's support for his old friend will turn Cheers into a gay bar. Diane criticizes their homophobia telling them that gays are normal people and reveals there are two gay men in the bar as they speak.
The regulars conclude that three male newcomers are homosexual and try to persuade Sam to escort them from the bar. Sam becomes concerned about dividing his loyalties between his regular customers and potential gay customers. Employees and regulars—pulled in by Diane—argue over the three newcomers in the billiard room. When the newcomers congratulate Sam for supporting Tom, Sam decides not to eject them to avoid discriminating among his customers. Norm and the other regulars trick the three men into assuming that 7:00 pm is the last call for drinks at and escort them from the bar. Diane tells the regulars that the men they escorted out are not homosexual and that the two gay men are still present. The two men in question kiss Norm on his cheeks.
## Production
"The Boys in the Bar" was co-written by Ken Levine and David Isaacs and was directed by James Burrows. The coming out story of former Los Angeles Dodgers baseball player Glenn Burke was the inspiration for the plot. Levine wanted to explore homophobia in a sports bar in this episode. However, NBC deemed the story "too risky" for Cheers, whose Nielsen ratings were low during its first season in 1982–83. Nevertheless, the production of this episode went ahead for five days; rehearsals were problem-free and some minor tweaks that did not have major effects on the script were made. The cast rehearsed for the first three days of production, the camera crew rehearsed on the fourth day and a studio audience were present on the fifth. The cast—including Ted Danson, who advised Levine not to change a word—loved this episode, and the crew found it—especially the cheek-kissing scene at the end—hilarious. However, according to Levine, the live studio audience remained silent during filming; the ending was reshot with Norm given an extra line, "better than Vera", referring to the character's wife's kissing.
> Silence. Dead silence. You could hear crickets. It wasn't like some people got it and others didn't. Nobody laughed. Not a single person ... No one had an explanation.
Background actors portraying bar customers are John Furey, Michael Kearns, Kenneth Tigar, Lee Ryan, Jack Knight, and Tom Babson. Shannon Sullivan and John Bluto portray reporters at the press conference. Harry Anderson reprises his role of Harry "the Hat" Gittes in the cold open.
## Broadcast and ratings
"The Boys in the Bar" aired at 9:30 pm on NBC on January 27, 1983, competing against CBS's Simon & Simon and ABC's It Takes Two. It ranked 41st out of 67 nationally-broadcast programs and garnered a Nielsen rating of 14.9. In Alaska, it aired on February 10, 1983, at 8:00 pm AKT. The episode was broadcast again on July 28, 1983, at 9:30 pm against a rerun of Simon & Simon and ABC's television film Shooting Stars. It ranked 25th with a Nielsen rating of 12.8 and a 23 share. It aired again on January 17, 1985, at 9:00 pm against Simon & Simon and a rerun of ABC's television film Who Will Love My Children?, ranking 13th with a Nielsen rating of 20.4—equivalent to 17.5 million homes.
## Critical reaction
Cory Barker of the website TV Surveillance disdained Norm's comments about homosexuals but called them "honest for the time and circumstances".
According to the book What's Good on TV, Sam's concerns about losing regular, anti-homosexual bar customers if Cheers were to become a gay bar is depicted as sympathetic towards regulars and "a practical argument" instead of a "strong moral argument". Stephen Tropiano called this episode "the definite highlight of Season One" in PopMatters and, in the 2002 book The Prime Time Closet, Tropiano called it a moral lesson about judging a person based on appearances. Nevertheless, Tropiano said that the fictional baseball player Tom Kenderson is typical of gay characters related to a series regular, appear just once, are exploited for delivering a message about homosexuality to the audience, and are then discarded, never to be "seen, heard, or mentioned again".
The A.V. Club critics discussed this episode in 2012. Phil Nugent found it unfunny and intended as a message to tolerate homosexuals by making Norm and other regulars appear "ridiculous". Noel Murray said that the episode's "bifurcated structure" prevented more development for Sam's old baseball teammate, and he found the "stereotypes" of gay men dated. He and Donna Bowman considered it to be more about men securing their own machismo than tolerating homosexuality. Ryan McGee found the studio audience's reactions to this episode ambiguous, especially years after this episode aired.
Decider critic Brett White wrote in 2017 that this episode is "structured to deconstruct the notion of stereotypes" and shows that despite some regular bar patrons' lack of "open-minded[ness], Cheers is a bar for everyone". White also noted that Norm's gaydar is tainted with "uninformed stereotypes". However, White also wrote:
> As progressive as this episode is for 1983, it still falls short in the same ways that most sitcoms of the 20th century did when handling LGBT issues. There are no regular LGBT characters in the cast, so Cliff, Norm and Carla aren't challenged to grow after this episode. Sam's friend Tom disappears after the press conference, never to be seen again. Even the supposedly gay guys turn out to probably not be gay. In the absence of any actual dynamic gay characters, it's Diane that takes on the ally role and acts as the voice of gay rights.
Screen Rant critic Simone Torn wrote in 2019 that the characters' homophobic remarks would "[make] this episode uncomfortable to modern audiences" and is one of "ten things from Cheers that have not aged well." Joseph J. and Kate Darowski in their 2019 book Cheers: A Cultural History rated the episode three out of four stars ("good episode").
## Accolades
This episode was nominated for "Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series" at the 1983 Primetime Emmy Awards, but lost to "Give Me a Ring Sometime"—the pilot episode of Cheers. In 1984, it won the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Screenplay - Episodic Comedy award, along with "Give Me a Ring Sometime". In 1983, the Alliance for Gay and Lesbian Artists in the Entertainment Industry (AGLA) awarded this episode for its "realistic [depiction] of homosexuals" and for Sam's support for homosexuals in the bar. |
31,374,551 | German destroyer Z12 Erich Giese | 1,122,253,433 | Type 1934A-class destroyer | [
"1936 ships",
"Maritime incidents in April 1940",
"Ships built in Kiel",
"Type 1934 destroyers",
"World War II shipwrecks in the Norwegian Sea"
]
| Z12 Erich Giese was a Type 1934A-class destroyer built for Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine in the late 1930s. At the beginning of World War II, the ship was used in the German Bight to lay minefields in German waters. In late 1939 the ship made one successful minelaying sortie off the English coast that claimed two merchant ships. While returning from that sortie, she torpedoed a British destroyer without being detected and continued on her way. During the early stages of the Norwegian Campaign, Erich Giese fought in both naval Battles of Narvik in mid-April 1940 and was sunk by British destroyers during the Second Battle of Narvik.
## Design and description
Erich Giese had an overall length of 119 meters (390 ft 5 in) and was 114 meters (374 ft 0 in) long at the waterline. The ship had a beam of 11.30 meters (37 ft 1 in), and a maximum draft of 4.23 meters (13 ft 11 in). She displaced 2,171 metric tons (2,137 long tons) at standard and 3,190 metric tons (3,140 long tons) at deep load. The Wagner geared steam turbines were designed to produce 70,000 metric horsepower (51,000 kW; 69,000 shp) which would propel the ship at 36 knots (67 km/h; 41 mph). Steam was provided to the turbines by six high-pressure Benson boilers with superheaters. Erich Giese carried a maximum of 752 metric tons (740 long tons) of fuel oil which was intended to give a range of 4,400 nautical miles (8,100 km; 5,100 mi) at 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph), but the ship proved top-heavy in service and 30% of the fuel had to be retained as ballast low in the ship. The effective range proved to be only 1,530 nmi (2,830 km; 1,760 mi) at 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph).
Erich Giese carried five 12.7 cm SK C/34 guns in single mounts with gun shields, two each superimposed, fore and aft. The fifth gun was carried on top of the rear deckhouse. Her anti-aircraft armament consisted of four 3.7 cm SK C/30 guns in two twin mounts abreast the rear funnel and six 2 cm C/30 guns in single mounts. The ship carried eight above-water 53.3-centimeter (21.0 in) torpedo tubes in two power-operated mounts. A pair of reload torpedoes were provided for each mount. Four depth charge throwers were mounted on the sides of the rear deckhouse and they were supplemented by six racks for individual depth charges on the sides of the stern. Enough depth charges were carried for either two or four patterns of 16 charges each. Mine rails could be fitted on the rear deck that had a maximum capacity of 60 mines. 'GHG' (German: Gruppenhorchgerät) passive hydrophones were fitted to detect submarines.
## Construction and career
The ship was ordered on 4 August 1934 and laid down at Germania, Kiel on 3 May 1935 as yard number G538. She was launched on 12 March 1937 and completed on 4 March 1939. Erich Giese was initially assigned to 8th Destroyer Division (8. Zerstörrer-Division) part of the 4th Destroyer Flotilla (4. Zerstörrer-Flottille) under the command of Commander (Fregattenkapitän) Brocksien. Two months later, the ship escorted into Hamburg the convoy returning the German Condor Legion from Spain. When World War II began, Erich Giese was assigned to the German Bight where she joined her sisters in laying defensive minefields. The ship also patrolled the Skagerrak to inspect neutral shipping for contraband goods. The ship attempted to lay a minefield off the British coast on the night of 12/13 November, but had to turn back to escort her consorts, Theodor Riedel and Hermann Schoemann, back to Germany when they suffered machinery breakdowns. Eight days later, she was one of the destroyers escorting the battleships Gneisenau and Scharnhorst through the North Sea to break out into the North Atlantic.
Led by Commander (Fregattenkapitän) Erich Bey in his flagship Hans Lody, Erich Giese and Bernd von Arnim left port on the morning of 6 December to lay a minefield off Cromer. The latter ship had severe boiler problems and was ordered to return to port in the late afternoon while the other two continued their mission. They spotted several darkened ships as they approached their destination, including the destroyers HMS Juno and HMS Jersey, but were not spotted in return. As the two German destroyers withdrew after having laid their mines, they spotted the two British destroyers again at a range of 8,000 meters (8,700 yd) and closed to attack. When the range dropped to 4,600 meters (5,000 yd), Lody fired three torpedoes at Juno, the leading British ship, while Giese fired four at Jersey. None of Lody's torpedoes struck their target, but one of Giese's hit Jersey abreast her aft torpedo mount. The torpedo detonated in an oil fuel tank and started a major fire. Neither British ship spotted the German destroyers and they continued on while Juno turned about to help her sister. Two British ships totalling 5,286 Gross Register Tons were sunk by this minefield. Giese was refitted at the Germaniawerft shipyard after her return on 8 December.
The ship was allocated to Group 1 for the Norwegian portion of Operation Weserübung. The group's task was to transport the 139th Mountain Infantry Regiment (139. Gebirgsjäger Regiment) and the headquarters of the 3rd Mountain Division (3. Gebirgs-Division) to seize Narvik. The ships began loading troops on 6 April and sailed the next day. Giese fell behind the rest of Group 1 as the result of oil leaks, machinery breakdowns, and contaminated fuel oil. She fell further behind when Lieutenant Commander (Korvettenkapitän) Karl Smidt turned the ship about to recover a soldier who had been washed overboard by the high seas. Giese had little usable fuel left by this time and was forced to continue at a slower speed to conserve fuel. When the ship arrived at her destination on 9 April, she landed her troops in the Herjangsfjord (a northern branch of the Ofotfjord) to reinforce the other troops previously landed there in order to capture the Norwegian Army armory at Elvegårdsmoen. Later in the day, Erich Giese moved to Narvik harbor, but was not able to refuel before she was ordered to return to the Herjangsfjord well before dawn together with her sisters Wolfgang Zenker and Erich Koellner.
Shortly before dawn on 10 April, the five destroyers of the British 2nd Destroyer Flotilla surprised the German ships in Narvik harbor. They torpedoed two destroyers and badly damaged the other three while suffering only minor damage themselves. As they were beginning to withdraw they encountered the three destroyers of the German 4th Flotilla which had been alerted when the British began their attack. The Germans opened fire first, but the gunnery for both sides was not effective due to the mist and the smoke screen laid by the British as they retreated down the Ofotfjord. The German ships had to turn away to avoid a salvo of three torpedoes fired by one of the destroyers in Narvik. Giese and Koellner were very low on fuel and all three were running low on ammunition, so Commander Bey decided not to continue the pursuit of the British ships since they were being engaged by the last two destroyers of Group 1.
Commander Bey was ordered during the afternoon of 10 April to return to Germany with all seaworthy ships that evening. Only Erich Giese and Wolfgang Zenker were ready for sea and they slipped out of the Ofotfjord and turned south. Visibility was good that night and they spotted the light cruiser HMS Penelope and her two escorting destroyers and Commander Bey decided to turn back even though his ships had not been spotted by the British. Three other destroyers refuelled and completed their repairs on 11 April, but Bey decided against another breakout attempt despite the fog and poor visibility that night. Bey made no attempt to break out during the night of 12/13 April, possibly because two of the destroyers had been damaged earlier in the day when they ran aground.
That night he received word to expect an attack the following day by British capital ships escorted by a large number of destroyers and supported by carrier aircraft. Erich Giese reported that she was only capable of 28 knots (52 km/h; 32 mph), although her torpedoes had been replenished from the damaged destroyers. The battleship HMS Warspite and nine destroyers duly appeared on 13 April, although earlier than Commander Bey had expected, and caught the Germans out of position. The five operable destroyers, not including Giese, charged out of Narvik harbor and engaged the British ships. The ship did not have enough steam raised to participate and remained in the harbor. She attempted to leave the harbor after the British had driven off the other German ships, but her port engine seized up and left her almost dead in the water at the mouth of the harbor. While attempting to repair her engine, Giese was approached by the destroyers HMS Punjabi and HMS Bedouin which fired five torpedoes at her. All of them missed and Giese's torpedoes were equally unsuccessful. She did hit Punjabi with six or seven 12.7 cm shells which holed the ship several times just above the waterline, wrecked her fire-control system, severed her main steam line and started several fires. Casualties aboard Punjabi were seven killed and 14 wounded. In the meantime, Giese had managed to repair her engine after ten minutes of work and limped forward at her maximum speed of 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) to engage the remaining British destroyers. Bedouin closed to point-blank range and had her forward gun turret knocked out by Giese, but the latter was hit at least 20 times and reduced to a blazing wreck that finally sank shortly before midnight. Eighty-three of her crew were killed outright during the battle, but the destroyer HMS Foxhound did rescue 11 men, two of whom subsequently died of their wounds. Surviving crew members later testified that they had been machine-gunned at close range while drifting in the water, an action which was considered especially shocking as the Geise had done so much only three days previously to rescue members of Hunter'''s ship's company. The ship's remaining crewmen managed to get ashore one way or another.
In 2011, a 150 kilograms (330 lb) bronze Reichsadler was salvaged from the wreck of Giese, in order to be displayed at the War Museum in Narvik. The ship's bell from Giese was removed by looters in the 1960s, as were the Reichsadler'' from the nine other German destroyers sunk at Narvik. |
1,054,936 | Zesh Rehman | 1,171,304,181 | Pakistani professional footballer | [
"1983 births",
"Blackpool F.C. players",
"Bradford City A.F.C. players",
"Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players",
"British Asian footballers",
"British sportspeople of Pakistani descent",
"England men's youth international footballers",
"English Football League players",
"English expatriate men's footballers",
"English men's footballers",
"English people of Pakistani descent",
"Expatriate football managers in Hong Kong",
"Expatriate men's footballers in Hong Kong",
"Expatriate men's footballers in Malaysia",
"Expatriate men's footballers in Thailand",
"Footballers from Birmingham, West Midlands",
"Fulham F.C. players",
"Hong Kong First Division League players",
"Hong Kong Premier League players",
"Kitchee SC players",
"Living people",
"Malaysia Super League players",
"Men's association football defenders",
"Muangthong United F.C. players",
"Norwich City F.C. players",
"Pakistan men's international footballers",
"Pakistani expatriate men's footballers",
"Pakistani football managers",
"Pakistani men's footballers",
"Premier League players",
"Queens Park Rangers F.C. players",
"Southern District FC players",
"Sri Pahang FC players",
"Thai League 1 players"
]
| Zeshan Rehman ([] Error: : no text (help); born 14 October 1983) is a former professional footballer who played as a defender. He is currently first team development coach at Portsmouth FC. Born in England, he represented the Pakistan national team.
He was the first British Asian to start a Premier League match and is the first to have played in all four divisions of professional football in England. He also played for the Pakistan national football team and was the first Pakistani international footballer to play professional football in England, Thailand, Hong Kong and Malaysia.
He started his career at Fulham and made a total of 30 appearances, having loan spells at Brighton & Hove Albion and Norwich City. A transfer to Queens Park Rangers followed and he went on to make 50 appearances for the club. During his three years there he went on loan to Brighton & Hove Albion, Blackpool and Bradford City, moving permanently to the latter on a free transfer in June 2009. Having previously represented England at under-18, under-19 and under-20 levels, in 2005 he made his debut for Pakistan.
## Early life
Rehman was born on 14 October 1983 in Birmingham. His father is Khalid Rehman. As a child in Birmingham he played for his local Sunday league team, Kingshurst. He was brought up in the Aston area of the city and often played football on the streets in addition to representing his school, his district and his county in football.
## Club career
### Fulham
#### Early years
When he was just twelve years old he was spotted by a scout, and moved with his family to London where he joined the Fulham Academy. He progressed through the junior, youth and reserve teams at Fulham, which led him to sign his first professional contract. Although a centre back by trade, Rehman was used as a holding midfielder as well as right back in his career at Fulham.
#### 2003–04
In the 2003–04 season, Rehman made his professional debut on 23 September 2003 in a 1–0 defeat away to Wigan Athletic in the second round of the Football League Cup, coming on as a substitute for Junichi Inamoto after 57 minutes. Six days later, he was sent on loan to Brighton & Hove Albion of the Second Division, initially for one month until November. He scored on his debut for the club on 30 September, concluding a 3–1 away win at Rushden & Diamonds. On 11 October, he opened a 3–0 win against Grimsby Town at the Withdean Stadium, finishing a corner by Leon Knight in Bob Booker's first match in charge. Rehman's loan was extended to three months ending in January 2004. He made eleven league appearances, scoring two goals.
He made his Premier League debut for Fulham in a goalless draw at Anfield against Liverpool on 17 April 2004, replacing Bobby Petta for the final minute of the match. In doing so, he garnered media attention from British Asian groups by being the first British Asian player to play in the top division of English football. In June, Rehman signed a new contract, to keep him until 2006.
#### 2005–06
On 21 September 2005 in the League Cup second round, Rehman scored his only goal for Fulham, opening a 5–4 extra-time win over Lincoln City at Craven Cottage by heading in Heiðar Helguson's cross. In January 2006 he signed for Championship club Norwich City on loan for the rest of the season as defensive cover for the club. He made five starts for them. Having made 30 appearances in all competitions for Fulham, 26 from the starting line-up and four as a substitute, Rehman had to consider his options if he was to get regular football. Although he had two years remaining on his contract, he wanted to play regular first team football, and as a result, he decided to spend the next two seasons getting as much experience as possible.
### Queens Park Rangers
On 8 August 2006, just prior to the start of the 2006–07 season, Rehman signed for Championship club Queens Park Rangers (QPR) from Fulham on a three-year contract for an undisclosed fee. In his first season at QPR, Rehman made 27 appearances.
Towards the end of the season Rehman was sent on loan to former club Brighton & Hove Albion for a month where he gained more first team football experience. He made his debut on 24 March 2007 in a 0–0 draw against Huddersfield Town. He ended his loan stint by playing the full 90 minutes, and earning a yellow card in the process, for the final game of the League One season in a 1–1 draw at Cheltenham Town on 5 May 2007, claiming an assist for the opening goal. He featured in eight full games during his loan spell.
Returning to QPR at the start of the new season, chances were limited. The 3–1 victory over Leicester City on New Years Day 2008 was Rehman's 50th game in all competitions since leaving Fulham in 2006. Rehman finished the 2007–08 season in the starting line for QPR against the Championship's new champions, West Bromwich Albion.
#### Blackpool (loan)
Rehman joined Blackpool in a six-month loan deal on 31 July 2008, along with teammate Daniel Nardiello, who joined the club on a permanent basis, while Blackpool defender Kaspars Gorkšs moved to QPR in exchange. He made his debut for Blackpool as a second-half substitute for Jermaine Wright in a 2–0 defeat at League Two club Macclesfield Town in the first round of the 2008–09 League Cup on 12 August 2008. He was used as an emergency striker due to injuries to three of the club's strikers. He made his league debut the following Saturday, in a 1–1 draw at Norwich City, coming on early in the second half to replace defender Danny Coid.
Three months into his loan spell, in early October, Rehman said of his move to play for Blackpool: "I'm quite glad to get away from all the hustle and bustle of London. I really like it up here in Blackpool; it's a good club with an ambitious young manager. Hopefully, over the next few months I can convince Simon Grayson I'm worthy of a long-term contract." On 31 December he returned to QPR after having made three league appearances, all of which were as a substitute.
#### Bradford City (loan)
On 26 January 2009, Rehman signed a loan deal with League Two club Bradford City, which was to last until the end of the 2008–09 season. Rehman had turned down a chance to move to Luton Town and team up with Mick Harford, who was previously the assistant manager at QPR, and said he was only prepared to drop down to League Two if he joined Bradford City. Rehman said of the move, "I was only prepared to drop down the leagues to play for this club. I spoke to the manager and chairmen and I know they want to get Bradford back up to where they belong. I've been involved in relegation battles in the past and it's nice to be joining a club pushing for promotion – that's a good pressure to have." He made his debut the following day in a 1–0 defeat to Bury at Gigg Lane, and in doing so became the first British Asian to play in all four divisions of professional football in England. He made his home debut on 31 January, playing at right back, in a 2–0 home win over Grimsby Town at Valley Parade. In March he turned down the chance to play for Pakistan in the Asian Football Confederation Challenge Cup qualifiers in order to help Bradford's push for promotion.
### Bradford City
After leaving QPR on 19 May 2009, Rehman signed a two-year deal with Bradford City on 19 June, saying of the move, "My gut feeling told me to sign for Bradford and I've absolutely no regrets. From day one I felt at home here. I'm fortunate enough to have played in all the divisions and I see this as the next step of my journey." The Bradford manager, Stuart McCall also revealed that Rehman had taken a large pay cut by joining the club, adding, "Zesh is certainly not signing for Bradford for money—he wants to be a success here, and it will be great to have him on board." He scored his first goal for the club in a 2–2 draw with Barnet on 19 September 2009.
Rehman was captained the club during the 2009–10 season and went on to play 42 games. He won the PFA Player in the Community awards on 25 March at The Football League Awards.
At the start of the following season new manager Peter Taylor kept Rehman as club captain hailing him a "supremely professional individual and a superb ambassador for the football club". Struggling to get playing time, making only 12 appearances, Rehman in an interview to BBC Radio said that he was not pleased to sit in the substitute bench in the past few matches. He also added that being the skipper of the team, his experience would help the team to perform. For making these comments, he was stripped of his captainship and put in the transfer list.
### Muangthong United
Rehman signed a two-year deal with Thai Premier League side Muangthong United on 19 December 2010. He made his debut on 30 January 2011, in the King's Trophy against Chonburi Sharks at the Suphachalasai Stadium; his new side lost 2–1. His appearance made him the first Pakistan international to play in Thailand. About his debut Rehman commented "I can honestly say I loved the experience. The passion from the 40,000 fans in the crowd made it a day to remember". During his stint in the club, it was managed by English striker Robbie Fowler. He made a total of thirty league appearances for the Thai club.
### Kitchee
Rehman signed a deal with Hong Kong First Division League side Kitchee on 11 January 2012. He made his debut in a 2–1 win over Sun Hei on 31 January. Rehman scored his first goal for his new club in the AFC Cup against Sông Lam Nghệ An of Vietnam. Rehman won his first piece of silverware of his Hong Kong career by playing a leading role in Kitchees 2–1 League Cup win over cloes rivals TSW Pegasus at the Mong Kok Stadium on 15 April 2012. Rehman helped Kitchee retain the Hong Kong First Division League title with a 4–1 victory over Biu Chun Rangers in the last league game to clinch the title, it was his second trophy for the club and it put them in pole position to complete the domestic treble in Hong Kong Rehman and Kitchee finished the season in impressive fashion by overcoming Pegasus after penalties to win Hong Kong FA Cup Final at The Hong Kong Stadium. The victory was a historic moment for the club as Kitchee were crowned domestic treble winners, a feat that has never been matched by a Hong Kong club. Rehman made it into the Hong Kong BMA First Division League team of the season at The HKFA Annual Awards dinner. Rehman also achieved the feat of becoming the first Pakistani player to play in AFC Cup.
On 29 August 2012 Rehman played the full game in a pre-season friendly against Premier League giants Arsenal in front of a 40,000 crowd as the Hong Kong Champions drew 2–2 with the Gunners at The Hong Kong Stadium. On 11 May 2013 Rehman won the Hong Kong FA Cup through a 1–0 victory over last year finalist Sun Pegasus FC. On 26 May 2013 Rehman helped Kitchee beat Tuen Mun 3–0 in the final of the play-off to ensure his teams passage into the AFC Cup 2014. Rehman played fifteen league games for the club during the 2012/13 season, which was followed by six appearances in the next season.
### Pahang FA
In December 2013, Rehman signed for Malaysian club Pahang FA on a two-year contract. His former club Kitchee's president Ken Ng commented "Zesh has contributed hugely to Kitchee's success over the last 2 years and he will be truly missed". His new club's manager Zainal Abidin Hassan said that they were "delighted" as he "has chosen to come to Pahang ahead of several other teams." He justified his reason of joining the club as "his destiny". In his first season with the club, he won three trophies – Malaysia Super League, Malaysia FA Cup and Malaysia Cup, thus winning qualification to the 2015 AFC Cup. In the cup, he played six times without scoring a goal.
On 28 June 2016, Zesh announce via his social media accounts he had amicably agreed to terminate with Pahang FC after a successful 3-year spell at the club. Zesh said, "I would love a future return in a coaching role, something which was offered to me at the start of this season but was not the right moment for me. I will be back to visit my sons birthplace of Kuantan. Pahang have the best fans in Malaysia & are by far the best I have played for. Leaving here on excellent terms with the hierarchy, fantastic memories & many formed friendships. Good luck to all the staff & team for the rest of the season. Thank you".
### Gillingham
On 23 February 2017, Rehman returned to English football by joining League One side Gillingham until the end of the 2016-17 season. Rehman made his debut for the club in a 2–1 Victory over Southend, drawing praise from manager Adrian Pennock for his performance and leadership after helping Gillingham avoid relegation from League One on the final day of the season with a 0-0 draw at Northampton.
### Southern
On 14 June 2017, Rehman announced via his Twitter page that he had signed with Southern, returning to Hong Kong for the first time since 2013. Rehman chose Southern ahead of several other offers from around the world, citing the lure of working with head coach Cheng Siu Chung as the main attraction.
On 28 April 2020, Southern announced an agreement with Rehman to extend his contract.
## Coaching career
### Southern
On 16 May 2020, towards the end of the 2019-20 season when COVID started Rehman was named as a player-manager for Southern, achieving his first coaching role since obtaining his UEFA Pro License. He spent two seasons prior to this operating as a development coach working closely with the club's emerging youth prospects that won the U18 League and FA Youth Cup.
On 30 May 2021, Rehman completed his first full season as player head coach leading Southern to a 5th place mid-table finish, a remarkable achievement in the duo role while operating on the lowest budget in the league, working with the youngest coaching team and himself being the youngest head coach in the Hong Kong Premier League.
In January 2022, at the halfway point of the new season, Rehman guided Southern to the top of the league with the second-highest number of goals scored, the best defensive record in the league, and the most clean sheets beating Asian Champions league side Kitchee and last years league runners up Eastern along the way. Southern was also in the top three of the Sapling Cup League.
In May 2022 Rehman announced his retirement, and called time on a 21 year playing career which spanned two decades across several countries. He described his time as an amazing experience both on and off the pitch.
### Portsmouth
Having finished his playing career, in June 2022 Rehman took a role with Portsmouth FC as U18 Coach.
In January 2023, after the dismissal of Danny Cowley and Nicky Cowley as head coach and assistant head coach, Rehman became interim first team assistant manager.
Rehman remained in the interim assistant head coach role after the appointment of John Mousinho as the new head coach.
The pairs first game in charge resulted in a 2-0 home win against visitors Exeter City on Saturday 21 January 2023, their first EFL League One home win since 3 September 2022. Three days later on 24 January 2023, Portsmouth travelled to Fleetwood Town and defeated them 0-2, their first EFL League One away win since 22 October 2022.
On March 23rd 2023 Rehman was announced as the First Team Development Coach. During the season, Rehman became the first British Pakistani former player to be working as a coach within a first-team set-up across the English professional leagues.
## International career
Rehman originally represented England, and played for them at under-18, under-19 and under-20 levels. Becoming the first English-born Pakistani to don an England senior football shirt seemed too far away, however, due to lack of first team opportunities at Fulham. Due to his Pakistani parentage, and because he possessed dual Pakistani and British nationality, Rehman also qualified to represent Pakistan, and he eventually opted to play for them, as he considered it to be a more realistic option. A lot of British Asian groups were against this and wanted him to fight more for an England place to set a standard for English-Asian youth.
It was, however, an unrealistic aspiration. With that in mind, and with the blessings of his father, Rehman was approached by Malik Riaz Hai Naveed, a young football manager and made his international debut for Pakistan in a 1–0 win over Sri Lanka in the 2005 South Asian Football Federation Championship on 7 December 2005 at the Peoples Football Stadium in Karachi. Pakistan ultimately reached the semi-finals before losing out to Bangladesh 1–0.
Rehman was named in the Pakistan squad for the 2010 World Cup qualifying matches against Iraq in October 2007, and played the match in Lahore but could not help contain Asian champions Iraq from winning 7–0. In the second leg on 28 October he captained Pakistan to a 0–0 draw. However, he also had to withdraw from the squad for the SAFF Championship 2008 when he came down with food poisoning. After nearly four years out, Rehman returned to the Pakistan team for the 2012 AFC Challenge Cup qualifiers.
### 2013–19
In September 2013 Rehman represented Pakistan at the SAFF Championship which was held in Nepal. He played all of the games for Pakistan who narrowly missed out on a semi-final spot despite beating Bangladesh in the last group game. His commanding displays during the tournament earned him a place in the Team of the Tournament. In October 2013, Rehman captained Pakistan in both of their games at The Peace Cup held in the Philippines, and scored the winning goal in the opener against Chinese Taipei.
In September 2018 played in his final SAFF Tournament for Pakistan in Bangladesh since his first game in the competition some 13 years earlier. He played all of the games helping the team progress to the semi-final stage of the competition against rivals India.
In June 2019 Zesh Captained the team for the 2022 Asian World Cup Qualifiers against Cambodia over two legs. Pakistan fell short of a place in the group stage of the competition with consecutive defeats in Phnom Penh and in Doha, this was his final game in an international shirt.
### Controversy
Rehman caused controversy in 2007 when in an interview with the British weekly newspaper the Eastern Eye he said that players of Asian descent should consider sticking to their roots rather than dreaming of playing for England. Rehman pointed to Michael Chopra and David Nugent, who both were top scorer in the Championship, but Nugent was called up for England while Chopra was not.
## Personal life
Rehman has said that, his "sole purpose in trying to be a success as a professional footballer is to inspire other Asian players to follow my lead and achieve their goals." He is an ambassador for the Asian Football Network (AFN), a grassroots community-led initiative designed to support and facilitate the development of grassroots Asian football in the UK. He has also worked with the Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) to try to increase the number of British Asians taking up a career in professional football, and has attended meetings with the PFA in order to achieve this goal. He has also been involved in the Show Racism the Red Card campaign and he has taken part in Chelsea's "Search for an Asian Star" campaign. On 12 July 2008, he took part in the Islam Expo event at the Olympia exhibition centre in West Kensington, London, a four-day event whose primary purpose was to build bridges between Britain's Muslim communities and the rest of society. Rehman took part in a panel giving feedback from his own experiences about the positive use of sport.
In April 2008, Rehman appeared on the United States-based Afghan satellite television network Noor TV and Bangladesh-based Islamic TV discussing being a Muslim footballer and how it is possible to pursue a career in football while sticking to Islamic roots. On 20 April 2008, he was a guest on the BBC Asian Network radio station show Breakdown revealing his favourite Desi music tunes. In May 2008, Rehman was awarded the Community Commitment Award at QPR. In April 2008, Rehman took part in a radio documentary on BBC Radio 1Xtra about British Asians in football which followed his "journey from playground to Premier League".
In May 2010, he launched The Zesh Rehman Foundation at Valley Parade to encourage children from all backgrounds to participate in football and sport to better themselves. He was named as one of the 50 World Cup Bid Ambassadors for The FA's World Cup 2018 bid, entered the Show Racism Red Card Hall of Fame, and was invited onto the PFA management committee by Gordon Taylor.
In 2014, he was named as on the special South East Asia contributor for the ESPN South East Asia section by writing blogs and columns about football in the rapidly growing football region of Asia. Rehman wrote his second blog for the ESPN South East Asia section a few days after his side recorded victory in the Malaysia Cup quarter-finals.
## Career statistics
### Club
### International
### International goals
''Scores and results are list Pakistan's goal tally first.
## See also
- British Asians in association football |
66,849,578 | Tule Island | 1,143,096,634 | Island in California | [
"Islands of Northern California",
"Islands of San Joaquin County, California",
"Islands of the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta"
]
| Tule Island is a small island in the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta, which exists as part of a complex of islands including directly-adjacent Fern Island and Headreach Island. It is a naturally-formed island, which was used in the early 20th century to farm potatoes, but now consists mostly of marsh. It is currently a habitat for waterfowl and is used as a fishing spot.
## Geography
Tule Island's coordinates are ; it is part of San Joaquin County, California. It is one of three directly-adjacent islands: to its north is Headreach Island, and beyond that is Fern Island. The three are sometimes referred to as the Fern-Headreach-Tule complex. In a 1923 report on the hydrography of the San Joaquin River, its total area was given as 100 acres (40 ha). It appears on a 1952 United States Geological Survey (USGS) map of the area, and the USGS gave its elevation as 33 ft (10 m) in 1981.
## History
In 1923, 85 acres (34 ha) out of the island's total area of 100 acres (40 ha) was devoted to potato farming. Since then, its use for agriculture diminished; in November 1929, the City of Stockton put the island up for public auction. By the mid-20th century, it became known as a fishing location. Parts of the musical Porgy and Bess were filmed in 1958 on Tule Island and nearby Venice Island.
In a 1972 report from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Fern-Headreach-Tule complex was addressed in a proposal for a project to protect the banks of the Stockton Ship Channel. The report noted that (in contrast to other islands in the area) the complex was "not reclaimed agricultural land, but an area of near-natural state". At the time, the complex contained "virtually no permanent residential developments", but it was noted that a "small private boat club" was located on the east side of Tule Island. The Modesto Bee reported in January 1978 that a \$5 – \$6 million development (equivalent to \$ – \$ in ) on Tule Island (and nearby Headreach Island) had been proposed, including a two-story marina, a restaurant, and bar. In 1984, the island was receiving regular postal service, and in 1989, it was home to the Delta Yacht Club.
A 1982 feasibility report on environmental enhancement measures for the area suggested a government purchase of Tule Island for preservation as a wildlife habitat, noting that the island complex was a habitat for the black rail and other waterfowl. |
67,365,616 | Bruno Márquez | 1,153,864,570 | Mexican gridiron football player (born 1990) | [
"1989 births",
"American football quarterbacks",
"Condors CDMX players",
"Living people",
"Mexican players of American football",
"Pumas CU players",
"Raptors de Naucalpan players"
]
| Bruno Daniel Márquez Albarrán (born 21 September 1989) is a Mexican professional gridiron football quarterback for Raptors de Naucalpan of the Liga de Fútbol Americano Profesional (LFA). He played college football with Pumas CU before joining the LFA, where he was named league MVP in 2017 and 2019. He has also appeared for the Mexico national team, most notably at the 2011 IFAF World Championship.
Márquez attended the National Autonomous University of Mexico, where he led their football team to two national championships and was named ONEFA player of the year in his final season. A few years after graduation, he accepted an offer to play in the upstart LFA as one of its marquee players. After spending the league's inaugural season with Condors CDMX, Márquez joined Raptors de Naucalpan in 2017. He made an immediate impact in his first year with his new team, leading the league in passing yards and touchdowns en route to a 5–2 regular season record. In 2018 and 2019, Márquez took the Raptors to the league championship game, losing both times. He has set various single-game, single-season and career LFA records.
## College career
Márquez played his college football with Pumas CU in the Organización Nacional Estudiantil de Fútbol Americano (ONEFA), representing the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) from 2009 to 2013. In 38 career games, he completed 447 of 664 passes for 6,910 yards and 73 touchdowns.
After serving as a backup in his first season, Márquez assumed the starting role ahead of his second year after injuries to veteran quarterbacks Salvador Castañeda and José Luis Canales. He threw for four touchdowns in the season opener, a 67–7 blowout win over Halcones UV [es]. Two weeks later, he played an instrumental part in their first win against Auténticos Tigres UANL in 10 years, tossing two touchdowns in their 38–22 victory. Márquez also had four passing touchdowns in a 38–12 win over bitter rivals Águilas Blancas IPN. He ultimately led Pumas CU to an 8–0 regular season record and an ONEFA national title (defeating Auténticos Tigres UANL in the final) on the year of the school's centennial anniversary celebrations.
In 2011, Márquez threw four touchdowns in the Pumas' 44–24 win over Águilas Blancas IPN, but they lost in the national championship game to Auténticos Tigres UANL by a score of 15–16. In 2012, Márquez passed for 123 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions in the 28–10 derby victory over Águilas Blancas IPN. However, his team lost to Auténticos Tigres UANL in the championship game for the second year in a row. Márquez was named ONEFA offensive player of the year at the Cascos de Oro (Golden Helmets) ceremony.
In 2013, Márquez had a six-touchdown game against Linces UVM and threw for over 900 yards in the first three games of the season. He threw four touchdowns in their regular season finale, a 49–0 blanking of rivals Águilas Blancas IPN in front of about 25,000 fans in Pachuca. Márquez finished the regular season with 2,015 passing yards and 23 touchdowns. He tossed three touchdowns in their 38–7 win over Linces UVM in the national semifinals, which was also his final home game at the Estadio Olímpico Universitario. A week later, Márquez won his second national championship with Pumas CU by passing for two touchdowns in their 28–16 defeat of Auténticos Tigres UANL in the title game at the Estadio Gaspar Mass. He was subsequently named the Eduardo "Pocho" Herrera ONEFA Player of the Year after throwing for 29 touchdowns and only two interceptions in the regular season and playoffs combined.
After his fifth and final year of eligibility, Márquez expressed that he had no interest in continuing his football career and that he would instead look for work related to his marketing degree.
## Professional career
In 2014, Márquez played with Olmecas Premier in the semi-professional Futbol Americano Asociacion (FAMA) league. He led the team to an appearance in the championship game, where they lost to Tigres Oro SSP, led by former Águilas Blancas IPN quarterback Raúl Mateos.
### Condors CDMX
When the Liga de Fútbol Americano Profesional (LFA) was announced in early 2016 as a four-team professional spring league, Márquez was announced as one of the league's first players along with Raúl Mateos. He joined Condors CDMX for the 2016 season, and threw two touchdowns in their historic 30–28 win over Mateos and his Eagles squad on opening weekend. However, that would be their only win of the season as injuries derailed the team and they finished with a 1–5 record. Márquez was the league leader in passing yards (1,292), completions (121), and completion percentage (60.2%). He also threw seven touchdowns and seven interceptions.
### Raptors de Naucalpan
Márquez was hesitant to return for a second season due to the hits he took but decided to come back with Raptors de Naucalpan in 2017. They defeated his former team, Condors, by a score of 13–10 in the first game of the season. The following week he set new LFA records by throwing for 423 yards and five touchdowns in their 34–27 win against Dinos Saltillo. He also set league records for longest play from scrimmage (a 94-yard pass to Enrique Barraza) and biggest comeback (27 unanswered points after a 20-point deficit). Overall he led them to a 5–2 record before they were upset by Dinos Saltillo in the first round of the playoffs. He was named league MVP after throwing for 1,543 yards and 15 touchdowns, both league-leading numbers.
The Raptors saw a dip in team performance during the 2018 season, going 3–4 with Márquez at the helm. They started the year out with two promising blowout victories, a 32–0 win over defending champions Mayas CDMX followed by a 46–26 win over the Condors, before being blown out themselves by Fundidores Monterrey in week three. That was the beginning of a four-game losing streak, and they were only able to salvage the last regular season game, also against Fundidores Monterrey, to sneak into the playoffs. Márquez threw two touchdowns in their 21–6 defeat of Dinos Saltillo in the semifinals, winning the North Division title and a berth in Tazón México III. However, the Raptors came up short in the title game, losing 0–17 to Mexicas CDMX at Estadio Azul. On the season, Márquez completed 162 of 261 passes for 1,882 yards and 17 touchdowns, along with three rushing touchdowns.
In 2019, Márquez was able to improve the Raptors' record to 6–2, leading them to their second North Division title in three years. He opened the season with a five-touchdown performance in their 48–12 win over new expansion team Osos Toluca. The Raptors suffered their first loss in week three to Fundidores Monterrey; Márquez's three touchdowns were not enough in the 31–21 defeat. They lost their following game against two-time champions Mayas CDMX before rallying to win the last three games of the year. In the semifinals, the Raptors defeated Fundidores Monterrey 53–47 in an overtime thriller for the division title. However, they fell short in the final once again, losing Tazón México IV to Condors CDMX by a score of 16–20. Márquez won his second MVP award after a historic season, breaking the 2,000-yard mark for the first time ever with 2,344 along with a league-best 18 touchdowns and five interceptions.
After mulling over retirement in the offseason, Márquez came back and threw two touchdowns in their 13–5 win over Mexicas CDMX in the 2020 season opener. However, he injured his hand in the game and was replaced by Canadian import Graham Kelly as the starter in their week two matchup against league newcomers Pioneros Querétaro. He made his return in week four against Osos Toluca, but the season was suspended soon thereafter due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico. The subsequent 2021 season was not played.
## International career
While in college, Márquez was called up to the Mexico national team for the 2011 IFAF World Championship in Austria by head coach Raúl Rivera, who doubled as Pumas CU head coach. He replaced starting quarterback Rodrigo Pérez in all three group stage games against Germany, Australia, and the United States. Mexico ultimately lost the bronze medal game to Japan. At the conclusion of his final college season in 2013, Márquez again represented the Mexico national team in an American Bowl exhibition game against the United States. The Aztec Bowl, usually held between teams of college all-stars from the two countries, was cancelled that year, leading organizers to arrange a similar game between both national teams. Márquez threw a touchdown pass to Gerardo Aguilar in Mexico's 30–15 victory in Mexico City. With no professional league in Mexico at the time, he considered this to be the final game of his career.
Márquez was also announced on the 115-man shortlist for the national team ahead of the 2015 IFAF World Championship, though he was not included on the final roster.
## Awards and honors
### Individual
- 2× LFA Most Valuable Player (2017, 2019)
- LFA Offensive Player of the Year (2019)
- LFA All-Pro Team (2019)
- 2× LFA passing touchdowns leader (2017, 2018, 2019)
- 4× LFA passing yards leader (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019)
- ONEFA Player of the Year (2013)
- 2× ONEFA Offensive Player of the Year (2011, 2012)
- ONEFA championship game MVP (2013)
### Team
- 2× LFA North Division champions (2018, 2019)
- 2× ONEFA national champions (2010, 2013)
## Personal life
The son of Enrique Márquez and Ángeles Albarrán, he attributes his love for the sport to his older brother (also named Enrique), who would make the younger Bruno throw him the football in the backyard in their childhood. Enrique went on to be one of the best wide receivers in Mexican college football history, playing his last season with Pumas CU in 2008. |
11,266,661 | Fieldin Culbreth | 1,169,105,537 | American baseball umpire (born 1963) | [
"1963 births",
"Charlotte 49ers baseball players",
"Living people",
"Major League Baseball umpires",
"People from Inman, South Carolina",
"Sportspeople from South Carolina"
]
| Fieldin Henry Culbreth III (born March 16, 1963) is an American former umpire in Major League Baseball (MLB). He worked in the American League from 1993 to 1999 and in both major leagues from 2000 until his retirement in 2021. Culbreth was promoted to crew chief prior to the 2013 season. Culbreth wore number 42 while he was an American League umpire, then changed to 25 in 2000 after the MLB umpires were unified into one crew.
Culbreth has umpired in five Division Series, six League Championship Series, three World Series and one All-Star Game, as well as the National League's single-game playoff in 2007. He has been part of the umpiring crew for two no-hitters, the first in 2010 by Matt Garza of the Tampa Bay Rays and the second by Johan Santana of the New York Mets.
## Early life
Culbreth was born and raised in Inman, South Carolina. He graduated from Chapman High School and attended Spartanburg Methodist College before attending the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, where he played baseball. Originally a pitcher and outfielder, Culbreth began umpiring in college following an arm injury.
## Umpiring career
Culbreth has umpired in the American League Division Series in 2002, 2007, 2012, and 2014; and the National League Division Series in 2004 and 2008. He officiated in the American League Championship Series in 2000, 2009, 2010 and 2011; and the National League Championship Series in 2003, 2006 and 2019. Culbreth umpired in the World Series in 2008 and 2012. Culbreth has officiated in 87 postseason games through the 2019 season, being the plate umpire for 11 of those contests. He was also a member of the crew for the 2006 MLB All-Star Game in Pittsburgh. The American League defeated the National League, 3–2.
Prior to the 2013 season, Culbreth, Ted Barrett and Jim Joyce were promoted to crew chief positions after the retirement of former crew chiefs Ed Rapuano, Tim Tschida and Derryl Cousins. At the age of 49, Culbreth became the second-youngest active crew chief, with only Barrett younger at the age of 47. Culbreth's 2013 crew consists of Brian O'Nora, Bill Welke and Adrian Johnson.
According to Retrosheet, Culbreth has issued a total of 51 ejections in his major league umpiring career, with a single-season high of six in 1997. Culbreth has officiated over 3,000 regular season games and has served in more than one hundred games each season since 1997.
### Early career
Culbreth had never umpired prior to attending umpire school in 1987. He did not take long to reach the major leagues, where he made his first umpiring appearance on August 13, 1993. On that day, Culbreth umpired at second base in a game played at the Kingdome between the Seattle Mariners and the California Angels.
Culbreth became a member of the official AL umpire staff in 1999, when multiple call-up umpires were hired to take the place of umpires who had participated in a mass resignation. He began his career on the AL staff, but in 2000 MLB merged the umpires from its two leagues. Culbreth initially wore \#42 as an AL umpire until it was retired in recognition of Jackie Robinson.
### 2000-2009
During the 2001 season, Culbreth received an email from then-MLB official Sandy Alderson advising him that he was not calling enough strikes and that if he did not make adjustments, he would face criticism from ESPN analysts when he umpired a game that was broadcast by the network.
Culbreth was part of the umpiring crew when Cal Ripken Jr. of the Baltimore Orioles joined the 3,000 hit club. He was also present when Ripken finally sat out a game after having played in 2,632 consecutive games. Culbreth was the home plate umpire when Baltimore's Rafael Palmeiro reached the 3,000-hit milestone on July 15, 2005 with a double against Joel Piñeiro of the Seattle Mariners.
On September 16, 2005, Culbreth was involved in a dispute with pitcher Randy Johnson of the New York Yankees. At the time, the Yankees were contending for a playoff spot. After Johnson expressed his displeasure with some of the umpire's calls on balls and strikes, Culbreth ejected Johnson in the second inning. Johnson said that he was "deeply regretful" and acknowledged, "I was wrong for letting my emotions get away from me." Prior to Johnson's apology, Culbreth was criticized by Yankees announcers John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman, neither of whom was aware of what had been said on the field.
Earlier in the 2005 season, Culbreth had twice ejected Philadelphia Phillies manager Charlie Manuel from games, once in April and again in August. During the 2001 season, Culbreth had previously ejected Manuel from a contest; it was held during Manuel's time as manager of the Cleveland Indians. Culbreth has also thrown former manager Mike Hargrove out of three different games, with two of the ejections taking place while Hargrove was with Cleveland and the third while Hargrove was managing Baltimore.
Culbreth was the left field umpire for the single-game playoff between the Colorado Rockies and the San Diego Padres that decided the NL's 2007 wild card team. The game ended in the 13th inning when home plate umpire Tim McClelland called Rockies player Matt Holliday safe at home plate; the call was controversial and replays did not show clearly whether or not Holliday touched the plate on the play. Colorado won by a score of 9–8.
In the 2008 World Series, which featured the Philadelphia Phillies and Tampa Bay Rays, Culbreth worked behind home plate for Game 3. The Phillies claimed a 5–4 victory due to a walk–off single by Carlos Ruiz. Philadelphia won the Series in five games. In Game 3 of the 2012 World Series, Culbreth umpired behind the plate for the matchup between the Detroit Tigers and the San Francisco Giants. The Giants shut out the Tigers, 2–0. San Francisco won the World Series in the next game.
### 2010-2021
Culbreth was the first-base umpire for Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Matt Garza's no-hitter against the Detroit Tigers on July 26, 2010. In the third inning, Tigers manager Jim Leyland was ejected from the game by second-base umpire Marty Foster. Garza's no-hitter was the first by a Rays pitcher. Culbreth was at second base on June 1, 2012, when New York Mets pitcher Johan Santana threw a no-hitter against the St. Louis Cardinals. This no-hitter was the first to be thrown by a Mets pitcher. Santana benefited from a close call on the third base line by umpire Adrian Johnson; the Carlos Beltrán line drive appeared to be fair, but Johnson ruled it foul.
During spring training in 2014, a call by Culbreth was the subject of the first use of expanded replay in an MLB game. After Toronto Blue Jays manager John Gibbons elected to challenge a safe call made by Culbreth, who was umpiring at first base, replay umpire Brian O'Nora upheld the ruling following a video review.
In the 7th inning of a 2013 game between the Houston Astros and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Culbreth, acting as the crew chief for the game, made an incorrect call for which he later received a two-game suspension and a fine. Houston manager Bo Porter made a pitching change, and Angels manager Mike Scioscia called for a pinch-hitter. Porter attempted to make a second pitching change and Scioscia immediately contested it. After discussing the call with his umpiring crew, Culbreth allowed the pitching change, violating MLB rule 3.05(b). He did not serve his suspension immediately, and he continued working regular games in the weeks following the incident.
On September 30, 2021, during a game between the Atlanta Braves and Philadelphia Phillies, a third-party umpiring analysis Twitter bot found that Culbreth correctly called 121 of 122 taken pitches, a near-perfect performance behind the plate. He subsequently received praise from online baseball fans. At the conclusion of the 2021 season, Culbreth retired, ending a 25-year major league umpiring career.
## Personal life
Culbreth and his wife Claire have three children: Fieldin IV, Celina and Shannon. As a member of an organization called BLUE for Kids, Culbreth has visited and brought presents to hospitalized children on multiple occasions.
## See also
- List of Major League Baseball umpires |
67,371,708 | Birdsong (picture book) | 1,157,192,529 | 2019 children's picture book by Julie Flett | [
"2019 children's books",
"American picture books",
"Children's fiction books",
"Indigenous literature of the Americas"
]
| Birdsong is a 2019 children's picture book written and illustrated by Julie Flett. The book follows the story of a young indigenous girl named Katherena, who moves to a countryside home with her mother. Lonely in her new home at first, Katherena develops a friendship with her elderly neighbor, Agnes. The book explores the intergenerational relationship between them. The pages were illustrated with pastel and pencil colours.
Greystone Kids published the book on 24 September 2019. The book received positive reviews by critics, who praised its seasonal arrangement, portrayal of relationships, and minimalist illustrations. It appeared on numerous year-end "best of" publication lists, including those of The Horn Book Magazine, Kirkus Reviews, and Publishers Weekly. In 2020, the book was awarded the TD Canadian Children's Literature Award and the American Indian Youth Literature Award.
## Plot
The book opens in spring, when a young indigenous girl named Katherena and her mother leave their home by the sea and move into a countryside residence. Katherena has difficulty adjusting to her new home and no longer enjoys drawing at her new desk. Seeing her loneliness, Katherena's mother asks her to visit their older neighbour Agnes, a clay artist. Katherena becomes friends with Agnes. Katherena shows her paintings to Agnes, who shows Katherena her garden and clay-shaped birds and animals. Katherena teaches Agnes Cree words while Agnes tells her about rural life. During the fall, Katherena helps Agnes in her garden by preparing the soil for next spring and feeding worms. By winter, Agnes cannot go outside her home. Katherena and her mother prepare salmon stew and take it to Agnes's home. With the passage of the seasons, Agnes becomes frail, yet the bond between Katherena and Agnes keeps growing. They continue to share their mutual love for flora, fauna, and art while their strengthening relationship allows Katherena to grow.
## Themes and illustrations
Birdsong touches upon the themes of intergenerational friendship, growth in human connections, passion for art, and seasonal cycles. The book is split into seasonal segments. The intergenerational relationship between Katherena and Agnes is portrayed using the cycle of seasonsspring, summer, fall, winter, spring. Professor Gregory Bryan of the University of Manitoba interpreted the seasonal passage of time as "the renewal of the cycle of life" and argued that the same was true for the changing connection between Katherena and Agnes. Bryan notes that the theme gives the impression that this cycle will continue with an aged Katherena yielding "her place [to] a younger person who has evolved and been endowed with wisdom gained through an acquaintance with Katherena".
The book makes use of digital compositions that employ pencils and pastel colours, and are prominently characterized by Flett's minimalist art style. Katherena is depicted as a girl with brown skin and straight, black hair. The pastoral scenery is shown using flat green spaces that change colours with each season and include delicate flowers and colourful birds, shown in silhouette. Katherena's paintings of birds have been illustrated to appear soft and fuzzy, while the snowy winter air is depicted with more haze. The book was described by critics as sparse and poetic. Cree words used throughout the book are explained within the contents of the book and in a glossary at the beginning.
## Reception
Reviewers praised the book for its seasonal arrangement, portrayal of relationships, and minimalist illustrations. Sujei Lugo of The Horn Book Magazine praised the book's "smooth and lyrical" writing and the illustrations for "portraying the emotional journey of Agnes and Katherena". Lugo felt that these show the affection of the protagonists and help encapsulate the practice of honouring elders. In an article published in The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, Kate Quealy-Gainer commended its artwork, which she described as "both flattened and textured with subdued tones that follow the changing seasons accordingly". Kirkus Reviews agreed and called the book "emotionally stunning".
Giving the book a three-out-of-five-stars score, Bryan acknowledged the "enticing illustrations [and] sweet lyrical prose", and the portrayal of intergenerational friendship. Publishers Weekly regarded the book as a "subtle, sensitive story" that describes themes of maturation and loss through art, time, and friendship. The publication particularly praised the glossary of Cree words which attached "an intimate layer of identity" to the story. Calling the book "simple and profound", Laken Hotten of School Library Journal notes the message that "a new friend can make a new place feel like home".
Several publications including The Horn Book Magazine, Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, and School Library Journal listed Birdsong as among the best picture books of 2019. The book was awarded the 2020 TD Canadian Children's Literature Award, and was named as one of the finalists for the Governor General's Literary Award. The book received an honour title at the 2020 American Indian Youth Literature Awards. |
443,293 | Australopithecus afarensis | 1,173,526,221 | Extinct hominid from the Pliocene of East Africa | [
"Archaeology of Eastern Africa",
"Australopithecus",
"Fossil taxa described in 1978",
"Mammals described in 1978",
"Pliocene mammals of Africa",
"Pliocene primates",
"Prehistoric Ethiopia",
"Prehistoric Kenya",
"Taxa named by Donald Johanson",
"Taxa named by Tim D. White",
"Tool-using mammals"
]
| Australopithecus afarensis is an extinct species of australopithecine which lived from about 3.9–2.9 million years ago (mya) in the Pliocene of East Africa. The first fossils were discovered in the 1930s, but major fossil finds would not take place until the 1970s. From 1972 to 1977, the International Afar Research Expedition—led by anthropologists Maurice Taieb, Donald Johanson and Yves Coppens—unearthed several hundreds of hominin specimens in Hadar, Ethiopia, the most significant being the exceedingly well-preserved skeleton AL 288-1 ("Lucy") and the site AL 333 ("the First Family"). Beginning in 1974, Mary Leakey led an expedition into Laetoli, Tanzania, and notably recovered fossil trackways. In 1978, the species was first described, but this was followed by arguments for splitting the wealth of specimens into different species given the wide range of variation which had been attributed to sexual dimorphism (normal differences between males and females). A. afarensis probably descended from A. anamensis and is hypothesised to have given rise to Homo, though the latter is debated.
A. afarensis had a tall face, a delicate brow ridge, and prognathism (the jaw jutted outwards). The jawbone was quite robust, similar to that of gorillas. The living size of A. afarensis is debated, with arguments for and against marked size differences between males and females. Lucy measured perhaps 105 cm (3 ft 5 in) in height and 25–37 kg (55–82 lb), but she was rather small for her species. In contrast, a presumed male was estimated at 165 cm (5 ft 5 in) and 45 kg (99 lb). A perceived difference in male and female size may simply be sampling bias. The leg bones as well as the Laetoli fossil trackways suggest A. afarensis was a competent biped, though somewhat less efficient at walking than humans. The arm and shoulder bones have some similar aspects to those of orangutans and gorillas, which has variously been interpreted as either evidence of partial tree-dwelling (arboreality), or basal traits inherited from the chimpanzee–human last common ancestor with no adaptive functionality.
A. afarensis was probably a generalist omnivore of both C<sub>3</sub> forest plants and C<sub>4</sub> CAM savanna plants—and perhaps creatures which ate such plants—and was able to exploit a variety of different food sources. Similarly, A. afarensis appears to have inhabited a wide range of habitats with no real preference, inhabiting open grasslands or woodlands, shrublands, and lake- or riverside forests. Potential evidence of stone tool use would indicate meat was also a dietary component. Marked sexual dimorphism in primates typically corresponds to a polygynous society and low dimorphism to monogamy, but the group dynamics of early hominins is difficult to predict with accuracy. Early hominins may have fallen prey to the large carnivores of the time, such as big cats and hyenas.
## Taxonomy
### Research history
Beginning in the 1930s, some of the most ancient hominin remains of the time dating to 3.8–2.9 million years ago were recovered from East Africa. Because Australopithecus africanus fossils were commonly being discovered throughout the 1920s and '40s in South Africa, these remains were often provisionally classified as Australopithecus aff. africanus. The first to identify a human fossil was German explorer Ludwig Kohl-Larsen in 1939 by the headwaters of the Gerusi River (near Laetoli, Tanzania), who encountered a maxilla. In 1948, German palaeontologist Edwin Hennig proposed classifying it into a new genus, "Praeanthropus", but he failed to give a species name. In 1950, German anthropologist Hans Weinert proposed classifying it as Meganthropus africanus, but this was largely ignored. In 1955, M.S. Şenyürek proposed the combination Praeanthropus africanus. Major collections were made in Laetoli, Tanzania, on an expedition beginning in 1974 directed by British palaeoanthropologist Mary Leakey, and in Hadar, Ethiopia, from 1972 to 1977 by the International Afar Research Expedition (IARE) formed by French geologist Maurice Taieb, American palaeoanthropologist Donald Johanson and Breton anthropologist Yves Coppens. These fossils were remarkably well preserved and many had associated skeletal aspects. In 1973, the IARE team unearthed the first knee joint, AL 129-1, and showed the earliest example at the time of bipedalism. In 1974, Johanson and graduate student Tom Gray discovered the extremely well-preserved skeleton AL 288–1, commonly referred to as "Lucy" (named after the 1967 Beatles song Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds which was playing on their tape recorder that evening). In 1975, the IARE recovered 216 specimens belonging to 13 individuals, AL 333 "the First Family" (though the individuals were not necessarily related). In 1976, Leakey and colleagues discovered fossil trackways, and preliminarily classified Laetoli remains into Homo spp., attributing Australopithecus-like traits as evidence of them being transitional fossils.
In 1978, Johanson, Tim D. White and Coppens classified the hundreds of specimens collected thus far from both Hadar and Laetoli into a single new species, A. afarensis, and considered the apparently wide range of variation a result of sexual dimorphism. The species name honours the Afar Region of Ethiopia where the majority of the specimens had been recovered from. They later selected the jawbone LH 4 as the holotype specimen because of its preservation quality and because White had already fully described and illustrated it the year before.
A. afarensis is known only from East Africa. Beyond Laetoli and the Afar Region, the species has been recorded in Kenya at Koobi Fora and possibly Lothagam; and elsewhere in Ethiopia at Woranso-Mille, Maka, Belohdelie, Ledi-Geraru and Fejej. The frontal bone fragment BEL-VP-1/1 from the Middle Awash, Afar Region, Ethiopia, dating to 3.9 million years ago has typically been assigned to A. anamensis based on age, but may be assignable to A. afarensis because it exhibits a derived form of postorbital constriction. This would mean A. afarensis and A. anamensis coexisted for at least 100,000 years. In 2005, a second adult specimen preserving both skull and body elements, AL 438–1, was discovered in Hadar. In 2006, an infant partial skeleton, DIK-1-1, was unearthed at Dikika, Afar Region. In 2015, an adult partial skeleton, KSD-VP-1/1, was recovered from Woranso-Mille.
For a long time, A. afarensis was the oldest known African great ape until the 1994 description of the 4.4-million-year-old Ardipithecus ramidus, and a few earlier or contemporary taxa have been described since, including the 4-million-year-old A. anamensis in 1995, the 3.5-million-year-old Kenyanthropus platyops in 2001, the 6-million-year-old Orrorin tugenensis in 2001, and the 7- to 6-million-year-old Sahelanthropus tchadensis in 2002. Bipedalism was once thought to have evolved in australopithecines, but it is now thought to have begun evolving much earlier in habitually arboreal primates. The earliest claimed date for the beginnings of an upright spine and a primarily vertical body plan is 21.6 million years ago in the Early Miocene with Morotopithecus bishopi.
### Classification
A. afarensis is now a widely accepted species, and it is now generally thought that Homo and Paranthropus are sister taxa deriving from Australopithecus, but the classification of Australopithecus species is in disarray. Australopithecus is considered a grade taxon whose members are united by their similar physiology rather than close relations with each other over other hominin genera. It is unclear how any Australopithecus species relate to each other, but it is generally thought that a population of A. anamensis evolved into A. afarensis.
In 1979, Johanson and White proposed that A. afarensis was the last common ancestor between Homo and Paranthropus, supplanting A. africanus in this role. Considerable debate of the validity of this species followed, with proposals for synonymising them with A. africanus or recognising multiple species from the Laetoli and Hadar remains. In 1980, South African palaeoanthropologist Phillip V. Tobias proposed reclassifying the Laetoli specimens as A. africanus afarensis and the Hadar specimens as A. afr. aethiopicus. The skull KNM-ER 1470 (now H. rudolfensis) was at first dated to 2.9 million years ago, which cast doubt on the ancestral position of both A. afarensis or A. africanus, but it has been re-dated to about 2 million years ago. Several Australopithecus species have since been postulated to represent the ancestor to Homo, but the 2013 discovery of the earliest Homo specimen, LD 350-1, 2.8 million years old (older than almost all other Australopithecus species) from the Afar Region could potentially affirm A. afarensis' ancestral position. However, A. afarensis is also argued to have been too derived (too specialised), due to resemblance in jaw anatomy to the robust australopithecines, to have been a human ancestor.
Palaeoartist Walter Ferguson has proposed splitting A. afarensis into "H. antiquus", a relict dryopithecine "Ramapithecus" (now Kenyapithecus) and a subspecies of A. africanus. His recommendations have largely been ignored. In 2003, Spanish writer Camilo José Cela Conde and evolutionary biologist Francisco J. Ayala proposed reinstating "Praeanthropus" including A. afarensis alongside Sahelanthropus, A. anamensis, A. bahrelghazali and A. garhi. In 2004, Danish biologist Bjarne Westergaard and geologist Niels Bonde proposed splitting off "Homo hadar" with the 3.2-million-year-old partial skull AL 333–45 as the holotype, because a foot from the First Family was apparently more humanlike than that of Lucy. In 2011, Bonde agreed with Ferguson that Lucy should be split into a new species, though erected a new genus as "Afaranthropus antiquus".
In 1996, a 3.6-million-year-old jaw from Koro Toro, Chad, originally classified as A. afarensis was split off into a new species as A. bahrelghazali. In 2015, some 3.5- to 3.3-million-year-old jaw specimens from the Afar Region (the same time and place as A. afarensis) were classified as a new species as A. deyiremeda, and the recognition of this species would call into question the species designation of fossils currently assigned to A. afarensis. However, the validity of A. bahrelghazali and A. deyiremeda is debated. Wood and Boyle (2016) stated there was "low confidence" that A. afarensis, A. bahrelghazali and A. deyiremeda are distinct species, with Kenyanthropus platyops perhaps being indistinct from the latter two.
## Anatomy
### Skull
A. afarensis had a tall face, a delicate brow ridge, and prognathism (the jaw jutted outwards). One of the biggest skulls, AL 444–2, is about the size of a female gorilla skull. The first relatively complete jawbone was discovered in 2002, AL 822–1. This specimen strongly resembles the deep and robust gorilla jawbone. However, unlike gorillas, the strength of the sagittal and nuchal crests (which support the temporalis muscle used in biting) do not vary between sexes. The crests are similar to those of chimpanzees and female gorillas. Compared to earlier hominins, the incisors of A. afarensis are reduced in breadth, the canines reduced in size and lost the honing mechanism which continually sharpens them, the premolars are molar-shaped, and the molars are taller. The molars of australopiths are generally large and flat with thick enamel, which is ideal for crushing hard and brittle foods.
The brain volume of Lucy was estimated to have been 365–417 cc, specimen AL 822-1 about 374–392 cc, AL 333-45 about 486–492 cc, and AL 444-2 about 519–526 cc. This would make for an average of about 445 cc. The brain volumes of the infant (about 2.5 years of age) specimens DIK-1-1 and AL 333-105 are 273–277 and 310–315 cc, respectively. Using these measurements, the brain growth rate of A. afarensis was closer to the growth rate of modern humans than to the faster rate in chimpanzees. Though brain growth was prolonged, the duration was nonetheless much shorter than modern humans, which is why the adult A. afarensis brain was so much smaller. The A. afarensis brain was likely organised like non-human ape brains, with no evidence for humanlike brain configuration.
### Size
A. afarensis specimens apparently exhibit a wide range of variation, which is generally explained as marked sexual dimorphism with males much bigger than females. In 1991, American anthropologist Henry McHenry estimated body size by measuring the joint sizes of the leg bones and scaling down a human to meet that size. This yielded 151 cm (4 ft 11 in) for a presumed male (AL 333–3), whereas Lucy was 105 cm (3 ft 5 in). In 1992, he estimated that males typically weighed about 44.6 kg (98 lb) and females 29.3 kg (65 lb) assuming body proportions were more humanlike than apelike. This gives a male to female body mass ratio of 1.52, compared to 1.22 in modern humans, 1.37 in chimpanzees, and about 2 for gorillas and orangutans. However, this commonly cited weight figure used only three presumed-female specimens, of which two were among the smallest specimens recorded for the species. It is also contested if australopiths even exhibited heightened sexual dimorphism at all, which if correct would mean the range of variation is normal body size disparity between different individuals regardless of sex. It has also been argued that the femoral head could be used for more accurate size modeling, and the femoral head size variation was the same for both sexes.
Lucy is one of the most complete Pliocene hominin skeletons, with over 40% preserved, but she was one of the smaller specimens of her species. Nonetheless, she has been the subject of several body mass estimates since her discovery, ranging from 13–42 kg (29–93 lb) for absolute lower and upper bounds. Most studies report ranges within 25–37 kg (55–82 lb).
For the five makers of the Laetoli fossil trackways (S1, S2, G1, G2 and G3), based on the relationship between footprint length and bodily dimensions in modern humans, S1 was estimated to have been considerably large at about 165 cm (5 ft 5 in) tall and 45 kg (99 lb) in weight, S2 145 cm (4 ft 9 in) and 39.5 kg (87 lb), G1 114 cm (3 ft 9 in) and 30 kg (66 lb), G2 142 cm (4 ft 8 in) and 39 kg (86 lb), and G3 132 cm (4 ft 4 in) and 35 kg (77 lb). Based on these, S1 is interpreted to have been a male, and the rest females (G1 and G3 possibly juveniles), with A. afarensis being a highly dimorphic species.
### Torso
DIK-1-1 preserves an oval hyoid bone (which supports the tongue) more similar to those of chimpanzees and gorillas than the bar-shaped hyoid of humans and orangutans. This would suggest the presence of laryngeal air sacs characteristic of non-human African apes (and large gibbons). Air sacs may lower the risk of hyperventilating when producing faster extended call sequences by rebreathing exhaled air from the air sacs. The loss of these in humans could have been a result of speech and resulting low risk of hyperventilating from normal vocalisation patterns.
It was previously thought that the australopithecines' spine was more like that of non-human apes than humans, with weak neck vertebrae. However, the thickness of the neck vertebrae of KSD-VP-1/1 is similar to that of modern humans. Like humans, the series has a bulge and achieves maximum girth at C5 and 6, which in humans is associated with the brachial plexus, responsible for nerves and muscle innervation in the arms and hands. This could perhaps speak to advanced motor functions in the hands of A. afarensis and competency at precision tasks compared to non-human apes, possibly implicated in stone tool use or production. However, this could have been involved in head stability or posture rather than dexterity. A.L. 333-101 and A.L. 333-106 lack evidence of this feature. The neck vertebrae of KDS-VP-1/1 indicate that the nuchal ligament, which stabilises the head while distance running in humans and other cursorial creatures, was either not well developed or absent. KSD-VP-1/1, preserving (among other skeletal elements) 6 rib fragments, indicates that A. afarensis had a bell-shaped ribcage instead of the barrel shaped ribcage exhibited in modern humans. Nonetheless, the constriction at the upper ribcage was not so marked as exhibited in non-human great apes and was quite similar to humans. Originally, the vertebral centra preserved in Lucy were interpreted as being the T6, T8, T10, T11 and L3, but a 2015 study instead interpreted them as being T6, T7, T9, T10 and L3. DIK-1-1 shows that australopithecines had 12 thoracic vertebrae like modern humans instead of 13 like non-human apes. Like humans, australopiths likely had 5 lumbar vertebrae, and this series was likely long and flexible in contrast to the short and inflexible non-human great ape lumbar series.
### Upper limbs
Like other australopiths, the A. afarensis skeleton exhibits a mosaic anatomy with some aspects similar to modern humans and others to non-human great apes. The pelvis and leg bones clearly indicate weight-bearing ability, equating to habitual bipedal, but the upper limbs are reminiscent of orangutans, which would indicate arboreal locomotion. However, this is much debated, as tree-climbing adaptations could simply be basal traits inherited from the great ape last common ancestor in the absence of major selective pressures at this stage to adopt a more humanlike arm anatomy.
The shoulder joint is somewhat in a shrugging position, closer to the head, like in non-human apes. Juvenile modern humans have a somewhat similar configuration, but this changes to the normal human condition with age; such a change does not appear to have occurred in A. afarensis development. It was once argued that this was simply a byproduct of being a small-bodied species, but the discovery of the similarly sized H. floresiensis with a more or less human shoulder configuration and larger A. afarensis specimens retaining the shrugging shoulders show this to not have been the case. The scapular spine (reflecting the strength of the back muscles) is closer to the range of gorillas.
The forearm of A. afarensis is incompletely known, yielding various brachial indexes (radial length divided by humeral length) comparable to non-human great apes at the upper estimate and to modern humans at the lower estimate. The most complete ulna specimen, AL 438–1, is within the range of modern humans and other African apes. However, the L40-19 ulna is much longer, though well below that exhibited in orangutans and gibbons. The AL 438-1 metacarpals are proportionally similar to those of modern humans and orangutans. The A. afarensis hand is quite humanlike, though there are some aspects similar to orangutan hands which would have allowed stronger flexion of the fingers, and it probably could not handle large spherical or cylindrical objects very efficiently. Nonetheless, the hand seems to have been able to have produced a precision grip necessary in using stone tools. However, it is unclear if the hand was capable of producing stone tools.
### Lower limbs
The australopith pelvis is platypelloid and maintains a relatively wider distance between the hip sockets and a more oval shape. Despite being much smaller, Lucy's pelvic inlet is 132 mm (5.2 in) wide, about the same breadth as that of a modern human woman. These were likely adaptations to minimise how far the centre of mass drops while walking upright in order to compensate for the short legs (rotating the hips may have been more important for A. afarensis). Likewise, later Homo could reduce relative pelvic inlet size probably due to the elongation of the legs. Pelvic inlet size may not have been due to fetal head size (which would have increased birth canal and thus pelvic inlet width) as an A. afarensis newborn would have had a similar or smaller head size compared to that of a newborn chimpanzee. It is debated if the platypelloid pelvis provided poorer leverage for the hamstrings or not.
The heel bone of A. afarensis adults and modern humans have the same adaptations for bipedality, indicating a developed grade of walking. The big toe is not dextrous as is in non-human apes (it is adducted), which would make walking more energy efficient at the expense of arboreal locomotion, no longer able to grasp onto tree branches with the feet. However, the foot of the infantile specimen DIK-1-1 indicates some mobility of the big toe, though not to the degree in non-human primates. This would have reduced walking efficiency, but a partially dextrous foot in the juvenile stage may have been important in climbing activities for food or safety, or made it easier for the infant to cling onto and be carried by an adult.
## Palaeobiology
### Diet and technology
A. afarensis was likely a generalist omnivore. Carbon isotope analysis on teeth from Hadar and Dikika 3.4–2.9 million years ago suggests a widely ranging diet between different specimens, with forest-dwelling specimens showing a preference for C<sub>3</sub> forest plants, and bush- or grassland-dwelling specimens a preference for C<sub>4</sub> CAM savanna plants. C<sub>4</sub> CAM sources include grass, seeds, roots, underground storage organs, succulents and perhaps creatures which ate those, such as termites. Thus, A. afarensis appears to have been capable of exploiting a variety of food resources in a wide range of habitats. In contrast, the earlier A. anamensis and Ar. ramidus, as well as modern savanna chimpanzees, target the same types of food as forest-dwelling counterparts despite living in an environment where these plants are much less abundant. Few modern primate species consume C<sub>4</sub> CAM plants. The dental anatomy of A. afarensis is ideal for consuming hard, brittle foods, but microwearing patterns on the molars suggest that such foods were infrequently consumed, probably as fallback items in leaner times.
In 2009 at Dikika, Ethiopia, a rib fragment belonging to a cow-sized hoofed animal and a partial femur of a goat-sized juvenile bovid was found to exhibit cut marks, and the former some crushing, which were initially interpreted as the oldest evidence of butchering with stone tools. If correct, this would make it the oldest evidence of sharp-edged stone tool use at 3.4 million years old, and would be attributable to A. afarensis as it is the only species known within the time and place. However, because the fossils were found in a sandstone unit (and were modified by abrasive sand and gravel particles during the fossilisation process), the attribution to hominin activity is weak.
### Society
It is highly difficult to speculate with accuracy the group dynamics of early hominins. A. afarensis is typically reconstructed with high levels of sexual dimorphism, with males much larger than females. Using general trends in modern primates, high sexual dimorphism usually equates to a polygynous society due to intense male–male competition over females, like in the harem society of gorillas. However, it has also been argued that A. afarensis had much lower levels of dimorphism, and so had a multi-male kin-based society like chimpanzees. Low dimorphism could also be interpreted as having had a monogamous society with strong male–male competition. Contrarily, the canine teeth are much smaller in A. afarensis than in non-human primates, which should indicate lower aggression because canine size is generally positively correlated with male–male aggression.
### Birth
The platypelloid pelvis may have caused a different birthing mechanism from modern humans, with the neonate entering the inlet facing laterally (the head was transversally orientated) until it exited through the pelvic outlet. This would be a non-rotational birth, as opposed to a fully rotational birth in humans. However, it has been suggested that the shoulders of the neonate may have been obstructed, and the neonate could have instead entered the inlet transversely and then rotated so that it exited through the outlet oblique to the main axis of the pelvis, which would be a semi-rotational birth. By this argument, there may not have been much space for the neonate to pass through the birth canal, causing a difficult childbirth for the mother.
### Gait
The Laetoli fossil trackway, generally attributed to A. afarensis, indicates a rather developed grade of bipedal locomotion, more efficient than the bent-hip–bent-knee (BHBK) gait used by non-human great apes (though earlier interpretations of the gait include a BHBK posture or a shuffling movement). Trail A consists of short, broad prints resembling those of a two-and-a-half-year-old child, though it has been suggested this trail was made by the extinct bear Agriotherium africanus. G1 is a trail consisting of four cycles likely made by a child. G2 and G3 are thought to have been made by two adults. In 2014, two more trackways were discovered made by one individual, named S1, extending for a total of 32 m (105 ft). In 2015, a single footprint from a different individual, S2, was discovered.
The shallowness of the toe prints would indicate a more flexed limb posture when the foot hit the ground and perhaps a less arched foot, meaning A. afarensis was less efficient at bipedal locomotion than humans. Some tracks feature a 100 mm (3.9 in) long drag mark probably left by the heel, which may indicate the foot was lifted at a low angle to the ground. For push-off, it appears weight shifted from the heel to the side of the foot and then the toes. Some footprints of S1 either indicate asymmetrical walking where weight was sometimes placed on the anterolateral part (the side of the front half of the foot) before toe-off, or sometimes the upper body was rotated mid-step. The angle of gait (the angle between the direction the foot is pointing in on touchdown and median line drawn through the entire trackway) ranges from 2–11° for both right and left sides. G1 generally shows wide and asymmetrical angles, whereas the others typically show low angles.
The speed of the track makers has been variously estimated depending on the method used, with G1 reported at 0.47, 0.56, 0.64, 0.7 and 1 m/s (1.69, 2, 2.3, 2.5 and 3.6 km/h; 1.1, 1.3, 1.4, 1.6 and 2.2 mph); G2/3 reported at 0.37, 0.84 and 1 m/s (1.3, 2.9 and 3.6 km/h; 0.8, 1.8 and 2.2 mph); and S1 at 0.51 or 0.93 m/s (1.8 or 3.3 km/h; 1.1 or 2.1 mph). For comparison, modern humans typically walk at 1–1.7 m/s (3.6–6.1 km/h; 2.2–3.8 mph).
The average step distance is 568 mm (1.86 ft), and stride distance 1,139 mm (3.74 ft). S1 appears to have had the highest average step and stride length of, respectively, 505–660 mm<sup>2</sup> (0.783–1.023 sq in) and 1,044–1,284 mm (3.43–4.21 ft) whereas G1–G3 averaged, respectively, 416, 453 and 433 mm (1.4, 1.5 and 1.4 ft) for step and 829, 880 and 876 mm (2.7, 2.9 and 2.9 ft) for stride.
### Pathology
Australopithecines, in general, seem to have had a high incidence rate of vertebral pathologies, possibly because their vertebrae were better adapted to withstand suspension loads in climbing than compressive loads while walking upright. Lucy presents marked thoracic kyphosis (hunchback) and was diagnosed with Scheuermann's disease, probably caused by overstraining her back, which can lead to a hunched posture in modern humans due to irregular curving of the spine. Because her condition presented quite similarly to that seen in modern human patients, this would indicate a basically human range of locomotor function in walking for A. afarensis. The original straining may have occurred while climbing or swinging in the trees, though, even if correct, this does not indicate that her species was maladapted for arboreal behaviour, much like how humans are not maladapted for bipedal posture despite developing arthritis. KSD-VP-1/1 seemingly exhibits compensatory action by the neck and lumbar vertebrae (gooseneck) consistent with thoracic kyphosis and Scheuermann's disease, but thoracic vertebrae are not preserved in this specimen.
In 2010, KSD-VP-1/1 presented evidence of a valgus deformity of the left ankle involving the fibula, with a bony ring developing on the fibula's joint surface extending the bone an additional 5–10 mm (0.20–0.39 in). This was probably caused by a fibular fracture during childhood which improperly healed in a nonunion.
In 2016, palaeoanthropologist John Kappelman argued that the fracturing exhibited by Lucy was consistent with a proximal humerus fracture, which is most often caused by falling in humans. He then concluded she died from falling out of a tree, and that A. afarensis slept in trees or climbed trees to escape predators. However, similar fracturing is exhibited in many other creatures in the area, including the bones of antelope, elephants, giraffes and rhinos, and may well simply be taphonomic bias (fracturing was caused by fossilisation). Lucy may also have been killed in an animal attack or a mudslide.
The 13 AL 333 individuals are thought to have been deposited at about the same time as one another, bear little evidence of carnivore activity, and were buried on a 7 m (23 ft) stretch of a hill. In 1981, anthropologists James Louis Aronson and Taieb suggested they were killed in a flash flood. British archaeologist Paul Pettitt considered natural causes unlikely and, in 2013, speculated that these individuals were purposefully hidden in tall grass by other hominins (funerary caching). This behaviour has been documented in modern primates, and may be done so that the recently deceased do not attract predators to living grounds.
## Palaeoecology
A. afarensis does not appear to have had a preferred environment, and inhabited a wide range of habitats such as open grasslands or woodlands, shrublands, and lake- or riverside forests. Likewise, the animal assemblage varied widely from site to site. The Pliocene of East Africa was warm and wet compared to the preceding Miocene, with the dry season lasting about four months based on floral, faunal, and geological evidence. The extended rainy season would have made more desirable foods available to hominins for most of the year. During the Late Pliocene around 4–3 million years ago, Africa featured a greater diversity of large carnivores than today, and australopithecines likely fell prey to these dangerous creatures, including hyenas, Panthera, cheetahs, and the saber-toothed cats: Megantereon, Dinofelis, Homotherium and Machairodus.
Australopithecines and early Homo likely preferred cooler conditions than later Homo, as there are no australopithecine sites that were below 1,000 m (3,300 ft) in elevation at the time of deposition. This would mean that, like chimpanzees, they often inhabited areas with an average diurnal temperature of 25 °C (77 °F), dropping to 10 or 5 °C (50 or 41 °F) at night. At Hadar, the average temperature from 3.4 to 2.95 million years ago was about 20.2 °C (68.4 °F).
## See also
- Ardipithecus ramidus
- Australopithecus anamensis
- Australopithecus bahrelghazali
- Australopithecus deyiremeda
- Kenyanthropus
- LD 350-1
- List of fossil sites (with link directory)
- List of human evolution fossils (with images)
- Lomekwi |
47,933,648 | Golem Arcana | 1,161,824,368 | 2014 tabletop game | [
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| Golem Arcana was a tabletop miniature wargaming game developed and published by Harebrained Schemes for iOS and Android devices. The game combines physical miniatures on a game board with a mobile app that much of the gameplay takes place in; the physical pieces and the app communicate through the use of a Bluetooth stylus. Several elements of the game, including special abilities and optional missions, exist only within the app.
Golem Arcana was funded through a Kickstarter campaign that launched in September 2013 and went on to raise over \$500,000. The game was released just under a year later, on 13 August 2014. Both studio co-founder Jordan Weisman and executive producer Ray Winninger had extensive experience developing both video games and tabletop games, and one of their primary motivations in creating Golem Arcana was to merge the two gaming types. They also sought to create a more social experience than could be found in traditional multiplayer video games.
The game received mixed reviews upon release. Critics were split in their take on the hybrid of physical pieces and the digital app, with some seeing it as a boon and others as a detriment. The game received praise for its visuals, lore, and ruleset, but also received criticism for its price.
The game has been out of production, with no active development, since 2016.
## Gameplay
Golem Arcana is a two to eight-player miniature wargaming game that interfaces with a digital app through the use of a Bluetooth stylus. Players compete against one another in one of several scenario types, including eliminating the opponent's golems or capturing and holding a specific area of the map. The ultimate goal of the game is to collect a set number of "victory points", which are gathered by defeating opposing golems, completing scenario objectives, and as rewards for completing optional missions encountered through the app.
Each player controls a number of physical miniatures called golems, which are placed on a game board built with interchangeable map tiles. Each map tile is divided into nine squares arranged 3 by 3, and has terrain features pre-printed on it. Golems come in small, large, and very large sizes. Up to four small, two large, or one large and two small golems can share a square on a map tile. The very large "colossus" golems take up an entire square by themselves. Each golem comes with a card that lists the actions it can take. Another type of card, known as relics, allow players to active special abilities including healing and resurrection.
The golems, cards, and game board are covered in small magnetic dots. A Bluetooth stylus that comes with the starter kit reads the dots to transmit information from the board to a mobile app. Gameplay information such as the position of all of the golems, terrain and map effects, and the game's rules are stored in the app, which uses that information to determine and present players with available moves, attack accuracy and damage, and other statistics. Players then use the stylus to choose where to move and what actions to take; players still have to move the physical pieces on the board, but their moves are also reflected in the app. The game also has several components that exist only within the app. The base game includes around 70 knights, which in the game's lore are sorcerers that control the golems. Players pair each golem with one knight, or three knights for the "colossus" golems, and different knights provide golems with different bonuses. Players can also use spells, in the game's lore by evoking ancestral gods called Ancient Ones. Ancient Ones are cast using mana, which can be acquired in several ways, including when a golem that the player controls is defeated or though missions that appear in the app. Players encounter missions, which provide optional objectives in exchange for victory points, while moving around the map. In some cases not completing the missions offers alternative rewards. Harebrained Schemes collects aggregate data on the decisions that players make in the game and uses it to alter the game's lore.
## Development
Golem Arcana was announced in July 2013 in a blog post on developer Harebrained Schemes' website. The blog post indicated that the studio would return to Kickstarter to fund the game, and that most of the studio's staff would continue to work on their other project, Shadowrun Returns, while a few would be split off to work on Golem Arcana. The Kickstarter campaign was launched on 10 September 2013 and ran until 15 October 2013, with a funding goal of \$500,000. Backers could get the base game by pledging at the \$55 Kickstarter reward tier.
The game was released on 13 August 2014, with the digital component available for both iOS and Android. In addition to the base game, a number of expansion sets have been released. Expansions sets contain three miniatures as well as cards and abilities. Harebrained Schemes has also released "Colossus" expansions, which contain one large miniature instead of the three normal-sized ones. The final expansion, Durani: Champions of the Western Wind, was released on January 27, 2016. A post on the game's official blog indicated that, despite the strong critical reception, sales were not sufficient to justify the millions of dollars spent on development and production. According to a statement sent to ICv2, the studio had ensured that the game's companion app supported as many devices and operating systems as possible at the time, but could not promise compatibility or support in the future.
Both studio co-founder Jordan Weisman and executive producer Ray Winninger had experience developing both tabletop games and video games. One of the studio's motivations for developing the game was to combine the two mediums, with Winninger explaining "One of the spaces we're interested in exploring at Harebrained, and Golem is the first effort, is how can we take those tabletop games that we know and love so much and leverage technology to enhance that experience in some way." Weisman and Winninger also stressed the social nature of the game. Winninger, comparing Golem Arcana to Skylanders, another game with both physical and digital components, stressed that Golem Arcana was less focused on components and more focused on the social experience. Weisman pointed to his disappointment that "kids' idea of playing together after school these days usually means just meeting online from their own houses" in stressing that participants playing against each other in Golem Arcana would do so face-to-face.
## Reception
Golem Arcana received mixed reviews upon release. Reviewers were divided on the game's defining feature – the hybrid of physical miniature and digital app, but praised the game's visuals, lore, and rules.
Writing for Rock, Paper, Shotgun, Robert Florence praised the app for calculating variables like movement range and tracking statistics like health and ability cooldowns, but spoke of a disconnect caused by constantly shifting focus between the screen and the board. While ultimately questioning the need for the physical components at all, Florence also saw the game as having potential in the future. Chris Hutton of Tom's Guide took a much more negative view. Hutton found it cumbersome that the starter kit came with only one stylus and that only one device running the app could be synced to a given game at a time, necessitating that the screen and stylus be passed back and forth between players. He also found the stylus itself to be unresponsive, slowing the game down to the point that he lost interest. VentureBeat's Jay Henningsen, on the other hand, had nothing but praise for the app and stylus. After fifteen minutes he found using the stylus to be "almost natural", and found that the app handling all of the rules and stat-keeping made for "one of the easiest experiences I've ever had getting into a new game". He went on to say that players will look to see the technology spread to other miniature wargaming products.
One element that did receive near-universal criticism was the game's price of \$80 for the base game. PC World called the price the game's "biggest flaw", Yahoo! Tech called it "hefty" and "a steep investment", and VentureBeat called it "quite the price tag", but qualified their statement by pointing to the large number of items that come with the starter kit.
The game did receive praise for its visuals, storytelling, and rules. The Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design awarded Golem Arcana the "Best Miniature Figure Rules" prize in the 2015 Origins Awards. In an otherwise negative review, Chris Hutton of Tom's Guide praised the storyline and visuals, saying of the latter that "the colorful, interesting terrain created a unique universe". Game Informer praised the game's setting and its "gorgeous visual aesthetic". |
68,388,430 | Pixel 6 | 1,173,042,606 | 2021 Android smartphones developed by Google | [
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| The Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro are a pair of Android smartphones designed, developed, and marketed by Google as part of the Google Pixel product line. They collectively serve as the successor to the Pixel 5. The phones were first previewed in August 2021, confirming reports that they would be powered by a custom system-on-chip named Google Tensor. The cameras are housed in a horizontal bar on the back, while the front features a hole-punch display notch in the center. They shipped with Android 12, with Google announcing numerous artificial intelligence and ambient computing features during the phones' launch event.
The Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro were officially announced on October 19, 2021, at the Pixel Fall Launch event, and were released in the United States on October 28, following an extensive marketing campaign. They received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised its Tensor chip, cameras, performance, design, and price, though the fingerprint sensor and battery life received mixed reactions. The phones became Google's fastest-selling Pixel devices, allowing the company to become the fifth-largest smartphone manufacturer in North America and the United Kingdom during the first quarter of 2022. They were succeeded by the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro in 2022.
## History
The Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro were previewed by Google on August 2, 2021, confirming the phones' new designs and the introduction of its custom Tensor system-on-chip (SoC). Previous Pixel devices had used Qualcomm Snapdragon chips, with Google having begun developing its own chips codenamed Whitechapel as early as April 2016. The devices were approved by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in September. Google officially announced the phones on October 19, 2021, at the Pixel Fall Launch event, and they became available in nine countries on October 28. The phones were manufactured by Foxconn, and were originally intended to be produced in Vietnam before shifting back to China due to the Chinese government's stringent border controls imposed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Google doubled the production of its phones compared to last year in attempt to boost its market share, manufacturing approximately seven million devices. The phones were not made available in India at launch due to supply chain issues.
During the launch event, Google also announced the phones' official cases, which became available for pre-order on the same day with three color options for the Pixel 6 and four color options for the Pixel 6 Pro, as well as the second-generation Pixel Stand wireless charger, which went on sale on November 18 and began shipping on December 13. Pre-orders for the phones began on the same day as the announcement, with shipping commencing on October 25. The Google Store did not offer any discounts for the devices on Black Friday, a departure from prior years. In February 2022, the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro became available in Italy and Spain in "limited quantities", with a limited launch in Singapore two weeks later.
## Specifications
### Design
### Hardware
The Pixel 6 has a 6.4 in (160 mm) FHD+ 1080p OLED display at 411 ppi with a pixel resolution and a 20:9 aspect ratio, while the Pixel 6 Pro has a 6.7 in (170 mm) QHD+ 1440p LTPO OLED curved edges display at 512 ppi with a pixel resolution and a 19.5:9 aspect ratio. Both displays have HDR10+ support; the Pixel 6 has a 90 Hz refresh rate and the Pixel 6 Pro has a 120 Hz variable refresh rate. Both phones contain a 50 megapixel wide rear camera and a 12 megapixel ultrawide rear camera, with the Pixel 6 Pro featuring an additional 48 megapixel 4× optical zoom telephoto rear camera. The front camera on the Pixel 6 contains an 8 megapixel wide lens, while the one on the Pixel 6 Pro contains an 11.1 megapixel ultrawide lens. The new Tensor chip also brought Live HDR+ to video as well as enhancements to the Night Sight and Super Res Zoom features on the devices.
The Pixel 6 has a 4614 mAh battery, while the Pixel 6 Pro has a 5003 mAh battery. Both phones support fast charging, Qi wireless charging, as well as reverse wireless charging. The Pixel 6 is available in 128 or 256 GB of storage and 8 GB of RAM, and the Pixel 6 Pro is available in 128, 256, or 512 GB of storage and 12 GB of RAM. In addition to the Tensor chip, both phones are also equipped with the Titan M2 security module, which is based on the RISC-V open standard, along with an under-display optical fingerprint scanner, stereo speakers, and Gorilla Glass Victus. In April 2022, 9to5Google reported that the Pixel 6 Pro was originally planning to be launched with a Face Unlock facial recognition feature, similar to that of the Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL's but solely relying on the phone's front camera rather than on Project Soli radar technology; the feature was canceled for unknown reasons shortly prior to the launch event.
### Software
As with prior generations of the Pixel phone, Google placed heavy emphasis on artificial intelligence and ambient computing capabilities during the Pixel Fall Launch event, debuting features such as Magic Eraser, Face Unblur, Motion Mode, Real Tone, Direct My Call, Wait Times, and Live Translate. Additionally, Assistant voice typing and grammar correction serve as exclusive features on the Pixel 6 series, while Google Pay's digital car key feature launched first on the Pixel 6, Pixel 6 Pro, and Samsung Galaxy S21 in November. Material You, a more personalized variant of Google's Material Design design language, was also a major focus in Google's marketing efforts.
The Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro shipped with Android 12 at launch, coinciding with the stable release of Android 12 on the Android Open Source Project (AOSP), along with version 8.4 of the Google Camera app. It will receive at least three years of major OS upgrades with support extending to 2024, and at least five years of security updates with support extending to 2026. Continuing the Pixel 5a's trend, the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro did not come with unlimited photo storage in "high quality" on Google Photos, being the second Pixel phone not to include the offer. Concurrently with the Pixel Fall Launch event, Android 12 became available on older Pixel phones, while the Security Hub and Privacy Dashboard were introduced. Google also announced Pixel Pass, a subscription bundle similar to Apple One and Xbox All Access which bundles the Pixel 6 series with Google One, YouTube Premium, YouTube Music Premium, Google Play Pass, and an extended warranty; the service was discontinued two years later, ahead of the launch of the Pixel 8.
## Marketing
Google kickstarted the phones' marketing campaign early, beginning with online commercials, billboards in major cities, and magazine advertisements in September 2021. Pixel 6-themed potato chips were made available in Japan. Additionally, the company partnered with Channel 4, the NBA, and Snapchat to promote the phones. Models of the phones were also available on display at the Google Store Chelsea in New York City prior to the launch event. Google CFO Ruth Porat had previously revealed during parent company Alphabet's quarterly earnings investor call in August that the company was planning to substantially increase its marketing and sales expenses in anticipation for the phones' launch, while Google hardware chief Rick Osterloh declared their intention to "invest in marketing".
In November 2021, it was announced that actor Simu Liu, who portrays Shang-Chi in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) media franchise, would serve as the Pixel 6's brand ambassador in Canada, days after Liu shot a video as part of Google TV's "Watch with Me" marketing campaign. NBA athletes Giannis Antetokounmpo and Magic Johnson also serve as brand ambassadors for the phones in the U.S., with tennis player Leylah Fernandez doing the same in Canada. In February 2022, Google released a commercial titled "Seen on Pixel" which advertised the Pixel 6's Real Tone feature, ahead of its airing during Super Bowl LVI. It featured a then-unreleased song by Lizzo entitled "If You Love Me". Directed by Joshua Kissi and created in collaboration with advertising agency Gut Miami, the 60-second advertisement marked the company's first Pixel-related Super Bowl spot, and was noted by GLAAD as the only Super Bowl LVI commercial featuring LGBTQ people. Other promotions include Pixel 6 socks and a Tensor sticker for "Pixel Superfans", as well as a Pixel 6-themed tarot deck for \#TeamPixel members ahead of Christmas in 2021.
## Reception
### Critical response
The Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro received much attention prior to its launch. Ben Schoon of 9to5Google highlighted the potential of the new Tensor chip, finding Google's premature reveal of the devices to be a "show of confidence" in the Pixel 6 series. Michael L. Hicks of Android Central believed that the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro could appeal to iPhone users, urging Google to rethink its marketing strategy, while Sareena Dayaram of CNET opined that the phones were "more exciting" than Apple's iPhone 13. Commentators also noted the increased anticipation of the Pixel 6 series in comparison to earlier generations of the Pixel smartphone line, attributing this to its early reveal as well as the announcement of the Tensor chip.
Both phones received generally positive reviews following their release. Julian Chokkattu of Wired and Dan Seifert of The Verge praised their performance, cameras, and battery life, but criticized the speed of the fingerprint scanner and the large sizes of both models. On the contrary, Patrick Holland and Andrew Laxon of CNET took issue with the phones' battery life, though they both praised the phones' camera and design. Lanxon also highlighted the premium specifications of the Pixel 6 Pro, including the triple-camera setup, and believed it to be on par with the iPhone 13 and Samsung's Galaxy S21. Similarly, Jacon Krol of CNN Underscored and Sam Rutherford of Gizmodo appreciated the phones' design and cameras, with Krol declaring them "the best Android phones you can buy", though Rutherford also noted the slow fingerprint sensor and lack of a headphone jack. Philip Michaels and Jordan Palmer of Tom's Guide praised the phones' affordable pricing, the Tensor chip, and the debut of Android 12, but criticized the fingerprint scanner and battery life. Writing for TechRadar, David Lumb and James Peckham commended the phones' design, build, and cameras but found the battery life and storage subpar. Marques Brownlee praised the phones' competitive pricing, selfie cameras, and software features, but also noted the slow fingerprint sensor and poor battery life.
### Commercial reception
Google accommodated the increased interest for the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro by signing partnership agreements with more than 45 wireless carriers and retailers across nine countries. Shortly after the phones became available for pre-order, both the online Google Store and the Google Fi store suffered temporary outages. Google attributed delayed shipping times for the Pro model to unexpectedly high demand on the Google Store, with other carriers also facing shipping delays.
In December 2021, a report indicated that the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro experienced greater carrier sales numbers during its first month of availability in comparison to prior models, while smartphone accessory manufacturer Bellroy announced that its phone cases for the Pixel 6 series were its most popular products of all time. During Alphabet's quarterly earnings investor call in February 2022, Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai touted "record" sales numbers for the company's 2021 Pixel phones, especially the Pixel 6 series; however, a later study conducted by Counterpoint Research revealed that the Pixel line may have only experienced moderate year-over-year growth in comparison to the Pixel 5. In March, the International Data Corporation (IDC) analyzed that the introduction of the Tensor chip on the Pixel 6 series had been a factor in allowing MediaTek to overtake Qualcomm as the most popular Android chip manufacturer in the U.S., though the latter disputed the report. Another report published by Counterpoint Research the same month revealed that Tensor made up approximately one to two percent of the high-end system-on-chip market.
In April 2022, a report from market research firm Wave7 claimed that the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro had experienced low carrier sales, with Google offering unusually high "kickbacks to salespeople" and Verizon finding the most success with the phones. Pichai stated that the Pixel 6 series were the fastest-selling Pixel devices ever, with the company further revealing during the 2022 Google I/O keynote on May 11 that the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro had been sold more than the Pixel 4 and Pixel 5 combined. Data from the IDC in October 2022 revealed that Google had sold approximately 3.75 million units of the Pixel 6 series globally by then. The Pixel 6 series was instrumental in allowing Google's smartphone market share in North America to increase by 380 percent during the first quarter of 2022, becoming the fifth-largest smartphone manufacturer in both North America and the United Kingdom for the first time; the next quarter, Pixel sales increased by 230 percent in North America, acquiring 2 percent of the smartphone market on the continent.
## Future
The Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro were succeeded by the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro in October 2022, with the phones first previewed during the 2022 I/O keynote. They were powered by the second-generation Tensor chip and shipped with Android 13. At I/O, Google also announced the Pixel 6a, a mid-range variant of the Pixel 6 series, which launched in July. |
55,014 | Leslie Nielsen | 1,172,689,091 | Canadian actor (1926–2010) | [
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| Leslie William Nielsen OC (11 February 1926 – 28 November 2010) was a Canadian actor and comedian. With a career spanning 60 years, he appeared in more than 100 films and 150 television programs, portraying more than 220 characters.
Nielsen was born in Regina, Saskatchewan. After high school, he enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1943 and served until the end of World War II. Upon his discharge, Nielsen worked as a disc jockey before receiving a scholarship to study theatre at the Neighborhood Playhouse. He made his acting debut in 1950, appearing in 46 live television programs a year. Nielsen made his film debut in 1956, with supporting roles in several dramas and western and romance films produced between the 1950s and the 1970s.
Although his notable performances in the films Forbidden Planet and The Poseidon Adventure gave him standing as a serious actor, Nielsen later gained enduring recognition for his deadpan comedy roles during the 1980s and the 1990s, after being cast for the Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker comedy film Airplane! In his comedy roles, Nielsen specialized in portraying characters oblivious to and complicit in their absurd surroundings. Nielsen's performance in Airplane! marked his turning point, which made him "the Olivier of spoofs" according to film critic Roger Ebert, and leading to further success in the genre with The Naked Gun film series, based on the earlier short-lived television series Police Squad!, in which he also starred. He received a variety of awards and was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame and the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
## Early life
Nielsen was born on 11 February 1926 in Regina, Saskatchewan. His mother, Mabel Elizabeth ('' Davies), was an immigrant from Wales, and his father, Ingvard Eversen Nielsen (1900–1975), was a Danish-born constable in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Nielsen was born the second of two boys to both his parents. His elder brother, Erik Nielsen (1924–2008), was a long-time Canadian Member of Parliament, cabinet minister, and Deputy Prime Minister of Canada from 1984 to 1986. He also has a half-brother, Gilbert Nielsen, from his father's other relationship.
Nielsen's half-uncle Jean Hersholt was an actor known for his portrayal of Dr. Christian in a radio series of that title, and the subsequent television series and films. In a 1994 Boston Globe article, Nielsen explained, "I did learn very early that when I would mention my uncle, people would look at me as if I were the biggest liar in the world. Then I would take them home and show them 8-by-10 glossies, and things changed quite drastically. So I began to think that maybe this acting business was not a bad idea, much as I was very shy about it and certainly without courage regarding it. My uncle died not too long after I was in a position to know him. I regret that I had not a chance to know him better."
Nielsen lived for several years in Fort Norman (now Tulita) in the Northwest Territories, where his father was with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. His father was an abusive man who beat his wife and sons, and Leslie longed to escape. Following graduation from Victoria High School (later renamed Victoria School of the Arts) in Edmonton, he enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force at age 17 in 1943, though he was legally deaf (he wore hearing aids most of his life). There he trained as an aerial gunner during World War II. However, he was too young to be fully trained or sent overseas. Upon the war's end, he was discharged and worked briefly as a disc jockey at a Calgary, Alberta, radio station, before enrolling at the Lorne Greene Academy of Radio Arts in Toronto.
While studying in Toronto, Nielsen received a scholarship to the Neighborhood Playhouse. He noted, "I couldn't refuse, but I must say when you come from the land of the snow goose, the moose, and wool to New York, you're bringing every ton of hayseed and country bumpkin that you packed. As long as I didn't open my mouth, I felt a certain security. But I always thought I was going to be unmasked: 'OK, pack your stuff.' 'Well, what's the matter?' 'We've discovered you have no talent; we're shipping you back to Canada.'"
He moved to New York City for his scholarship, studying theatre and music at the Neighborhood Playhouse, while performing in summer stock theatre. Afterward, he attended the Actors Studio, until his first television appearance in 1950 on an episode of Studio One, alongside Charlton Heston, for which he was paid \$75 ().
## Career
### Early career
Nielsen's career began in dramatic roles on television during "Television's Golden Age", appearing in 46 live programs in 1950 alone. He said there "was very little gold, we only got \$75 or \$100 per show." He narrated documentaries and commercials and most of his early work as a dramatic actor was uneventful. Hal Erickson of Allmovie noted that "much of Nielsen's early work was undistinguished; he was merely a handsome leading man in an industry overstocked with handsome leading men."
In 1956, he made his feature-film debut in the Michael Curtiz-directed musical film The Vagabond King. In the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Nielsen remembered Curtiz as "a sadist, a charming sadist, but a sadist". Nielsen called this film The Vagabond Turkey. Though the film was not a success, producer Nicholas Nayfack offered him an audition for the science-fiction film Forbidden Planet, resulting in Nielsen's taking a long contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM).
Forbidden Planet became an instant success, and roles in other MGM films such as Ransom! (1956), The Opposite Sex (1956) and Hot Summer Night (1957) followed. In 1957, he won the lead role opposite Debbie Reynolds in the romantic comedy Tammy and the Bachelor, which, as a Chicago Tribune critic wrote in 1998, made people consider Nielsen a dramatic actor and handsome romantic lead. However, dissatisfied with the films he was offered, calling the studios "a Tiffany, which had forgotten how to make silver", Nielsen left MGM after auditioning for Messala in the 1959 Ben-Hur. Stephen Boyd got the role.
After leaving the studios, Nielsen landed the lead role in the Disney miniseries The Swamp Fox, as American Revolutionary War hero Francis Marion. In a 1988 interview, he reflected on the series, saying, "That was a great experience, because the Disney people didn't do their shows like everyone else, knocking out an episode a week. ... We only had to do an episode a month, and the budgets were extremely high for TV at that time. We had location shooting rather than cheap studio backdrops, and very authentic costumes." Eight episodes were produced and aired between 1959 and 1961.
His television appearances include Justice, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Wagon Train, Gunsmoke, The Virginian, and The Wild Wild West. In 1961, he was the lead in a Los Angeles police drama called The New Breed. He guest-starred in a 1964 episode of Daniel Boone with Fess Parker in a minor but credited role. In 1968, he had a major role in the pilot for the police series Hawaii Five-O, and appeared in one of the seventh-season episodes. In 1969, he had the leading role as a police officer in The Bold Ones: The Protectors.
In 1972, Nielsen appeared as the ship's captain in The Poseidon Adventure. He also starred in the William Girdler's 1977 action film, Project: Kill. His last dramatic role before mainly comedy roles was the 1979 Canadian disaster film City on Fire, in which he played a corrupt mayor. In 1980, he guest-starred as Sinclair on the CBS miniseries The Chisholms.
### Comedy: Airplane! and The Naked Gun
In an early comedic appearance, Nielsen appeared on M\*A\*S\*H in 1973 as the title character in "The Ringbanger".
Nielsen's supporting role of Dr. Rumack in Zucker, Abrahams, and Zucker's 1980's Airplane! was a turning point in his career. The film, a parody of disaster films such as Zero Hour! and Airport, was based on building a comedy around actors known for dramatic roles. Other stars included Robert Stack, Peter Graves, and Lloyd Bridges. Nielsen's deadpan delivery contrasted with the absurdity surrounding him. When asked, "Surely you can't be serious?", he responded with a curt, "I am serious. And don't call me Shirley." In several interviews, he reflected on the line: "I thought it was amusing, but it never occurred to me that it was going to become a trademark. It's such a surprise ... the thing comes out, people say, 'What did he say?!'"
Nielsen said he was "pleased and honoured that [he] had a chance to deliver that line." As of 2010, the comedic exchange was at number 79 on the American Film Institute's AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes. The American Film Institute included the film in its list of the top-10 comedy films of all time in 2008, and a 2007 survey in the United Kingdom judged it the second-greatest comedy film of all time after Monty Python's Life of Brian. In 2012, Empire voted it number one in the 50 Funniest Comedies Ever poll. Critics praised the film, which also proved a long-term success with audiences. In 2010, Airplane! was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.
The directors cast Nielsen for his ability to play like "a fish in water", saying "You could have cast funny people and done it with everybody winking, goofing off, and silly ... we wanted people to be oblivious to the comedy." For Nielsen, Airplane! marked a shift from dramatic roles to deadpan comedy. When it was suggested his role in Airplane! was against type, Nielsen protested that he had "always been cast against type before", and that comedy was what he always wanted to do. The same directors cast Nielsen in a similar style, in their TV series Police Squad!. The series introduced Nielsen as Frank Drebin, the stereotypical police officer modelled after serious characters in earlier police series.
Police Squad's opening sequence was based on the 1950s show M Squad, which starred Lee Marvin, and opened with footage of a police car roving through a dark urban setting with a big band playing a jazz song in the background. The Hank Simms voice-over and the show's organization into acts with an epilogue was homage to Quinn Martin police dramas including The Fugitive, The Streets of San Francisco, Barnaby Jones, The F.B.I., and Cannon. Nielsen portrayed a serious character whose one-liners appeared accidental next to the pratfalls and sight gags that were happening around him. Although the show lasted only six episodes, Nielsen received an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series.
Six years after cancellation of Police Squad!, the film The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! returned Nielsen to his role as Frank Drebin. It involved a ruthless drug king trying hypnosis to assassinate Queen Elizabeth II. Nielsen did many of his own stunts: "You have an idea of how you're going to do something, and it's your vision ... unless you do it, it really doesn't stand a chance." This movie grossed over \$78 million and was well received by critics. Ebert's 3+1⁄2–star review (out of four) noted, "You laugh, and then you laugh at yourself for laughing."
The Naked Gun spawned two sequels: The Naked Gun 21⁄2: The Smell of Fear (1991) and Naked Gun 33+1⁄3: The Final Insult (1994). The Naked Gun 21⁄2 grossed more than the original, with \$86.9 million, while 33+1⁄3 grossed \$51.1 million. Nielsen remained open to a fourth Naked Gun film, although he doubted that it would be produced — "I don't think so", he said in 2005. "If there hasn't been one by now, I doubt it. I think it would be wonderful."
Nielsen briefly appeared on the World Wrestling Federation program in the summer of 1994 on WWF Monday Night Raw, capitalizing on Frank Drebin. Nielsen (and George Kennedy) were hired as sleuths to unravel the mystery of the Undertaker, who had disappeared at January's Royal Rumble event. At SummerSlam 1994, in a Naked Gun parody, they were hot on the case (in fact, they were standing on a case). Although they did not find the Undertaker, the case had been closed (the literal case had been shut), thus they solved the mystery. In 1990, Nielsen appeared as a Frank Drebin character in advertisements in the United Kingdom for Red Rock Cider.
Noncomedic roles after Airplane! included Prom Night (1980) and Creepshow (1982), both horror films, and as a dramatic and unsympathetic character in the 1986 comedy Soul Man. His last dramatic role was as Allen Green, a violent client of a prostitute killed in self-defence by Barbra Streisand's character, Claudia Draper, in Martin Ritt's courtroom drama Nuts (1987).
### Later comedies
After Airplane! and The Naked Gun, Nielsen portrayed similarly styled roles in a number of other films. These mostly emulated the style of The Naked Gun with varying success and often targeted specific films; many were panned by critics and most performed poorly. Repossessed (1990) and 2001: A Space Travesty (2001) were parodies of The Exorcist and 2001: A Space Odyssey, respectively. Both attempted absurd comedy, but were poorly received. Even a leading role in a Mel Brooks comic horror, Dracula: Dead and Loving It, failed to generate much box-office excitement, although it did gain a following in a later release to video. Both 1996's Spy Hard and 1998's Wrongfully Accused, a parody of James Bond films and The Fugitive, were popular on video, but not well received by critics.
His attempt at children's comedies met additional criticism. Surf Ninjas (1993) and Mr. Magoo (1997) had scathing reviews. Several critics were disappointed that Nielsen's role in Surf Ninjas was only "an extended cameo" and Chris Hicks recommended that viewers "avoid any comedy that features Leslie Nielsen outside of the Naked Gun series." Jeff Miller of the Houston Chronicle panned Mr. Magoo, a live-action remake of the 1950s cartoon, by saying, "I'm supposed to suggest how the film might be better, but I can't think of anything to say other than to make the film again."
Nielsen's first major success since The Naked Gun came in a supporting role in Scary Movie 3 (2003). His appearance as President Harris led to a second appearance in its sequel, Scary Movie 4 (2006). This was the first time Nielsen had reprised a character since Frank Drebin. In one scene, Nielsen appeared almost nude, and one critic referred to the scene as putting "the 'scary' in Scary Movie 4."
### Video, stage, and celebrity productions
Nielsen also produced instructional golf videos, which were not presented in a serious style, beginning with 1993's Bad Golf Made Easier. The videos combined comedy with golf techniques. The series spawned two additional sequels, Bad Golf My Way (1994) and Stupid Little Golf Video (1997). Nielsen also co-wrote a fictional autobiography titled The Naked Truth. The book portrayed Nielsen as a popular actor with a long history of prestigious films.
In his 80s, Nielsen performed serious roles on screen and stage (such as his one-man theatre show Darrow, in which he played Clarence Darrow), as well as providing voice-overs and appearances for commercials (including spots for a credit union in Arizona, where he owned a secondary residence), cartoons such as Zeroman, where he had the leading role/voice, children's shows, such as Pumper Pups, which he narrated, and comedic film roles. The sibling relationship with his elder brother, the Honourable Erik Nielsen, a former Deputy Prime Minister of Canada, served as the premise of an HBO mockumentary entitled The Canadian Conspiracy in which Leslie Nielsen appeared, along with other prominent Canadian-born media personalities. He was a celebrity contestant on CBS's Gameshow Marathon, where he played The Price Is Right, Let's Make a Deal, Beat the Clock, and Press Your Luck for charity.
### Final acting years
Beginning in February 2007, Nielsen began playing a small role as a doctor in the humorous yet educational television show Doctor\*Ology. The show chronicles real-life medical techniques and technology on the Discovery Channel. Nielsen said:
> There are any number of things that you think about when you ponder if you hadn't been an actor, what would you be, and I've always said I'd like to be an astronaut or a doctor. I have such admiration for doctors. I just don't know how you go around to thank them enough for coming up with the world's most remarkable new discoveries.
In 2007, Nielsen starred in the drama Music Within. In 2008, he portrayed a version of Uncle Ben for Superhero Movie, a spoof of superhero films. He then appeared in the 2008 parody An American Carol, which David Zucker directed, produced, and co-wrote. He appeared in the 2009 parody Stan Helsing. Nielsen portrayed the doctor in the Spanish horror comedy Spanish Movie, a spoof comedy like Scary Movie'', but making fun of popular Spanish films.
Nielsen appeared in more than 100 films and 1,500 television episodes, portraying more than 220 characters.
## Personal life
Nielsen married four times: to nightclub singer Monica Boyar (1950–1956), Alisande Ullman (1958–1973), Brooks Oliver (1981–1983), and Barbaree Earl (2001 – his death in 2010). He had two daughters from his second marriage, Maura and Thea Nielsen.
Nielsen often played golf. He joked, "I have no goals or ambition. I do, however, wish to work enough to maintain whatever celebrity status I have so that they will continue to invite me to golf tournaments." His interest in the sport led him to comedic instructional films.
Nielsen was a practical joker, and known for pranking people with a portable hand-controlled fart machine. His epitaph reads "Let 'er rip", a final reference to his favourite practical joke.
In his later years, Nielsen and his wife Barbaree resided between homes in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Paradise Valley, Arizona.
Nielsen was legally deaf and wore hearing aids for most of his life. Because of this, he supported the Better Hearing Institute. Later in life, he had knee osteoarthritis. He participated in an educational video from The Arthritis Research Centre of Canada (ARC), demonstrating the physical examination of a patient with knee osteoarthritis.
## Death
In November 2010, Nielsen was admitted to Holy Cross Hospital, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, with pneumonia. On November 28, Doug Nielsen, Nielsen's nephew, told the CJOB radio station that 84-year-old Nielsen had died in his sleep from pneumonia around 5:30 pm EST surrounded by family and friends. His body was interred in Fort Lauderdale's Evergreen Cemetery. As a final bit of humour, Nielsen chose "Let 'er rip" as his epitaph.
## Achievements
Among his awards, in 1995 Nielsen received UCLA's Jack Benny Award. In 1988, he became the 1,884th personality to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6541 Hollywood Blvd. In 2001 he was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame. The following year he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada, although he was also a naturalized US citizen.
With his American citizenship, he maintained his Canadian heritage: "There's no way you can be a Canadian and think you can lose it ... Canadians are a goodly group. They are very aware of caring and helping." On 19 May 2005, during the centennial gala of his birth province, Saskatchewan, Leslie Nielsen was introduced to Queen Elizabeth II.
In 1997, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs, California, Walk of Stars was dedicated to him.
On 20 February 2002, Nielsen was named an honorary citizen of West Virginia and an Ambassador of Mountain State Goodwill. Nielsen visited the state many times to speak and visit friends. In 2003, in honour of Nielsen, Grant MacEwan College named its school of communications after him. Also in 2003, the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists awarded him the ACTRA Award of Excellence.
## Filmography
## See also |
13,441,581 | Juan Larrea (politician) | 1,094,114,084 | Argentine politician | [
"1782 births",
"1847 deaths",
"Argentine Freemasons",
"Argentine economists",
"Argentine exiles",
"Burials at La Recoleta Cemetery",
"Businesspeople from Catalonia",
"Members of the Assembly of the Year XIII",
"Members of the Primera Junta",
"People from Mataró",
"Politicians from Catalonia",
"Suicides in Argentina"
]
| Juan Larrea (24 June 1782 – 20 June 1847) was a Spanish businessman and politician in Buenos Aires during the early nineteenth century. He headed a military unit during the second British invasion of the Río de la Plata, and worked at the Buenos Aires Cabildo. He took part in the ill-fated Mutiny of Álzaga. Larrea and Domingo Matheu were the only two Spanish-born members of the Primera Junta, the first national government of Argentina.
He supported the secretary Mariano Moreno within the Junta, and was moved to the distant city of San Juan when the Morenists were removed from government. He returned as a deputy for Córdoba in the Assembly of Year XIII constituent assembly, promoting many resolutions. Together with Carlos María de Alvear, he organized the strategy for the downfall of the royalist stronghold in Montevideo, a threat to Buenos Aires during the Argentine War of Independence. Despite the victory, he faced political conflicts with admiral William Brown and an economic crisis, and was exiled from the country.
He moved to Bordeaux, France, but returned to Buenos Aires when his exile was lifted by the Oblivion law. He served as consul for a time, but his business declined and he committed suicide on 20 June 1847. He was the last surviving member of the Primera Junta.
## Biography
### Early life and Viceroyalty
Juan Larrea was born on 24 June 1782, in the city of Mataró, Catalonia. His father was Martín Ramón de Larrea, who was in charge of customs operations in Mataró, and his mother was Tomasa Espeso. He studied mathematics and navigation, and focused his education towards a career in commerce. His father died in 1793, so Larrea became the patriarch of the family. They moved to Buenos Aires, where he established a warehouse for wines, leather, and sugar. He traded with Peru, Upper Peru, Paraguay, Chile and colonial Brazil. By 1806 he was a well-respected businessman, and a syndic of the Royal Consulate. He promoted the role of deputies from Buenos Aires at the Madrid court, to better the representation of the Brazilian viceroyalty and reduce the privileges of peninsular merchants.
Buenos Aires and other nearby cities were involved in the British invasions of the Río de la Plata in 1806 and 1807. In the absence of reinforcements from Spain, viceroy Santiago de Liniers arranged that everyone in Buenos Aires capable of bearing arms should join the resistance against the second invasion. Larrea established the Legion of Catalan Volunteers with Jaime Nadal y Guarda, Jaime Lavallol and José Olaguer Reynals. Larrea was appointed captain of this military unit. The defense was successful, and the British were eventually forced to surrender and evacuate the viceroyalty.
Larrea's business prospered, and in 1808 the Buenos Aires Cabildo appointed him to oversee a naval patrol to suppress shipments of contraband. This gave him an opportunity to put his nautical skills to use. He also participated in the secret meetings of patriots who promoted political change, and joined the 1809 Mutiny of Álzaga, which attempted to depose viceroy Liniers and replace him with a Junta. The mutiny failed, but the patriots continued to plot, and in 1810 the May Revolution succeeded in deposing the new viceroy. Larrea did not take part in the discussions at the open cabildo, but was appointed as member of the Primera Junta.
Like many other nineteenth century Argentines prominent in public life, he was a freemason.
### Primera Junta
Larrea's prestige as an influential businessman promoted his appointment as member of the Primera Junta. However, as with the other members, the precise reasons for his inclusion are unclear. The Junta's membership has been considered a balance between Carlotists and Alzaguists. Larrea resigned his wages from his position as Junta member, and organized the resources for the upcoming war of independence. Together with Manuel de Sarratea he drafted a new code regulating business in Argentina, and he also secured the exile of former viceroy Baltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros by bribing the captain of the ship carrying him, the Dart, to avoid any landfall until reaching the Canary Islands on the far side of the Atlantic. He supported the execution of Liniers after the defeat of his counter-revolution, and supported the secretary Mariano Moreno against the president Cornelio Saavedra. Larrea voted for the incorporation of deputies from other cities into the Junta, although he had previously indicated his opposition to the proposal. It was intended by Saavedra that this change would reduce Moreno's influence within the Junta.
The proposal prevailed, and the Primera Junta became the Junta Grande by incorporating the new deputies. The resignation and death of Mariano Moreno did not reduce the conflicts between Morenists and Saavedrists. A rebellion on behalf of Saavedrism ensued, on 5 and 6 April 1811, aiming at the resignation of all remaining Morenists, including Larrea. Larrea was accused of joining factions and risking public security, and was deposed. Taken prisoner, he was moved to the nearby city of Luján, and then to the distant San Juan.
### Return to politics
Larrea resumed business activities in San Juan, avoiding politics until 1812. The Revolution of 8 October 1812 returned the Morenists to power, and so Larrea could return to Buenos Aires. He returned as a deputy for Córdoba to the Assembly of Year XIII constituent assembly.
In the assembly, Larrea promoted a customs law which taxed most imports, but made exceptions for machines, scientific tools, books, weapons and military supplies. He organized a local mint, and the supply of the Army of the North. The presidency of the assembly rotated, and Larrea presided from 30 April to 1 June 1813. During this time the Assembly outlawed torture and repealed all noble titles, and also chose the official Argentine National Anthem.
Larrea served briefly in the Second Triumvirate, replacing José Julián Pérez as finance minister, until the Assembly replaced the Triumvirate with the Supreme Director, an office placing the powers of head of state in the hands of one person. Gervasio Antonio de Posadas was chosen as the first Supreme Director. Posadas was concerned about Montevideo, a nearby city which had been under royalist control since the beginning of the war, and a constant threat to Buenos Aires. Carlos María de Alvear complemented the existing siege of Montevideo with a naval blockade, in which Larrea's expertise was instrumental. Alvear developed the military strategy, and Larrea took care of the financial aspects. Larrea drafted a report of the nature, costs and strength of the proposed navy, and the captains and sailors that were required, and planned to negotiate with the American William White. Larrea also appointed the Irish admiral William Brown to lead the attack. The royalist forces in Montevideo were finally defeated in June 1814.
Larrea did not get on well with Brown, who blamed him for disagreements and supply shortages, and even for discontent among the sailors. Buenos Aires did not have a naval tradition, and therefore most of the people involved in the naval campaign were foreigners. As a result, their commitment to the war was often limited. After the capture of Montevideo, Larrea instructed Brown to report directly to the minister of war, and not correspond with himself. Nevertheless, the disagreements continued. Due to the economic crisis caused by the war, Larrea sold the captured ships, decommissioned the navy and sold off the government's own ships, but the sailors complained that they had not received their wages, their reward for the military victory nor their percentage of the sale of the captured ships. Larrea and White were blamed for this. Larrea resigned by the end of the year, after signing an order for the creation of an infantry and a cavalry regiment for the Army of the Andes. Larrea blamed White for the unresolved dispute over the sailors' wages, declaring that he had arranged that White would organize the payment of the wages. Alvear resigned in 1815 after the mutiny of Álvarez Thomas, and all the members of his administration were put on trial. Larrea was accused of abuse of power, administrative fraud and stealing from the national treasury. All his properties were confiscated, and he was exiled.
### Exile and return
After his exile, Larrea moved to Bordeaux in France, and did business with some of his old associates. He continued correspondence with Bernardino Rivadavia, and in 1818 he moved to Montevideo, under Brazilian control at that time, and strengthened his contacts in Buenos Aires from there. He was finally able to return to Buenos Aires in 1822 due to the oblivion law.
Once he returned to Buenos Aires, Larrea avoided political activities and concentrated on business activities. He established a mailing service between Buenos Aires and Le Havre (France), but the venture failed. He then worked in animal husbandry, both in Buenos Aires and in Montevideo. He was appointed consul of the United Provinces by governor Manuel Dorrego, and moved back to Bordeaux to strengthen commerce with France.
He resigned as consul in 1830, shortly after the first appointment of Juan Manuel de Rosas as governor, and returned to private business once more. His business began to fail, and he lived at various times in Montevideo, Colonia del Sacramento and Bordeaux, before returning again to Buenos Aires. He committed suicide on 20 June 1847. He was the last surviving member of the Primera Junta. |
1,514,728 | Jacqueline Pearce | 1,161,273,041 | British actress (1943–2018) | [
"1943 births",
"2018 deaths",
"Actresses from Lancashire",
"Alumni of RADA",
"Deaths from lung cancer in England",
"English film actresses",
"English radio actresses",
"English stage actresses",
"English television actresses",
"People from Byfleet"
]
| Jacqueline Pearce (20 December 1943 – 3 September 2018) was a British film and television actress. She was best known for her portrayal of the principal villain Servalan in the British science fiction TV series Blake's 7 (1978–1981), a performance which her obituarist in The Times wrote produced "a sexual awakening for a generation of sci-fi fans".
Pearce studied at both the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and at the Actors Studio. After early roles in two Hammer horror films, The Plague of the Zombies and The Reptile, she played opposite Jerry Lewis in Don't Raise the Bridge, Lower the River. On stage, she acted in Otherwise Engaged, directed by Harold Pinter, and in Tom Stoppard's Night and Day, and she had numerous television, theatre and audio roles, including in Doctor Who.
She suffered from clinical depression during periods of her life, which she discussed in her memoir, From Byfleet to the Bush (2012). Pearce spent five years working at the Vervet Monkey Foundation in South Africa, before returning to the UK in 2015.
## Early life
Jacqueline Pearce was born in Byfleet, Surrey, on 20 December 1943. She grew up spending time both living at her father's home in Byfleet and with a foster family, after her mother had left when Pearce was 16 months old. She attended the Marist Convent School for Girls at West Byfleet, where one of the teachers encouraged her to pursue her ambition of acting, and after leaving school, Pearce successfully auditioned for the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA).
## Career
After graduating from RADA in 1963, Pearce made her television debut in the series A Question of Happiness, in which she played a waitress in the episode "Watch Me I'm a Bird", alongside her RADA contemporaries Drewe Henley, Ian McShane and John Hurt. In the same year, she flew to Yugoslavia to film a short appearance for the film Genghis Khan. She later appeared in minor roles in Danger Man and in Sky West and Crooked, where McShane played a character who was her boyfriend. In Spring 1965, she auditioned for Anthony Nelson Keys at Bray Studios, and won leading roles in two Hammer horror films, The Plague of the Zombies and The Reptile. These were filmed one after another on the same location and both released in 1966.
She married Henley in 1963, after they met when he directed her in a short film while they were at RADA. She divorced him in 1967 after he left her for Felicity Kendal. Pearce left for America in 1967 following her divorce and stayed there until 1971. She worked for Sammy Davis Jr., answering his fan mail, and trained at Lee Strasberg's Actors Studio in Los Angeles. In 1974, she appeared in the role of Rosa Dartle in the BBC dramatisation of Charles Dickens' David Copperfield (1974). In a 1975 television version of Christopher Hampton's stage play The Philanthropist, Pearce played Araminta. The show was criticised by Ann Sheldon Williams of The Stage, who felt that the production was not appropriate for a transfer to television as it should rely on some distancing from the audience, but felt that Pearce's performance "had the right blend of softness and predatoriness".
Pearce remains best known for her role as Servalan, the principal villain in the British science fiction TV series Blake's 7 (1978–1981). The character was originally written for one episode, but was expanded to a regular role over four series due to Pearce's popularity. Initially the "Supreme Commander", the character later became "President", and is cited by film and television scholar Steven Duckworth as one of the characters that develops significantly during the programme, which he regards as particularly notable as she is a villain. Duckworth also opines that Servalan "offers a potentially empowering female character through her transgression of established gender binaries, this nonconformity is closely bound up with her role as the show's primary villain". Pearce had her hair cropped short when auditioning for the role, and was asked by the producers to keep it short. She influenced the production team to dress her character in feminine clothes rather than the military uniform that they had suggested. Pearce reprised the role in a 90-minute play entitled The Sevenfold Crown on BBC Radio 4 in 1998, alongside several other original Blake's 7 cast members.
She said of Servalan that "I saw her as a woman who was very damaged and driven by pain ... what drove her was not a desire to be evil but a desire to escape from pain." In a 2000 interview for The Observer, Pearce said that, given her own low self-esteem, the role had affected her personal life for years, as she had been attracted to the character's power and taken on some aspects of Servalan's personality, telling the interviewers that it had taken "the best years of my life to recover from Servalan".
The Aberdeen Press and Journal reviewer Tom Lynch referred to Pearce as Servalan as "one of telly's finest baddies". Roy West of the Liverpool Echo felt that "Amid a number of nebulous performances, [Pearce is] a shining star." Historian Dominic Sandbrook wrote in his Who Dares Wins: Britain, 1979–1982 (2019) that "Played with scenery-chewing relish by Jacqueline Pearce, Servalan is at once immensely glamorous and thoroughly evil" and drew a parallel with UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who took office in 1979, in that both were "perfectly happy to exploit [their] femininity". Vanessa Thorpe and Jakki Phillips said in The Observer in 2000 that "she was the evil genius who haunted the dreams of adolescent boys. With her pathological lust for power and low voice, early encounters with Servalan, the arch-villainess of the BBC sci-fi series Blake's Seven, are remembered as formative experiences by many who were young in the Seventies." Pearce's obituary in The Times stated that her performance provoked "a sexual awakening for a generation of sci-fi fans".
Other film roles include the Carry On film Don't Lose Your Head (1966), White Mischief (1987), How to Get Ahead in Advertising (1989), and Princess Caraboo (1994). In Don't Raise the Bridge, Lower the River (1968) she played opposite Jerry Lewis in his first non-Hollywood film. Pearce told an interviewer in 1981 that as the film had been a commercial failure, it had not helped her career. She appeared as an associate of the assassin Carlos in the television movie, The Bourne Identity (1988). She also acted in theatre, including Otherwise Engaged, directed by Harold Pinter.
As well as appearing in the BBC children's programmes Dark Season (alongside Kate Winslet) and Moondial, Pearce appeared in the Doctor Who serial The Two Doctors (1985) as Chessene, a bloodthirsty alien, taking the role at short notice after Elizabeth Spriggs had left the production. She was later associated with Doctor Who again through her appearances in The Fearmonger as Sherilyn Harper, an audio drama by Big Finish Productions, and as Admiral Mettna in the webcast story Death Comes to Time. Pearce returned to Doctor Who in 2015, this time opposite Hurt, as a regular in the Big Finish audio series based on the adventures of the War Doctor, portraying Cardinal Ollistra, a leader of the Time Lords in the Time War. Pearce also made guest appearances in TV series such as The Avengers, Public Eye, Callan, Dead of Night, Special Branch, Spy Trap, and The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles.
In 1980 Pearce played Ruth on stage in Tom Stoppard's Night and Day, a performance that Ann Fitzgerald in The Stage praised as she felt that Pearce had "an enviable range of tone and mood at her command". For the 1984/85 pantomime season, Pearce appeared in Cinderella at the Gaumont Theatre, Southampton, alongside Doctor Who actors Colin Baker, Mary Tamm, Anthony Ainley and Nicola Bryant. Pearce and her fellow Blake's 7 actor Paul Darrow (Avon) were voice actors for the 1996 videogame Gender Wars.
Her obituarist in The Daily Telegraph wrote that Pearce possessed "considerable depth and emotional range" which "was not often exploited", whilst her obituary in The Times read that "She could and should have achieved so much more. At Rada she was considered one of the most promising thespians of her generation by contemporaries such as Anthony Hopkins and John Hurt" but that her mental illness had "blighted her career".
## Personal life
Pearce suffered from clinical depression during periods of her life. She recounted in her memoir what she regarded as a profound personal and spiritual renaissance while volunteering at the Vervet Monkey Foundation in South Africa, where she had gone for a short stay, but ended up staying five years. She described "the joy of family which hadn't proved possible with human beings". Paul Owens of Starburst praised the book, which he described as a "tortured, agonized memoir of a woman battling with insecurity, mental illness, poverty, homelessness and disillusionment".
In addition to her marriage to Drewe Henley, from 1963 until their divorce in 1967, Pearce was married a second time, which also ended in divorce. Pearce returned to the UK in 2015. She was diagnosed with lung cancer in August 2018 and died on 3 September 2018 at her home in Lancashire.
## Filmography
### Television
### Film
### Theatre |
11,234,286 | Hear My Plea | 1,171,477,206 | 2007 song by Frederik Ndoci | [
"2000s ballads",
"2007 singles",
"2007 songs",
"Eurovision songs of 2007",
"Eurovision songs of Albania",
"Pop ballads",
"Songs written by Pandi Laço"
]
| "Hear My Plea" is a song by Albanian singer and songwriter Frederik Ndoci. It was issued as part of a CD compilation on 20 April 2007 by CMC Records. The English-language song was written by Pandi Laço and composed by Adrian Hila. "Hear My Plea" represented in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 in Helsinki, Finland, after Ndoci won the pre-selection competition, Festivali i Këngës 45, with the song's Albanian-language version "Balada e Gurit". The country failed to qualify for the grand final in 17th place, marking its second non-qualification in the contest. During his dark-themed show of the song, Ndoci was accompanied by an instrumentalist and four backing vocalists. An accompanying music video for the song premiered on the official YouTube channel of the Eurovision Song Contest on 5 April 2007.
## Background and composition
In 2006, Frederik Ndoci was announced as one of the contestants selected to compete in the 45th edition of Festivali i Këngës, a competition to determine Albania's entrant for the Eurovision Song Contest 2007. Following the competition's rules, the lyrics of the participating entries had to be in the Albanian language. Ndoci took part with the song "Balada e Gurit", composed by Adrian Hila and written by Pandi Laço. For the purpose of the singer's Eurovision Song Contest participation, "Balada e Gurit" was remastered and translated to "Hear My Plea". Musically, the latter is an English-language baroque-inspired dramatic pop song, which lyrically calls for pleading with an unnamed power to bring his love back to him.
## Release and promotion
The song was initially released on 20 April 2007 as part of the Eurovision Song Contest: Helsinki 2007 compilation album on CD through CMC Records. On 14 February 2018, it was released for digital download through Broken AL Audio and Radio Televizioni Shqiptar (RTSH). For promotional purposes, an accompanying music video for "Hear My Plea" premiered on the official YouTube channel of the Eurovision Song Contest on 5 April 2007.
## At Eurovision
### Festivali i Këngës
The national broadcaster, Radio Televizioni Shqiptar (RTSH), organised the 45th edition of Festivali i Këngës to determine Albania's participant for the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 in Helsinki, Finland. It consisted of two semi-finals on 21 and 22 December 2006, and a grand final on 23 December, which resulted in Ndoci being chosen after the votes of an expert jury were combined, giving a total of 55 points.
### Helsinki
The 52nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest took place in Helsinki, Finland, and consisted of a semi-final on 10 May, and the grand final two days later on 12 May 2007. According to the Eurovision rules at the time, selected participating countries, apart from the host country and the "Big Four" (consisting of , , , and the ), were required to qualify from the semi-final to compete for the grand final. The top ten countries from the semi-final progressed to the grand final. Albania came 11th in the semi-final, following and preceding , and failed to qualify for the grand final in 17th place with 49 points. During his dark blue-themed performance of the song, Ndoci was accompanied on stage by a violin player and four backing vocalists, including his wife, Aida Ndoci.
## Track listings
- Digital download
1. "Balada e Gurit (Festivali i Këngës)" – 4:31
## Release history |
35,483,635 | Fundraiser (The Office) | 1,130,155,418 | null | [
"2012 American television episodes",
"The Office (American season 8) episodes"
]
| "Fundraiser" is the twenty-second episode of the eighth season of the American comedy television series The Office and the show's 174th episode overall. The episode originally aired on NBC in the United States on April 26, 2012. "Fundraiser" was written by Owen Ellickson and directed by David Rogers. The episode guest stars Andy Buckley and Jack Coleman.
The series—presented as if it were a real documentary—depicts the everyday lives of office employees in the Scranton, Pennsylvania, branch of the fictional Dunder Mifflin Paper Company. In this episode, Andy Bernard (Ed Helms) crashes a fundraiser and ends up adopting twelve dogs. Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) learns that an auction winner loses money. Nellie (Catherine Tate) learns how to eat a taco.
"Fundraiser" received mixed reviews from critics. According to Nielsen Media Research, "Fundraiser" was viewed by an estimated 4.17 million viewers and received a 2.1 rating/6% share among adults between the ages of 18 and 49, making it the lowest-rated season eight episode of The Office to air. The episode ranked third in its timeslot and was also the highest-rated NBC series of the night.
## Synopsis
Angela Lipton's (Angela Kinsey) husband Robert (Jack Coleman) throws a silent auction fundraiser for local animal rights activists and Robert California (James Spader) buys two tables to seat everyone in the office. Newly fired Andy Bernard (Ed Helms) arrives and tries to get into an argument with Robert, telling him about a rock opera he has written with the hero based on Andy and the villain being a heartless character who wants to destroy all music named Thomas Oregon (with the name being a thinly-veiled reference to Robert California), who is "humanized" when he pees himself at the end. Andy runs into David Wallace (Andy Buckley), former CFO of Dunder Mifflin, and begins plotting his return to Dunder Mifflin. Andy interrupts Robert's speech introducing the senator by volunteering to adopt the twelve dogs brought by the local animal society. Afterwards, members of the office ask if he is having a breakdown, and, at Kevin Malone (Brian Baumgartner)'s urging, Andy sadly agrees that he is.
Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) attends without understanding how silent auctions work: he believes that the purpose of the function is to guess correctly the market price of the objects. By the end of the night, Dwight has put exorbitant amounts on the items and ends up accidentally donating over \$34,000. He flees when he discovers his mistake, giving a bizarre speech on the value of animals before doing so. Nellie Bertram (Catherine Tate) tries to talk with Darryl Philbin (Craig Robinson) by complaining about the food. She suggests they get a taco at her expense, offering thirty dollars to Darryl to go out and buy some. When she does, she shovels the ingredients in her mouth, not eating the shell. Darryl realizes she has no idea what a taco is, but appreciates that "she's trying" to socialize with her employees.
Oscar Martinez (Oscar Nunez) talks briefly to Senator Lipton about animal rights, and Lipton (who Oscar suspects is gay) gives Oscar his private cell phone number, asking Oscar to call him in the evening to discuss issues further. Oscar tells Pam (Jenna Fischer) and Jim Halpert (John Krasinski) that the Senator was hitting on him. Jim says Lipton was likely just schmoozing a voter, talks to Lipton himself, and also gets his number. Meredith Palmer (Kate Flannery) later gets Lipton's number as well, resulting in Oscar thinking that the senator may not have been hitting on him. When Oscar is leaving, Lipton shakes his hand and caresses Oscar's arm for long enough that Oscar once again believes Lipton was pursuing him.
## Production
"Fundraiser" was written by Owen Ellickson and directed by David Rogers. The episode features the return of the character David Wallace (Andy Buckley), former CFO of Dunder Mifflin. Wallace, who is also attending the fundraiser, reveals to Andy that after his firing, he sold his toy-vacuum invention "Suck It" to the military for \$20 million.
## Cultural references
The cold opening references several notable bands and musicians: the scene consists of Ryan complaining because he recently heard—erroneously—that musician Smokey Robinson died. Initially, Ryan refers to him as only "Smokey", which causes Pam to believe he is talking about Smokey the Bear. However, Ryan, on the bequest of Pam, is only able to name one song that Robinson had sung, "The Tracks of My Tears". Pam, however, is later able to remember that he sang "Tears of a Clown", and Jim references "I Second That Emotion". After Jim proves that Robinson is both still alive and playing at a local venue, Ryan tells him that he will be unable to attend because the opening band is Paul Anka, and that is "not what Smokey would have... does want!" During his pontificating rant, Ryan mentions that popular music is not all about "Jason Mraz and The Beatles", which shocks Dwight. Dwight lists off "Eleanor Rigby" and "Paperback Writer" and asks Ryan if he truly does not like those songs.
## Reception
### Ratings
"Fundraiser" originally aired on NBC in the United States on April 26, 2012. The episode was viewed by an estimated 4.17 million viewers and received a 2.1 rating/6% share among adults between the ages of 18 and 49. This means that it was seen by 2.1% of all 18- to 49-year-olds, and 6% of all 18- to 49-year-olds watching television at the time of the broadcast. The episode finished third in its time slot, being beaten by Grey's Anatomy which received a 3.2 rating/8% share and the CBS drama Person of Interest which received a 2.4 rating/6% share in the 18–49 demographic. The episode beat the Fox series Touch and The CW drama series The Secret Circle. Despite this, "Fundraiser" was the highest-rated NBC television episode of the night. The episode was the 25th most watched episode in the 18–49 demographic for the week ending April 29.
### Reviews
The episode received mixed reviews from critics, with critiques ranging from largely positive to very negative. Myles McNutt from The A.V. Club gave the episode a slightly positive review and gave it a B− rating. He wrote, "The Office is far from a profound show when it just throws its characters in a room and observes their behavior, but there’s a certain charm to it." McNutt noted that, despite feeling that the episode's description of "Darryl teaches Nellie how to eat a taco" was a poor move on NBC's part, he thought they "could have spent more time with Nellie learning how to eat a taco." Craig McQuinn from The Faster Times wrote positively of the episode, noting, "For the first time in forever this is an episode of The Office that actually has a lot going on. Whether the stuff that’s happening is actually meaningful or significant in any way is up for debate, but I actually enjoyed most of this episode."
Not all reviews were positive. Dan Forcella from TV Fanatics gave the episode a mixed review and awarded it two-and-a-half stars out of five. Forcella noted "It has been four episodes now since the super team returned from Florida, and The Office still hasn't found its footing back in Scranton", and he called the outing "another lackluster effort". A review from CliqueClack was largely critical of the episode, calling it "worse than usual" and noting that the show had finally hit "rock bottom". WhatCulture! reviewer Joseph Kratzer felt that the episode's setting—outside of the office building—was detrimental to the episode. He wrote, "The thing is, I in no way felt like any of what occurred in 'Fundraiser' needed to take place outside the Scranton branch and that’s really why a sitcom should move locations for an episode – because the story couldn't function without it. But this time it just felt like a cheap way to liven up a clearly very boring, uninspired, weak episode of television." Screen Crave wrote, "Those viewers of The Office that have scolded the show throughout the season for its varying degrees of sucking, are not likely to be changing their thinking after watching the latest episode."
However, many reviews were happy about the return of Andy Buckley, who portrayed David Wallace. A review from TV Equals noted that "I’m not totally convinced that David Wallace’s story is as simple as the one he tells, but maybe that’s just because I’d love any excuse for him to work his way back into the story lines for The Office." Michael Tedder from Vulture called Wallace's character "always-welcome". |
2,674,503 | The Kentucky Headhunters | 1,169,345,446 | American country rock and Southern rock band | [
"1968 establishments in Kentucky",
"American country rock groups",
"American southern rock musical groups",
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"Country music groups from Kentucky",
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"Grammy Award winners",
"MNRK Music Group artists",
"Mercury Records artists",
"Musical groups established in 1968",
"Musical groups reestablished in 1986",
"Rock music groups from Kentucky"
]
| The Kentucky Headhunters is an American country rock and Southern rock band originating in the state of Kentucky. The band's members are Doug Phelps (vocals, bass guitar), Greg Martin (vocals, lead guitar), and brothers Richard Young (vocals, rhythm guitar) and Fred Young (vocals, drums). It was founded in 1968 as Itchy Brother, which consisted of the Young brothers and Martin, along with Anthony Kenney on bass guitar and vocals. Itchy Brother performed until 1982, with James Harrison replacing Martin from 1973 to 1976. The Youngs and Martin began performing as The Kentucky Headhunters in 1986, adding brothers Ricky Lee Phelps (lead vocals, harmonica) and Doug Phelps (bass guitar, vocals) to the membership.
With the release of its 1989 debut album Pickin' on Nashville via Mercury Records, the band charted four consecutive Top 40 country singles. A second album for Mercury, Electric Barnyard, did not do as well commercially, and the Phelps brothers left after its release to form Brother Phelps. Kenney re-joined and Mark S. Orr took over on lead vocals for 1993's Rave On!! and a compilation album entitled The Best of The Kentucky Headhunters: Still Pickin before the band exited Mercury. Orr left and Doug Phelps rejoined in 1996 as lead vocalist for the album Stompin' Grounds. He also led on the Audium Entertainment albums Songs from the Grass String Ranch and Soul, as well as Big Boss Man and a second compilation, Flying Under the Radar, on CBuJ Entertainment. After Kenney's departure, Doug once again became the band's bass guitarist by the release of Dixie Lullabies, in 2011.
The Kentucky Headhunters has released ten studio albums, three compilations, and twenty-three singles. It's highest-peaking single is a cover of the Don Gibson song "Oh Lonesome Me," which the band took to number eight on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts in 1990. In addition, the band has won three Country Music Association awards, an Academy of Country Music award, and a Grammy Award for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, won in 1990 for Pickin' on Nashville.
## History
### 1968–1982: Early years as Itchy Brother
Richard Young, his younger brother Fred, and their cousins Anthony Kenney and Greg Martin began performing music in the Youngs' and Kenney's hometown of Glasgow, Kentucky, in the 1960s. They founded a band called Itchy Brother, named after Fred's favorite cartoon character, from King Leonardo and His Short Subjects. The original lineup consisted of Richard Young on rhythm guitar, Fred Young on drums, Kenney on bass guitar, and Martin on lead guitar. Itchy Brother achieved regional success in Kentucky in the 1970s, including at least one single, "Shotgun Effie," which they wrote about the Youngs' grandmother, Effie. It was released in 1973 on the King Fargo label. That same year, Greg Martin left the group to play in another band in his hometown of Louisville, Kentucky. In the meantime, guitarist James Harrison took his place. Martin returned to the group in 1976.
Itchy Brother was almost signed to Swan Song Records, an independent label founded by the band Led Zeppelin, in 1980. The label closed after Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham died, and Itchy Brother never recorded a full album on Swan Song. Itchy Brother broke up in 1982. After their disbanding, Richard started writing songs for Acuff-Rose Music, and Fred became a backing musician for country singer Sylvia, who at the time was recording on RCA Records. Martin played bass guitar and sang backing vocals for Ronnie McDowell, then a recording artist for Curb Records, and Kenney stopped performing, although he continued to write songs with the Young brothers.
### 1986–1988: Reunion with new name
When Martin attempted to reunite Itchy Brother in 1985, the Young brothers joined him, but Kenney declined. Martin invited Missouri Bootheel native Doug Phelps, also a member of McDowell's band, to replace Kenney, and Doug brought his older brother Ricky Lee to sing lead vocals. The band decided to name themselves The Headhunters, taking the name from the term "headchopper," which blues musician Muddy Waters used to indicate that he had supplanted another band in a gig. After discovering that other bands existed with that name, the band added "Kentucky" to its name and thus became The Kentucky Headhunters. The Kentucky Headhunters began performing together the following year, playing twice monthly on the 90-minute Chitlin' Show, a radio program on WLOC in Munfordville, Kentucky.
### 1989–1990: Debut album and early success
The Kentucky Headhunters borrowed \$4,500 to record a demo album, which included seven original songs, plus covers of Bill Monroe's "Walk Softly on This Heart of Mine," Henson Cargill's "Skip a Rope", and Don Gibson's "Oh Lonesome Me." Originally intended to be sold at the band's live shows, the demo tape came to the attention of the Nashville music community. Although Martin said that the band had not seriously considered signing a record deal, the band pursued one through the suggestion of its manager, Mitchell Fox. Harold Shedd, a record producer who was then the head of Mercury Records, helped sign The Kentucky Headhunters to the label in 1989.
Mercury released the demo in 1989 as The Kentucky Headhunters' debut album, Pickin' on Nashville. The album produced four singles, all of which reached top 40 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Songs) chart. The first of these, the "Walk Softly on This Heart of Mine" cover, peaked at number 25 in December 1989. After it came "Dumas Walker." According to Doug, Mercury Records was initially reluctant to release the song as a single: "[The label] thought it was too regional, and that no one outside the area would get it, but what they didn't see, was the reaction we got to it every night that we played it in front of a crowd, and it didn't matter where we were playing either." The single peaked at number 15 on the Billboard chart.
Following "Dumas Walker" was "Oh Lonesome Me", which peaked at number eight; this was the band's only Top Ten hit. Finishing off the single releases was the number 23 "Rock 'n' Roll Angel", which Richard wrote. Pickin' on Nashville also earned the band a Grammy Award for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, Best New Vocal Group award from the Academy of Country Music (ACM), and Album of the Year and Vocal Group of the Year awards from the Country Music Association (CMA). In addition, it earned a double-platinum certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipping two million copies in the United States. William Ruhlmann of Allmusic gave the album a four-and-a-half star rating out of five, saying that the band was "all the better" for having a sound closer to rock than country. After the success of their debut album, The Kentucky Headhunters began touring with Hank Williams, Jr. and Delbert McClinton.
### 1991–1992: Second album and departure of the Phelps brothers
In 1991, the band released their second album, Electric Barnyard. Although the album earned a gold certification from the RIAA and a second CMA award for Vocal Group of the Year, its singles received little airplay compared to the band's previous releases, with none of the four singles reaching the top 40 on the U.S. country charts. The album's first single was a cover of "The Ballad of Davy Crockett," which was released on the 155th anniversary of Davy Crockett's death; the single shipped to radio with promotional coonskin caps. It spent eleven weeks on the charts and peaked at 49. "With Body and Soul" was the next single released, peaking at number 30 on the Canadian RPM country charts but reaching number 56 in the United States. The third and fourth singles were the original composition "It's Chitlin' Time" and a rendition of Waylon Jennings's "Only Daddy That'll Walk the Line," at numbers 63 and 60 respectively. Norman Greenbaum's 1969 single "Spirit in the Sky" was covered on this album as well.
This album was met with mixed reception from critics. Alanna Nash of Entertainment Weekly gave it an A rating, saying that it "skillfully blends raw wit, the working-class energy of sweat-stained factory workers jamming between shifts, and musical styles as diverse as the corny Tennessee Ernie Ford and the creamy Eric Clapton." Allmusic critic Brian Mansfield, who gave it three-and-a-half stars, called the band a "top-notch Southern rock band with a sense of humor," and said that the covers on Electric Barnyard were highlights, while the originals were "adequate, offbeat filler." Randy Lewis of the Los Angeles Times called the band "ZZ Top lite" and said that most of the songs on the album had a "party-hearty sound."
Later in 1991, The Kentucky Headhunters performed with Roy Rogers on the song "That's How the West Was Swung" from his Tribute album, and covered Canned Heat's "Let's Work Together" for the soundtrack to the film Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man. In addition, Martin played lead guitar for Canadian synthpop band Men Without Hats on its 1991 album Sideways and filled in for Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd guitarist Ed King on that band's 1992 tour, as King was injured at the time.
Ricky Lee and Doug departed in June 1992 due to creative differences. According to Richard, Ricky Lee's tenure as lead vocalist was "a bad time" for the band given his opposition to Richard's opinions, although Richard was still surprised to hear of the brothers' departure, and said, "I tried everything I could to get them to stay." Ricky Lee, meanwhile, said that he "was a country singer more than anything" and wanted to eliminate most of the band's hard rock sounds. He and Doug then founded Brother Phelps, which had a more mainstream country sound than The Kentucky Headhunters did. Brother Phelps released two albums for Asylum Records and charted in the country top 40 with "Let Go" and "Were You Really Livin' ," which peaked at number 6 and 28 respectively.
### 1992–1994: New line-up and lack of success
Kenney rejoined in 1992 as bass guitarist, and Charlotte, Michigan, native Mark S. Orr took over on lead vocals. The first album to feature Orr and Kenney, the more blues rock-oriented Rave On!!, was released in 1993. Although the band drew attention by touring with then-labelmate Billy Ray Cyrus, Rave On!! sold poorly and failed to produce a successful single among its three releases: "Honky Tonk Walkin' ," "Blue Moon of Kentucky" and "Dixie Fried," the latter two being covers of Bill Monroe and Carl Perkins, respectively. The album also included a cover of The Lovin' Spoonful's "My Gal". "Honky Tonk Walkin'" and "Dixie Fried" respectively reached numbers 54 and 71 on the country charts, while the "Blue Moon of Kentucky" cover did not chart.
Mansfield gave a two-star rating for Allmusic, where he wrote that the band had "devolved into a redneck boogie group." Nash's review for Entertainment Weekly gave it a C− grade, and called it "warmed-over blues" that lacked the "outrageousness, wit, and brilliance that distinguished their earlier albums." Steve Morse of The Boston Globe called it an "irresistible car-stereo album," and Rolling Stone critic John Swenson said that the album was more rock-oriented than its predecessors, also saying that it "sounds like a hell of a blueprint for a summer concert tour."
The Orr-led lineup also recorded That'll Work, a collaborative album with Chuck Berry's pianist, Johnnie Johnson. It was released later in 1993 via Nonesuch Records, and it comprised twelve songs which Johnson and the band wrote over the course of four days. The album featured Johnson on piano, as well as lead vocals on the title track and one other song; Jimmy Hall of Wet Willie also played harmonica and saxophone, and sang backing vocals. Thom Owens of Allmusic wrote of this album that "They certainly can work a heavy, bluesy groove with dexterity, but they lack the gonzo charm they had on their debut, Pickin' on Nashville — there simply isn't the sense of careening fun, nor is there the reckless fusions that resulted in such an invigorating listen." One year later, Mercury released a greatest hits package, The Best of The Kentucky Headhunters: Still Pickin'''. It reprised singles and other songs from the band's first three albums, as well as "Let's Work Together" and a cover of The Beatles' "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away," which The Kentucky Headhunters had previously recorded on the 1994 tribute album Shared Vision: The Songs of the Beatles. After Still Pickin, The Kentucky Headhunters left Mercury.
### 1995–2002: Reunion with Doug Phelps
Orr left The Kentucky Headhunters in August 1995 because he "was wantin' to do somethin' else," according to Richard. Richard then called Doug and invited him to rejoin the band. As a result, Brother Phelps disbanded and Ricky Lee pursued a solo career. In 1997, The Kentucky Headhunters signed to BNA Records to release its fourth non-collaborative studio album, Stompin' Grounds, with Doug on lead vocals. This album was also an unsuccessful venture, failing to enter the country albums charts and producing only a number 70-peaking cover of Marty Robbins' "Singing the Blues". In order to promote the album, Richard suggested that the label send free copies to smaller-market radio stations, where the band's fanbase was still strong. He also considered the album's original songs as the strongest that the band had ever written. Brian Wahlert of Country Standard Time magazine wrote that it "may be the band's best album ever;" Thom Owens gave the album two-and-a-half stars in his Allmusic review, where he wrote that the band "show[ed] a lack of imagination" and "sound[ed] considerably less energetic and exciting" than on the first two albums.
Songs from the Grass String Ranch, the band's next album, was completed almost 18 months before its release. The band had consulted with 38 different independent labels before signing to Audium Entertainment, a branch of Koch Records (now MNRK Music Group), which released the album in 2000. Three months before its release, Richard suffered a heart attack, from which he soon recovered. Because the "Singing the Blues" cover had been unsuccessful, the group decided to record entirely original songs for Songs from the Grass String Ranch. All five members co-wrote all of the songs, with assistance from Verlon Dale Grissom on four of them. In addition, this album featured the Youngs on lead vocals for the first time: Fred on "Dry-Land Fish" and Richard on "Louisianna CoCo." The title track was inspired by a nickname given to the Youngs' family farm. "Too Much to Lose" was the album's first single, peaking at number 66 on Billboard country chart. Richard considered this song an unusual single release because it was the band's first ballad. Neither of the next two singles, "Louisianna CoCo" and "Love That Woman," appeared on the music charts. Giving it three stars out of five, Al Campbell of Allmusic said that it was "crowd-pleasing" but "nothing out of the ordinary." An uncredited review in The Ledger, which gave the album two-and-a-half stars out of four, said that the up-tempo songs were "nothing very original[...]but lots of fun" but added that its ballads were "mushy and earnest."
### 2003–2006: Soul and Big Boss Man
Soul followed in 2003, also on Audium. This album also featured Johnnie Johnson, as well as guest appearances by organist Reese Wynans (of Double Trouble), saxophone player Jim Horn, and a local musician named Robbie Bartlett, who sang guest vocals on "Everyday People." It included the non-charting single "Lonely Nights" and a tribute song to Carl Perkins entitled "Last Night I Met Carl Perkins", as well as two covers: "I Still Wanna Be Your Man," originally recorded by Eddie Hinton, and "Have You Ever Loved a Woman?," a blues standard made famous by Eric Clapton. This album received generally favorable reviews. Mark Deming gave a three-star rating for Allmusic, saying that the album's more rhythm and blues and soul-influenced sound worked well due to the blues influences present in Southern rock, although he added that the album retained the "big guitar bombast" of the band's previous works. Matt Bjorke of About.com considered its sound a departure from the earlier albums, but added "it's not hard to see that the band fully enjoys what they are doing" and highlighted the presence of a horn section and Hammond B-3 organ on some tracks. Ray Waddell of Billboard magazine considered Wynans' and Johnson's contributions "perfect fits", and noted that the album was "laid back" until the second half. His review also mentions the extended drum solo and "stone blues coda" of the closing track "What You See Is What You Get."
In 2005, following the closure of Audium, the band signed to the CBuJ Entertainment label. Its first release for the label was Big Boss Man, an album composed entirely of cover songs. This album was led off by its title track, a cover of the Jimmy Reed blues standard. Also released from it were renditions of Roger Miller's "Chug-a-Lug" and Hank Williams' "Take These Chains from My Heart". The project was financed by Sony/ATV Music Publishing as a means of making extra money from older songs in the publishing company's catalog. Richard helped select the songs for this album, which included three other Hank Williams covers, as well as Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone," The Beatles' "I'm Down," and Patsy Cline's "Walkin' After Midnight," among others. Despite saying that the album was "obviously aimed at longtime fans," Greg Prato of Allmusic gave it three-and-a-half stars, with his review making note of the "beefed-up" Patsy Cline and Hank Williams covers. Ray Waddell of Billboard called the album "loose and rowdy," saying that the band "injected soul" into the Dylan cover and recorded an "intoxicating" version of "Chug-a-Lug," although he said that the "Hey Good Lookin'" cover was "heavy-handed." Robert Woolridge gave a mostly-favorable review for Country Standard Time, citing "Chug-a-Lug" and "So Sad to See Good Love Go Bad" (originally by The Everly Brothers) as the most country-sounding. He also described three of the Hank Williams covers positively, but said that Phelps did not have a suitable vocal range for "I'm Down" and that his voice was monotonous on "Walkin' After Midnight."
### 2007–2021: Flying Under the Radar, Dixie Lullabies, Meet Me in Bluesland, and On Safari
One year later, CBuJ Entertainment released the compilation Flying Under the Radar, which comprised selections from Songs from the Grass String Ranch, Soul and Big Boss Man, as well as two new songs and a remix of "Chug-a-Lug." Kenney left the band around 2008 to take a job as the technical director of a theatre in Glasgow, Kentucky, and Doug has since taken over on bass guitar. To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the release of Pickin' on Nashville, the band released a live album entitled Authorized Bootleg: Live – Agara Ballroom – Cleveland, Ohio. It was followed in October 2011 by Dixie Lullabies on the Red Dirt label, which the band recorded at the Practice House after touring with Jamey Johnson. William Ruhlmann gave this album a positive review, comparing the sound to The Rolling Stones and ZZ Top.
In April 2015, the band released another collaborative album with Johnson entitled Meet Me in Bluesland, via Alligator Records. It was originally recorded in 2003 during the sessions for Soul. On Safari came in 2016. This album features several songs that the band had written years prior, including "Crazy Jim". Shortly before the album's release, Richard and Fred's father, James Howard, died at age 93. Also included are "Governor's Cup", the band's first ever instrumental track, and a cover of Alice Cooper's "Caught in a Dream".
### 2021-present: That's a Fact Jack!
On September 25, 2021 the band announced through their official Facebook page that a new album titled That's a Fact Jack! would be released on October 22 through Practice House Records. The first single from the album was "How Could I", followed by "Susannah" and the title track. Also included on the album is a re-recording of "Shotgun Effie". Following this album's release, the band made their debut on the Grand Ole Opry on December 2, 2021. They also supported the album with a tour which began in Corinth, Mississippi that same month. According to Richard, the band was previously offered a chance to play the Grand Ole Opry in 1990 through the recommendation of bluegrass singer Bill Monroe, but Roy Acuff rejected the band due to their long hair.
## Work with other artists
The band's members have also participated in several projects involving other artists. Richard Young co-produced some tracks on Flynnville Train's self-titled debut album, which was released on September 11, 2007 by Show Dog Nashville, a label owned by Toby Keith (now part of Show Dog-Universal Music). This album includes the song "Truck Stop in the Sky," which Richard and Fred co-wrote with two of Flynnville Train's members, brothers Brent Flynn and David Flynn. Also in 2007, Greg Martin released a gospel rock album called The Mighty Jeremiahs as a side project. The album features Jimmy Hall and Jeff Beck, plus appearances by members of The Kentucky Headhunters, Phil Keaggy, Darrell Mansfield (for whom Martin has previously played), and others. Martin also played for Hall on his 2007 album Build Your Own Fire, a tribute album to Eddie Hinton. In 2009, Martin began a side project called Rufus Huff with Chris Hardesty, Dean Smith, and Jarrod England. This side project released an album via Zoho Music in April 2009.
Richard, along with Stan Webb and former MCA Nashville Records artist Marty Brown, wrote Tracy Byrd's 1998 single "I'm from the Country." Brown and the band also recorded the song's demo version. Richard's son, John Fred Young, plays drums in the rock band Black Stone Cherry. The band practices at the same farm house where The Kentucky Headhunters once rehearsed.
## Musical styles
The band's sound is influenced by country music, rockabilly, blues, Southern rock, and heavy metal, and has been described as "guitar-heavy, rambunctious music." Lead singer Doug Phelps' voice has been described as "alternately suggest[ing] Count Basie's storied blues shouter Jimmy Rushing and the laid-back cool of Eagle Glenn Frey." The band's combination of styles is most notable in its cover song choices on early albums. All three Mercury albums contain a Bill Monroe cover, and other covers on these albums include Waylon Jennings, Carl Perkins, Norman Greenbaum and The Lovin' Spoonful. Soul showcased the band's blues and R&B influences through its use of Hammond organ and a horn section. The band's original compositions, such as "Dumas Walker" and the title track to Songs from the Grass String Ranch, often develop a regional theme.
At its peak in the early 1990s, The Kentucky Headhunters were considered a dark horse in country music, due to the significant mainstream attention that the band received despite their rougher sound and the members' rural Southern image. In 1991, Entertainment Weekly critic Alanna Nash wrote that although the band did not sell as many albums as contemporaries George Strait or Garth Brooks, "they may just end up redefining country for the '90s" given the diverse range of influences and styles. Billboard critic Ray Waddell called the band "arguably the most consistent and durable Southern rock outfit on the planet."
## Band members
- Greg Martin (born March 31, 1954) – lead guitar, vocals (1968-1973, 1976–1982, 1986–present)
- Doug Phelps (born December 15, 1960) – bass guitar, lead and background vocals (1986-1992, 1995-present)
- Fred Young (born July 8, 1958) – drums, vocals (1968–1982, 1986–present)
- Richard Young (born January 27, 1955) – rhythm guitar, lead and background vocals (1968–1982, 1986–present)
Former members
- James Harrison (born February 2, 1959) - lead guitar (1973-1976)
- Anthony Kenney (born July 14, 1956) – bass guitar, harmonica, background vocals (1968–1982, 1992–2008)
- Mark S. Orr (born April 22, 1957) – lead vocals (1992–1995)
- Ricky Lee Phelps (born January 17, 1953) – lead vocals (1986–1992)
Notes
## Discography
Studio albums
- Pickin' on Nashville (1989)
- Electric Barnyard (1991)
- Rave On!! (1993)
- That'll Work (with Johnnie Johnson) (1993)
- Stompin' Grounds (1997)
- Songs from the Grass String Ranch (2000)
- Soul (2003)
- Big Boss Man (2005)
- Dixie Lullabies (2011)
- Meet Me in Bluesland (with Johnnie Johnson) (2015)
- On Safari (2016)
- That's a Fact Jack!'' (2021)
## Awards and nominations
## See also |
52,023,256 | Red Dead Redemption 2 | 1,173,788,339 | 2018 video game | [
"2018 video games",
"Action-adventure games",
"Bank robbery in fiction",
"Cultural depictions of the Mafia",
"D.I.C.E. Award for Outstanding Technical Achievement winners",
"Euphoria (software) games",
"Game Developers Choice Award winners",
"Golden Joystick Award winners",
"Hunting in video games",
"Infectious diseases in fiction",
"Ku Klux Klan in popular culture",
"Multiplayer and single-player video games",
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| Red Dead Redemption 2 is a 2018 action-adventure game developed and published by Rockstar Games. The game is the third entry in the Red Dead series and a prequel to the 2010 game Red Dead Redemption. The story is set in a fictionalized representation of the United States in 1899 and follows the exploits of Arthur Morgan, an outlaw and member of the Van der Linde gang, who must deal with the decline of the Wild West whilst attempting to survive against government forces, rival gangs, and other adversaries. The game is presented through first- and third-person perspectives, and the player may freely roam in its interactive open world. Gameplay elements include shootouts, robberies, hunting, horseback riding, interacting with non-player characters, and maintaining the character's honor rating through moral choices and deeds. A bounty system governs the response of law enforcement and bounty hunters to crimes committed by the player.
The game's development lasted over eight years, beginning soon after Red Dead Redemption's release, and it became one of the most expensive video games ever made. Rockstar co-opted all of its studios into one large team to facilitate development. They drew influence from real locations as opposed to film or art, focused on creating an accurate reflection of the time with the game's characters and world. The game was Rockstar's first built specifically for eighth-generation consoles, having tested their technical capabilities while porting Grand Theft Auto V. The game's soundtrack features an original score composed by Woody Jackson and several vocal tracks produced by Daniel Lanois. Development included a crunch schedule of 100-hour weeks, leading to reports of mandatory and unpaid overtime. Red Dead Online, the game's online multiplayer mode, lets up to 32 players engage in a variety of cooperative and competitive game modes.
Red Dead Redemption 2 was released for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in October 2018, and for Windows and Stadia in November 2019. It broke several records and had the second-biggest launch in the history of entertainment, generating US\$725 million in sales from its opening weekend and exceeding the lifetime sales of Red Dead Redemption in two weeks. The game received critical acclaim, with praise directed at its story, characters, open world, graphics, music, and level of detail; some criticism was directed at its control scheme and emphasis on realism over player freedom. It won year-end accolades including Game of the Year awards from several gaming publications, and is considered an example of video games as an art form as well as one of the greatest video games ever made. It is among the best-selling video games with over 55 million copies shipped.
## Gameplay
Red Dead Redemption 2 is a Western-themed action-adventure game. Played from a first- or third-person perspective, the game is set in an open-world environment featuring a fictionalized version of the United States in 1899. It features single-player and online multiplayer components, the latter released under Red Dead Online. For most of the game, the player controls outlaw Arthur Morgan, a member of the Van der Linde gang, as he completes missions—linear scenarios with set objectives—to progress the story; from the epilogue, the player controls Red Dead Redemption protagonist John Marston. Outside of missions, they can freely roam the interactive world. They may engage in combat with enemies using melee attacks, firearms, bow and arrow, throwables, or explosives, and can dual wield weapons. The player can swim as Arthur but not as John.
Red Dead Redemption 2's world features different landscapes with occasional travelers, bandits, and wildlife, and urban settlements ranging from farmhouses to towns and cities. Horses are the main forms of transportation, of which there are various breeds with different attributes. The player can steal horses and must train or tame wild horses to use them; to own a horse, they must saddle or stable it. Repeated use of a horse begins a bonding process, increased by leading, petting, cleaning, and feeding it, and the player will acquire advantages as they ride their horse. Stagecoaches and trains can be used to travel; the player can hijack a train or stagecoach by threatening the driver and rob its contents or passengers. The player may witness or partake in random events in the world, including ambushes, crimes, pleas for assistance, ride-by shootings, public executions, and animal attacks. They may be rewarded when helping others. They may partake in side activities, including tasks with companions and strangers, dueling, bounty hunting, searching for collectibles such as rock carvings, and playing poker, blackjack, dominoes, and five finger filet. Hunting animals provides food, income, and materials for crafting items. The choice of weapon and shot placement affect the quality and value of meat and pelt, and the player can skin the animal or carry the carcass, which will rot over time, decrease its value, and attract predators.
Some story moments give the player the option to accept or decline additional missions and lightly shape the plot around their choices. They can choose different dialogue trees with non-player characters (NPCs), such as being friendly or insulting. If they choose to kill an NPC, they can loot their corpse. The Honor system measures how the player's actions are perceived: morally-positive choices and deeds like helping strangers, following the law, and sparing opponents in a duel will increase Honor, while negative deeds such as theft and harming innocents will decrease it. Dialogue and outcomes often differ based on Honor level, and attaining milestones grants unique benefits: high Honor provides special outfits and store discounts, while low Honor grants more items from looting.
In addition to health and stamina bars, the player has cores, which affect the rate at which their health and stamina regenerate. Freezing or overheating rapidly drains cores, preventable by wearing weather-appropriate clothing. The player can gain or lose weight depending on how much they eat; an underweight character will have less health but more stamina, while an overweight character can better absorb damage but with less stamina. Eating and sleeping replenishes cores. The player can bathe to remain clean and visit a barber to change hairstyles; hair grows realistically over time. Weapons require cleaning to maintain their performance. Using a certain type of gun extensively improves weapon handling, reduces recoil, and increases the rate of reloading. The player can take cover, free aim, and target a person or animal. Individual body parts can be targeted to take down targets without killing them. Weapons consist of pistols, revolvers, repeaters, rifles, shotguns, bows, explosives, lassos, mounted Gatling guns, and melee weapons such as knives and tomahawks. The player can use Dead Eye to slow down time and mark targets. Once the targeting sequence ends, they fire to every marked location in a very short space of time. The Dead Eye system upgrades progressively and grants abilities such as targeting fatal points.
When the player commits a crime, witnesses alert the law; the player can stop them to avoid repercussions. Law enforcers investigate once alerted. When the player is caught, a bounty is set on their head; as they commit more crimes, their bounty grows higher and more lawmen will be sent to hunt them. If the player escapes the law, bounty hunters track them down. After committing enough crime, the U.S. Marshals will be sent to the player's location. To escape law enforcement, they can evade the wanted vicinity, hide from pursuers, or kill them. The bounty will remain on their head, lawmen and civilians will be more vigilant, and regions where crimes have been committed will be on lockdown. When caught by lawmen, the player can surrender if they are unarmed and on foot. They can remove their bounty by paying it off or spending time in jail.
## Synopsis
### Setting and characters
The world of Red Dead Redemption 2 spans five fictitious U.S. states: New Hanover, Ambarino, and Lemoyne are located to the immediate north and east of New Austin and West Elizabeth, which return from Red Dead Redemption. Ambarino is a mountain wilderness, with the largest settlement being the Wapiti Native American reservation; New Hanover encompasses a sweeping valley and woody foothills that feature the cattle town of Valentine, the riverside Van Horn Trading Post, and the coal town of Annesburg; and Lemoyne is composed of bayous and plantations resembling the southeastern United States, and is home to the Southern town of Rhodes, the village of Lagras, and the former French colony of Saint Denis, analogous to New Orleans. West Elizabeth consists of wide plains, dense forests, and the prosperous port town of Blackwater; the region is expanded from the original game with a northern portion containing the mountain resort town of Strawberry. New Austin is an arid desert region on the border with Mexico and centered on the frontier towns of Armadillo and Tumbleweed, featured in the original game. Parts of New Austin and West Elizabeth were redesigned to reflect the earlier time: Blackwater is under development, while Armadillo is a ghost town as a result of a cholera outbreak.
The player controls Arthur Morgan (Roger Clark), a lieutenant and veteran member of the Van der Linde gang, led by Dutch van der Linde (Benjamin Byron Davis), a charismatic man who extols personal freedom and decries the encroaching march of modern civilization. The gang includes Dutch's best friend and co-leader Hosea Matthews (Curzon Dobell), John Marston (Rob Wiethoff) and his partner Abigail Roberts (Cali Elizabeth Moore) and son Jack Marston (Marissa Buccianti and Ted Sutherland), the lazy Uncle (John O'Creagh and James McBride), gunslingers Bill Williamson (Steve J. Palmer), Javier Escuella (Gabriel Sloyer), and Micah Bell (Peter Blomquist), Black Indian hunter Charles Smith (Noshir Dalal), and housewife-turned-gunslinger Sadie Adler (Alex McKenna). The gang's criminal acts bring them into conflict with wealthy oil magnate Leviticus Cornwall (John Rue), who recruits the Pinkerton Detective Agency, led by Andrew Milton (John Hickok) and his subordinate Edgar Ross (Jim Bentley), to hunt them down. The gang encounter Italian crime lord Angelo Bronte (Jim Pirri), controversial Guarman ruler Colonel Alberto Fussar (Alfredo Narciso), and Dutch's nemesis Colm O'Driscoll (Andrew Berg), and become entangled with the warring Gray and Braithwaite families, who are rumored to be hoarding Civil War gold. Arthur helps Rains Fall (Graham Greene) and his son Eagle Flies (Jeremiah Bitsui), both members of the Native American Wapiti tribe whose land is targeted by the Army.
### Plot
After a botched ferry heist in 1899, the Van der Linde gang are forced to leave their substantial money stash and flee Blackwater. Realizing the progress of civilization is ending the time of outlaws, they decide to gain enough money to escape the law and retire. They rob a train owned by Cornwall, who hires Pinkertons to apprehend them. The gang perform jobs to earn money, as Dutch continually promises the next heist will be their last. Following a shootout with Cornwall's men in Valentine, the gang relocate to Lemoyne, where they work simultaneously for the Grays and Braithwaites in an attempt to turn them against each other. However, the families double-cross them: the Grays kill a gang member in an ambush, while the Braithwaites kidnap and sell Jack to Bronte. The gang retaliate and destroy both families before retrieving Jack from Bronte, who offers them leads on work, but eventually double-crosses them. Dutch kidnaps and feeds him to an alligator as revenge, which disturbs Arthur.
The gang rob a bank in Saint Denis, but the Pinkertons intervene, killing Hosea and arresting John. Dutch, Arthur, Bill, Javier, and Micah escape the city via a ship heading to Cuba. A torrential storm sinks the ship, and the men wash ashore on the island of Guarma, where they become embroiled in a war between tyrannical sugar plantation owner Fussar and the enslaved local population. After helping the revolutionaries kill Fussar, the group secure transport back to the United States and reunite with the rest of the gang.
Dutch obsesses over one last heist and doubts Arthur's loyalty after he disobeys him by liberating John earlier than planned, naming Micah his top lieutenant in Arthur's place. Arthur becomes concerned Dutch is no longer the man he knew, as he is becoming insular, abandons their ideals, and murders Cornwall. He is faced with his mortality when he is diagnosed with tuberculosis. Arthur reflects on his actions and how to protect the gang, telling John to run away with Abigail and Jack and openly defying Dutch by aiding the local Native American people. When the Pinkertons assault the camp, Dutch becomes paranoid a gang member is working as an informant. Several gang members become disenchanted and leave, while Dutch and Micah arrange one final heist of an Army payroll train.
Arthur's faith in Dutch is shattered when he abandons Arthur to the Army, leaves John for dead, and refuses to rescue a kidnapped Abigail. Arthur and Sadie rescue Abigail from Milton, who names Micah as the Pinkertons' informer before Abigail kills him. Arthur returns to camp and openly accuses Micah of betrayal. Dutch, Bill, Javier, and Micah turn on Arthur and a newly returned John, but the standoff is broken when Pinkertons attack. The player can choose to have Arthur aid John's escape by delaying the Pinkertons or return to the camp to recover the gang's money. Micah ambushes Arthur, and Dutch intervenes in their fight. Arthur convinces Dutch to abandon Micah and leave. If the player has high honor, Arthur succumbs to his injuries and disease while watching the sunrise; if the player has low honor, Micah executes him.
Eight years later, in 1907, John and his family are trying to lead honest lives. They find work at a ranch where John fights back against outlaws threatening his employer. Believing John is unwilling to give up his old ways, Abigail leaves with Jack. John takes a loan from the bank to purchase a ranch. He works with Uncle, Sadie, and Charles to build a new home, and proposes to Abigail on her return. Learning Micah is still alive and formed his own gang, John, Sadie, and Charles assault his camp. They find Dutch, who shoots Micah after a tense standoff and leaves in silence, allowing John to kill Micah and claim the gang's Blackwater stash to pay his debt. John marries Abigail and they start a new life on their ranch alongside Jack and Uncle, as Sadie and Charles leave for other pursuits.
Mid-credits scenes show the fates of other surviving gang members. Edgar Ross tracks down Micah's killer, which leads him to John's ranch, foreshadowing the events of Red Dead Redemption.
## Development
Preliminary work on Red Dead Redemption 2 began shortly following the release of the original game, Red Dead Redemption (2010). Rockstar San Diego, the studio behind the original game, had a rough outline of the game by mid-2011, and by late 2012, rough scripts of the game had been completed. When Rockstar Games realized a group of distinct studios would not necessarily work, it co-opted all of its studios into one large team, dubbed Rockstar Studios, to facilitate development between 1,600 people; a total of around 2,000 people worked on the game. Analyst estimations place the game's combined development and marketing budget between US\$370 million and US\$540 million, which would make it one of the most expensive video games to develop.
While the main theme of the original game was to protect family at all costs, Red Dead Redemption 2 tells the story of the breakdown of a family in the form of the Van der Linde gang. The team was interested in exploring the story of why the gang fell apart, as frequently mentioned in the first game. Rockstar's Vice President of Creativity Dan Houser was inspired by film and literature when writing the game, though he avoided contemporary works to avoid being accused of stealing ideas. The team was not specifically inspired by film or art but rather real locations. The team was focused on creating an accurate reflection of the time, with people and locations. The citizens in the game feature a contrast between rich and poor, while the locales contrast between the civilization and the wilderness.
Red Dead Redemption 2's recording sessions began in 2013. Rockstar wanted a diverse cast of characters within the Van der Linde gang. The writers put particular focus on the individual stories behind each character, exploring their life before the gang and their reasons for remaining with the group. Several characters were cut from the game during development as their personalities failed to add to the narrative. The actors sometimes improvised some additional lines, but mostly remained faithful to the script. The team decided the player would control one character in Red Dead Redemption 2, as opposed to the three protagonists in Rockstar's previous title Grand Theft Auto V (2013), to follow the character more personally and understand how the events impact him. They felt a single character is more appropriate for the narrative structure of a Western.
Red Dead Redemption 2 is the first game from Rockstar built specifically for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Rockstar had tested these consoles' technical capabilities when porting Grand Theft Auto V, initially released on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, to them. Once the team had defined what limitations were sustainable, they found the areas requiring the most focus. One of Rockstar's goals with Red Dead Redemption 2's gameplay was to make the player feel as though they are living in a world, instead of playing missions and watching cutscenes. A method used to achieve this was through the gang's moving camp, where the player can interact with other characters. The team ensured the characters maintained the same personality and mood from cutscene to gameplay to make the world feel more alive and realistic.
Woody Jackson, who worked with Rockstar on the original game and Grand Theft Auto V, returned to compose Red Dead Redemption 2's original score. Red Dead Redemption 2 has three different types of score: narrative, which is heard during the missions in the game's story; interactive, when the player is roaming the open world or in multiplayer; and environmental, which includes campfire singing songs or a character playing music in the world. The game's music regularly reacts according to the player's decisions in the world. Jackson purchased several instruments from the Wrecking Crew featured on classic cowboy films. In total, over 110 musicians worked on the music for the game. Daniel Lanois produced the original vocal tracks for the game, collaborating with artists such as D'Angelo, Willie Nelson, Rhiannon Giddens, and Josh Homme. Director of music and audio Ivan Pavlovich engaged saxophone player Colin Stetson, experimental band Senyawa, and musician Arca to work on the score.
Rockstar Games first teased Red Dead Redemption 2 on October 16–17, 2016, before the official announcement on October 18, 2016. Originally due for release in the second half of 2017, the game was delayed twice: first to Q1/Q2 2018, and later to October 26, 2018. According to Rockstar, the game required extra development time for "polish". To spur pre-order sales, Rockstar collaborated with several retail outlets to provide special edition versions of the game. A companion app, released alongside the game for Android and iOS devices, acts as a second screen wherein the player can view in-game items such as catalogs, journals, and a real-time mini-map. The game was released for Windows on November 5, 2019, and was a launch title for Stadia when the service launched on November 19, 2019. The Windows version has visual and technical improvements.
## Reception
### Critical response
Red Dead Redemption 2 received "universal acclaim" from critics, according to review aggregator Metacritic. The game is the highest-rated PlayStation 4 and Xbox One game on Metacritic alongside Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto V, and is the fifth-highest rated game overall, tied with several others. Reviewers praised the story, characters, open world, graphics, music, and level of detail. Matt Bertz of Game Informer described the game as "the biggest and most cohesive adventure Rockstar Games has ever created", and GamesRadar's David Meikleham felt it "represents the current pinnacle of video game design". Keza MacDonald of The Guardian declared it "a landmark game" and "a new high water-mark for lifelike video game worlds"; IGN's Luke Reilly named it "one of the greatest games of the modern age". Peter Suderman, writing for The New York Times, considered Red Dead Redemption 2 as an example of video games as a work of art, comparing the game's abilities to "[tell] individual stories against the backdrop of national and cultural identity, deconstructing their genres while advancing the form" to the current state of film and television with similar works like The Godfather and The Sopranos.
Regarding its narrative, Meikleham of GamesRadar called Red Dead Redemption 2 "perhaps the boldest triple-A game ever made", praising the unpredictability of the narrative and comparing its epilogue to The Last of Us (2013). The Guardian's MacDonald praised the story's twists, applauding the writers' ability to feed smaller stories into the overall narrative. Nick Plessas of Electronic Gaming Monthly (EGM) noted the best stories "are to be found in the margins", discovered and written by the player. Game Informer's Bertz felt the narrative rarely suffered from repetition, an impressive feat considering the game's scope, though expressed desire for more passive, quiet moments. Conversely, GameSpot's Kallie Plagge was frustrated by the predictability later in the narrative though acknowledged its importance to Arthur's story. Alex Navarro of Giant Bomb felt the narrative suffered in its clichéd Native American portrayal and side missions. Some reviewers commented on the game's slow opening hours and its lengthy epilogue.
EGM's Plessas found the journey of redemption for Arthur "far more redeeming" than John's in Red Dead Redemption, noting his sins heightened his sympathy for the character. Conversely, Eurogamer's Martin Robinson considered Arthur less compelling than Marston, resulting in a confusing narrative. GameSpot's Plagge felt the new characters contributed to the story's quality and Mike Williams of USgamer wrote they "feel like actual people" due to their varied personalities. IGN's Reilly praised the cultural variety and avoidance of caricatures, and Giant Bomb's Navarro noted the characters possess humanity often lacking in other Rockstar games, particularly in the thoughtful portrayal of Arthur's internal conflicts. MacDonald of The Guardian found the performances led to more believable characters. Polygon's Chris Plante found the political commentary shone when focusing on the Braithwaite and Gray families but considered the portrayal of Native American characters insensitive and confusing.
Several critics considered Red Dead Redemption 2's open world among the greatest in video games; EGM's Plessas said it "pushes industry boundaries in both size and detail", and The Guardian's MacDonald praised the imitation of real American landscapes. IGN's Reilly considered the world "broader, more beautiful, and more varied" than its predecessor's, due in part to how each environment feels alive. GameSpot's Plagge felt compelled to explore the open world due to its variety, reactivity, and surprises. GamesRadar's Meikleham called Red Dead Redemption 2 "the best looking video game of all time" with some of the most impressive lighting and weather systems, and USgamer's Williams considered it one of the best-looking on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. IGN's Reilly praised the lighting engine, facial animation, and level of granular detail. Game Informer's Bertz lauded the attention to detail and found the world felt more alive due to "an unrivaled dynamic weather system, ambient sound effects, and the most ambitious ecology of flora and fauna ever seen in games".
Several reviewers lauded the level of detail in all aspects of gameplay—EGM's Plessas felt the attention to detail led to deeper immersion—though some found the sheer amount of realism restricted opportunities and unnecessarily prolonged some animations. IGN's Reilly felt Arthur's movement did not feel cumbersome despite being "heavier" than Grand Theft Auto V's protagonists, and found the intimate battles more exciting. Polygon's Plante considered the conversation options limited but still an improvement over the violence of other action games. Eurogamer's Robinson voiced frustration at the lack of freedom in some story missions. Some reviewers criticized the controls and found its button layout and user interface inconsistent and confusing.
Red Dead Redemption 2's Windows release received "universal acclaim" according to Metacritic; it is one of the highest-rated PC games. PCGamesN's Sam White thought the graphics improvements made the open world "[look] the best it ever has". Destructoid's Carter praised the addition of the Photo Mode. Sam Machkovech of Ars Technica felt the cutscenes animations did not scale well to higher frame rates but considered the gameplay far superior to console. Rock, Paper, Shotgun's Matthew Castle lauded the adapted controls, particularly when painting targets in Dead Eye, though felt they took longer to familiarize oneself with. PC Gamer's James Davenport found the first-person perspective superior on the Windows version due to the responsiveness of the mouse but noted the game crashed several times; Jeuxvideo.com's Jean-Kléber Lauret echoed similar criticisms, observing the graphical and technical enhancements required advanced hardware. Polygon's Samit Sarkar criticized the port's technical issues and declared it unplayable at the time. One week after release, PCMag's Tony Polanco said the technical issues had been mostly solved.
### Accolades
Red Dead Redemption 2 received multiple nominations and awards from gaming publications. At The Game Awards 2018, the game received eight nominations and won four awards: Best Audio Design, Best Narrative, Best Score/Music, and Best Performance for Clark as Arthur. At the 6th SXSW Gaming Awards, Red Dead Redemption 2 was named Trending Game of the Year and won Excellence in SFX and Technical Achievement. The game earned eight nominations at the 22nd Annual D.I.C.E. Awards, seven at the 19th Game Developers Choice Awards, and six at the 15th British Academy Games Awards. On Metacritic, Red Dead Redemption 2 was the highest-rated game of 2018. It appeared on several year-end lists of the best games of 2018, receiving Game of the Year wins at the Australian Games Awards, Brazil Game Awards, Fun & Serious Game Festival, and Italian Video Game Awards, and from outlets such as 4Players, AusGamers, Complex, Digital Trends, Edge, Electronic Gaming Monthly, Gamereactor, GameSpot, The Guardian, Hot Press, news.com.au, The Telegraph, USgamer, and Vulture. The game was named among the best games of the 2010s by Entertainment.ie, The Hollywood Reporter, Metacritic, National Post, NME, Stuff, Thrillist, VG247, and Wired UK.
## Sales
Since the previous installment in the series was among the highest-reviewed and best-selling games of the seventh generation of video game consoles, many analysts believed Red Dead Redemption 2 would be one of the highest-selling games of 2018 and have a great effect on other game sales during the fourth quarter. After the game's announcement in October 2016, analyst Ben Schacter of Macquarie Research estimated it would sell 12 million copies in its first quarter, while analysts at Cowen and Company gave a "conservative" estimate of 15 million sales. In July 2018, industry analyst Mat Piscatella predicted Red Dead Redemption 2 would be the best-selling game of 2018, outselling other blockbuster titles such as Battlefield V, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, and Fallout 76; some industry commentators noted frequent franchises like Assassin's Creed and Call of Duty were launching their 2018 entries—Odyssey and Black Ops 4, respectively—earlier than usual, predicting an avoidance of competition with Red Dead Redemption 2. Shortly before release in October 2018, Schacter estimated the game would sell 15 million copies in its first quarter, though noted investor expectations were at 20 million copies; Michael Pachter of Wedbush Securities predicted 25 million. Michael Olson of Piper Jaffray projected revenue between US\$400 and US\$500 million in the first three days, while Doug Creutz of Cowen Inc. estimated between US\$550 and US\$600 million.
Red Dead Redemption 2 had the largest opening weekend in the history of entertainment, making over US\$725 million in revenue in three days, and over 17 million copies shipped in two weeks, exceeding the lifetime sales of Red Dead Redemption. Additionally, Red Dead Redemption 2 was the second-highest-grossing entertainment launch (behind Grand Theft Auto V) and set records for largest-ever pre-orders, largest first-day sales, and largest sales for the first three days in market on PlayStation Network. The share price for Rockstar's parent company, Take-Two Interactive, rose nine percent in the week after release. VentureBeat's Takahashi noted the game likely broke-even in its first week and, based on analyst estimates, would begin to earn a profit by December 2018. The game shipped 23 million copies in 2018, generating US\$1.38 billion in revenue, and sales reached 29 million in 2019, 36 million in 2020, 43 million in 2021, 50 million in 2022, and 55 million by June 2023. By dollar sales, it was the best-selling game of the latter half of the 2010s, and the seventh-best-selling game of the decade overall. It is among the best-selling video games.
In the United States, Red Dead Redemption 2 was the second-best-selling game of October 2018, behind Call of Duty: Black Ops 4. It was the nation's best-selling-game in November, third-best-selling in December, and overall best-selling of the year. In 2019, it maintained its placement in the nation's top charts, and was the twelfth-best-selling game of the year. It remained in the charts for the first half of 2020. In the United Kingdom, Red Dead Redemption 2 was the best-selling retail game in its first week of release and the second-fastest-selling game of 2018 (behind FIFA 19). The opening week physical sales doubled its predecessor's, with 68 percent of sales from the PlayStation 4 version. Red Dead Redemption 2 was the third-fastest-selling non-FIFA game released in its generation, behind Call of Duty: Black Ops III and Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. In the United Kingdom, it was the second-best-selling game in 2018, fifth in 2019, eleventh in 2020, sixth in 2021, and ninth in 2022. Within its first week in Japan, the PlayStation 4 version sold 132,984 copies, placing it at number one on the all-format video game sales chart. In Australia, it was the best-selling game of 2018, and the fifteenth-best-selling of 2020. Worldwide, the Windows version sold 406,000 copies upon launch in November 2019, doubling to over one million after its release on Steam the following month.
## Red Dead Online
The online multiplayer component to Red Dead Redemption 2, titled Red Dead Online, was released as a public beta on November 27, 2018, to players who owned a special edition of the base game, and then progressively opened to all owners. Players customize a character and are free to explore the environment alone or in a group. The game world features events in which up to 32 players can partake individually or with a posse group. As players complete activities throughout the game world, they receive experience points to raise their characters in rank and receive bonuses, thereby progressing in the game. Though Red Dead Online and Red Dead Redemption 2 share assets and gameplay, Rockstar viewed them as separate products with independent trajectories, reflected in its decision to launch the multiplayer title separately. Player progression in the public beta carried over when the beta ended on May 15, 2019. A standalone client for Red Dead Online was released on December 1, 2020, for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One. Post-release content was added to the game through free title updates. In July 2022, Rockstar announced Red Dead Online would not receive more major updates, instead focusing on smaller missions and the expansion of existing modes as development resources were withdrawn to focus on the next entry in the Grand Theft Auto series.
## Controversies
In February 2018, online technology publication Trusted Reviews published an article leaking several features due to be included in Red Dead Redemption 2, including a first-person perspective, and a battle royale mode in Red Dead Online. The information was obtained from a leaked document in August 2017, but the site had hesitated to publish the article as the claims were "unsubstantiated" until promotional material validated its legitimacy; the document was sent to other sites at the time. In November 2018, Trusted Reviews replaced the article with an apology, noting the "information was confidential" and should not have been published. In a settlement with Take-Two Interactive, Trusted Reviews agreed to donate (US\$1.3 million) to charities chosen by Take-Two; Rockstar directed the funds be donated to the American Indian College Fund, the American Prairie Reserve, and the First Nations Development Institute. Neither Trusted Reviews nor Take-Two indicated any specific laws had been violated. Several journalists recognized the uniqueness of successful legal action against media outlets; Seth Barton of MCV/Develop called the outcome "an incredible development for games industry journalism" and felt it would result in hesitancy to leak information regarding Rockstar in future. Kotaku's Keza MacDonald similarly described the events as "extraordinary" as it likely meant Take-Two argued the information was a trade secret and Trusted Reviews was unable to use a public interest defense; she added "it might prove to be influential" and prevent publications from leaking information in the future, even if obtained legally.
Prior to the game's release, Dan Houser stated the team had been working 100-hour weeks "several times in 2018". Many sources interpreted this statement as "crunch time" for the entire development staff of the game, comparable to similar accusations made by wives of Rockstar San Diego employees in regards to the development of the game's predecessor. The following day, Rockstar clarified in a statement the work duration mentioned by Houser only affected the senior writing staff for Red Dead Redemption 2, and the duration had only been the case for three weeks during the entire development. Houser added the company would never expect or force any employee to work as long as was stated, and those staying late at the development studios were powered by their passion for the project. However, other Rockstar employees argued Houser's statements did not give an accurate picture of the "crunch-time culture" at the company many of its employees worked under, which included "mandatory" overtime and years-long periods of crunch. Due to the salary-based nature of employment contracts, many employees were not compensated for their overtime work and instead depended on year-end bonus payments that hinged on the sales performance of the game. Nonetheless, a sentiment echoed across many employee statements was the observation that working conditions had somewhat improved since development on the original Red Dead Redemption. By April 2020, several employees reported the company had made significant changes as a result of the publicity surrounding the work culture, and many were cautiously optimistic about Rockstar's future.
In November 2018, YouTuber Shirrako posted several videos of his player character murdering a female suffragette NPC, including feeding her to an alligator and dropping her down a mineshaft. Critics noted the majority of comments on the videos were sexist and misogynistic. Shirrako claimed the actions were apolitical and he did not support the sexist comments but did not wish to censor them. Matt Leonard of GameRevolution called Shirrako's response "plain bullshit", noting he continued to post similar videos encouraging the same behavior. In response, YouTube suspended the channel for violation of their community guidelines, citing its graphic nature for shock purposes and for promoting violence. Shirrako protested the decision, claiming it was hypocritical as in-game violence against men did not receive the same response. YouTube restored the channel and designated an age restriction to the suffragette videos, commenting "the reviewer will be educated on this outcome and on how to avoid repeating this mistake". Some critics questioned if Rockstar was partly to blame for the behavior, as the game does not limit attacks on the suffragette as it does other characters, such as children; scholars Kristine Jørgensen and Torill Elvira Mortensen, writing in Games and Culture, acknowledged this concern, but recognized the responsibility ultimately lay with the player, and limiting attacks could be interpreted as both a political statement from Rockstar and a restriction on the player's freedom of expression. Writing for Public History Weekly, Moritz Hoffman noted the incident reflects a newer issue of open world games: granting freedom without penalties promotes disinhibition. In The Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era, scholars Hilary Jane Locke and Thomas Mackay wrote it "points to a sharp contrast between the game's portrayal of Progressive Era politics ... and how some players have responded to its depictions thereof".
Securitas AB, the parent company of the modern-day Pinkerton agency, issued a cease and desist notice to Take-Two Interactive on December 13, 2018, asserting Red Dead Redemption 2's use of the Pinkerton name and badge imagery was against their trademark and demanded royalties for each copy of the game sold or they would take legal action. Take-Two filed a complaint against Securitas on January 11, 2019, maintaining the Pinkerton name was strongly associated with the Wild West, and its use of the term did not infringe on the Pinkerton trademark. Take-Two sought a summary judgment to declare the use of Pinkerton in the game as allowed fair use. Game Informer's Javy Gwaltney agreed with Take-Two's claims, questioning why Securitas had not targeted other works depicting the Pinkerton agency in the past; he felt "the company likely just wants a cut of [the game's] profits". In response to Take-Two's complaint, Pinkerton president Jack Zahran described the game's portrayal of Pinkertons as "baseless" and "inaccurate", noting Pinkerton employees would "have to explain to their young game players why Red Dead Redemption 2 encourages people to murder Pinkertons", but hoped the companies could come to an "amicable solution". By April 2019, Securitas withdrew its claims and Take-Two moved to withdraw its complaint.
## Legacy
Critics agreed Red Dead Redemption 2 was among the best games of the eighth generation of video game consoles. GQ's White described it as "a generation-defining release", and VG247's McKeand named it "a benchmark for other open world games to aspire to". IGN ranked the game as the third-best Xbox One game and eleventh-best PC and PlayStation 4 game. In November 2020, TechRadar listed it among the greatest games of the eighth generation; editor Gerald Lynch felt it set the bar for believable open world games. In December, GamesRadar+ ranked it the fifth best game of the generation, noting it had already begun to influence the open-world and role-playing genres.
Since its release, Red Dead Redemption 2 has been cited as one of the greatest video games ever made. In March 2019, Popular Mechanics ranked it 24th on its list of greatest games. In October, IGN added Red Dead Redemption 2 to its list of top 100 video games, ranked 62nd in 2019 and promoted to 8th in 2021; editor Luke Reilly praised its "uncompromising detail" and wrote it "stands shoulder-to-shoulder with Grand Theft Auto V as one of gaming's greatest open-world achievements". In July 2020, Dylan Haas of Mashable considered the game his second favorite of all time, citing its realism, world, characters, and narrative. In November 2021, GamesRadar+ ranked it 28th on its list of top 50 games, describing it as "one of the best sandbox games ever made".
In April 2022, GamingBolt's Ravi Sinha ranked Red Dead Redemption 2 the second-best game of all time, citing its characters, narrative, attention to detail, and visual fidelity, and naming it Rockstar's "finest work". In September, USA Today ranked it 21st on its list of best games, praising Arthur as "one of the most likable protagonists in games" and describing the game world as "the real star of the show". In May 2023, over 200 video game developers, journalists, and content creators surveyed by GQ ranked Red Dead Redemption 2 the 15th best game; GQ's Sam White and Robert Leedham called it "perhaps the greatest flex in video game history" which set a "benchmark for cinematic storytelling and attention to detail".
Red Dead Redemption 2 was referenced several times in the South Park episodes "Time to Get Cereal" and "Nobody Got Cereal?" in November 2018. Game footage was used in the first music video for "Old Town Road" by Lil Nas X in March 2019. In July 2021, a study published by the University of Exeter and Truro and Penwith College found Red Dead Redemption 2 players had an increased understanding of ecology and animal behavior; players were able to identify three more animals on average than other gamers. In late 2021, University of Tennessee professor Tore Olsson taught "Red Dead America", a class about United States history in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, including the frontier myth, Jim Crow laws, settler colonialism, and women's suffrage; Olsson hoped using the games would attract non-history students. In April 2022, Joe Meizies won Virtual Photographer of the Year at the London Games Festival for his virtual photography in Red Dead Redemption 2. Video game producer Eiji Aonuma said open world games like Red Dead Redemption 2 inspired developers of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (2023). Tombstone Redemption, a fan event organized by Kenney Palkow, was held in Tombstone, Arizona, on July 29–30, 2023, with an estimated 10,000 attendees, including fourteen cast members from the series. Tombstone was redressed to resemble the in-game Blackwater. |
41,970,957 | Uzbekistan at the 2014 Winter Paralympics | 1,001,501,810 | null | [
"2014 in Uzbekistani sport",
"Nations at the 2014 Winter Paralympics",
"Uzbekistan at the Paralympics"
]
| Uzbekistan sent a delegation to compete at the 2014 Winter Paralympics in Sochi, Russia, held between 7–16 March 2014. This marked the first time the nation competed at the Winter Paralympics. The delegation consisted of two athletes, Yevgeniy Slepov and Ramil Gayazov, both were competitors in Alpine skiing. Gayazov failed to post an event finish, while Slepov finished 32nd in the snowboard cross.
## Background
Uzbekistan has competed independently at every Summer Olympics since the 1996 Summer Olympics in Athens, and in every Winter Olympic Games since the 1994 Lillehammer Games, as of the conclusion of the 2018 Winter Olympics. Uzbekistan began participating in the Summer Paralympics in the 2004 edition, but Sochi marked their first delegation sent to a Winter Paralympics. Ramil Gayazov was chosen as the Uzbekistani flag-bearer for the parade of nations during the opening ceremony, and for the closing ceremony.
## Disability classification
Every participant at the Paralympics has their disability grouped into one of five disability categories; amputation, the condition may be congenital or sustained through injury or illness; cerebral palsy; wheelchair athletes, there is often overlap between this and other categories; visual impairment, including blindness; Les autres, any physical disability that does not fall strictly under one of the other categories, for example dwarfism or multiple sclerosis. Each Paralympic sport then has its own classifications, dependent upon the specific physical demands of competition. Events are given a code, made of numbers and letters, describing the type of event and classification of the athletes competing. Events with "B" in the code are for athletes with visual impairment, codes LW1 to LW9 are for athletes who stand to compete and LW10 to LW12 are for athletes who compete sitting down. Alpine skiing events grouped athletes into separate competitions for sitting, standing and visually impaired athletes.
## Alpine skiing
Ramil Gayazov was 28 at the time of these Games, who competed in the standing category of events. On 13 March 2014, he was disqualified during the first run of the slalom for missing a gate. Two days later, despite being entered into the giant slalom, he failed to start the race for unknown reasons.
Men
### Snowboarding
For the 2014 Winter Paralympics, snowboard cross was considered a discipline of Alpine skiing, rather than a separate sport. Snowboarding was offered only for athletes who competed in a standing position. The men's snowboard cross event was held on 14 March 2014. Yevgeniy Slepov posted his two best times on runs 1 and 3, and only the two best times of each athlete counted towards the final result. Slepov finished with a combined time of three minutes and two seconds, over a minute off the winning time of one minute and forty-three seconds. He finished in 32nd place out of 33 competitors.
Men
## See also
- Uzbekistan at the Paralympics
- Uzbekistan at the 2014 Winter Olympics |
17,303 | Kakinomoto no Hitomaro | 1,163,862,571 | Japanese poet | [
"650s births",
"700s deaths",
"7th-century Japanese poets",
"Deified Japanese people",
"Hyakunin Isshu poets",
"Japanese male poets",
"Kakinomoto no Hitomaro",
"Man'yō poets"
]
| Kakinomoto no Hitomaro (柿本 人麻呂 or 柿本 人麿; c. 653–655 – c. 707–710) was a Japanese waka poet and aristocrat of the late Asuka period. He was the most prominent of the poets included in the Man'yōshū, the oldest waka anthology, but apart from what can be gleaned from hints in the Man'yōshū, the details of his life are largely uncertain. He was born to the Kakinomoto clan, based in Yamato Province, probably in the 650s, and likely died in Iwami Province around 709.
He served as court poet to Empress Jitō, creating many works praising the imperial family, and is best remembered for his elegies for various imperial princes. He also composed well-regarded travel poems.
He is ranked as one of the Thirty-six Poetry Immortals. Ōtomo no Yakamochi, the presumed compiler of the Man'yōshū, and Ki no Tsurayuki, the principal compiler of the Kokin Wakashū, praised Hitomaro as Sanshi no Mon (山柿の門) and Uta no Hijiri (歌の聖) respectively. From the Heian period on, he was often called Hito-maru (人丸). He has come to be revered as a god of poetry and scholarship, and is considered one of the four greatest poets in Japanese history, along with Fujiwara no Teika, Sōgi and Bashō.
## Life
### Ancestry
Hitomaro was born into the Kakinomoto clan, an offshoot of the ancient . Centred in the northeastern part of the Nara Basin, the Wani clan had furnished many imperial consorts in the fourth through sixth centuries, and extended their influence from Yamato Province to Yamashiro, Ōmi, Tanba and Harima provinces. Many of their clan traditions (including genealogies, songs, and tales) are preserved in the Nihon Shoki and, especially, the Kojiki. The Kakinomoto clan were headquartered in either Shinjō, Nara or, perhaps more likely, the Ichinomoto area of Tenri, Nara. The main Wani clan were also based in this area, so the Kakinomoto clan may have had a particularly close relationship with their parent clan. According to the Shinsen Shōjiroku, the clan's name derives from the persimmon (kaki) tree that grew on their land during the reign of Emperor Bidatsu.
The Kakinomoto clan had their hereditary title promoted from Omi to Ason in the eleventh month (see Japanese calendar) of 684. According to the Nihon Shoki, Kakinomoto no Saru, the probable head of the clan, had been among ten people appointed '', equivalent to Junior Fifth Rank, in the twelfth month of 681. These facts lead Watase to conjecture that the Kakinomoto clan may have had some literary success in the court of Emperor Tenmu. According to the Shoku Nihongi, Saru died in 708, having attained the Junior Fourth Rank, Lower Grade.
There are several theories regarding the relationship of this Kakinomoto no Saru to the poet Hitomaro, including the former being the latter's father, brother, uncle, or them being the same person. The theory that they were the same person has been advanced by Takeshi Umehara, but has little supporting evidence. While the other theories cannot be confirmed, it is certain that they were members of the same clan (probably close relatives), and were active at the same time. It is likely that their mutual activity at court had a significant effect on each other.
### Birth and early life
The year in which he was born is not known, nor can much be said with certainty about any aspects of his life beyond his poetic activities. Watase tentatively takes Hitomaro as being 21 years old (by Japanese reckoning) between 673 and 675, which would put his birth between 653 and 655.
### Emperor Tenmu's reign
The earliest dated work attributed to him in the Man'yōshū is his Tanabata poem (Man'yōshū 2033) composed in the ninth year of Emperor Tenmu's reign (680). The content of this poem reveals an awareness of the mythology that, according to the preface to the Kojiki (completed in 712) had begun to be compiled during Tenmu's reign. Watase also observes that Hitomaro's having composed a Tanabata poem means that he was probably attending Tanabata gatherings during this period. A significant number of poems in the Kakinomoto no Ason Hitomaro Kashū were apparently recorded by Hitomaro before 690, and are characteristic of court poetry, leading to the conclusion that he was active at court from the early part of Emperor Tenmu's reign. From this point he was active in recording and composing love poems at court.
Watase speculates that Hitomaro came to court in the service of the in response to an imperial edict in 673.
Based on Hitomaro's poetic activities during Empress Jitō's reign, there are a few possibilities for where Hitomaro was serving at Tenmu's court. Watase presents three principal theories: first under the empress-consort Princess Uno-no-sarara (who later became Empress Jitō); second under Crown Prince Kusakabe; third in the palace of Prince Osakabe.
### Reigns of Empress Jitō and Emperor Monmu
Hitomaro acted as a court poet during the reigns of Empress Jitō and Emperor Monmu. In the fourth month of 689, Prince Kusakabe died, and Hitomaro composed an elegy commemorating the prince. He also composed an elegy for Princess Asuka, who died in the fourth month of 700, and a poem commemorating an imperial visit to Kii Province.
His poetic composition flourished during the period in which Empress Jitō was active (both during her reign and after her retirement). He composed poetry for numerous members of the imperial family, including the empress, Prince Kusakabe, Prince Karu, Prince Takechi, Prince Osakabe, Prince Naga, Prince Yuge, Prince Toneri, , Princess Hatsusebe and Princess Asuka. He apparently composed poetry in Yamato Province (his home), Yamashiro Province and Ōmi Province in the north, Kii Province in the south, Shikoku, Kyūshū and the Seto Inland Sea in the west, as well as Iwami Province in the northwest.
Susumu Nakanishi remarks that the fact that he did not apparently compose elegies for emperors themselves, and that most of his poems centre around princes and princesses, indicates that he was probably a writer affiliated with the literary circles that formed around these junior members of the imperial family.
### Later life and death
The ordering of poems, and their headnotes, in volume 2 of the Man'yōshū, implies that Hitomaro died shortly before the moving of the capital to Nara in 710. He would have been in Iwami Province, at the Sixth Rank or lower.
The date, site and manner of his death are a matter of scholarly debate, due to some contradictory details that are gleaned from poems attributed to Hitomaro and his wife Yosami no Otome (Yosami, 依羅娘子, Yosami no Otome). Taking Watase's rough dates, he would have been in his mid-fifties in 709, when Watase speculates he died. Mokichi Saitō postulated that Hitomaro died in an epidemic that swept Iwami and Izumo provinces in 707. Hitomaro's final poem gives the strong impression that he met his death in the mountains.
Saitō was convinced he had located the site of the Kamoyama of the above poem and erected a monument there, but two poems by Yosami that immediately follow the above in the Man'yōshū suggest otherwise, as they mention "shells" (貝 kai) and a "Stone River" (石川 Ishikawa), neither of which seem likely in the context of Saitō's Kamoyama.
The above-quoted translation is based on Saitō's interpretation of kai as referring to a "ravine" (峡). Other scholars take the presence of "shells" as meaning Hitomaro died near the mouth of a river where it meets the sea. (This interpretation would give the translation "Alas! he lies buried, men say, / With the shells of the Stone River.")
There is no river named "Ishikawa" near the present Kamoyama; Saitō explained this as "Ishikawa" perhaps being an archaic name for upper part of another river.
An unknown member of the Tajihi clan wrote a response to Yosami in the persona of Hitomaro, very clearly connecting Hitomaro's death to the sea.
## Works
Hitomaro was a court poet during the reigns of Empress Jitō and Emperor Monmu, with most of his dateable poems coming from the last decade or so of the seventh century. He apparently left a private collection, the so-called Kakinomoto no Ason Hitomaro Kashū, which does not survive as an independent work but was cited extensively by the compilers of the Man'yōshū.
18 chōka and 67 tanka (of which 36 are envoys to his long poems) are directly attributed to him in the Man'yōshū. All are located in the first four books of the collection. Of these, six chōka and 29 tanka are classified as zōka (miscellaneous poems), three chōka and 13 tanka as sōmon (mutual exchanges of love poetry), and nine chōka and 25 tanka as banka (elegies). Of note is the fact that he contributed chōka to all three categories, and that he composed so many banka.
Broken down by topic, the above poems include:
- three chōka and five tanka about reigning emperors, such as hymns praising Empress Jitō's visits to Yoshino and , and poems lamenting the fallen Ōmi capital;
- seven chōka and 17 tanka about imperial princes and princesses such as his elegies for Prince Kusakabe, Prince Takechi, Princess Asuka and and his songs of praise for Prince Karu, Prince Osakabe, Prince Naga and Prince Niitabe;
- seven chōka and 28 tanka about court women, including the three tanka he composed on the court women accompanying Empress Jitō on her visit to Ise while he stayed in the capital, one chōka and eight tanka mourning Kibitsu no Uneme, Hijikata no Otome and Izumo no Otome, and a number of romantic exchanges with his wife and other lovers;
- one chōka and three tanka commemorating the bodies of dead people Hitomaro encountered;
- 14 tanka composed on travel topics that do not fit into any of the above categories (all of which also include travel poems).
From the above it can be said that Hitomaro's poetry was primarily about affairs of the court, but that he also showed a marked preference for poems on travel.
In addition to the 85 poems directly attributed to Hitomaro by the Man'yōshū, two chōka and three tanka in books 3 and 9 are said to be traditionally attributed to Hitomaro. Additionally, there is one Hitomaro tanka in book 15 said to have been recited in 736 by an envoy sent to Silla. Including these "traditional" Hitomaro poems, that gives 20 chōka and 71 tanka. It is quite possible that a significant number of these poems were incorrectly attributed to Hitomaro by tradition. In addition to Hitomaro's own compositions, there are also many poems said to have been recorded by him in his personal collection, the Kakinomoto no Asomi Hitomaro Kashū (柿本朝臣人麿歌集). The Hitomaro Kashū included 333 tanka, 35 sedōka, and two chōka. This adds up to a total figure of close to 500 poems directly associated with Hitomaro.
### Characteristic style
Hitomaro is known for his solemn and mournful elegies of members of the imperial family, whom he described in his courtly poems as "gods" and "children of the sun". He incorporated elements of the national mythology seen in the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki and historical narrative in his poetry. While he is known for his poems praising the imperial family, his poetry is also filled with human sensitivity and a new, fresh "folkiness".
His lament for the Ōmi capital is noted for its vivid, sentimental descriptions of the ruins, while his elegy for Prince Takechi powerfully evokes the Jinshin War. His Yoshino and poems praise splendidly the natural scenery and the divinity of the Japanese islands, and his Iwami exchange vividly describes the powerful emotions of being separated from the woman he loved. His romantic poems convey honest emotions, and his travel poems exquisitely describe the mood of the courtiers on these trips. He shed tears for the deaths of even random commoners on country paths and court women whose names he did not even know.
Watase credits him with the creation of an ancient lyricism that expressed both human sentiment and sincere emotions across both his poems of praise and mourning.
## Reception
There is evidence that Hitomaro exerted direct influence on the poetry composed during his own time. For example, poems 171 through 193 of Book 1 of the Man'yōshū bear similarities to his work. It is generally accepted that the court poets of the following generation (the so-called "third period" of Man'yō poetry), including Yamabe no Akahito, were influenced by Hitomaro's courtly poems. Ōtomo no Yakamochi, a poet of the "fourth period" who probably had a hand in the final compilation of the collection, held Hitomaro in high regard, praising him as Sanshi no Mon (山柿の門). As discussed above, the death of Hitomaro appears to have already taken on some legendary characteristics.
In his Japanese preface to the tenth-century Kokin Wakashū, Ki no Tsurayuki referred to Hitomaro as Uta no Hijiri'' ("Saint of Poetry"). In the Heian period the practice of Hitomaru-eigu (人丸影供) also gained currency, showing that Hitomaro had already begun to be apotheosized. Hitomaro's divinity status continued to grow in the Kamakura and Muromachi periods. The Edo period scholars Keichū and Kamo no Mabuchi tended to reject the various legends about Hitomaro.
In Akashi, Hyōgo Prefecture there is a Kakinomoto Shrine dedicated to him, commemorating an early Heian belief that Hitomaro's spirit came to rest in Akashi, an area the historical Hitomaro probably visited multiple times.
Hitomaro is today ranked, along with Fujiwara no Teika, Sōgi and Bashō, as one of the four greatest poets in Japanese history. |
35,937,111 | 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony | 1,168,990,780 | Event in the Olympic Stadium, London | [
"2012 Summer Olympics",
"Articles containing video clips",
"Ceremonies in the United Kingdom",
"Olympics opening ceremonies"
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| The opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics took place on the evening of Friday 27 July 2012 in the Olympic Stadium, London, during which the Games were formally opened by Queen Elizabeth II. As mandated by the Olympic Charter, the proceedings combined the ceremonial opening of this international sporting event (including welcoming speeches, hoisting of the flags and the parade of athletes) with an artistic spectacle to showcase the host nation's culture. The spectacle was entitled Isles of Wonder and directed by Academy Award-winning British film director Danny Boyle.
Prior to London 2012 there had been considerable apprehension about Britain's ability to stage an opening ceremony that could reach the standard set at the Beijing Summer Games of 2008. The 2008 ceremony had been noted for its scale, extravagance and expense, hailed as the "greatest ever", and had cost £65m. In contrast, London spent an estimated £27m (out of £80m budgeted for its four ceremonies), which was nevertheless about twice the original budget. Nonetheless, the London opening ceremony was immediately seen as a tremendous success, widely praised as a "masterpiece" and "a love letter to Britain".
The ceremony began at 21:00 BST and lasted almost four hours. It was watched by an estimated worldwide television audience of 900 million, becoming the most-viewed Olympic opening ceremony in both the UK and US. The content had largely been kept secret before the performance, despite involving thousands of volunteers and two public rehearsals. The principal sections of the artistic display represented Britain's Industrial Revolution, National Health Service, literary heritage, popular music and culture, and were noted for their vibrant storytelling and use of music. Two shorter sections drew particular comment, involving a filmed cameo appearance of the Queen with James Bond as her escort, and a live performance by the London Symphony Orchestra joined by comedian Rowan Atkinson. These were widely ascribed to Britain's sense of humour. The ceremony featured children and young people in most of its segments, reflecting the 'inspire a generation' aspiration of London's original bid for the Games.
The BBC released footage of the entire opening ceremony on 29 October 2012, edited by Danny Boyle and with background extras, along with more than seven hours of sporting highlights and the complete closing ceremony.
## Preparations
The London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) approached Danny Boyle to be the director of the ceremony in June 2010, and he immediately accepted. Boyle explained that there had been four things that made him take the job: he was a big Olympics fan, he lived a mile from the Stadium and so felt invested in the area, his late father's birthday was on the ceremony's date, and he felt his 'Oscar clout' would enable him to push through what he wanted to do. He said it "felt weirdly more like a ... civic or national responsibility" to take the job.
Boyle acknowledged that the extravagance of the 2008 opening ceremony was an impossible act to follow — "you can't get bigger than Beijing" — and that this realisation had in fact liberated his team creatively. He said "..obviously I'm not going to try and build on Beijing, because how could you? We can't, and you wouldn't want to, so we're going back to the beginning. We're going to try and give the impression that we're rethinking and restarting, because they've (opening ceremonies) escalated since Los Angeles in 1984. They've tried to top themselves each time and you can't do that after Beijing." Beijing's budget had been £65m, whereas London's final budget was £27m, which was twice the original provision. The London stadium had the same number of seats as Beijing's, but was half the size; this intimacy of scale meant that Boyle felt he could achieve something personal and connecting.
The different sections of the ceremony were designed to reflect aspects of British history and culture, with the title Isles of Wonder partly inspired by Shakespeare's play The Tempest (particularly Caliban's 'Be not afeard' speech), and partly by the G. K. Chesterton aphorism: "The world shall perish not for lack of wonders, but for lack of wonder."
In July 2010, Boyle started brainstorming ideas with designer Mark Tildesley, writer Frank Cottrell-Boyce and costume designer Suttirat Anne Larlarb. They considered "what was essentially British", with the non-British Larlarb able to offer a view of what the world thought Britain meant. Cottrell-Boyce had given Boyle a copy of Pandaemonium, (named after the capital of Hell in Paradise Lost) by Humphrey Jennings, which collated contemporary reports from the industrial revolution. It had become traditional during the opening ceremony to 'produce' the Olympic rings in a spectacular manner. Cottrell-Boyce commented "Danny had a very clear idea that in the first 15 minutes you had to have a great, startling image that could go around the world; it had to climax with something that made people go 'Oh my God!'". Boyle decided that "the journey from the pastoral to the industrial, ending with the forging of the Olympic rings" would be that image.
The ten distinct chapters on which the team started work were gradually compressed into three principal movements: the violent transition from 'Green and Pleasant Land' to the 'Pandemonium' of industrial revolution, a salute to the NHS and children's literature, and a celebration of pop culture, technology and the digital revolution.
When Boyle returned to work on the ceremony in the spring of 2011 he asked Rick Smith of Underworld, with whom he had worked on several film projects as well as his theatrical production of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, to be the musical director. At the same time the team moved to the Three Mills studio complex in east London, where a 4x4 metre scale model of the stadium was built. For security reasons, a single CGI-assisted version of the ceremony was kept on editor Sascha Dhillon's laptop; anyone needing it had to come to the studio.
The cast included professional performers and 7,500 volunteers. Boyle considered the volunteers to be "the most valuable commodity of all". In November 2011 they auditioned at Three Mills, and rehearsals began in earnest in spring 2012 at an open-air site at Dagenham (the abandoned Ford plant), often in foul weather. Although key contributors had to sign non-disclosure agreements and some elements were codenamed, Boyle placed immense trust in the volunteers by asking them simply to "save the surprise" and not leak any information. Further volunteers were recruited to help with security and marshalling, and to support the technical crew. Three weeks before the ceremony, Mark Rylance, who was to have taken a leading part, pulled out after a family bereavement and was replaced by Kenneth Branagh.
The Olympic Bell, the largest harmonically tuned bell in the world, weighing 23 tonnes, had been cast in brass under the direction of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry by Royal Eijsbouts of the Netherlands, and hung in the Stadium. It was inscribed with a line from Caliban's speech in The Tempest: "Be not afeard, the isle is full of noises".
Boyle gave significant emphasis to the London 2012 theme 'inspire a generation' and devised a programme relying heavily on children and young people, and built around themes that would relate to the young. 25 schools in the six original East London host boroughs were used to recruit child volunteers for the performance, and 170 sixth formers (16–18-year-olds), between them speaking more than 50 languages, were recruited from their colleges.
On 12 June 2012 at a press conference, Boyle had promised a huge set of rural Britain, which was to include a village cricket team, farm animals, a model of Glastonbury Tor, as well as a maypole and a rain-producing cloud. His intention was to represent the rural and urban landscape of Britain. The design was to include a mosh pit at each end of the set, one with people celebrating a rock festival and the other the Last Night of the Proms.
Boyle promised a ceremony with which everyone would feel involved; he said, "I hope it will reveal how peculiar and contrary we are – and how there's also, I hope, a warmth about us." Some of the set was designed with real grass turf and soil. The use of animals (40 sheep, 12 horses, 3 cows, 2 goats, 10 chickens, 10 ducks, 9 geese and 3 sheep dogs, looked after by 34 animal handlers) drew some criticism from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). Boyle, who was being advised by the RSPCA, assured PETA that the animals would be well cared for. After the press conference, much commentary in the UK Press was negative and attracted "hundreds of comments online completely supporting...the view that the opening ceremony would be a disaster."
The overwhelming majority of the music used was British. The team worked next door to the office of the musical director for the closing ceremony, David Arnold, and so hearing each other's music there was a scramble to claim a particular song first. A.R. Rahman, who worked with Boyle on Slumdog Millionaire and 127 Hours, composed a Punjabi song 'Nimma Nimma' to showcase Indian influence in the UK, according to Boyle's wishes. More Indian music was also scheduled for inclusion in the medley. Paul McCartney was to be the ceremony's closing act.
Sebastian Coe was instrumental in asking the Queen to take part, responding positively when Boyle first pitched the Happy and Glorious film sequence featuring the Queen. Boyle suggested that the Queen be played either a lookalike, or by a world-class actress such as Helen Mirren, in a location to double as Buckingham Palace. Coe asked Princess Anne, a British member of the IOC and LOCOG, what she thought, and she told him to ask the Queen. Coe presented the idea to the Queen's Deputy Private Secretary. Boyle was surprised to hear that the Queen would be happy to play herself, and wanted a speaking part. Filming took place in late March 2012, and Happy and Glorious was produced by the BBC, as was the opening film sequence Journey along the Thames.
Changes were still being made to the programme in the final days before the ceremony: a BMX bike section was dropped due to time constraints, and the 'Pandemonium' and 'Thanks..Tim' sections were edited down. In 2016 Boyle recounted how he had come under pressure from Jeremy Hunt, then the Olympics and Culture Secretary, to cut back the NHS section, which he had saved only by threatening to resign and take the volunteers with him.
Two full dress and technical rehearsals took place in the Olympic stadium, on 23 and 25 July, in front of an audience of 60,000 comprising volunteers, cast members' families, competition winners, and others connected to the Games. Boyle asked them not to 'spoil the surprise' by using the hashtag \#savethesurprise on social media, keeping the performance a secret for the hundreds of millions who would watch on the Friday night.
## Officials and guests
### Royal Box
Seated in the Royal Box were the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, the Prince of Wales, and other members of the British Royal Family. They were accompanied by Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, Prime Minister David Cameron, Spouse of the Prime Minister Samantha Cameron, former Prime Ministers John Major, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown and Mayor of London Boris Johnson. Officials of the Olympic movement included President of the IOC Jacques Rogge, LOCOG Chairman Sebastian Coe and members of the IOC.
### International dignitaries
The ceremony was the largest gathering of world leaders for an Olympic and sporting event in history, surpassing that of 2008. Three multilateral leaders, more than ninety five heads of state and government and representatives from five organisations and one hundred and twenty countries attended.
## Proceedings
### Schedule
### Prologue
At exactly 20:12 (8:12 pm) the Red Arrows performed a flypast over the Olympic Stadium and then over the concert in Hyde Park. This concert featured artists selected to represent the four nations of the United Kingdom: Duran Duran, Stereophonics, Snow Patrol and Paolo Nutini.
At the beginning the stadium contained a rural scene including the model of Glastonbury Tor, a model village and a water wheel, replete with live animals (removed shortly before the ceremony began), and actors portraying working villagers, football and cricket players.
Frank Turner performed three songs ("Sailor's Boots", "Wessex Boy" and "I Still Believe") on the model of Glastonbury Tor, joined by Emily Barker, Ben Marwood and Jim Lockey, as well as his regular backing band the Sleeping Souls. LSO On Track (an orchestra of 80 young musicians from ten East London boroughs together with 20 LSO members) then performed Edward Elgar's "Nimrod" from the Enigma Variations, accompanied by extracts from the BBC Radio Shipping Forecast, and maritime images on the big screens, while the audience held up blue sheeting to simulate the sight of the ocean. This performance celebrated Britain's maritime heritage and geographical insularity.
### Countdown (21:00–21:04 BST)
The ceremony began at 9pm after a one-minute '60 to 1' countdown film made up of shots of numbers, such as those on house doors, street nameplates, London buses, station platforms and market labels.
A two-minute film Journey along the Thames, directed by Boyle and produced by the BBC, opened the ceremony. To the sound of "Surf Solar" by Fuck Buttons, it followed the River Thames from its source to the heart of London, juxtaposing images of contemporary British life with pastoral shots and flashes of scenes from the stadium. The characters Ratty, Mole and Toad from The Wind in the Willows were briefly seen, as was a 'Monty Python hand' pointing towards London on umbrellas, and an InterCity 125 train passing the Olympic rings as crop circles in a field. At Battersea Power Station a Pink Floyd pig was flying between the towers; the clock sound from another Pink Floyd song "Time" was heard passing Big Ben. The soundtrack included clips from the theme tune of The South Bank Show, "London Calling" by The Clash, and the Sex Pistols' "God Save the Queen" as the film followed the route of the band's infamous cruise down the River Thames during the Silver Jubilee.
After lifting to an aerial view of East London mirroring the title sequence of the BBC soap opera EastEnders, to the sound of the drum beats from the closing theme, the film flashed down through the Thames Barrier, into Bow Creek, and then below surface through a London Underground train and station, historic footage of Isambard Kingdom Brunel's Thames Tunnel, and through the Rotherhithe Tunnel. It then switched to a sequence filmed outside the stadium shortly before the ceremony, superimposed with posters from previous Summer Olympics (all of them except 1900 Paris, 1936 Berlin, 1984 Los Angeles, and 1996 Atlanta), to a recording of "Map of the Problematique" by Muse. This ended with a live shot of three cast members holding the posters for the 2012 competition.
There was then a ten-second countdown in the stadium, with children holding clusters of balloons that burst simultaneously (although one set failed to burst), with the audience shouting out the numbers. Bradley Wiggins, who had won the Tour de France five days earlier, opened the ceremony by ringing the Olympic Bell that hung at one end of the stadium. Four upper-atmosphere balloons were released, each expected to carry a set of Olympic rings and a camera up to the mid-stratosphere.
### Green and Pleasant Land (21:04–21:09)
The depiction of rural life already in the arena was billed as "a reminder and a promise of a once and future better life". Youth choirs began a cappella performances of the informal anthems of the four nations of the UK: "Jerusalem" (for England, sung by a live choir in the stadium), "Danny Boy" (from the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland), "Flower of Scotland" (from Edinburgh Castle in Scotland), and "Bread of Heaven" (from Rhossili Beach in Wales – sung in English). These were inter-cut with footage of notable Rugby Union Home Nations' tries, England's winning drop goal from the 2003 Rugby World Cup Final, and live shots from the stadium.
As the last choir performance concluded, vintage London General Omnibus Company stagecoaches entered, carrying businessmen and early industrialists in Victorian dress and top hats, led by Kenneth Branagh as Isambard Kingdom Brunel. The 50 men stepped down from the carriages and surveyed the land approvingly. After walking onto the Glastonbury Tor, Brunel delivered Caliban's "Be not afeard" speech, reflecting Boyle's introduction to the ceremony in the programme and signifying an aspiration of new industry or a new era in Britain. This anticipated the next section of the ceremony.
### Pandemonium (21:09–21:25)
This section encapsulated British economic and social development from rural economy through the Industrial Revolution to the 1960s.
Proceedings were suddenly interrupted by a loud shout, recorded by volunteers during the rehearsals, followed by drumming (the pre-recorded drumming amplified by 965 cast members drumming on inverted household buckets and bins), led by Evelyn Glennie. The three-tonne oak tree on top of the Glastonbury Tor lifted, and industrial workers emerged from both the Tor's brightly lit interior and the entrances to the stadium, to swell the cast to a total of 2,500 volunteers. So began what Boyle had called the "biggest scene change in theatre history" and something he had been advised against attempting. Underworld's "And I Will Kiss" began to play, as the cast rolled away the grass and other rural props.
Seven smoking chimney stacks with accompanying steeplejacks rose from the ground, along with other industrial machinery: five beam engines, six looms, a crucible and a water wheel (one of the few items left from the rural scene). Boyle said that this section celebrated the "tremendous potential" afforded by the advancements of the Victorian era. It also included a minute's silence in remembrance of the loss of life of both World Wars, featuring British 'Tommies' and shots of poppies, during which the names of the Accrington Pals were shown on the stadium screens. Unprompted, members of the audience stood in respect during this segment.
Volunteers paraded around the stadium representing some of the groups that had changed the face of Britain: the woman's suffrage movement, the Jarrow Crusade, the first Caribbean immigrants arriving in 1948 on board the Empire Windrush, a 1970s DJ float, the Nostalgia Steel Band, and The Beatles as they appeared on the cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Also included were real-life Chelsea Pensioners, the Grimethorpe Colliery Band, and a group of Pearly Kings and Queens.
Workers began casting an iron ring. As the noise level and tension built, driven by the relentless rhythm of the music and the drumming, participants mimed repetitive mechanical movements associated with industrial processes such as weaving. Four glowing orange rings gradually began to be carried high above the stadium toward its centre on overhead wires, and then the ring seemingly being cast and forged in the arena began to lift. The five rings converged, still glowing and accompanied by steam and firework effects to give the impression that they were of hot metal. When the five rings formed the Olympic symbol above the stadium, they ignited and rained fire in silver and gold. The image of the Olympic rings in flame became the iconic image of the ceremony, reproduced in newspapers and web stories around the world.
### Happy and Glorious (21:25–21:35)
A short film directed by Boyle and produced by the BBC, called Happy and Glorious (after a line in the national anthem), featured the character James Bond, played by then-Bond actor Daniel Craig, entering the front gate of Buckingham Palace in a London black cab. His entrance (accompanied by an arrangement of Handel's 'The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba') is noticed by Brazilian children (a nod to Rio de Janeiro, which was to be the next summer Games host city) in the throne room. Bond escorted Queen Elizabeth II (who played herself, acknowledging Bond with the words, "Good evening, Mr Bond") out of the building and into a waiting AgustaWestland AW139 helicopter. The film followed the helicopter across London, with shots of a cheering crowd on The Mall, Nelson's Column, the Palace of Westminster with an animated Winston Churchill statue in Parliament Square, and of the Thames past the London Eye, St Paul's Cathedral, the financial district City of London.
The helicopter then passed through Tower Bridge, accompanied by the Dambusters March. The film finished with Bond and the Queen apparently jumping from a real helicopter live above the stadium, accompanied by the "James Bond Theme". The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, along with Rogge, were then introduced to the audience. The Queen was wearing the same dress as in the film, as if she had just arrived with Bond.
The idea of the royal helicopter jump was first pitched by director Danny Boyle to Sebastian Coe, who loved it so much he took it to Edward Young, Private Secretary to the Queen, at Buckingham Palace in the summer of 2011. Young 'listened sagely, laughed, and promised to ask the boss'. Word came back to Coe that the Queen would love to take part. Young, Boyle and Coe agreed to keep the plan secret so as not to spoil the surprise. On 19 September 2022, the morning of the Queen's funeral, Coe told BBC News he originally took the concept to Princess Anne whose only question was "What kind of helicopter?"
For the scenes with the helicopter, the Queen was doubled by actress Julia McKenzie, and for the parachute jump by BASE jumper and stuntman Gary Connery wearing a dress, hat, jewellery and with a handbag. Bond was played by Mark Sutton. The helicopter had flown to the stadium from Stapleford Aerodrome in Essex, piloted by Marc Wolff.
The Union Flag was then raised by members of the British Armed Forces, while the first and third verses of the national anthem were performed a cappella by the Kaos Signing Choir for Deaf and Hearing Children.
### Second to the right, and straight on till morning (21:35–21:47)
The first part of this sequence celebrated the National Health Service ("the institution which more than any other unites our nation", according to the programme), which had been founded in the year of the previous London Games in 1948. Music was by Mike Oldfield. 600 dancers, all of whom were NHS staff, along with 1,200 volunteers recruited from British hospitals, entered along with children on 320 hospital beds, some of which functioned as trampolines. They started a short jive routine. Watching from the tor were specially invited hospital staff and nine child patients from Great Ormond Street Hospital. The blankets on the beds illuminated and the beds were arranged to depict a child's face with a smile and a tear (the Hospital Children's Charity's logo). The acronym 'GOSH' then changed into the initials 'NHS', turning into the shape of a crescent moon as the children were hushed to sleep and read books by the nurses.
The sequence then moved on to celebrate British children's literature. J. K. Rowling began by reading from J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan (whose copyright was given to Great Ormond Street Hospital). The Child Catcher appeared amongst the children, followed by giant puppet representations of villains from British children's literature: the Queen of Hearts, Captain Hook, Cruella de Vil, and Lord Voldemort. Minutes later, 32 women playing Mary Poppins descended with their umbrellas, as the villains deflated and the actors resumed dancing. The music for this sequence included partially rearranged sections from Tubular Bells (with a giant set of tubular bells at the rear of the stage), Tubular Bells III and, after the villains had been driven away by the Mary Poppins characters, In Dulci Jubilo. During this performance the children in pyjamas jumped up and down on their brightly lit beds, creating a memorable image amid the darkness of the stadium.
The sequence concluded with a pale, gigantic baby's head, with a rippling sheet for its body, in the centre of the arena. This celebrated the Scottish pioneers of obstetric ultrasound imaging.
### Interlude (21:47–21:52)
Simon Rattle was then introduced to conduct the London Symphony Orchestra in a performance of Vangelis's "Chariots of Fire", as a tribute to the British film industry with Rowan Atkinson reprising his role as Mr. Bean, comically playing a repeated note on a synthesiser. He then lapsed into a filmed dream sequence in which he joined the runners from the film Chariots of Fire, beating them in their iconic run along West Sands at St Andrews by riding in a car, rejoining the race and tripping the front runner. Danny Boyle later explained: "It wasn't actually Mr. Bean. Strictly speaking, the name of his character was Derek". In 2021's "Happy Birthday Mr Bean" documentary, Atkinson also stated that the performance wasn't actually intended to be the character Mr. Bean.
### Frankie and June say...thanks Tim (21:52–22:09)
This sequence celebrated British popular music and culture, paying homage to each decade since the 1960s. To the accompaniment of the BBC newsreel theme 'Girls in Grey' and the theme tune from The Archers, a young mother and son arrive in a Mini Cooper at a full-size replica of a modern British house. The 1987 "don't worry about a hurricane" weather forecast by Michael Fish was shown on the big screens as rain suddenly poured on the house, followed by "Push the Button", by Sugababes. In the centre of the arena the sides of another house, three times larger, were used as screens to show clips from various TV programmes, music videos and films, including A Matter of Life and Death (June is named for its protagonist), as well as Gregory's Girl, Kes, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, The Snowman, The Wicker Man, Four Weddings and a Funeral, British soap operas Coronation Street and EastEnders, Spanish TV show Cuéntame cómo pasó, and Boyle's own Trainspotting on the top and the inside of the house on the bottom. A large group of dancers, centred around Frankie and June (19-year-old Henrique Costa and 18-year-old Jasmine Breinburg) on a night out, performed to an assortment of British popular songs arranged broadly chronologically, beginning with "Going Underground" by The Jam, suggesting a ride on the London Underground. During this track images of the Underground were projected onto the house and former London Mayor Ken Livingstone was briefly seen in the driver's seat. Throughout the sequence cast members were texting each other or placing social networking status updates on the Internet. Frankie and June first notice each other as a snippet from "Wonderful Tonight" by Eric Clapton plays, but when Frankie saw that June had dropped her phone on the Tube, he set off to return it (communicating using last number redial to her sister's phone).
An extended dance sequence followed, with songs including "My Generation" by The Who, "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" by the Rolling Stones, "My Boy Lollipop" sung by Millie Small, "All Day and All of the Night" by the Kinks, "She Loves You" by the Beatles (with footage of the band performing the song), "Trampled Under Foot" by Led Zeppelin, "Starman" by David Bowie, "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen (during which the sound of the TARDIS from Doctor Who could be heard), "Pretty Vacant" by the Sex Pistols (during which dancers on power jumpers wearing large heads with Mohawk hairstyles performed a pogo dance, and the lyrics to the song were spelled out in LED lights around the stadium), "Blue Monday" by New Order, "Relax" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood (during which Frankie, asked by June for his name, replied by revealing one of the band's "Frankie say..." T-shirts), "Back to Life (However Do You Want Me)" by Soul II Soul, "Step On" by Happy Mondays, "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" by Eurythmics, "Firestarter" by The Prodigy, and "Born Slippy .NUXX" by Underworld, ending with the cast singing "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles" as Frankie and June walked towards each other. A sequence from the film Four Weddings and a Funeral was projected behind them; when they kissed, a montage of memorable kisses from film, TV and real life was shown (including one of the first interracial kisses on British television in Emergency Ward 10 and the first lesbian kiss from Brookside, which in some countries, including Saudi Arabia, then became the first lesbian kiss ever shown on pre-watershed television), while "Song 2" by Blur was played. A live performance of "Bonkers" by Dizzee Rascal (who grew up in the host borough of Tower Hamlets) followed, along with a further sequence in which all the cast (and Britain's Got Talent dancing duo Signature) attend a party at June's house whilst Amy Winehouse's "Valerie", Muse's "Uprising", and Tinie Tempah's "Pass Out" played.
At the close the larger house was raised to reveal Tim Berners-Lee working at a NeXT Computer, like the one on which he invented the World Wide Web. He tweeted 'This is for everyone', instantly spelled out in LED lights around the stadium. The programme explained "Music connects us with each other and with the most important moments in our lives. One of the things that makes those connections possible is the World Wide Web". Boyle wanted to honour Berners-Lee for having made the World Wide Web free and available to everyone (hence the tweet), rather than seeking a commercial profit from it.
### Abide with Me (22:09–22:20)
A filmed sequence showed extracts from the torch relay around the UK, to the music "I Heard Wonders" by David Holmes. This then cut live to show David Beckham driving a dramatically illuminated motor boat down the River Thames and under Tower Bridge, to fireworks, while footballer Jade Bailey held on to the torch in the boat. This section had been rehearsed on 24 July 2012 when the close-up shots were pre-recorded, and was directed by Stephen Daldry.
There was then a tribute to "..friends and family of those in the stadium who cannot be here tonight", including the victims of the '7/7' 2005 London bombings (on the day after London had been awarded the Games). Photos of people who had died were displayed on screens as a memorial, accompanied by an excerpt from Brian Eno's ambient work "An Ending (Ascent)". The hymn "Abide with Me" was then sung by Emeli Sandé while a group of dancers choreographed by and including Akram Khan performed a contemporary dance on the theme of mortality.
### Welcome (22:20–00:00)
The Parade of Nations of athletes (drawn from the 10,490 competing) and officials from 204 nations (and also the "Independent Olympic Athletes") was led, according to custom, by the Greek team, followed by other competing countries in alphabetical order, and finally the host nation Great Britain. Each of the 205 teams entered the stadium led by their flagbearer, accompanied by a child volunteer carrying a copper petal (later revealed to be part of the cauldron) and a young woman carrying a sign with the country's name in English (and wearing a dress made from fabric printed with photos of people who had applied to be Olympic volunteers).
The parade was accompanied by mainly British dance tracks and popular songs, including "Galvanize" by Chemical Brothers, "West End Girls" by Pet Shop Boys, "Rolling in the Deep" by Adele, "Stayin' Alive" by the Bee Gees and both "Where the Streets Have No Name" and "Beautiful Day" by Irish band U2, with Great Britain entering to David Bowie's song "Heroes". Welsh drum and bass DJ High Contrast mixed and sequenced the music for the athletes' parade.
Music with a fast rhythm of 120 bpm was used in an attempt to keep the teams walking quickly around the stadium, and this was reinforced by the drummers in the stadium; nevertheless the parade part of the programme took 1 hour 40 minutes to complete, compared to the 1 hour 29 minutes estimated in the official media guide. Once all of the athletes were inside the stadium, seven billion small pieces of paper were dropped from a Westland helicopter, each piece representing one person on Earth. Each nation's flag was planted on the Glastonbury Tor.
### Bike a.m. (00:00–00:07 BST 28 July)
Once the athletes had gathered in the centre of the stadium, Arctic Monkeys performed "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor" and The Beatles' "Come Together", the latter whilst 75 cyclists circled the stadium with wings lit by LEDs representing Doves of Peace. Doves were traditionally released at Olympic opening ceremonies, although real birds have not been used since 1992. A single dove cyclist, his beak painted yellow in honour of Bradley Wiggins, appeared to fly out of the stadium.
### Let the Games Begin (00:07–00:24)
The formal part of the ceremony was introduced by Sebastian Coe, speaking from the Tor and surrounded by flags of the participating nations. He welcomed the watching world to London. He expressed pride in being British and part of the Olympic movement, and said that the Olympics "brings together the people of the world...to celebrate what is best about mankind". He continued to speak of the "truth and drama" of sport, and then thanked Britain for "making all this possible". Rogge responded by thanking London, stating that it was the third time that London had held the Games, following 1908, held at short notice when Rome was unable to do so (after a volcanic eruption), and 1948 three years after the end of World War II. Rogge thanked the thousands of volunteers, to huge cheers. He announced that for the first time in Olympic history, every team had female participants. Rogge acknowledged the important role the UK had played as "the birthplace of modern sport", codifying its "fair play" ethos and building sport into the school curriculum. He appealed to athletes to play fairly and be drug-free, according to the values of Baron de Courbertin, reminding them that they were role models who would "inspire a generation". After expressing these sentiments again briefly in French, he invited the Queen to open the Games.
The Queen declared the competition officially open, immediately followed by a trumpet fanfare based on a theme from Tubular Bells by Mike Oldfield and then a fireworks display. The 2012 ceremony was the second time the Queen had opened an Olympic Games, the first being the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal in her capacity as Queen of Canada. It was also the first time any individual had opened a Summer Olympics twice (two more Olympiads had been opened on her behalf, with a further two Winter Games opened on her behalf).
The Olympic Flag was carried by eight people chosen from around the world to embody the Olympic values: Doreen Lawrence (chosen for her "tireless thirst for justice"), Haile Gebrselassie (for his "fight against poverty"), Sally Becker (for her "courage"), Ban Ki-moon (as UN general secretary), Leymah Gbowee (as "a great peacemaker"), Shami Chakrabarti (for "her integrity"), Daniel Barenboim (for bringing "harmony in place of discord"), and Marina Silva (as UN Champion of the Earth). The flag paused in front of Muhammad Ali (invited to represent 'respect, confidence, conviction, dedication, generosity and spiritual strength'), who held it for a few moments. The flag was received by a colour guard of Her Majesty's Armed Forces and hoisted to the Olympic Hymn, performed by the LSO and the Grimethorpe Colliery Band. A brief reprise of "And I will Kiss" commenced the Olympic Oaths, taken by taekwondo athlete Sarah Stevenson on behalf of the athletes, by British AIBA Referee Mik Basi on behalf of the officials, and by Eric Farrell on behalf of the coaches.
### There Is a Light That Never Goes Out (00:24–00:38)
This section was named after the song of the same name by The Smiths. The motorboat driven by David Beckham arrived with the Olympic Flame via the Limehouse Cut and the Lee Navigation. Steve Redgrave lit his torch from that on the boat, and carried it into the stadium through an honour guard of 500 of the construction workers who had built the Olympic Park. He passed the flame on to a team of seven young people, each nominated by a famous British Olympian to convey the Games' aim to 'inspire a generation'. Six of the team were athletes, and the seventh was a volunteer young ambassador.
The teenagers made a lap of the stadium, each carrying the torch in turn, while Alex Trimble, lead singer of Two Door Cinema Club, performed "Caliban's Dream" with the Dockhead Choir, Only Men Aloud, Elizabeth Roberts, and Esme Smith. This had been written especially for the ceremony by Rick Smith of Underworld.
Each young athlete was greeted by their nominating Olympian (watched by 260 British medallists from previous summer and winter Games since London 1948) and presented with their own torch, which was then lit from the flame. They jogged through a corridor between assembled athletes to the centre of the stadium, where the 204 copper petals (each inscribed with the name of the team it accompanied during the parade) were now seen in a circular formation attached to long pipes (the petals were to accompany each team home after the competition, as a souvenir). The young athletes lit some of the petals, and when the flame had spread to all of them, the pipes rose slowly from the floor of the stadium and converged to form the cauldron. The cauldron lighters were (nominator in brackets):
- Callum Airlie (Shirley Robertson)
- Jordan Duckitt (Duncan Goodhew)
- Desiree Henry (Daley Thompson)
- Katie Kirk (Mary Peters)
- Cameron MacRitchie (Steve Redgrave)
- Aidan Reynolds (Lynn Davies)
- Adelle Tracey (Kelly Holmes)
The cauldron designed by Thomas Heatherwick was described as "one of the best-kept secrets of the opening ceremony": until this point, its design, location, and who would light it had not been revealed.
### And in the end (00:38–00:46)
A flurry of spectacular fireworks accompanied by Pink Floyd's song "Eclipse" was supported by images of memorable Olympic victories shown on the big screens, with the stadium pixels showing Jesse Owens running. The climax of this section was a live view of the Olympic rings 34 kilometres (21 miles) above the Earth, transmitted from one of the balloons launched three and a half hours earlier. The sky was then lit by searchlights piercing the smoke (another iconic London image) from the fireworks, the Orbit tower was illuminated. Paul McCartney and his band performed the closing section of "The End", and then "Hey Jude", with its chorus sung by the audience to close the ceremony at 00:46 BST.
## Music
The eclectic programme of music was chosen to showcase almost exclusively British music with pieces representing the UK's four nations. It included classical works by British composers such as Hubert Parry, and performances by UK choirs and orchestras. The focus was mainly on music of the 1960s onwards, causing one Chinese journalist to ask: "Will this be the most rock and roll opening ceremony ever?".
Rick Smith and Underworld composed pieces for the ceremony, including "And I Will Kiss" used during the 'Pandemonium' section, and "Caliban's Dream" heard during the lighting of the cauldron. These were favourably reviewed; in The Guardian, Michael Hann wrote "Underworld ... had a bit of a triumph: the builds and fades they learned in the world of dance music lent the sometimes overwhelming visual spectacle a sense of structure".
Musical motifs were used to bind the ceremony programme together: for example, the 'whistling' theme first heard during the minute's silence embedded within "And I Will Kiss" returned frequently – behind the fury as the ring was being forged, emerging triumphant as the five rings came together, and again later as the main theme of 'Caliban's Dream' whilst the flame was paraded around the stadium.
Bells were a theme of the opening day of the Olympics, starting at 8:12 am with artist Martin Creed's Work No. 1197: All the Bells, when bells were rung across the UK including forty strikes of Big Ben. "The sound of bells is the sound of England", Boyle had told volunteers during rehearsal. Much of the music for the ceremony contained 'bell' references, linking to the large bell forged for the ceremony and evoking bells as "the sound of freedom and peace". Modified sequences based on the traditional British eight-bell peal underlaid "And I Will Kiss" and carried through into the "Tubular Bells"/NHS section, with handbells and a tolling large bell featured on 'Caliban's Dream' and at key points in the ceremony. A handbell chime also played after the close, as the stadium emptied.
Boyle approached many of the artists personally, to see if they would be interested in performing, and he also flew to Barbados for an hour-long meeting with Mike Oldfield. A few turned him down, including Elvis Costello and David Bowie. The performing artists were paid a nominal £1 fee to make their contracts legally binding.
The pre-recorded soundtrack Isles of Wonder was released on iTunes at midnight of 28 July 2012, with a two-disc CD set released on 2 August. Within two days the download album had topped the iTunes album charts in Britain, France, Belgium and Spain, and reached No. 5 in the United States, as well as being No. 5 in the British album charts. Rick Smith's concluding comment in the CD cover notes was: "The isle is full of noises. The soundtrack writes itself."
## Anthems
- National Anthem of the United Kingdom – Kaos Signing Choir for Deaf and Hearing Children
- Olympic Anthem – London Symphony Orchestra
## Technical aspects
The main loading of the stadium started on 10 May and took ten weeks of what was the wettest summer for a hundred years, posing considerable challenges. Dismantling the staging took just sixty hours. The infield staging area was 2.5 metres high, and had to accommodate the elements revealed during the ceremony, such as the chimneys and beam engines from 'Pandemonium', and the cauldron. To ensure that it remained secret, the cauldron was code-named 'Betty', and installed and tested at night.
The stadium was rigged with a one million watt sound system and more than 500 speakers. Some 15,000 square metres (3.7 acres) of staging and 12,956 props were used, as well as 7,346 square metres (1.815 acres) of turf including crops. 70,799 25 centimetre (10 inch) pixel panels were placed around the stadium, including between every seat. Each panel connected to a central computer and was fitted with nine full-colour LED pixels by Tait Technology. These enabled images to be broadcast during the performance, such as of a 1960s go-go dancer, a London Underground train, and a representation of the birth of the internet. The audience was also able to participate by waving the paddles to create a twinkling effect. These animations were designed by 59 Productions and the video animations were produced by Chinese company Crystal CG. The 2D to 3D transformation and mapping of video content onto the panels were done by Avolites Media media server consoles.
Technical director Piers Shepperd masterminded the complex change from rural to industrial during 'Pandemonium'. The seven inflatable chimneys were made by Airworks, and varied in height (three were 22-metre (72 ft), two were 23-metre (75 ft) and two were 30-metre (98 ft) high). They were made of soft fabric, with an outer layer of printed brick pattern. Each contained four industrial fans at the base to inflate them, and a smoke machine near the top, and were hoisted into the air from the overhead rigs. Life-size beam engines were constructed onstage by teams of stage hands and members of the Volunteer Staging Team. At the climax of 'Pandemonium', in the Olympic ring forging scene, amber lights lit in sequence created the illusion of a 30-metre (98 ft) molten steel river, with pyrotechnic smoke and dry ice as steam. The original grass floor surface had been removed to reveal a giant stylised map of London.
Working alongside the professional crew were over 800 volunteers; some were production arts students from British drama schools. Many had been working on the Olympic and Paralympic ceremonies since early 2012 at the Three Mills Studios and Dagenham rehearsal sites, before moving to the Stadium on 16 June. The thousands of cast were cued and co-ordinated by directions received through earphones ('in-ear monitors'), and adjustments were made during the performance: for example during Pandemonium extra volunteers were sent to make sure all the turf was cleared on time. The earphones also carried a continuous electronic metronomic four-beat to keep everyone walking and moving in time with the music.
In July 2013 it was revealed that on the morning of the ceremony, Britain's surveillance headquarters GCHQ had detected a credible cyber attack threat that could have killed the lighting system in the stadium. Counter-measures were taken, and in the afternoon contingency plans were discussed with government ministers at a meeting in the Cabinet Office briefing room. However, this attack never materialised.
## Ceremony key team
- Artistic director: Danny Boyle
- Producer: Tracey Seaward
- Designers: Suttirat Anne Larlarb and Mark Tildesley
- Writer: Frank Cottrell-Boyce
- Music director: Rick Smith (Underworld)
- Associate director: Paulette Randall
- Movement director: Toby Sedgwick
- Head of mass movement choreography: Steve Boyd
- Choreographers: Temujin Gill, Kenrick "H2O" Sandy and Akram Khan
- Video editor: Sascha Dhillon
- Visual effects supervisor: Adam Gascoyne
- Executive producer, production design: Mark Fisher
- Executive producer, creative: Stephen Daldry
- Lighting designer: Patrick Woodroffe
- Associate lighting designer: Adam Bassett
- Lead lighting programmer: Tim Routledge
- Soundscape designer: Gareth Fry
- Technical director: Piers Shepperd
- Technical manager (technical design and staging): Jeremy Lloyd
- Technical manager (aerial): James Lee
- Technical manager (lighting, audio-visual, power): Nick Jones
- Technical manager (services and special projects): Scott Buchanan
- Senior production manager (audio and communications): Chris Ekers
- Executive producer, broadcast: Hamish Hamilton
- Executive producer, production: Catherine Ugwu
- Press & publicity: Christopher Mitchell
- Bike choreographer: Bob Haro
- Bike project manager: Paul Hughes
- Announcers: Marc Edwards and Layla Anna-Lee
- Ceremonies sound designer: Bobby Aitken
- Ceremonies RF spectrum planning and management: Steve Caldwell
- Ceremonies monitor engineer: Steve Watson
- Ceremonies front of house engineer: Richard Sharratt
- Production manager radio mics and IEMs: Alison Dale
- Artist security director: Richard Barry
- Production stage manager: Sam Hunter
- Show caller: Julia Whittle
## TV coverage
The BBC's coverage started at 19:00 and continued uninterrupted until 00:50. The BBC audience averaged about 24.46 million viewers and peaked at approximately 26.9 million. This was the largest average audience for any broadcast since 1996 and one of the top 20 most-watched UK television broadcasts of all time. David Stringer of Associated Press described the coverage as "a success...so far, the BBC's ambitious – and technically tricky – Olympic plan has worked almost without a flaw." Euan Ferguson of The Observer commented that "Coverage of the Olympics so far ... has been near perfect." However, Clive James was critical of the build-up programme, presented by Gary Lineker and Sue Barker. Commentators for the BBC were Huw Edwards, Hazel Irvine and Trevor Nelson, the latter criticised by Andy Dawson of the Daily Mirror as floundering "like a ventriloquist's dummy pumped full of low-grade ketamine". Private talks were held between Boyle and BBC commentators in the run-up to the ceremony. Boyle was unhappy with a voiceover being imposed on the ceremony, which he wanted viewers to be able to enjoy without commentary. The BBC offered several options including 'no commentary' coverage for both its TV and online transmissions. Audio description was also provided with commentary by Nick Mullins.
Nearly 41 million US viewers watched NBC's coverage of the event. Criticism was levelled at its decision to tape-delay this broadcast, and not make a live version available even to cable and web users. There were frequent interruptions by commercial breaks. Many US viewers looked for other ways to watch (such as the live BBC feed), despite both NBC and the IOC vowing to crack down on unauthorised streams. More significant criticism was levelled at NBC for cutting to a Ryan Seacrest interview with Michael Phelps during the 'memorial wall' tribute including commemoration of the victims of the 7/7 London bombings, which was seen as disrespectful and insensitive. An NBC spokesman said the network had left out that segment because its programming was "tailored for the US audience". There was also criticism of commentators Matt Lauer and Meredith Vieira for suggesting that the Queen had actually jumped out of a helicopter. Vieira and Lauer admitted to not knowing that Tim Berners-Lee was the inventor of the World Wide Web, as she commented "If you haven't heard of him, we haven't either", before Lauer told the audience to Google him. These failings were picked up on Twitter during the broadcast with the hashtag \#nbcfail.
The ceremony was recorded by three separate broadcasters: the BBC, the Olympic Broadcasting Services (directed by the Finnish state broadcaster YLE on behalf of the OBS), and by independent production company Done and Dusted, hired by LOCOG and working under Boyle's direction. This was the first time that an independent production company had been used for an Olympic ceremony. This situation led to some tension, as Boyle wanted more artistic control and felt he was getting no co-operation from the OBS. He criticised the OBS coverage during his commentary for the BBC DVD. In addition, the BBC filmed some of the pre-recorded parts of the ceremony. The filming was directed for television by Hamish Hamilton, who described it as "easily the most difficult job of my life".
The BBC released footage of the entire ceremony on 29 October 2012, edited by Danny Boyle and with background extras, filling more than one disc of a five DVD or Blu-ray disc set, which also contained more than seven hours of sporting highlights as well as the complete closing ceremony. A 'BBC commentary-free' option for the opening ceremony is available on the DVD, as well as a commentary track by Danny Boyle and Frank Cottrell-Boyce.
## Reception
The Times described the ceremony as "a masterpiece", with The Daily Telegraph saying it was "brilliant, breathtaking, bonkers and utterly British". The BBC's chief sports writer Tom Fordyce called it "eccentric" and "tongue-in-cheek", saying "no-one expected ... it would be quite so gloriously daft, so cynicism-squashingly charming and, well, so much pinch-yourself fun." Two weeks after the ceremony Jonathan Freedland of The Guardian wrote that "Boyle's spectacular, so beautifully executed and ingeniously conceived it lingers in the mind even as the closing draws near, stood apart from its predecessors thanks not only to its humour and eccentricity, but also because it had something to say." Writing in The Observer, Jackie Kay commented that "it seemed that Boyle had invented a new kind of opening ceremony, a concept ceremony, one that embraces big ideas as passionately as it does technical flamboyancy". The Stage said that "Danny Boyle's spectacular and moving Olympics Opening Ceremony was undoubtedly the theatrical highlight of 2012".
Although praise came from across the political spectrum, a few on the British political right were unhappy. Aidan Burley, a Conservative MP, denounced the ceremony on Twitter as "leftie multicultural crap". Burley's comments were dismissed by many fellow Conservatives, including David Cameron and Boris Johnson.
Foreign reaction was overwhelmingly positive. The New York Times said the ceremony was "hilariously quirky ... a wild jumble of the celebratory and the fanciful; the conventional and the eccentric; and the frankly off-the-wall." Forbes called it Boyle's "love song to Britain", while Sports Illustrated noted its political aspects, calling it "a celebration of protest and dissent". The Sydney Morning Herald said it was "an unforgettable start ... at once subversive and sublime" and The Times of India said "London presented a vibrant picture of Great Britain's rich heritage and culture." The Chinese news agency Xinhua described the ceremony as "dazzling" and an "eccentric and exuberant celebration of British history, art and culture". Chinese artist Ai Weiwei praised the ceremony for its "human touch", saying "In London, they really turned the ceremony into a party ... such a density of information about events and stories and literature and music; about folktales and movies."
Russian President Putin said the ceremony was "wonderful and unforgettable". Dmitry Medvedev said "It was an exceptional spectacle, very well prepared and quite rich ... it succeeded in creating a very British atmosphere ... they managed to find the right language ... to communicate." Panos Samaras of Greece's NET said "it was more like a big musical, a rock opera ... than an Olympics ceremony". French sports newspaper L'Équipe wrote that it "took the classic from such events and had fun with them" whilst Le Parisien said it "was magnificent, inventive and offbeat drawing heavily on the roots of British identity". Germany's Die Welt hailed it as "spectacular, glitzy but also provoking and moving".
Chinese news CCTV-4 said the ceremony was a "stunning feast for the eyes". South Korea's Yonhap said it was "by turns dramatic, imaginative, humorous and solemn" and "weaved the story of the country's past, present and future". Singapore's Straits Times said it was a "grand show" noteworthy for both "scale" and "authenticity". The Australian praised a "glorious pandemonium devoted to London's thriving, chaotic energy ... deliberately revelling in the chaos of Britain's free society and popular culture". France's Le Figaro said it reflected "the best contributions that Britain has given to the world ... its sense of humour, its music, and of course sport". The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation said it was a "rocking, rollicking, sometimes quiet and brooding ceremony." Qatar's The Peninsula said London did a "spectacular job" making the ceremony a "memorable event".
In an end of the year review, British magazine Q said "It could all have been so different. As the London 2012 Summer Olympics approached, the tide of scepticism seemed almost irreversible. There was the heavy-handed sponsorship, the draconian security, the ticketing problems, the ballooning budget, and the lurking fear that the Opening Ceremony might be, in director Danny Boyle's pungent description, 'shite'. It took less than four hours on the night of Friday 27 July to turn the whole country around. Not only was the ceremony demonstrably not shite, it was the most surprising, moving, spectacular cultural event this country had ever seen...modern Britain, in all its berserk, multi-faceted glory."
The writer of the ceremony, Frank Cottrell-Boyce, said: "People around us thought it might need defending, so I was told to do press the next morning. I was completely surprised [by the positive response]. A lot of people were surprised. But I don't think Danny was surprised. Danny never blinked. At no point did he show any feeling that it was going to be anything but amazing. And he was right."
In December 2012 the culture critic of The Guardian picked the ceremony as "best art event of the year". A British public survey by Samsung voted it the second most inspiring television moment of all time, second only to the 1969 moon landing. A Digital Spy survey of more than 25,000 overwhelmingly voted the ceremony as the entertainment highlight of 2012. The ceremony was the second most-mentioned entertainment event on the internet in 2012, with just over 6 million mentions, coming second to the Grammy Awards. The BBC reported that it was the most requested item from 2012 on its iPlayer on-demand service, with 3.3 million requests.
Boyle was offered a knighthood in late 2012, but turned it down, saying "I'm very proud to be an equal citizen and I think that's what the Opening Ceremony was actually about."
### Awards and accolades
## Legacy
The ceremony was identified by some commentators as precipitating a new mood in the United Kingdom: it "had barely finished before it had become a byword for a new approach, not only to British culture but to Britishness itself. Politicians would soon be referring to it, using it as shorthand for a new kind of patriotism that does not lament a vanished Britain but loves the country that has changed. Boyle's ceremony was hailed from (almost) all sides...for providing a nation that had grown used to mocking its myriad flaws with a new, unfamiliarly positive view of itself ... It was, perhaps, this lack of cynicism that people responded to ... So used to British irony and detachment, it felt refreshing to witness an unembarrassed, positive case for this country. Boyle himself says this was the most important thing he took away from the Olympic experience: "How important it is to believe in something. You might make a fool of yourself and people will go, 'How can you believe in that, you stupid idiot?' But if you believe in something, you carry people with you."
Business leaders also took inspiration from the event, admiring its risk-taking and creative freedom, as well as the trust placed in and loyalty inspired from the workers and volunteers. In February 2013 the BBC's Head of Drama Ben Stephenson told an audience of writers, commissioners and producers that he "wanted them to seek inspiration from the opening ceremony of the London Olympics" which, he said, "had scale and brilliance and, above all, had succeeded not in spite of its Britishness but because of its Britishness, delighting viewers here and around the world by rooting itself in the authentic stories and spirit of these islands." Steve Coogan told Frank Cottrell-Boyce that he felt it was "like the emperor's new clothes in reverse ... it made irony and postmodernism feel tired and past its sell-by date", and Russell T Davies told Boyce: "It changed my idea of the possible."
Reviewing the 2014 Winter Olympics opening ceremony at Sochi, Russia, Owen Gibson of The Guardian observed that with his 'complex, intimate snapshot of "who we were, who we are and who we wish to be"', Boyle “rewrote the rule book for opening ceremonies”.
## See also
- 2012 Summer Olympics closing ceremony
- 2012 Summer Paralympics opening ceremony, which was also themed on The Tempest
- 2012 Summer Paralympics closing ceremony |
54,398,048 | Nun danket all und bringet Ehr | 1,167,849,616 | Christian hymn by Paul Gerhardt | [
"17th-century hymns in German",
"Hymn tunes",
"Hymns by Paul Gerhardt",
"Lutheran hymns"
]
| "Nun danket all und bringet Ehr" (Now thank all and bring honour) is a German Lutheran hymn in nine stanzas, with a text written by Paul Gerhardt. It was first published in 1647, in Johann Crüger's Praxis pietatis melica which was the first publication of hymns by Gerhardt. In the 1653 edition, Crüger added a melody that he composed. As a general song of thanks, the song has appeared in several hymnals, including the German Protestant hymnal Evangelisches Gesangbuch and the Catholic hymnal Gotteslob. It has inspired musical settings by composers from the 17th to the 21st century. Johann Sebastian Bach used the first stanza in a cantata, however with the melody of "Lobt Gott, ihr Christen alle gleich", Hugo Distler composed a chorale cantata, and Günter Berger based a toccata for organ on it.
## History
When Paul Gerhardt wrote "Nun danket all und bringet Ehr", he was 40 years old, had completed his theological studies but had not found a suitable position as a pastor yet. He worked as a private teacher in Berlin. The Thirty Years' War was in its final year. Nonetheless, he wrote a hymn of praise, in nine stanzas of four lines each. The song is related to a biblical passage, , expressing thanks and praise to God, and requesting further help. The same passage was the basis for the 1630 hymn "Nun danket all Gott" by Martin Rinckart, and several compositions of the 17th century. For the Lutheran Gerhardt, music was an image of heavenly bliss, and the laws of composition an image of the order of creation ("Als überzeugtem Lutheranerwar für ihn die Musik gleichsam ein vorweggenommenes Abbild himmlischer Herrlichkeit, die musikalischen Gesetze Sinnbild für die göttliche Ordnung der Schöpfung"), as he expressed in stanzas eight to eleven of his "Geh aus, mein Herz, und suche Freud".
"Nun danket all und bringet Ehr" was published by Johann Crüger who was the church musician at the Nikolaikirche in Berlin. It appeared in Crüger's hymnal Praxis pietatis melica in the (lost) 1647 edition, among the first 18 songs by Gerhardt to be published, which also include the Passion hymn "Ein Lämmlein geht und trägt die Schuld", the Easter hymn "Auf, auf, mein Herz, mit Freuden", the morning song "Wach auf, mein Herz, und singe", and the evening song "Nun ruhen alle Wälder". In the 1653 edition of the hymnal, which contained 80 songs by Gerhardt, it was printed with a melody by Crüger.
The hymn was sung to conclude all-day peace celebrations in Leipzig on 21 March 1763, for the Treaty of Hubertusburg.
In the German Protestant hymnal Evangelisches Gesangbuch, it appears as EG 322. In the Catholic hymnal Gotteslob, it is GL 403 with stanzas 1, 2, 5, 6, 8 and 9.
## Text
The text in German follows the Protestant hymnal Evangelisches Gesangbuch. Translations, which follow the rhythm rather than the literal meaning, were made by Pamela Dellal and Charles Stanford Terry.
## Melodies and settings
When Crüger published the hymn in the 1647 edition of his hymnal Praxis pietatis melica, it was possibly without a melody. The hymn appears in the 1653 edition with a melody by Crüger and a figured bass. The melody is close to tunes from the Genevan Psalter, for Psalm 75 and Psalm 97, which also express thanks. The first two lines are connected, and the other two lines form a similar rhythmic pattern, with the climax at the beginning of the third line. In 1657/58, Crüger composed a four-part setting, using the melody and bass line. The tune is comfortable for congregational singing, and has been adopted for many other hymns. It became known as "Gräfenberg", which appears in 173 hymnals.
The hymn is part of the Neu Leipziger Gesangbuch with the melody of "Lobt Gott, ihr Christen alle gleich". It is this melody that Johann Sebastian Bach set to close his cantata Dem Gerechten muß das Licht, BWV 195. In current German hymnals, the hymn appears with Crüger's melody.
Hugo Distler composed a chorale cantata, No. 2 of his Op. 11. Ulrich Metzner composed Toccata sopra 'Nun danket all und bringet Ehr' in 2009. Günter Berger [de] wrote an organ piece, subtitled Tanz-Toccata für Orgel, published by Strube-Verlag [de] in 2015. Gaël Liardon wrote five chorale preludes in 2013. |
31,561,095 | German destroyer Z19 Hermann Künne | 1,171,089,858 | Type 1936-class destroyer | [
"1937 ships",
"Maritime incidents in April 1940",
"Scuttled vessels of Germany",
"Ships built in Bremen (state)",
"Type 1936 destroyers",
"Underwater diving sites in Norway",
"World War II shipwrecks in the Norwegian Sea",
"Wreck diving sites"
]
| Z19 Hermann Künne was one of six Type 1936 destroyers built for the Kriegsmarine (German Navy) in the late 1930s. Completed at the beginning of 1939, the ship spent most of her time training although she did participate in the occupation of Memel a few months later. At the beginning of World War II in September, she was initially deployed to lay minefields off the German coast, but was soon transferred to the Skagerrak where she inspected neutral shipping for contraband goods. In late 1939, Z18 Hans Lüdemann helped to laid four offensive minefields off the English coast that claimed two British destroyers and thirty-eight merchant ships.
During the German invasion of Norway in April 1940, she was tasked to attack Narvik and participated in both the First and Second Naval Battles of Narvik. Z19 Hermann Künne was disabled during the first battle, but was repaired in time to fight in the second battle until she had exhausted her ammunition. Afterwards the ship had to be scuttled to prevent her capture.
## Design and description
Z19 Hermann Künne had an overall length of 125.1 meters (410 ft 5 in) and was 120 meters (393 ft 8 in) long at the waterline. The ship had a beam of 11.8 meters (38 ft 9 in), and a maximum draft of 4.5 meters (14 ft 9 in). She displaced 2,411 long tons (2,450 t) at standard load and 3,415 long tons (3,470 t) at deep load. The two Wagner geared steam turbine sets, each driving one propeller shaft, were designed to produce 70,000 PS (51,000 kW; 69,000 shp) using steam provided by six Wagner boilers for a designed speed of 36 knots (67 km/h; 41 mph). During Z19 Hermann Künne's sea trials on 21–22 March 1939, she reached 39 knots (72.2 km/h; 44.9 mph) from 72,100 PS (53,000 kW; 71,100 shp). The ship carried a maximum of 739 metric tons (727 long tons) of fuel oil which gave a range of 2,050 nautical miles (3,800 km; 2,360 mi) at 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph). Her crew consisted of 10 officers and 313 sailors.
The ship carried five 12.7-centimeter (5 in) SK C/34 guns in single mounts with gun shields, two each superimposed, fore and aft of the superstructure. The fifth mount was positioned on top of the rear deckhouse. The guns were numbered from 1 to 5 from front to rear. Her anti-aircraft armament consisted of four 3.7-centimeter (1.5 in) SK C/30 guns in two twin mounts abreast the rear funnel and six 2-centimeter (0.8 in) C/30 guns in single mounts. The ship carried eight above-water 53.3-centimeter (21.0 in) torpedo tubes in two power-operated mounts. Two reloads were provided for each mount. She had four depth charge launchers and mine rails could be fitted on the rear deck that had a maximum capacity of 60 mines. 'GHG' (Gruppenhorchgerät) passive hydrophones were fitted to detect submarines and an active sonar system was installed by the end of 1939.
## Construction and career
Z19 Hermann Künne was named after a gunner aboard the torpedo boat S-53 who was killed in hand-to-hand combat during the Zeebrugge Raid on 23 April 1918. The ship was ordered from AG Weser (Deschimag) on 6 January 1936. She was laid down at Deschimag's Bremen shipyard as yard number W921 on 5 October, launched on 22 December 1937, and commissioned on 12 January 1939. From 23 to 24 March, the ship was one of the destroyers that escorted Adolf Hitler aboard the heavy cruiser Deutschland to occupy Memel. On 30 June, Z19 Hermann Künne and her sister Z18 Hans Lüdemann were making port visits in Norway when the former accidentally rammed the pier at Moldefjord after her rudder failed. She returned to Swinemünde on 20 July and participated in torpedo training the following month.
When World War II began in September, Z19 Hermann Künne was initially deployed in the German Bight where she laid defensive minefields. The ship then patrolled the Skagerrak to inspect neutral shipping for contraband goods. On the night of 17/18 October, Rear Admiral (Konteradmiral) Günther Lütjens, aboard his flagship Z21 Wilhelm Heidkamp, led Z16 Friedrich Eckoldt, Z17 Diether von Roeder, Z18 Hans Lüdemann, Z19 Hermann Künne, and Z20 Karl Galster as they laid a minefield off the mouth of the River Humber. The British were unaware of the minefield's existence and lost seven ships totaling 25,825 gross register tons (GRT). Missions on the nights of 8/9 and 10/11 November had to be aborted because of seawater contamination in Z19 Hermann Künne's fuel. On the night of 12/13 November Z21 Wilhelm Heidkamp, now the flagship of the Commander of Destroyers (Führer der Zerstörer), Kapitän zur See (Captain) Friedrich Bonte, escorted Z18 Hans Lüdemann, Z19 Hermann Künne, and Z20 Karl Galster as they laid 288 magnetic mines in the Thames estuary. Once again unaware of the minefield's existence, the British lost the destroyer Blanche and thirteen merchant ships of 48,728 GRT.
Less than a week later, Z21 Wilhelm Heidkamp, Z19 Hermann Künne, and Z11 Bernd von Arnim laid 180 magnetic mines in the Thames Estuary on the night of 17/18 November. The mines sank the destroyer Gipsy, a fishing trawler, and seven ships of 27,565 GRT. On the night of 12/13 December, German destroyers sortied to lay minefields off the British coast. Under the command of Commodore (Kommodore) Bonte in his flagship Z19 Hermann Künne, Z4 Richard Beitzen, Z8 Bruno Heinemann, Z14 Friedrich Ihn and Z15 Erich Steinbrinck laid 240 mines off the mouth of the River Tyne, where the navigation lights were still lit. The British lost eleven ships totaling 18,979 GRT. En route home, the destroyers were ordered to escort the crippled light cruisers Leipzig and Nürnberg which had been torpedoed by the submarine HMS Salmon while covering the destroyers' withdrawal. Z19 Hermann Künne was scheduled for another minelaying mission on 17 December, but boiler contamination prevented her participation and she was refitting in Stettin until 14 March 1940
### Norwegian Campaign
Z19 Hermann Künne was allocated to Group 1 for the Norwegian portion of Operation Weserübung in April 1940. The group's task was to transport the 139th Mountain Infantry Regiment (139. Gebirgsjäger Regiment) and the headquarters of the 3rd Mountain Division (3. Gebirgs-Division) to seize Narvik. The ships began loading troops on 6 April and set sail the next day. When they arrived off the Ofotfjord on the morning of 9 April, Z19 Hermann Künne landed her troops at the head of the Herjangsfjord and helped to capture the Norwegian Army barracks at Elvegårdsmoen. Later that day she briefly refuelled from the whale factory ship SS Jan Wellem and then stood picket duty until midnight when she returned to Jan Wellem to top off her fuel tanks.
Shortly after dawn on 10 April, the ship was still tied up to Jan Wellem when the five destroyers of the British 2nd Destroyer Flotilla, Hardy, Havock, Hunter, Hotspur, and Hero appeared. Hardy, Hunter and Havock made the first attack on Narvik harbor while the other two acted as rearguards. Z19 Hermann Künne exchanged fire with Hunter to no effect while preparing to back away from the whaler. By the time Havock opened fire, the German ship was underway, having cast off hoses and mooring lines. When the British destroyer hit and sank Z22 Anton Schmitt with a torpedo, Z19 Hermann Künne was only 40 meters (44 yd) away and the shock from the detonation knocked out her turbines. Without power, the ship drifted into the wreck and became entangled with it. Some of her crew panicked and jumped overboard, but only a few were rescued. After about an hour, she was able to restore power and disentangle herself from Z22 Anton Schmitt's wreck. Z19 Hermann Künne had suffered from splinter damage that killed nine crewmen. Later that afternoon she sailed to the wreck of Hardy where it had run aground and searched it.
On the night of 12/13 April, Commander (Fregattenkapitän) Erich Bey, the senior surviving German officer, received word to expect an attack the following day by British capital ships escorted by a large number of destroyers and supported by carrier aircraft. The battleship Warspite and nine destroyers duly appeared on 13 April, although earlier than Bey had expected, and caught the Germans out of position. Z19 Hermann Künne, leading Z13 Erich Koellner westwards to take up her position flanking the entrance to the fjord, was the first ship to spot the approaching British ships and alerted Bey. The other operable destroyers joined Z19 Hermann Künne as she fell back and engaged the British ships at long range from behind a smoke screen. Nine Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers attacked the German destroyers, near-missing Z19 Hermann Künne and another ship, but lost two aircraft shot down during the attack. By the early afternoon, the Germans had exhausted most of their ammunition and Bey ordered his ships to retreat to the Rombaksfjorden (the easternmost branch of the Ofotfjord), east of Narvik, where they might attempt to ambush any pursuing British destroyers. Lieutenant Commander (Korvettenkapitän) Friedrich Kothe, captain of the ship, misunderstood the signal and headed north into the Herjangsfjord where he run the ship aground in Trollvika near Bjerkvik. She had fired off all of her ammunition, including practice and star shells; her depth charges were rigged for demolition and they were set off once the crew had abandoned ship. The destroyers Eskimo and Forester followed the German ship into the Herjangsfjord and the former put a torpedo into the wreck for good measure, breaking off her stern.
### The wreck
The ship was partially scrapped and the remains further demolished after World War II. It rests on its starboard side between 0 m (0 ft) and 37 m (121 ft) depth. In a 1999 survey, the wreck was found to contain no remaining oil. The wreck location is relatively easy to access, and wreck diving is permitted. |
73,983,577 | HMS Scout (1918) | 1,164,885,779 | Royal Navy S class destroyer | [
"1918 ships",
"S-class destroyers (1917) of the Royal Navy",
"Ships built on the River Clyde",
"World War I destroyers of the United Kingdom",
"World War II destroyers of the United Kingdom"
]
| HMS Scout was an S-class destroyer that served with the Royal Navy from the end of the First World War to the end of the Second World War. On retirement, the vessel was the oldest destroyer in the Royal Navy. The S class was a development of the previous R class, with minor differences, constructed as a cheaper and faster alternative to the V and W class. Launched in 1918, Scout joined the Grand Fleet for the last few months of the First World War before sailing in 1919 under the command of Rear-admiral Walter Cowan to participate in the British campaign in the Baltic. Scout was part of a flotilla attacked by four Russian destroyers, led by Avtroil, but sustained no damage and, on returning to the UK, was placed in reserve. The vessel participated in coastal artillery training exercises near the River Tees in 1934 and ran aground in 1938 but returned to service in the China Station before the start of the Second World War. Scout assisted in the defence of northern Sumatra after the United Kingdom declaration of war on Japan and evacuated naval personnel from Singapore after the fall of the island before being transferred to Trincomalee, Ceylon, in 1942, serving as an escort for the remainder of the war. With peace, Scout was retired and, in 1946, sold to be broken up.
## Design and development
Scout was one of 33 Admiralty S class destroyers ordered by the British Admiralty on 17 April 1917 as part of the Eleventh War Construction Programme. The design was a development of the R class introduced as a cheaper and faster alternative to the V and W class. Differences with the R class were minor, such as having the searchlight moved aft.
Scout had an overall length of 276 ft (84.12 m) and a length of 265 ft (80.77 m) between perpendiculars. The beam was 26 ft 8 in (8.13 m) and draught 9 ft 10 in (3.00 m). Displacement was 1,075 long tons (1,092 t) normal and 1,221 long tons (1,241 t) deep load. Three Yarrow boilers fed steam to two sets of Brown-Curtis geared steam turbines rated at 27,000 shaft horsepower (20,000 kW) and driving two shafts, giving a design speed of 36 knots (67 km/h; 41 mph) at normal loading and 32.5 knots (60 km/h; 37 mph) at deep load. Two funnels were fitted. A full load of 301 long tons (306 t) of fuel oil was carried, which gave a design range of 2,750 nautical miles (5,090 km; 3,160 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph).
Armament consisted of three QF 4 in (102 mm) Mk IV guns on the ship's centreline. One was mounted raised on the forecastle, one on a platform between the funnels and one aft. The ship also mounted a single 2-pounder 40 mm (1.6 in) "pom-pom" anti-aircraft gun for air defence. Four 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes were carried in two twin rotating mounts aft. Four depth charge chutes were also fitted aft. Typically ten depth charges were carried. The ship was designed to mount two additional 18 in (457 mm) torpedo tubes either side of the superstructure but this required the forecastle plating to be cut away, causing excess water to come aboard at sea, so they were removed. The weight saved enabled the heavier Mark V 21-inch torpedo to be carried. Fire control included a training-only director, single Dumaresq and a Vickers range clock. The ship had a complement of 90 officers and ratings.
## Construction and career
Laid down on 25 October 1917 by John Brown & Company in Clydebank with the yard number 475, Scout was launched on 27 April the following year and completed on 15 June. The vessel was the twelfth with the name to serve in the Royal Navy, the first being recorded in 1577, and one of nine of the class to be built by the yard. The vessel joined the Twelfth Destroyer Flotilla of the Grand Fleet shortly before the Armistice that ended the First World War.
Although the war on the Western Front had finished, the escalating civil war in Russia continued. The United Kingdom decided to send units of the Royal Navy into the Baltic Sea to monitor the situation and to protect British interests. The fleet was also tasked with helping to help organise the evacuation of German forces from the country and supporting the Estonian War of Independence. Scout was sent as part of a detachment of ten destroyers under the command of Rear-admiral Walter Cowan in the light cruiser Caledon. The flotilla left on 25 March 1919, sailing initially to Oslo, Norway, and Copenhagen, Denmark. Remaining there until 26 April, Scout then departed for Tallinn to support the Estonian armed forces. On 14 May, the destroyer, alongside the light cruiser Cleopatra, destroyer leader Shakespeare and destroyer Walker, left the port to Narva Bay and sailed along the Gulf of Finland. There they supported the Estonian troops against the Red Army with gunfire. They also had occasional encounters with Soviet warships, but these did not lead to significant action. For example, on 17 May, the British flotilla was stationed off the island of Seskar observing the Russian fleet at Kronstadt when the dreadnought battleship Petropavlovsk was reported to have left the anchorage. As the flotilla moved in, four Russian destroyers, led by Avtroil, attacked. Returning fire, the British ships reported a hit on one of the Russian vessels. However, both sides retreated before significant damage was recorded.
At the same time, the Royal Navy was returning to a peacetime level of strength and both the number of ships and the amount of personnel needed to be reduced to save money. By October, Scout had joined the Seventh Destroyer Flotilla based at Rosyth and was placed in reserve with a reduced complement. The ship was briefly allocated to Plymouth as an emergency destroyer until replaced by Tuscan in August 1925. On 1 April 1932, after being repaired, the vessel took up a similar role at the Nore. From there, Scout undertook a visit to Southend between 9 and 13 July. On 9 August 1934, the destroyer took part in an exercise with sister ship Scimitar to test the defences of the northeast coast, including the coastal artillery defending the River Tees. Scout was relieved by Wanderer on 5 March the following year. In April 1936, Scout ceremonially carried the body of the German Ambassador, Leopold von Hoesch, from Dover to Germany after he had died of a heart attack in London. On 4 January 1938, the ship ran aground shortly after departing Sheerness Dockyard for trials but was refloated with one engine damaged and no loss of life. After being repaired, Scout was recommissioned on 20 September and dispatched to Singapore, arriving at the colony on 19 December via the Suez Canal.
Scout joined the China Station. On 12 May 1939, the destroyer was moored off the coast of Xiamen in response to Japanese aggression. Based at British Hong Kong, with the United Kingdom declaration of war on Japan on 8 December 1941, the ship sailed to Singapore. On 18 December, Scout was in command of a flotilla of small craft known as the Perak Flotilla whose task was to stop Japanese landings in northern Sumatra. The Japanese instead attacked Palembang on the south of the island on 13 February 1942. By that time, the destroyer had left the island. During the fall of Singapore, on 14 February, the destroyer left the colony carrying naval personnel, including some who had survived the sinking of Repulse, to safety. Arriving in Batavia, the ship undertook a sortie on 26 February to attack a Japanese convoy, but returned without spotting it the following day. The destroyer sailed for the navy base at Trincomalee in British Ceylon for following day. On 26 March, the ship initially formed part of Force B based at the island supporting the Revenge class battleships that constituted the core of the force. The vessel spent the rest of the war as an escort, primarily between Ceylon and India, but occasionally further afield. For example, on 8 March 1943, the vessel accompanied the troopship Monticello on a trip from Bombay to Melbourne, Australia.
After the end of the conflict, Scout was retired and sold to be broken up on 29 March 1946 by Thos. W. Ward at Briton Ferry. At the time, the vessel was the oldest destroyer in the Royal Navy.
## Pennant numbers |
53,592,686 | Gambia Regiment | 1,151,415,008 | British Army colonial unit | [
"British colonial regiments",
"Law enforcement in the Gambia",
"Military history of the Gambia",
"Military units and formations established in 1901",
"Military units and formations in Burma in World War II",
"The Gambia and the Commonwealth of Nations"
]
| The Gambia Regiment was a British Army colonial regiment drawn from the Gambia Colony and Protectorate that existed between 1901 and 1958. Known as the Gambia Company from 1901 to 1939, and from 1945 to 1950, its strength fluctuated from peacetime and wartime, peaking at two battalions during World War II. It saw active service in both world wars, fighting in German colonies in Kamerun and East Africa during the first, and in Burma against the Japanese in the second. It was raised as part of the larger Royal West African Frontier Force, and was part of the 81st (West Africa) Division during its operations in WWII.
## Early history
Throughout 1900 and 1901, the Gambia had experienced an insurgency against British colonial rule, which was eventually suppressed by a military expedition, known as the Gambia Field Force, under Lieutenant Colonel H. E. Brake. It consisted of soldiers from the West India Regiment and the Central Africa Regiment. With the West African Frontier Force (WAFF) being founded in 1898, the Colonial Office made the decision to raise a company in The Gambia, initially to be part of the Sierra Leone Battalion. Captain F. O. Graham of the Royal Marines oversaw its creation, with it formally being founded on 30 November 1901. Lieutenant Hoskyns of the Lincolnshire Regiment and Sergeant Noble of the Coldstream Guards, along with Graham, recruited a group of 75 Mendes from Sierra Leone to form part of the company. Lieutenant Morley of the Manchester Regiment and Colour Sergeant Wheatcroft of the Worcester Regiment oversaw the training of the Gambian native recruits.
By 2 February 1902, the company had reached its full strength of 120 men. One quarter were native Gambians with the remaining number being from Sierra Leone. In April, the Inspector General inspected the company, and it was reported on very creditably. On 16 April, a detachment of the company under Graham, escorted the Governor to punish some native Gambians in Bita Village, a Jola settlement in (Foni Bintang Karanai) District. During this period, Captain E. H. Hopkinson served as the Medical Officer. Later in 1902, the company was formally separated from the Sierra Leone Battalion. Throughout the following years, the initial Mende recruits were replaced with recruits from local tribes, primarily being Mandinka or Jollof, but also some Fula and Bambara.
In 1906, Captain Hastings of the Manchester Regiment replaced Graham as the company's commanding officer, and Lieutenant Heeles of the Royal Field Artillery replaced Morley. 1907 saw the company issued with SMLE (Lee-Enfield) rifles to replace their carbines. In March 1908, Captain R. D. F. Oldman succeeded Hastings as commander of the company, with Lieutenants Hasketh-Smith and J. A. Savage of the Northamptonshire Regiment joined the company in July. In January 1910, Lieutenant F. V. Manger of the Durham Light Infantry replaced Hasketh-Smith. In September that year, Captain H. T. Dobbin of the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry took over command from Oldman, with Captain V. B. Thurston of the Dorset Regiment replacing Savage and Freman of the Royal Artillery taking Manger's place.
## First World War
At the outbreak of World War I, the Gambia Company had the strength of around 130 soldiers. Hamilton described it as "possibly the Empire's smallest 'regiment'." In September 1914, the signallers were dispatched to take part in the Kamerun campaign. Half the company under Captain V. B. Thurston was dispatched in January 1915, and the other half under H. G. V. M. Freeman was dispatched in September 1915. This left the Gambia Constabulary to garrison the colony.
The detachment from the company formed part of Haywood's column in April 1915, to serve as a preliminary to the Allied advance on Yaoundé. During the 3 May attack on heavily entrenched positions at Wumbiagas, Lieutenant K. Markham-Rose of the Gambia Company was killed. Company Sergeant Major Ebrima Jalu won the African Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM) for his actions during the battle. During fighting around the village of Ngog later in the campaign, The Gambia Company's Lieutenant A. E. Coombs was wounded and later Mentioned in Dispatches (MiD). During later stages of fighting, two other Gambian soldiers, Private Saljen Sidibi and Sergeant Sambah Bah were awarded the DCM. They were also mentioned in dispatches, as was Captain Thurston.In December 1916, the Gambia Company formed part of the Nigerian Brigade that was dispatched to German East Africa. In August 1917, the company moved with the brigade up to Kilwa Kisiwani, and in September the brigade advanced on the western flank of the main British force. Prior to the Battle of Mahiwa from 15 to 17 October 1917, the company had been dispatched 4 miles (6.4 km) to the south-east to Nyangao, to intercept a possible German retreat. The Gambian column, which included a detachment from the Nigerian Battery, came under heavy opposition, but set up perimeter defences to block the route. The next day, however, it was asked to return to Mahiwa to reinforce the main brigade. Realising that the brigade had become surrounded, Roberts, the commander of the Gambian column, took control of the forces of 1 Battalion, Nigerian Regiment, which were in disarray. They formed a front against the German attack, with half of the Gambia Company spread among them, and the other half of the company sent to defend the Nigerian guns.
The greatest intensity of the German attacks was on the force's right flank, with the half of the Gambia Company protecting the guns heavily outnumbered. After sustaining severe casualties, it was forced to retreat. Eventually, Roberts' force withdrew to Nahumpa Mission. Two drafts reinforced the Gambia Company over the course of the East Africa campaign. On 8 April 1918, the company returned to Bathurst, and in November a review was held to celebrate the Armistice. In December, the Governor presented the following medals to members of the company: the DCM to Company Sergeant Major Saisey, Corporal George Thomas, and Corporal Dembah Krubali; the African Meritorious Service Medal to Interpreter Karifa Dembeli. On 1 June 1919, Captain H. T. C. Strange took over command from Law. The Gambia Memorial in Banjul contains the names of nine Gambian soldiers who died during World War I.
## Interwar years
Following the end of World War One, the unit retained its single company strength. The Army Council issued an instruction in 1920 calling for more officers for the Royal West African Frontier Force, including for the Gambia Company. The requirements were that the candidates should be older than 22, officers of the regular army or reserves, and unmarried on taking the appointment. The West African Frontier Force (WAFF) received royal patronage in 1928, becoming the Royal West African Frontier Force (RWAFF). In 1935, with increasing tension in Africa, it was decided to retain the Gambia Company for local defence. It was then decided that it should raise an additional reserve company. In 1937, the company won the Africa Cup of the Army Rifle Association, the first time it had been one by a RWAFF unit that was not from the Nigeria Regiment. In 1940, mention was first made of a Gambia Regiment FC that played against other local association football teams.
## Second World War
As the rise of fascism in Europe was witnessed during the 1930s, and particularly following the Second Italo-Ethiopian War, plans were put in place to provide an RWAFF expeditionary force of two brigades in the event of war. When war broke out, these plans were put into effect, and eventually 28 battalions were formed, alongside light batteries, AA batteries, and all the arms and services which are required to form a brigade. The Gambia was under particular threat as it was completely surrounded by Vichy French territory. The Gambia Company was raised to the strength of a battalion in early 1940, and renamed as the Gambia Regiment. In 1941, a second battalion was formed that remained on the home front for the duration of the war. It was claimed that the two battalions enlisted in the Gambia was the highest proportion of the four British colonies in West Africa.
### Advance into Kaladan Valley, January–March 1944
In January 1944, 1st Battalion, Gambia Regiment, formed a key part of the advance into Kaladan Valley in Burma. The battalion moved on the left of the British force, following a "jeepable" track that allowed the Brigade headquarters to follow, all the way to Paletwa. The battalion met light resistance at Murgai from Japanese forces, but swiftly dealt with them. The final bound to Milawa-Sepawaung was completed on 22 January, firstly by the Gambia Regiment and later in the day by 4th Battalion, Nigeria Regiment. Patrols found Paletwa clear of enemy, but when the advance on the town began on the 24 January, Japanese were found to be well dug-in on two hills that mutually supported each other. The plan of attack was for the Nigerians to surround the position and then attack with a company from the north west, with artillery support from the 3rd Light Battery and the mortars of the Gambia and Sierra Leone regiments. The east flank was to be watched by the Sierra Leone Regiment and the Gambia Regiment was put in brigade reserve. The attack failed, but patrols the next day found that the Japanese had evacuated their positions.
After moving up, reports reached the brigade that the enemy was concentrated on the Kreinggyaung-Bidonegyaungwa-Kaladan line. By this time, the 5th (West Africa) Infantry Brigade was moving through the valley to support the 6th Brigade. On 4 February, the Japanese launched their counter-attack. The Gambia Regiment was positioned 3 miles (4.8 km) north of Kaladan Village on the west bank of the river. On 6 February, the Gambia Regiment, slowly advancing on Kaladan Village, found that the Japanese were strongly entrenched in a commanding position. The next day, they launched an attack but the dense jungle meant co-operation was difficult and no progress was made. On 10 February, all three light batteries had arrived to support the battalion, and with fire support another attack was launched, which resulted in a small advance. The day after, another attack was made, but again failed. By this time discouraged, no further progress was made by the battalion until 15 February, when patrols found the Japanese had vacated its positions, having left in boats overnight.
By 19 February, the battalion had moved to attempt to establish a bridgehead across the Pi Chaun river at its confluence with the Kaladan. It was facing stiff opposition, but needed to do this on order to come in on the rear of the Japanese forces that were holding up the advance of the 5th Brigade. On 23 February, the battalion succeeded in crossing the Pi Chaun at Walagan, and by 24 February the whole of Taungdaun and Kyauktaw were in British hands. The Gambia Regiment was then put in reserve as the 6th Brigade advanced, but on 1–2 March evidence emerged of a Japanese counter-offensive, as the Scout Battalion was pushed back to Pagoda Hill. The Gambia Regiment was dispatched to hold the hill at all costs, and the Division's orders were changed from a further advance to holding the ground they already had.
The battalion was in position on the hill on 2 March, but were disadvantaged by having its companies dispersed so far apart. The Japanese were able to infiltrate the Gambian positions during the night and on dawn on 3 March, they attacked. Control broke down in the battalion, and, unable to take effective action, was overwhelmed by the Japanese and forced to retreat. A "gallant defence" was put up by members of the battalion, but to no avail. Though the 1st Battalion, Sierra Leone Regiment had broken through to reinforce the Gambians, and though the Scout Battalion and Gambia Regiment were regrouping near Pagoda Hill, divisional command made the decision not to attempt to retake the hill.
### Retreat from Kaladan, April–May 1944
As the retreat from Kaladan Valley was underway, it was decided to move the 81st (WA) Division across to the Kalapanzin River to strike in its flank any large scale move by Japanese forces towards Taung. The two units remaining in Kaladan were the Gambia Regiment and the 7th Battalion, 16th Punjab Regiment, together forming Hubforce. During the retreat, the Japanese established themselves on the jeep track south of Mizawa, where they were attacked by the Gambia Regiment on 5 April. A second attack the next day with the Sierra Leone Regiment and supported by artillery successfully dislodged them. Attempting to withdraw during the night of the 7–8 April, they were cut off by a platoon of the Gambia Regiment, who fought them for four hours in the dark. The enemy in these actions was identified as 3rd Battalion, 111th Regiment, who had previously suffered heavily at Pagoda Hill and at other actions. They were estimated to be down to around 1/5th their original strength.
Two days after the rest of the division had left, Hubforce was able to maintain its positions at Kaladan Village. However, fearing encirclement, a retreat was commenced on 13 April, with the Punjabis falling back to Naiwa. On 17 April, the Japanese attacked the Punjabis at Naiwa, causing them to fall back through Paletwa, held by the Gambia Regiment, to Dokhan, 12 miles (19 km) to its north. With enemy pressure increasing, the Gambia Regiment fell back on 23 April through Dokhan to a position covering Daletme. It was decided not to hold the Satpaung-Daletme area, and so the Gambia Regiment took up a position on a ridge 4 miles (6.4 km) east of Labawa on 1 May. Two days later, the Punjabis fell back through the Gambia Regiment to Labawa, and on 7 May the Gambians fell back to a position 3,000 yards north-east of Mowdok, afterwards known as Frontier Hill. During this, 1st Tripura Rifles - a lightly armed state unit who had been watching the Pi Chaun, the route the Japanese were advancing down - withdrew towards Labawa followed closely by the enemy.
The Japanese, having been reinforced, attacked the Labawa position. As there was a danger of them penetrating between the Gambians and the Punjabis, the Punjabis withdrew to a position in the Mowdok area. On 16 May, the Gambians were attacked and the Japanese pressed on their positions throughout 17 May. On 20 May, the Gambia Regiment was relieved by the Punjabis and they moved back to a position covering Mowdok. The XV Corps ordered the rest of 6th Brigade, besides 4th Battalion, Nigeria Regiment, from Taung to Chiringa with the objective of taking control of the Mowdok area. While the 6th Brigade struggled in the rain to reach Mowdok, the Japanese launched their most determined attack on the Punjabis holding Frontier Hill north-east of Mowdok. A counterattack by the Gambia Regiment made little progress, and on the following day the Japanese offensive was renewed.
On 25 May, the commanding officer of Hubforce decided to concentrate around Mowdok, and on 26 May the force was set-up as follows: 1st Battalion, Gambia Regiment on the north; 1st Tripura Rifles on the south and west; 7th Battalion, 16th Punjab Regiment on the east. The headquarters of 6th Brigade reached Tranchi by boat on 1 June, but three days heavy rain prevented all movement. The brigade commander managed to get through and assumed command, and two companies of 1st Battalion, Sierra Leone Regiment arrived on 5 June. The next day, all troops were ordered to withdraw except 1st Tripura Rifles, with the Punjabis retreating to Tranchi on 7 June, followed in the next two days by the Gambians and Sierra Leoneans. On 11 June, the Japanese attacked and captured Mowdok, though the Tripura Rifles set fire to the stores before falling back to Kumai. The movement of 6th Brigade was halted at once and the Gambia Regiment was sent to establish a position at the junction of the Sangu River and the Remanki Chaung, 7 miles (11 km) north of Singpa, which the Tripura Rifles were sent to patrol.
### Retaking of Kaladan
The Gambia Regiment continued to play a role through the re-taking of Kaladan Valley from Japanese forced. In November 1944, the 81st (West Africa) Division began to move down Kaladan Valley, and on 3 December reached Kaladan Village. The Arakan offensive began on 14 December, with the division taking Thandada on 24 December. On 24 January, the division forced the Japanese from Myohaung, and by May all West African operations in Burma were completed. The Japanese were defeated in Burma in August, before their overall surrender in September 1945.
## Post-war and disbandment
Following the end of the Second World War, in 1945 the two battalions of the Gambia Regiment were demobilised and selected elements were combined to form a single company again. This was called 'G' Company, and officially formed part of the Sierra Leone Battalion. The Cape St Mary's Barracks in the Gambia became known as Frontier Hill as a tribute to the May 1944 fighting around Mowdok. On 10 February 1950, the Gambia Regiment was reconstituted as a separate entity, but to be maintained in peacetime at the strength of one company, known as 'A' Company. In April 1951, colours were presented to the regiment. In January 1957, the colony received Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and, despite their limited resources, "carried out the necessary ceremonial and hospitality with commendable skill."
In 1953, the British held a Conference on West African Forces in Lagos, Nigeria. This conference resolved "to provide for an increasing flow of African officers into the West African forces", but no places were reserved at Sandhurst for Gambian soldiers. The conference also made plans for the distribution of two regular commissioned and two short service officers, but by 1955 these had not been carried out. In September 1956, a proposal was presented to transfer the Regiment to local government control, with some financial support from the UK. The British government agreed in March 1957, but pointed out that due to the economic situation in the Gambia, the country could not be asked to increase its contributions to the maintenance of the regiment. Economic problems in the UK led to a reassessment, and later that year the Treasury said that within three years the Gambia would have to take full responsibility for its armed forces.
According to Vidler, "the prospect of maintaining the Regiment in the context of limited resources proved decisive." It was decided that an armed police wing would be cheaper and therefore a more sensible security option. The proposal to disband the regiment was not resisted by the country's elite or by the press. In 1958, the Governor of the Gambia, Percy Wyn-Harris, recommended that the Gambia Regiment was disbanded for financial reasons. The strength of the unit on 31 December 1957 was reported to be five British officers, two British enlisted, and 161 African enlisted. The regiment was progressively reduced from 1 January to 31 March after which it was to be placed in a state of "suspended animation". In December 1957, prior to its disbandment, then-Secretary of State for the Colonies Alan Lennox-Boyd sent the following message to the regiment:
> Your Governor and Commander-in-Chief will have told you that the Gambia Regiment will shortly cease to be an effective unit of Her Majesty's forces. The Gambia Regiment with its record of service in two World Wars has a proud place amongst the Regiments of the Royal West African Frontier Force and I well know how disappointing it must be that you can no longer serve in the Regiment. Changes in the defence policy of Her Majesty's Government mean that it is no longer necessary to maintain the Regiment in being, and the needs of the Gambia itself will be met by an expansion of the Police Force. Some of you will, I expect, join the military wing of the Police, but whether you do or not I am sure you will not let the spirit and traditions of the Regiment die. I send you all my good wishes.
In its place, the Gambia Field Force, a paramilitary unit, was formed to replace it. The Gambia Field Force, in turn, was replaced by the Gambian National Army in 1984.
## Uniform
The parade uniform of the regiment consisted of khaki drill shorts with red fezzes, along with scarlet zouave-style jackets. The jacket style was inherited from the West India Regiment. The jackets had a yellow edging and red cummerbunds. In the field, the regiment originally wore a variation of the Kilmarnock cap, but just prior to World War II this changed to the slouch hat. Similarly, British officers attached to the regiment initially wore pith helmets, but they also later changed to the slouch hat. Although most uniforms in the RWAFF were similar, the special distinction of the Gambia Regiment was a khaki and brown , and a brown cummerbund.
## Commanding officers
## Honours and awards
### Battle honours
### Medal recipients
During World War One, a number of Gambia Company soldiers won medals. These include three recipients of the African Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM): Company Sergeant Major Ebrima Jalu, Sergeant Samba Bah, and Private Saljen Sidibi.
A number of Gambia Regiment soldiers and officers won medals for their service in Burma. The most senior of these was a Distinguished Service Order (DSO) to Lieutenant Colonel Antony Read for his "outstanding leadership" of 1st Battalion, Gambia Regiment during 1944 and 1945. Captain Jan Zieleznik was awarded a Military Cross (MC), as was Captain David Montague Cookson. The following were awarded a Military Medal (MM): Corporal Buba Kaita, Lance Corporal Samba Jallow, Lance Corporal Jallow Yaryah, Private Bokari Bojan, Private Kamara Kinti, Private Musa N'Jie, and Private N'Dowe Dudu. Further to this, Major Stanislaw Lisiecki was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE), and Regimental Sergeant Major Simba Sallow was awarded a British Empire Medal (BEM). A number of others were also Mentioned in Dispatches.
## See also
- Gambia Armed Forces
- Royal West African Frontier Force
- Ghana Regiment, formerly the Gold Coast Regiment
- Nigeria Regiment
- Gambia Constabulary, contemporary armed police force |
5,037,679 | John Paciorek | 1,153,321,995 | American baseball player | [
"1945 births",
"Asheville Tourists players",
"Baseball players from Detroit",
"Batavia Trojans players",
"Cocoa Astros players",
"Durham Bulls players",
"Houston Colt .45s players",
"Living people",
"Major League Baseball right fielders",
"Modesto Colts players",
"Reno Silver Sox players",
"Rock Hill Indians players",
"Salisbury Astros players",
"Statesville Colts players",
"University of Houston alumni",
"Waterbury Indians players"
]
| John Francis Paciorek (/pəˈtʃɔːrɪk/; born February 11, 1945) is an American former baseball player. He attended high school in Michigan, and was signed by the Houston Colt .45s while playing for the school's baseball team. After a season in the minor leagues, he was promoted to the Colt .45's active roster, and played in one game at the end of the 1963 Houston Colt .45s season. In that game, he had three hits and two walks. However, injuries cut his career short; he missed most of 1964 and 1965 due to surgery, and retired after playing parts of four more seasons in the minors. He returned to school, graduated from the University of Houston, and became a physical education teacher after retiring.
Paciorek is rare among Major League Baseball players in having a perfect batting average of 1.000. He is the only player to achieve this distinction with more than two turns at-bat. His two brothers, Jim Paciorek and Tom Paciorek, also played in the Major Leagues.
## Early life
Paciorek was born in Detroit on February 11, 1945. His father was a factory worker in Plymouth, Michigan. He was the oldest of eight children; two of his brothers, Tom and Jim, went on to have MLB careers as well. He attended St. Ladislaus High School in Hamtramck, Michigan, and was named to the varsity baseball team as a freshman. During his high school career, he focused on strength building to achieve his dream of being a baseball player. By the time he graduated, he had gone from 119 pounds (54 kg) to 200 pounds (91 kg), and was an all-state three-sport star in baseball, football, and basketball. Paciorek also played on Detroit's team in the National Amateur Baseball Federation; he was named most valuable player during the annual tournament in 1962. While he was still in high school, Houston general manager Paul Richards convinced Paciorek to sign with the Colt .45s; the two agreed to a \$45,000 contract.
## Baseball career
In late 1962, Paciorek attended an instructional league put on by Houston, which led to him becoming part of the team's spring training roster as one of 63 invited players. During exhibition play, he "hit everything in sight", and had a batting average of over .300. After spring training ended, he began his professional career with the Modesto Colts of the California League and played in 78 games for the team with a .219 batting average and 15 doubles. Late in the season, he injured his back and shoulder; he was diagnosed with a sciatic nerve injury, and was told to rest. Shortly afterward, however, Houston brought Paciorek and seven other rookies onto the major league roster to play in the season finale on September 29. (Two days earlier, the Colts had started an all-rookie lineup; to date, the only time an MLB club has attempted this. The starting pitcher for Houston that day was 17-year-old Jay Dahl, marking his only big-league appearance.)
Paciorek, who was the starting right fielder, began the day with a walk in the second inning. He then had a single in the fourth inning, which drove in Rusty Staub and Bob Aspromonte. After singling and again bringing home Aspromonte in the fifth, Paciorek had a walk in the sixth, and ended the day with a leadoff single in the eighth. In total, he went to the plate five times and hit three singles and had two walks, scoring four runs en route to a 13–4 Houston victory over the New York Mets. He had a perfect major league career batting average and on-base percentage of 1.000 as a result of his performance that day, something no one else with as many plate appearances as Paciorek has done.
Thanks in part to his performance in the final game of Houston's season, Paciorek was invited to spring training for Houston in 1964. His performances included a bases-loaded triple against the Mets. However, his poor play on both offense and defense late in spring training led to him being cut despite being nearly a lock to make the roster. He spent part of the year on the Durham Bulls and Statesville Colts, where he had a .135 batting average in 49 combined games. Partway through the year, he had spinal fusion surgery, which caused Paciorek to miss the rest of the 1964 season, as well as all of 1965.
Paciorek returned to the Houston organization in 1966, and split the season with the Batavia Trojans and Salisbury Astros, where he hit .193 in 77 combined games. The following year, he played for the Asheville Tourists and Cocoa Astros, had a .104 average in 32 games, and was released at season's end. He was given a second chance to return to the major leagues when the Cleveland Indians, who were scouting his brother Tom at the University of Houston, signed him to a minor league contract with a spring training invitation. He spent 1968 with the Single-A Reno Silver Sox and the Rock Hill Indians, and hit .268 with 20 home runs in 95 total games; his 17 home runs with Reno led the team. Paciorek was promoted the following year to the Double-A Waterbury Indians and played in 29 games with them, but tore his achilles tendon during warm-ups, which led to his release and the end of his professional career.
## Post-baseball career
After his baseball career ended, Paciorek returned to school and earned a degree in physical education from the University of Houston, a degree that he began to pursue while recovering from back surgery. While acquiring his degree, he became a Christian Scientist and married Linda Cupp. After graduating from college, he spent several years as an instructor at a Jewish community center, then became a physical education teacher after inquiring about a Christian Science Monitor advertisement for a teaching position at Clairbourn School in San Gabriel, California. Linda died of breast cancer in 1987, and Paciorek married Karen Purdy two years later. Paciorek has four sons and four daughters. His nephew, Joey Paciorek, played in the Milwaukee Brewers minor league organization, and his sons, Pete and Mack, had minor league careers as well. While watching his son in training camp, Paciorek became an author after watching what he felt was improper instruction given to the players. He has since written two books, Plato & Socrates, Baseball's Wisest Fans and The Principle of Baseball, and All There is to Know About Hitting.
Two of his brothers, Jim Paciorek and Tom Paciorek, also played in the Major Leagues. |
48,226,607 | 2004 Macau Grand Prix | 1,171,700,500 | 51st running of the Macau Grand Prix | [
"2004 in Chinese motorsport",
"2004 in Formula Three",
"2004 in Macau sport",
"Macau Grand Prix"
]
| The 2004 Macau Grand Prix (formally the 51st Macau Grand Prix) was a Formula Three race (F3) held on the streets of Macau on 21 November 2004. Unlike other races, such as the Masters of Formula 3, the 2004 Macau Grand Prix was not part of any F3 championship, but was open to entries from any F3 championship. The Macau Grand Prix featured two races for the first time in its history: a ten-lap qualifying race that determined the starting grid for the fifteen-lap main race. The Macau Grand Prix was held for the 51st time in 2004, and the 22nd for F3 cars.
ASM Formula 3's Alexandre Prémat won the Grand Prix after finishing third in the previous day's qualification race, which was won by Manor Motorsport's Lewis Hamilton. Prémat took the race lead when Nico Rosberg and Hamilton went too fast into a corner and slid into a tyre barrier at Lisboa corner and held it for the rest of the race to win after it ended early for a four-car pile up at Police Bend that made the circuit impassable on the 13th lap. Robert Kubica finished second while third was Hitech Racing's Lucas di Grassi.
## Background and entry list
The Macau Grand Prix is a Formula Three (F3) race considered to be a stepping stone to higher motor racing categories such as Formula One and has been termed the territory's most prestigious international sporting event. The Macau Grand Prix was held for the 51st time in 2004, and the 22nd time under F3 rules. It was held on the 6.2 km (3.9 mi) 22 turn Guia Circuit on 21 November 2004 with three preceding days of practice and qualifying.
Drivers had to race in a Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA)-regulated championship meeting during 2004, either in the Formula 3 Euro Series or one of the domestic championships, with the highest-placed drivers receiving priority in being invited to the race. Each of the three major F3 series had a champion on the 32-car grid. Formula 3 Euro Series champion Jamie Green was joined in Macau by the British champion Nelson Piquet Jr., Japanese series victor Ronnie Quintarelli, Italian champion Matteo Cressoni and Asian series winner Christian Jones. Ho-Pin Tung was the sole driver representing the German series in Macau. Five competitors who did not compete in any F3 championship during the year received invitations to the Grand Prix from race organisers. They were Formula BMW Asia series winner Marchy Lee, and Macau natives Jo Merszei, Michael Ho, Lei Kit Meng and Rodolfo Ávila.
After holding the race over two legs since its inception in 1983, the Macau Grand Prix Committee changed the format in 2004 to a ten-lap qualification race on Saturday afternoon, which determined the starting order for the Grand Prix itself the following day. Furthermore, any driver who retired from the qualification race could start at the back of the grid for the main event and still possibly win. In previous years, any driver who did not complete every lap of the first leg could not win overall. Macau Grand Prix Committee co-coordinator João Manuel Costa Antunes said the changes were made to simplify the Grand Prix for racing fans, increase tension over the weekend, and provide a greater incentive for drivers to push hard without fear of losing their chance of victory.
## Practice and qualifying
There were two 30-minute practice sessions prior to Sunday's race: one on Thursday morning and one on Friday morning. In the first practice session, ThreeBond Racing's Fábio Carbone lapped fastest at 2 minutes, 15.216 seconds, six-tenths of a second faster than Richard Antinucci in second. Lewis Hamilton (participating as a free agent after his contract with McLaren had expired), Robert Kubica, Nico Rosberg, Kazuki Nakajima, Quintarelli, Danny Watts, Alexandre Prémat and Naoki Yokomizo were third to tenth. Hamilton's front wheel nut loosened, preventing him from checking his mirrors due to poor visibility. He entered the pit lane to have the problem fixed. After swerving to avoid hitting Álvaro Parente, Kubica grazed a barrier at Lisboa corner. Kubica then understeered into the Melco hairpin wall after running wide on cement laid to clear oil left from a support series.
Qualifying was divided into two 45-minute sessions; the first was held on Thursday afternoon, and the second on Friday afternoon. Each driver's fastest time from either session counted toward their final starting place in the qualification race. The start of the first qualifying session was delayed by 15 minutes due to multiple accidents during practice for the GT Tires Asian Formula Renault Challenge and CTM Touring Car Cup races. When it did begin in warm and sunny weather, Hamilton never relinquished his early lead as he improved his lap time to 2 minutes, 12.344 seconds. He narrowly avoided crashing into a wall after going wide onto some dust. Green was consistently fast, with his fastest lap coming on his final attempt. He was second, but more than a second behind Hamilton. Carbone, the 2003 pole sitter, was third, with Antinucci moving up to fourth in the final minutes. Watts was second early on but dropped to fifth by the end after saving a set of tyres for Friday. Rosberg finished sixth, ahead of Franck Perera and Nakajima. Both Quintarelli and Parente were in the top five early on but finished ninth and tenth. Adam Carroll was the fastest driver who did not set a top ten lap, followed by his British compatriot James Rossiter. Prémat, Nokomizo, Loïc Duval, Piquet, Rob Austin, Katsuyuki Hiranaka, Tung, Kubica, Ho, Cressoni, Daisuke Ikeda, Lee, Jones, Lucas di Grassi, Marko Asmer, Éric Salignon, Lei, Avila, Merszei and Giedo van der Garde completed the provisional starting order. Van Der Garde crashed on his out-lap at San Francisco Bend corner, removing two wheels. The first red flag came a third of the way through as Salignon crashed at Maternity Bend turn and needed extricating. After a short interval, Kubica, Lee, di Grassi, Ikeda and Asmer stopped at the Melco hairpin and track marshals moved their cars. A second red flag came with ten minutes left as Parente heavily damaged his car against the Teddy Yip Bend corner wall.
Kubica was consistently fast in the second half-hour practice session, lapping fastest at 2 minutes, 12.303 seconds. Hamilton made some changes to his car but was 0.646 seconds slower in second. Carbone, Antinucci, Prémat, Green, Perera, Rosberg, Rossiter and Quintarelli completed the top ten ahead of second qualifying. Although the session did not require a stoppage, three minor incidents occurred: Jones lost control of his vehicle at Moorish Hill corner, and Van der Garde and Carroll were caught off guard at the same turn, but all three did not sustain significant damage to their car. Nakajima collided with a wall just before the Melco hairpin.
The second qualifying session was delayed when a car appeared to be stuck at the Melco hairpin, forcing everyone else to scramble for space on the narrow section of track. Lei crashed into a wall at Faraway turn 12 minutes in and was about to recover when Avila hit him. This triggered the session's first red flag since the circuit became impassable. As drivers began lapping faster, Salignon triggered the second red flags as he crashed into the Maternity Bend corner wall trying to avoid Kubica. The final red flag flew as Nakajima ran wide at the R-Bend turn, spun into a wall, ricocheted into the track's centre, and littered debris. Hamilton did not improve because of the session interruptions and him causing a multi-car accident at the Melco hairpin. With a lap of 2 minutes, 12.155 seconds, his teammate Kubica became the first Polish driver to claim pole position in Macau in the final five minutes. Hamilton joined Kubica on the grid's front row and Anuticci gained one place at the session's end to start from third. Rosberg claimed fourth and Piquet moved eleven places from the first qualifying session to take fifth. Although Green and Carbone lapped faster, they fell to sixth and seventh. Prémat and di Grassi moved to eighth and tenth and separated Nakajima in ninth. Behind them the rest of the field composed of Watts, Duval, Perera, Parente, Quintarelli, Yokomizo, Rossiter, Carroll, Salignon, Hiranaka, Austin, Ikeda, Cressoni, Asmer, Lee, Van der Garde, Tung, Jones, Ho, Avila, Lei and Merszei.
### Qualifying classification
Each of the driver's fastest lap times from the two qualifying sessions are denoted in bold.
## Warm-up one
A ten-minute warm-up session was held on the morning of the qualifying race. Hamilton maintained his strong form to pace the session with a time of 2 minutes, 12.904 seconds, more than two seconds faster than anyone else in the session's early stages. His closest challenger was Carbone in second place. Kubica, Rosberg, Duval, Watts, Di Grassi, Antinucci, Piquet and Nakajima followed in the top ten.
## Qualifying race
The qualifying race to set the starting order for the main race began in dry, sunny weather on 20 November at 14:00 Macau Standard Time (UTC+08:00). Hamilton made a strong start to slipstream of his teammate Kubica, who was on the inside line entering Reservoir turn. Hamilton steered left to scare Kubica into slowing and took the lead on the approach to Mandarin Bend, which he maintained entering Lisboa turn. Further back, a series of incidents on the grid called for the safety car's deployment for four laps. Antinucci was slow to leave his starting position, so Piquet went to the right to pass him, but the manoeuvre resulted in him removing his car's left-front wheel. When Nakajima stalled in his grid slot, the rear of his vehicle was hit by Salignon, who then speared into a barrier alongside the track just after the start/finish line, causing a larger accident. Tung glimpsed space to drive through but he was launched airborne after striking the rear of Lee's car, who aggressively turned to the right as Avila got collected.
With debris on the track, the remaining drivers were cautious across the start/finish line and avoided sharp debris to avoid a punctured tyre. Under the safety car, Piquet returned to the pit lane without a fully attached front-left wheel and he retired because his team could not repair it before the race's conclusion. Salignon was trapped in his car and needed help from course officials. This was attributed to the safety car's prolonged presence on the circuit. He was later transported to a local hospital for precautionary observations before being released with no major injuries found. Meanwhile, circuit marshals used a crane to lift the cars off the track and spread cement dust. Hamilton held the lead at the lap five restart and Rosberg passed Kubica into Mandarin Bend corner. Carroll challenged and overtook Perera for eleventh before the end of the fifth lap and set to draw closer to Rossiter. Green passed Carbone for fourth place. Carbone attempted to reclaim fourth but Green's defended the place. Prémat pushed hard and got close to a barrier at Maternity Bend before passing Kubica on the drive to Lisboa turn on lap six.
Duval led a pack of cars further down the order as Rossiter passed Watts (who had front wing damage) and the latter battled Perera. Both were slipstreaming each other on the circuit's main straights. But when Antinucci got involved, things went wrong, and Carroll passed Watts going into Lisboa corner on lap seven. This caught Antinucci off guard, forcing him to take the turn's escape road. Antinucci could not restart his car, and marshals extricated it. Hamilton set the race's fastest lap on lap nine at 2 minutes and 12.801 seconds to lead by 2.2 seconds and win the race for pole position in the Grand Prix itself. Rosberg finished second, with Prémat completing the podium in third. Kubica held off Green in the final stages to finish fourth. Behind them Carbone, Duval, di Grassi, Rossiter, Watts, Carroll, Perera, Hiranaka, Austin, Yokomizo, Quintarelli, Parente, Ikeda, Asmer, Cressoni, Van Der Garde, Jones, Ho, Lei and Merszei were the final classified finishers.
### Qualifying race classification
## Warm-up two
A second 20-minute warm-up session was held on the morning of the main race. Kubica recovered from fourth in the qualifying race to lap fastest at 2 minutes, 11.485 seconds. Prémat was almost three-tenths of a second slower in second. Hamilton, Green, Rosberg, Antinucci, Rossiter, Piquet, Watts and Yokomizo completed the top ten. Salignon's chassis was damaged enough from his qualification race crash to be withdrawn from the race.
## Main Race
The race began on 21 November at 15:45 local time in dry, sunny weather. On the grid, Hamilton was slow off the line, and Rosberg took the lead into Mandarin Bend. Prémat held off a challenge from Kubica for third place. Rossiter and his teammate Duval made contact as they approached the Lisboa turn. Both went into the corner's run-off area, and their races ended on the first lap. Rosberg was pushing hard at the start of the second lap in an attempt to gain some space from Hamilton and spent too much time observing the latter in his rearview mirrors, causing him to drive into Lisboa turn too quickly with his brakes locked and slide sideways on oil laid by the support races. Rosberg ran into a tyre barrier with his car's front. Hamilton was also pushing hard when he ran wide. As a result, he was unable to avoid colliding with Rosberg's car. Watts, who was alongside Carroll on the straight and braked late, saw Hamilton's stricken car and drove into the escape road. Hiranaka then collided with Watts, who avoided any visible damage as he returned to the track while the former lost a lot of time restarting his vehicle. Rosberg retired but Hamilton disentangled himself from his car and rejoined the race.
Prémat took the lead after Hamilton and Rosberg's crashes, with Kubica second. Prémat got sideways at Moorish Hill and grazed a wall with his left-rear tyre on that lap. He did not retire because his car was not severely damaged. It allowed Kubica to close the gap, but he was unable to overtake Prémat. Carbone bent the right side of his front wing when he collided with di Grassi's rear, damaging the latter's diffuser. Despite this, di Grassi did not appear to be slowed by the collision. The safety car was deployed on lap three when Parente crashed heavily at the Solitude Esses complex. Track marshals extricated his car and debris was cleared. Prémat checked his car's steering under the safety car and found no problems. Prémat led when the race resumed on the start of lap six. Kubica misjudged its timing, allowing Green to slipstream past him for second entering Lisboa corner. As di Grassi blocked his Brazilian compatriot Carbone from passing for fourth, Kubica's tyres reached their optimum operating temperatures and he began to challenge Green for second.
Carroll could not challenge Perera. Carbone slowed as Carroll was near him, allowing di Grassi to pull away slightly. On lap eight, Perera retook sixth from Carroll, and Austin duelled the latter. Green's chance to win were ended on that lap when he sustained a left-rear puncture from possible debris. He lost time running wide at Fisherman's Bend. Kubica overtook Green for second and slowed en route to the pit lane for new tyres. The finishing order appeared to be settled by this point, but Ikeda disrupted the rhythm by crashing into a barrier and had to be extricated via crane. Soon after, Avila and Jones collided at the Solitude Esses complex, and the safety car was deployed at the end of lap nine because the track was temporarily blocked. Yokomizo went off the track under the safety car; it did not extend its on-track time as it was withdrawn when lap eleven ended, with Prémat leading. As Prémat pulled away from Kubica, Carbone took the opportunity to overtake di Grassi for third at Lisboa corner and the latter immediately planned a counter-attack.
Carroll unsuccessfully attempted to overtake Perera and he lost control of his car but avoided a barrier. Meanwhile, Hamilton tried to pass Nakajima when he hit a wall going uphill to the Maternity Bend corner. Di Grassi was blocked by Carobne in an unsuccessful pass. On lap 13, Asmer spun across the track at Police Bend, making it impassable when Hiranka, Jones, and Tung piled into the corner. Officials chose to wave red flags on the lap, and the race result was counted back to the running order at the end of lap eleven. Prémat thus won the race, becoming the third driver, after David Coulthard (1991) and Takuma Sato (2001), to win both the Macau Grand Prix and the Masters of Formula 3 in the same year. Kubica was 0.675 seconds behind in second place. Carbone's overtake on di Grassi was nullified by the stoppage, and the latter finished third. Off the podium, Carbone was fourth, Perera fifth with the British duo of Carroll and Austin sixth and seventh. Quintarelli was eighth, Antinucci gained seventeen positions to finish ninth and Piquet completed the top ten. Asmer, Watts, Nakajima, Hamilton, Van Der Garde, Tung, Jones, Lee, Lei, Green, Merszei, Yokomizo and Hiranka were the final classified finishers.
### Main Race classification |
3,753,724 | Xenosaga Episode III | 1,169,105,653 | 2006 video game | [
"2006 video games",
"Japanese role-playing video games",
"PlayStation 2 games",
"PlayStation 2-only games",
"Single-player video games",
"Turn-based role-playing video games",
"Video game sequels",
"Video games developed in Japan",
"Video games scored by Yuki Kajiura",
"Video games set on fictional planets",
"Xenosaga games"
]
| Xenosaga Episode III: Also sprach Zarathustra is a role-playing video game developed by Monolith Soft and published by Namco Bandai Games for the PlayStation 2 in 2006. It is the final entry in both the Xenosaga trilogy and the larger Xenosaga series, which forms part of the Xeno franchise. Concluding the narrative of Xenosaga Episode I and Episode II, Episode III sees Shion Uzuki and the battle android KOS-MOS search out the origins of the hostile alien Gnosis while being hunted by Shion's former employers and four powerful humans called the Testaments. Gameplay is carried over from the first two games, featuring exploration of environments through a linear narrative, while battles follow a turn-based system featuring multiple leveling systems and combat with both a human party and mecha.
Concept work for Xenosaga Episode III began during the later development of Xenosaga Episode II in 2004. The development team's aim was to address issues raised by fans and staff with the previous two Xenosaga games, along with bringing the story to a satisfactory conclusion. Due to the decision to turn the intended six-part series into a trilogy, the original draft for Episode III was substantially reworked. As with previous Xenosaga titles, the subtitle was drawn from the work of German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche.
Upon release, the game was praised by critics, and went on to sell over 340,000 copies worldwide. The mixed response to the Xenosaga series left Monolith Soft staff in a state of low morale, partially leading to the development of Xenoblade Chronicles.
## Gameplay
Xenosaga Episode III is a role-playing video game where players take control of a party of characters; during the game they explore a variety of environments from towns and cities to dungeons. During the course of the game, a Database is filled out which holds entries on terminology, characters, story events and earlier events from past Xenosaga games. The game features a variety of quests including the main narrative and side quests accepted from non-playable characters. The party can purchase items and equipment from shops found in friendly environments throughout the game. Gameplay segments are separated by story sequences, which are told through both traditional full-motion cutscenes and segments with voiced text boxes within the game environments. Enemies such as monsters can be seen in environments, to be avoided or engaged as wished; the party can also place traps which temporarily immobilize an enemy unit. When the party makes contact with a monster, the battle is initiated. Triggering a battle with a trapped enemy grants a boost in battle. Combat is split into two types; one with the human party members, and one using combat mechs dubbed E.S. units.
When battle begins, the player and enemy parties fight in a dedicated combat arena. The combat is governed by a turn-based battle system. The player party is restricted to three members, but at the cost of one turn an active character can be switched out for a reserve character. Each character has a certain number of health points (HP) and Ether points (EP). If all HP is depleted, a character is defeated. Turn order is governed by a character's "Agility" statistic. Each character can take a variety of actions, ranging from attacking, performing special attacks called "Arts" and using Ether abilities that each consume EP, using items, taking defensive positions that reduce damage, and escaping the battle. Both the player party and enemies have Break gauges, which fill up when either side successfully lands an attack. When the gauge fills, that character is stunned and cannot act for two turns, in addition becoming more vulnerable to a high-damage Critical attack. The Break gauge can be reduced by using Ether abilities, which can also be used along with items to recover HP.
Each player character has a "Boost" gauge that builds up during battle, which can be used to either perform two actions in a single turn, or deliver character-specific special attacks. If an enemy is killed with a special attack—an action labelled "Finish Strike"—at the end of a battle, they are granted a boost to their experience points (EXP), in-game money and skill points (SP) used to upgrade abilities. EXP raises a character's health and basic statistics. SP are invested in skill trees for each character, with each tree having a different emphasis in its skills to unlock; some trees include powerful Ether attacks, others Break damage, and others defensive or supportive abilities.
Combat in E.S. mecha is governed by similar mechanics to normal battle. Some dungeons in the game are only navigable with mechs, while others enable the player to switch between navigating on foot or in mechs. Three mechs can be active at any one time, with a fourth in reserve to replace one which is knocked out in battle. Mechs can perform standard and special attacks, with the type of attacks available determined by that mech's equipped weapon. Each mech has a finite energy level, which their equipped weapon draws upon to perform an action. Each time a mech strikes an enemy with an attack, their Anima gauge will fill up. When full, the mech can enter "Anima Mode", a temporary state where attack power is raised and energy costs for actions are lowered. E.S. units are customized and upgraded in five different areas, with each area granting different status buffs to the mech, such as raising health regeneration during charging periods or increasing EXP awarded at the end of a battle.
## Synopsis
### Setting
Like the rest of the series, Xenosaga Episode III takes place in a science fiction universe. In the year "20XX", the Zohar—an artifact dating from the beginning of the universe which connects to the realm of a god-like energy dubbed U-DO—was unearthed by an archeological expedition in Kenya; the Zohar is key to enabling humanity to travel in space beyond the Solar System. Over 4000 years in the future, humanity has left Earth behind to colonize the galaxy following a terrible event, resulting in Earth's location being lost and the planet being dubbed "Lost Jerusalem": by the game's events, humanity has adopted a new calendar system dubbed "Transcend Christ" (T.C.), with the game's events taking place in T.C. 4768—equivalent to A.D. 7278. Humanity is now spread across 500,000 planets, with their governments forming the Galaxy Federation. Planets are connected through a warp travel network called the Unus Mundus Network (U.M.N.). The U.M.N. is managed by Vector Industries, which also controls interests in the Federation's military. Existing alongside humans are Realians, synthetic humans who hold equal status with natural humans. The Federation has come under attack from an ancient alien race called the Gnosis, which begins decimating Federation worlds. As normal weapons are ineffective, Vector develops two different weapon systems designed to fight them: humanoid mecha dubbed A.G.W.S. (Anti Gnosis Weapon System), and the similar but more powerful KOS-MOS battle androids. There also exist more advanced AGWS models called E.S., powered by Lost Jerusalem artifacts called Vessels of Anima. Important organizations include the Kukai Foundation, a group that acts as a shelter for enhanced humans; the U-TIC Organization, a once-scientific group that now wishes to gain control of the Zohar; and Ormus, a secretive cult from Lost Jerusalem which secretly funds U-TIC and operates through a political faction called the Immigrant Fleet.
A key episode in the game's backstory is the Miltian Conflict, which occurred fourteen years before the events of Episode I on the planet Miltia; beginning due to a war between U-TIC and the Federation, it escalated due to a group of Realians going berserk and attacking people indiscriminately. The planet of Miltia was lost in a space-time anomaly when an experiment involving U.R.T.Vs—an army of 669 genetically modified children designed to combat U-DO's energies—goes horribly wrong. During the events of Xenosaga Episode I, main protagonist Shion Uzuki and her creation the anti-Gnosis android KOS-MOS are forced to escape an Gnosis attack triggered by the discovery of a Zohar Emulator, a manmade copy of the Zohar. During their journey to Second Miltia aboard the passenger freighter Elsa, they are pursued by U-TIC forces; encounter more Gnosis seeking the Zohar Emulator; and Shion experiences visions of a young girl named Nephilim. Sheltering with the Kukai Foundation, they are eventually forced to confront Albedo Piazzolla, an unhinged U.R.T.V. determined to reach Miltia, when he threatens Second Miltia with a powerful weapon called the Proto Merkabah. The group destroy the Proto Merkabah, but Albedo escapes with data that could open the way to Miltia. During Xenosaga Episode II, Albedo succeeds in accessing Miltia, using the conflict between Ormus and the Federation to access a powerful mech called the Proto Omega. The Testaments grant him access to the Zohar, forcing party member and fellow U.R.T.V. Jr. to kill him. Following the defeat of the Proto Omega, the Zohar is absorbed by a giant ship dubbed "Abel's Ark". Over the next year, Shion discovers that Vector and her father were directly involved the U-TIC's activities, resigning from Vector following a series of Gnosis attacks dubbed the "Gnosis Terrorism".
### Characters
The main protagonists are Shion Uzuki, a former employee of Vector Industries; and KOS-MOS, a prototype anti-Gnosis battle android. They are accompanied on their journey by Jr., a U.R.T.V. survivor who runs the Kukai Foundation with his brother Gaignun and commands both the Elsa and the ship Durandal; Jin Uzuki, Shion's brother and a veteran of the Miltian Conflict; chaos, a melancholy young man with mysterious powers; MOMO, a prototype Realian created by U-TIC scientist Joachim Mizrahi and modeled after his dead daughter; Ziggy—short for Ziggurat 8—a cyborg who acts as MOMO's guardian; and Canaan, a combat Realian who worked with chaos during the Miltian Conflict. Other characters include Allen Ridgeley, a former co-worker of Shion; Wilhelm, CEO of Vector and the main antagonist; T-elos, an anti-Gnosis battle android similar to KOS-MOS; Margulis, a high-ranking officer in U-TIC; Dmitri Yuriev, creator and biological father of the U.R.T.Vs who has survived through possessing Gaignun's body; Nephilim, a young girl who appears to Shion in visions; and Abel, a young man connected to U-DO. Serving Wilhelm are the Testaments, resurrected men with supernatural abilities; they are the Red Testament Kevin Winnicot, Shion's former love interest; the Blue Testament Luis Virgil, a former Federation officer; the Black Testament Voyager, an old adversary of Ziggy; and the White Testament Albedo, the U.R.T.V. "brother" of Jr. and Gaignun.
### Plot
Following her resignation from Vector in the wake of her discoveries and the Gnosis Terrorism, Shion allies with underground group Scientia to investigate. Her former co-worker Allen takes her place looking after KOS-MOS. Meanwhile, Canaan, Jr., Jin, chaos, MOMO and Ziggy are investigating a landmass that originated from Lost Jerusalem. They are attacked by Margulis, then the landmass is swallowed with the Elsa in an inverted pocket of hyperspace. Shion meanwhile visits Allen, and sees the demonstration of two new weapons for fighting the Gnosis—T-elos, a battle robot meant to replace KOS-MOS; and Omega, a mech created from the Proto Omega's remains and piloted by Abel. After the test, T-elos' creator Roth Mantel informs Allen that KOS-MOS will be scrapped so development can focus on T-elos. As KOS-MOS's weaponry is the only way to break into the hyperspace pocket and save the Elsa, Shion leads the group into the facility and rescues KOS-MOS, guided at one point by Abel. During this time, Shion has frequent visions of the girl Nephilim, and has blackouts where she is contacted by U-DO. Events are also observed by Wilhelm, who is working with the Testaments to find both Abel and Abel's Ark.
Entering the hyperspace pocket, the group find the Elsa and investigate the area, encountering both Albedo and Virgil and learning that the Vessels of Anima powering their E.S. mecha are key to the Testaments' plans. They are then confronted by Mantel—who reveals himself as the Red Testament—and T-elos. T-elos almost kills KOS-MOS, but Shion's pendant activates, apparently transporting them to the planet Miltia fifteen years into the past, in reality a world within Shion's subconscious. They are attacked by Voyager, who is beaten back by a redesigned KOS-MOS. During the group's time there, Shion learns the true events that caused Miltia's fall; her father, Kevin, Margulis and Mizrahi were attempting to control the Zohar through experiments involving both Shion and her mother, but when U-TIC and Federation forces clashed, Kevin and Margulis released unstable combat Realians which slaughtered nearly everyone in the battle. The trauma caused the young Shion to resonate with the Zohar, summoning the Gnosis and awakening U-DO; it was only Mizrahi's self-sacrifice in sealing away Miltia that prevented the chaos from spreading. The group fight Virgil before he is calmed by the spirit of Febronia—who tended him when he was injured on Miltia and with whom he formed an attachment prior to her death—and follows her into the afterlife. The Red Testament also appears, revealing his true identity as Kevin and asking Shion to join him.
Evading Kevin and T-elos, the group escape from Shion's subconscious back into the normal world, but following this Shion becomes emotionally unstable. During their absence, the Federation government is manipulated by Yuriev into assaulting Ormus in search of an artifact called Zarathustra. Abel's Ark, summoned by the events in Shion's subconscious, appears in the real world and begins causing planets to vanish as it pursues Zarathustra. Nephilim asks Shion to free Abel from Yuriev's control, then Yuriev leads the Federation fleet and Omega to capture the Durendal. Yuriev activates the Zohar Emulators stored in the Durandal, intent on using them in combination with Omega and Abel's Ark to defeat U-DO by rising to godhood. The group successfully infiltrate Abel's Ark, where Jr. kills Yuriev with help from Albedo. Albedo then teleports Abel and the Zohar away. The conflict results in Albedo's consciousness merging with Jr., while Gaignun dies along with Yuriev. The group follow Abel and the Zohar to the planet Michtam, the holy land of Ormus. There they kill a disillusioned Margulis, and Canaan sacrifices himself to destroy Voyager.
Descending deeper into Michtam, Shion experiences visions of Lost Jerusalem, seeing chaos under the name "Yeshua" alongside a previous incarnation of herself, KOS-MOS's physical template Mary Magdalene, and Jesus prior to his death. In a final confrontation with T-elos, they learn that T-elos and KOS-MOS were both designed by Wilhelm and the Testaments to resurrect Mary Magdalene, with KOS-MOS holding her spirit and T-elos being made from her body. The group are then confronted by Kevin, who asks KOS-MOS and Shion to join him. Shion, blinded by her love, joins him until Allen convinces her otherwise, voicing his own long-held love. The group then confront Wilhelm at Zarathustra's resting place. Wilhelm reveals that he has been preserving the universe from ending due to human wills that reject connection with U-DO; by capturing U-DO's "eyes" Abel and Abel's Ark and using eternal recurrence, Wilhelm has trapped the universe in a time loop with the power of Zarathustra and the Zohar. The Gnosis are revealed to be spawned from the wills that reject U-DO and escape from U-DO's realm. Shion, whose necklace and will are key to activating Zarathustra, is tortured by Wilhelm in an attempt to make her wish for recurrence. KOS-MOS shatters the necklace, preventing the recurrence from ever happening. A redeemed Kevin then sacrifices himself to destroy Wilhelm, allowing the group to cripple Zarathustra.
Abel, Nephilim, KOS-MOS and chaos choose to stay on Michtam, drawing all Gnosis to them and using a dimensional shift to move that region of space to Lost Jerusalem. Their actions and the release of chaos's Anima energy—which is accelerating the universe's death—will delay the universe's destruction, giving Shion time to find Lost Jerusalem and discover the key to changing humanity's will and saving the universe. During the escape, Jin sacrifices himself to save Shion. The resultant explosion of energy from the dimensional shift destroys the U.M.N., rendering faster-than-light travel impossible. Shion goes with Jr. and Allen on the Elsa to find Lost Jerusalem, while MOMO stays behind with Ziggy to reconstruct a new travel network with Scientia's help. In the mid and post-credit scenes, a badly-damaged KOS-MOS floats through space and is contacted by chaos, saying they will both awake when they are needed. KOS-MOS is last seen drifting towards Lost Jerusalem.
## Development
Development of Xenosaga Episode III began in 2004 during the final development stages of Episode II. While Xenosaga was initially planned as a six-part series, changes at developer Monolith Soft resulted in series creator Tetsuya Takahashi giving guidance of the series to younger developers within the company. During this period, the team decided to turn the Xenosaga series into a trilogy, resulting in changes to the planned scenario and some elements being turned into side projects such as Xenosaga: Pied Piper. The director was Koh Arai, who had previously directed Episode II. Takahashi drafted and supervised the scenario, which was written by Episode II writer Norihiko Yonesaka. One of the main goals when developing Episode III was not only to bring a satisfactory end to the Xenosaga storyline up to that point, but to address criticism of the short length of Episode II's story, while also addressing general problems noticed with both Episode I and Episode II. Namco Bandai later stated in an interview that the game's final form was based on both fan feedback and the wishes of internal staff, with the final game being "something very close to what [they believed] to be the original ideal".
According to original Xenosaga writer Soraya Saga, the changes to the original narrative plan for Episode II resulted in several narrative shifts within Episode III, deviating from Takahashi and Saga's original draft. The scenario for Episode III includes narrative elements Takahashi originally created for Episode II, which had been cut from Episode II due to time constraints. As with the rest of the trilogy, the game made heavy use of Biblical mythology. The game's subtitle was taken from the native title of Thus Spoke Zarathustra, a novel by German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. The use of Nietzsche's works and concepts was a recurring element in the series. The original character artist for Xenosaga, Kunihiko Tanaka, was replaced by Kouichi Mugitani, who also acted as production designer as he had for the previous Xenosaga games. The character designs were adjusted to balance between the designs of Episode I and Episode II, expressing both realism and an exaggerated "cute" artstyle. While most of the designs were adaptions of Tanaka's earlier work, Mugitani also designed a new version of KOS-MOS and multiple new mechs. Mugitani's mech and armor designs drew from both the Gundam franchise and the 1997 film adaptation of Starship Troopers.
Xenosaga Episode III was officially announced in 2005, alongside Xenosaga I & II—a Nintendo DS remake of the first two Xenosaga episodes—and Baten Kaitos Origins. With its announcement, it was widely confirmed that it would be the last installment in the Xenosaga series. While Episode III was intended as the conclusion of Shion's story arc and potentially the series, the team were willing to continue the series if the game was a commercial success. The game was announced for a western release in April 2006. For its western release, all scenes where blood was visible were censored: the blood was removed, but all other elements remained unchanged, resulting in visual and audio inconsistencies. The game released in Japan on July 6, 2006 by Namco; in North America, the game released on August 29 of that year by Namco Bandai Games. The game was localized for the West by Namco Bandai and 8-4; Xenosaga Episode III was one of 8-4's earliest projects. English dubbing was handled by Cup of Tea Productions, who had previously worked on Episode II. Several original voice actors from Episode I, including KOS-MOS's original English actress Bridget Hoffman, were brought back after the recasting for Episode II. Unlike Episode II, Episode III was not released in Europe.
### Music
The music for Episode III was composed by Yuki Kajiura. Having previous contributed to the score of Episode II by composing the cimenatic tracks, Kajiura was brought back to compose the entire score. Despite the increased work load of handling an entire game's soundtrack, Kajiura found the difficulty similar to the work she did on Episode II. She drew inspiration from the game's artwork and impression of the setting when creating the score. Takahashi, in addition to his other roles in production, acted as coordinator for the score. A soundtrack album titled Xenosaga Episode III: Also Sprach Zarathustra Original Sound Best Tracks, featuring selections from the game's score, was published by Victor Entertainment on July 12, 2006. The album's brevity was due to the fact that the full soundtrack would have taken up six CDs, and so Kajiura was asked by sound producer Keiichi Nozaki to create samples for a two-disc release.
## Reception
During its debut week, Xenosaga Episode III reached number 2 in the charts behind New Super Mario Bros. with sales approaching 124,000 units. While its sales were stronger than Xenosaga I & II, it was a lower debut than the previous entries in the trilogy. It sold over 181,000 copies in Japan by the end of 2006. During Q3 of 2006, the game sold a total of 343,000 across Japan, mainland Asia and North America.
Simon Parkin, in an import review for Eurogamer, felt that the sheer number of philosophical and religious elements in the story both stifled any relatable narrative and robbed the characters of any personality; despite this he felt the ending successfully tied up remaining narrative threads from previous games. Famitsu enjoyed the narrative's presentation, but noted the lack of a focused narrative due to the number of story threads needing addressing. GamePro said the story came to an "intriguing conclusion", but felt that the cutscenes were too long. GameSpot's Bethany Massimilla enjoyed the story and character conclusions, but felt that understanding the story and terminology required too much referral to the in-game encyclopedia. Eduardo Vasconcellos of GameSpy found the story long-winded, while IGN's Jeremy Dunham found the narrative to be one of the best aspects of the game. RPGamer's Josh Martz called the story a "triumphant conclusion to Shion's arc of the series". Both Parkin and Massimilla criticized the censoring of blood and its negative effects on the story's more dramatic moments.
Parkin enjoyed the battle system's mechanics, but found the rest of the gameplay "extremely straightforward" due to a lack of complex environments or side activities. GamePro gave high praise to the combat system and lack of random encounters, in addition to calling the mini game "practically its own entire game, and fun, too". Massimilla praised the balanced mechanics of the battle system and customization options. Vasconcellos also enjoyed the customization options available to the player, in addition to the battle system. Dunham enjoyed the combat system and its blending of elements from past games, but was disappointed that no new elements had been added. Martz also enjoyed the varied systems and strategy within combat, despite noting a lack of overall challenge.
Parkin praised the "middle ground" balance in the character designs between the deformed look of Episode I and the realism of Episode II. Famitsu praised the shortened loading times, and GamePro praised the graphics and art design while criticizing the voice acting quality. Massimilla positively noted the game's art design, cutscene animation, and music and sound design. Both Dunham and Martz praised both music and voice acting.
## Legacy
Xenosaga Episode III was the last property to be released in the Xenosaga series. Following the release of Episode III, and the mixed reception received by the series as a whole, the entire development team were in a state of low morale. Partly to boost team morale and create a game players would enjoy, the team developed a new RPG for the Wii; originally titled Monado: Beginning of the World, its title was eventually changed to Xenoblade Chronicles. During its development, the team moved away from the narrative and design techniques used for the Xenosaga games, which were considered old-fashioned. The success of Xenoblade Chronicles led to the development of further Xeno titles. In a later interview, Takahashi stated that he would be willing to develop further titles in the Xenosaga series if funding was provided. |
3,143,660 | Dig Me Out | 1,171,163,193 | null | [
"1997 albums",
"Albums produced by John Goodmanson",
"Kill Rock Stars albums",
"Matador Records albums",
"Sleater-Kinney albums",
"Sub Pop albums"
]
| Dig Me Out is the third studio album by the American rock band Sleater-Kinney, released on April 8, 1997, by Kill Rock Stars. The album was produced by John Goodmanson and recorded from December 1996 to January 1997 at John and Stu's Place in Seattle, Washington. Dig Me Out marked the debut of Janet Weiss, who would become the band's longest-serving drummer. The music on the record was influenced by traditional rock and roll bands, while the lyrics deal with issues of heartbreak and survival. The album cover is an homage to the Kinks' 1965 album The Kink Kontroversy.
Two singles were released in support of the album: "One More Hour" and "Little Babies". The title track "Dig Me Out" peaked at number six on the KEXP Top 90.3 Album Chart in 1997 without being released as a single. The album was acclaimed by music critics, who praised the album's energy and feminist lyrics. Retrospectively, Dig Me Out is considered the band's breakthrough record and is frequently included on several publications' best album lists. In 2020, Rolling Stone ranked it No. 189 on its list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
## Background and recording
Dig Me Out is the follow-up to Sleater-Kinney's highly acclaimed second album Call the Doctor, released in 1996 by the queercore independent record label Chainsaw Records. Call the Doctor confirmed the band's reputation as one of the major musical acts from the Pacific Northwest, rebelling against gender roles, consumerism, and indie rock's male-dominated hierarchy. After the release of Call the Doctor, drummer Janet Weiss of Quasi joined the band. Previously, the band had had a number of temporary drummers, including Misty Farrell, Lora Macfarlane, and Toni Gogin. Weiss would eventually become Sleater-Kinney's longest serving drummer. For its third album, Sleater-Kinney worked again with producer John Goodmanson. The band left Chainsaw Records and decided to release the album through Kill Rock Stars, another independent record label which singer and guitarist Corin Tucker thought had better resources to ensure the band's distribution. Goodmanson also remarked that Kill Rock Stars afforded the band a generous amount of studio time for an independent label, stating that Call the Doctor only took four days to record while Dig Me Out was recorded over the period of eight days.
Dig Me Out was written in nearly two months and recorded from December 1996 to January 1997 at John and Stu's Place in Seattle, Washington. During the recording sessions, recording the vocal interplay between Tucker and co-vocalist and guitarist Carrie Brownstein involved some difficulties. However, the producer took care and prevented favoring one voice over the other. As Goodmanson recalls: "We always used different mikes for the lead vocal and for the second vocal, or different kinds of processing to make those things really distinct. To make it so you can hear both things at once". Goodmanson also noted that the fact that the band features no bass player was an advantage for the album's production. He explained: "The awesome thing about having no bass player is you can make the guitars sound as big as you want. Usually you have to clear all that room out for the bass, so you can hear the bass line. With no bass there, you can just go for giant guitar sounds that you wouldn't normally be able to go for".
## Music and lyrics
Musically, Dig Me Out was considered rockier than its predecessor. Weiss' drumming style was influenced by traditional rock and roll bands such as the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, and the Kinks, as well as numerous blues rock musicians such as Lightnin' Hopkins, Muddy Waters, Billy Boy Arnold, and Bessie Smith, among others. Both Tucker and Brownstein remarked that Weiss became an essential part of the band's sound. According to Tucker, "Musically, she's completed our band. She's become the bottom end and the solidness that we've really wanted for our songwriting". In addition to playing drums, Weiss provides hand claps and tambourine in "Turn It On". Dig Me Out also contains more guitar and vocal interplay by Tucker and Brownstein than Call the Doctor. As Brownstein explains, "If you were to separate our guitar parts I don't necessarily think they would fully stand on their own. Our songs [...] aren't really complete until the other person has put their part over it, and their vocals".
The lyrical themes on Dig Me Out deal with issues of heartbreak and survival. The song "One More Hour" is about the breakup of Tucker and Brownstein's romantic relationship. Before the release of the album, Spin published a controversial article discussing Tucker and Brownstein's personal relationship without their permission. Brownstein felt that "it was a complete invasion of privacy. My parents didn't know Corin and I were going out. They didn't know I had ever dated a woman before. It was horrible. I was pissed at Spin, really mad. Luckily my parents are great people, but God forbid I would have some family that would disown me over something like that. And I would have totally held Spin responsible for that." The song features a lot of vocal interplay by Tucker and Brownstein. Chris Nelson of Addicted to Noise noted that "one can almost hear Tucker crying in the studio as she wails, 'I needed it', while behind her Brownstein offers her attempts at consolation". In her 2015 memoir Hunger Makes Me A Modern Girl, Brownstein also states that almost all the songs on Dig Me Out are about either her or Tucker's future husband, Lance Bangs.
Like its predecessor, Dig Me Out also features songs that show frustration with sexism and gender stereotypes. "Little Babies" is a protest against the traditional maternity role, while the title song "Dig Me Out" exposes a woman in a dominant role. The album's title was inspired by the fact that the band had to literally dig out the recording studio after a heavy snowstorm that took place in Winter 1996 in Seattle. Musically, the song "Words and Guitar" was said to "[leap] and [skit] with the just-released repression of early Talking Heads", while "Dance Song '97" was said to "sport Devo-esque keyboards of a distinctly '80s vintage". Jenn Pelly of Pitchfork described "Heart Factory" as a song that "roars over synthetic emotions of the Prozac Nation."
## Release
Dig Me Out was released on April 8, 1997, by Kill Rock Stars. The album cover is an homage to the Kinks' 1965 album The Kink Kontroversy. The layouts are identical, with the exception that the Kinks had a fourth member and thus a fourth portrait lining the top. Sleater-Kinney substituted their own portraits and their own guitars. As a fan of the Kinks, Weiss explained that the cover suggested that Sleater-Kinney could be an example of a "revered" rock band. When Dig Me Out was released, the band went on a tour to promote the album; a performance of "Words and Guitar" at El Rey Theatre, Los Angeles is featured in the documentary film Songs for Cassavetes by Justin Mitchell. As of July 1999, the album had sold 64,000 copies in the U.S. according to Nielsen SoundScan. As of February 2015, Dig Me Out had sold 130,000 copies.
Two songs from the album, "One More Hour" and "Little Babies", were released as singles by Matador Records on June 1, 1998, and September 7, 1998, respectively. The first single features the song "I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone" from Call the Doctor as the B-side, while the second single features "I'm Not Waiting", also from their previous album. The compact disc version of "One More Hour" includes a third song, "Don't Think You Wanna", which was originally released on the band's debut album Sleater-Kinney. The song "Dig Me Out" peaked at number six on the KEXP Top 90.3 Album Chart in 1997 without being released as a single.
## Critical reception
Upon release, Dig Me Out received substantial acclaim from music critics. Randall Roberts, writing for CMJ New Music Monthly, described the album as a "hum of life wholly transcending gender and genre, filled with the kind of excitement and singular voice that made punk rock glorious in its infancy [...] Dig Me Out is a monster". Sara Scribner of Los Angeles Times praised Tucker's emotional vocal delivery, writing that "she's obsessed with finding honest emotions within the cold machinery of the human heart." Ann Powers stated similar pros and highlighted Brownstein's energetic guitar playing, noting that the band "now [delivers] the punch their words describe." She also gave high marks to the album's feminist lyrics, commenting "If [Sleater-Kinney] wanna be our Simone de Beauvoir, Dig Me Out proves they're up to it." Similarly, Matt Diehl of Rolling Stone said that, "while the Spice Girls prattle on about 'girl power', Sleater-Kinney remain the real socket for that energy".
AllMusic reviewer Jason Ankeny credited the band for expanding their musical boundaries with a more confident and mature sound. Wook Kim of Entertainment Weekly praised Tucker and Brownstein's "interlocking" vocals and called the record a "fine example of state-of-the-art punk". In The Village Voice, critic Robert Christgau praised the union and teamwork of the band, stating that "they're so confident of their ability to please that they just can't stop. And this confidence is collective: Corin and Carrie chorus-trade like the two-headed girl, dashing and high-stepping around on Janet Weiss's shoulders. What a ride". Dig Me Out appeared at No. 4 in The Village Voice's Pazz & Jop critics' poll for 1997. In the poll's accompanying essay, Christgau referred to the album as one of his "favorite albums of the year, easy", alongside those by Pavement, Yo La Tengo, and Arto Lindsay. Similarly, Spin journalists placed the album at No. 3 in their list of Top 20 Albums of the Year.
## Legacy
Retrospectively, Dig Me Out is considered Sleater-Kinney's breakthrough album. According to About.com's Anthony Carew, the record took the band "from the cult corner of the Pacific Northwest to international acclaim". Writing for Nooga.com, Joshua Pickard stated that the album "was a revelation for both its clever use of punk principles and for its breakdown of social assumptions." With the album, Pickard felt that Sleater-Kinney "succeeded in reshaping what was considered possible for punk rock", and that the album transformed the band into "an institution of rebellion and proponents of a musical insurgency. And they never compromised on their ideas of what music could and should be."
Dig Me Out is frequently included on several publications' best album lists. In 1999, Spin editors ranked it at No. 21 on their list of The 90 Greatest Albums of the '90s. In 2001, the magazine placed it at No. 19 on its list of 50 Most Essential Punk Records. In 2005, the album was ranked No. 24 in Spin's 100 Greatest Albums, 1985–2005. In 2008, the song "Dig Me Out" was ranked No. 44 in Rolling Stone's "100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time". In 2011, the album was placed at No. 71 by Slant Magazine on its list of The 100 Best Albums of the 1990s. In 2012, the album was ranked No. 272 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, and No. 189 on their 2020 edition. Spin ranked it at No. 74 on their 125 Best Albums of the Past 25 Years, stating that "Dig Me Out captures the noise of a soul-filled body shaking itself awake, and that's an experience that bridges any gender divide." The album was ranked No. 47 on Pitchfork's 150 Best Albums of the 1990s. The album was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
## Track listing
## Personnel
Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes.
Sleater-Kinney
- Carrie Brownstein – guitar, vocals (Credited as 'Carrie Kinney' on the CD)
- Corin Tucker – vocals, guitar
- Janet Weiss – drums, percussion
Additional musicians
- Jessica Lurie – saxophone on "It's Enough"
Technical personnel
- John Goodmanson – producer
- John Clark – photography
- Robert Paul Maxwell – photography |
912,423 | Grammy Award for Best Performance Music Video | 1,168,936,013 | Honor presented to recording artists in 1988 and 1989 for quality performance music videos | [
"1988 establishments in the United States",
"1989 disestablishments in the United States",
"Awards disestablished in 1989",
"Awards established in 1988",
"Grammy Award categories",
"Grammy Awards for music videos"
]
| The Grammy Award for Best Performance Music Video was an honor presented to recording artists at the 30th Grammy Awards in 1988 and the 31st Grammy Awards in 1989 for quality performance music videos. The Grammy Awards, an annual ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, are presented by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without regard to album sales or chart position".
Beginning in 1982, the Academy began to honor quality music videos with the Video of the Year category. This category was discontinued with the establishment of the MTV Video Music Awards in 1984 and was replaced by awards for Best Video, Short Form and Best Video Album. Criteria changes for the 1988 and 1989 ceremonies resulted in the Best Performance Music Video award being presented alongside the award for Best Concept Music Video. Best Performance Music Video award recipients were Anthony Eaton as the video producer of The Prince's Trust All-Star Rock Concert, a recording of a benefit concert for The Prince's Trust, and the Irish rock band U2 for "Where the Streets Have No Name". The Academy returned to the previous format in 1990, though the categories are now known as Best Short Form Music Video and Best Long Form Music Video.
## Background
The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences began to honor quality music videos with the Video of the Year category in 1982. The first two award recipients were former member of The Monkees, Michael Nesmith for the hour-long video Elephant Parts (also known as Michael Nesmith in Elephant Parts) as well as Olivia Newton-John for Olivia Physical. The Video of the Year category was discontinued with the establishment of the MTV Video Music Awards in 1984, the top award of which is also presented for Video of the Year. The Academy replaced the category with the awards for Best Video, Short Form and Best Video Album beginning with the 26th Grammy Awards. For the awards held in 1988 and 1989, the criteria changed and honors were presented for the categories Best Concept Music Video and Best Performance Music Video. The Academy returned to the previous format in 1990, though the categories were renamed Best Music Video, Short Form and Best Music Video, Long Form. In 1998, the categories were retitled Best Short Form Music Video and Best Long Form Music Video, respectively.
## Recipients
For the 30th Grammy Awards (1988), Best Performance Music Video nominees included Anthony Eaton for producing The Prince's Trust All-Star Rock Concert (a recording of a benefit concert for The Prince's Trust), Russian American pianist Vladimir Horowitz for Horowitz in Moscow, Cyndi Lauper for Cyndi Lauper in Paris, Bobby McFerrin for Spontaneous Inventions, and Barbra Streisand for One Voice. Directed by Brian Large, Horowitz in Moscow was a recording of Horowitz's first concert appearance in Russia since 1925 and features compositions by Chopin, Mozart, Rachmaninoff, Schubert and other composers. Cyndi Lauper in Paris was filmed at Zénith de Paris on March 12, 1987, the final date of her world tour. Produced by John Diaz and directed by Andy Morahan, the recording features Sterling Campbell on drums, Rick Derringer on guitar, Sue Hadjopoulas on percussion, Kevin Jenkins on bass, and David Rosenthal on keyboards. Ferrin's Spontaneous Inventions, directed by Bud Schaetzle, is an hour-long recording of a 1986 performance in Hollywood. Streisand's video One Voice, directed by Dwight Hemion, is a companion piece to her 1987 live album of the same name. Originally broadcast as an HBO special, the September 6, 1986 concert recording marked her first "official" live performance since 1972, held in part as a protest against the nuclear arms race during Ronald Reagan's presidency. The concert was filmed in Streisand's backyard and features special appearances by Burt Bacharach, Barry Gibb, Richard Marx, Carole Bayer Sager and comedian Robin Williams. The award was presented to Eaton as the producer of the concert recording, which included appearances by Elton John, Sting, Tina Turner and others.
Nominees for the 31st Grammy Awards were English musician David Bowie for Glass Spider, Canadian musician and producer David Foster for The Symphony Sessions, American singer-songwriter John Cougar Mellencamp for "Check It Out", Stevie Nicks for Stevie Nicks: Live at Red Rocks, and the Irish rock band U2 for "Where the Streets Have No Name". Glass Spider was a recording of a live two-hour concert filmed in Sydney in November 1987. The Symphony Sessions included ten compositions by Foster presented as a "collage of video images" in performance with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. Recorded over a period of five nights in Vancouver, Foster wrote, arranged, produced and played piano for the project (which included a recording of the theme for the 1988 Winter Olympics) with the assistance of Jeremy Lubbock, David Paich, and Lee Ritenour. The music video for "Check It Out", a song that appears on Mellencamp's 1987 album The Lonesome Jubilee, was filmed live at Market Square Arena in Indianapolis, Indiana on December 11, 1987. Directed by Marty Callner, Stevie Nicks: Live at Red Rocks is an hour-long recording of a live concert filmed at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colorado with special guests Mick Fleetwood and Peter Frampton. The music video for U2's "Where the Streets Have No Name" was filmed on the roof of a Los Angeles liquor store. During the filming process, police ordered the band to stop the shoot "due to fears the crowd was getting out of hand". Awards were presented to members of U2 (Bono, Adam Clayton, The Edge, Larry Mullen, Jr.) as the performing group, along with Meiert Avis as the video director and Ben Dossett and Michael Hamlyn as the video producers.
## See also
- Latin Grammy Award for Best Long Form Music Video
- Latin Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video
- List of awards received by U2 |
530,143 | Sabine Lake | 1,055,160,272 | Estuary on the Texas–Louisiana border | [
"Bodies of water of Cameron Parish, Louisiana",
"Bodies of water of Jefferson County, Texas",
"Bodies of water of Orange County, Texas",
"Estuaries of Louisiana",
"Estuaries of Texas",
"Gulf Coast of the United States",
"Lakes of Louisiana",
"Lakes of Texas"
]
| Sabine Lake is a bay on the Gulf coasts of Texas and Louisiana, located approximately 90 miles (140 km) east of Houston and 160 miles (260 km) west of Baton Rouge, adjoining the city of Port Arthur. The lake is formed by the confluence of the Neches and Sabine Rivers and connects to the Gulf of Mexico through Sabine Pass. It forms part of the Texas–Louisiana border, falling within Jefferson and Orange Counties in Texas and Cameron Parish, Louisiana.
Sabine Lake is one of seven major estuaries along the Gulf Coast of Texas. Much of the Louisiana shore is protected by the Sabine National Wildlife Refuge. There is a long history of human habitation around the lake, including Native American settlement dating back at least 1,500 years, European exploration in the eighteenth century, and the growth of Port Arthur in the twentieth century. Today the lake serves as part of the Sabine–Neches Waterway and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway and is a center for the shipping and petrochemical industries.
## History
Archaeological evidence indicates that Native American groups from the Marksville culture were present near the shores of Sabine Lake by . Burial mounds that may have belonged to the Karankawa have been uncovered near the north shore at what is now Port Neches, but by the time of European arrival in the eighteenth century the region was inhabited by the Atakapa. English explorers led by George Gauld mapped the lake in 1777; Spanish explorers under Antonio Gil Y'Barbo visited the lake the same year, and an expedition under José Antonio de Evia mapped the lake in 1785 as part of a survey of the Texas coast. In the early 1800s Sabine Lake was used to ship slaves and other contraband into the region by smugglers including the pirate Jean Lafitte. The waterway was also used to move timber and cotton out from the interior.
With the 1801 Treaty of Aranjuez the lake became part of the border between French Louisiana and Spanish Texas. After the Louisiana Purchase Sabine Lake formed part of the United States' border with Spanish Texas, then Mexican Texas, and finally the Republic of Texas. During the Republic period the American and Texan customs agencies came into significant conflict over the taxation of shipping on the lake, but with the Texas annexation Sabine Lake instead became part of the border between the U.S. states of Louisiana and Texas. The lake's shores were only intermittently settled and abandoned in the mid-to-late 1800s, and the 1886 Indianola hurricane destroyed the only significant settlements nearby at Sabine Pass and Johnson Bayou.
The inlet at Sabine Pass was dredged and deepened in 1880 to ease access to the lake for shipping. In 1895 Port Arthur was founded, and the southwestern edge of the lake was channelized from Sabine Pass to Port Arthur in 1899, forming the Port Arthur Canal. The discovery of petroleum under Spindletop in 1901 began the Texas oil boom and caused rapid economic growth in nearby Beaumont, prompting interest in expanding the region's canal system. By 1908 Sabine Lake's channel was extended northward to the mouths of the Neches and Sabine Rivers to improve shipping access to the ports of Beaumont and Orange, forming the Sabine–Neches Canal; the region's combined channel system is known as the Sabine–Neches Waterway. The material dredged up in the canalization was formed into Pleasure Island, an artificial barrier island along the majority of the western shore that shelters Port Arthur and the waterway. Most of the Louisiana shore was protected within the Sabine National Wildlife Refuge in 1937. In the early twentieth century the lake and its shipping channel were incorporated into a wider network of canals running from New Orleans to Galveston Bay; after World War II this network grew into the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway.
## Features
Sabine Lake is located on the Gulf Coastal Plain at the Texas–Louisiana border. The natural portions of the lake have a mean low-water depth of at most around 10 feet (3 m), though the ship channels have been dredged to a depth of more than 40 feet (12 m). The eastern (Louisiana) shore has little human development, and the majority is protected within the Sabine National Wildlife Refuge; the western (Texas) shore is heavily urbanized, with the city of Port Arthur and significant shipping and petrochemical infrastructure along the shore. Pleasure Island parallels the western shore for 18 miles (29 km), separating the Port Arthur Canal and Sabine–Neches Canal from the main body of the lake. The Martin Luther King Bridge spans the Sabine–Neches Canal to link Port Arthur to Pleasure Island, and the Sabine Causeway connects the island to the Louisiana shore across the southern tip of the lake. Water exchange with the Gulf of Mexico occurs at Sabine Pass.
Sabine Lake is the smallest of the seven major estuaries along the Gulf Coast of Texas, approximately 14 miles (23 km) long and 7 miles (11 km) wide, with a surface area of 45,320 acres (18,340 ha). It receives the discharge from the Neches and Sabine Rivers, along with various smaller streams and the surrounding coastal watershed. The lake's small size and high rate of freshwater inflow make it the least saline of the major Texas estuaries. Its salinity was even lower prior to the twentieth century, and its upper reaches were almost entirely fresh, but the extensive channelization of the lake since then has led to increased saltwater intrusion into the estuary, with salinity rising especially during periods of low freshwater inflow. Increasing salinity has had a negative impact on the diversity and productivity of wetland plants in the estuary.
## Ecosystem
The dominant species of aquatic vegetation in Sabine Lake is Ruppia maritima. Aquatic fauna include a variety of finfish and shellfish, with large populations of sport fishing species such as Atlantic croaker, spotted seatrout, southern flounder, red and black drum, sheepshead and gafftopsail catfish. Other significant fish species include the bay anchovy, Gulf menhaden and spot. Commercial fishing in the lake produces mainly shellfish, especially blue crab and penaeid shrimp such as northern brown shrimp and Atlantic white shrimp. Sabine Lake is the only major Texas estuary that does not support a commercial American oyster fishery, as it lacks a suitable reef and is too polluted for legal oyster harvesting.
The land around the lake includes a blend of Western Gulf coastal grasslands and coastal marsh ecosystems, together with urban land cover in Port Arthur and its suburbs on the western shore. The majority of the non-urbanized shoreline is surrounded by brackish marshes, with halophytes such as cordgrasses and common reeds as the dominant flora. These coastal wetlands provide habitats for American alligators, Atlantic ridley sea turtles, red wolves and brown pelicans. Saltwater intrusion and land subsidence resulting from human activities in the lake since the late 1800s have caused vegetation loss and erosion, and the remaining marshes are experiencing ongoing degradation as the ecosystems adjust to the altered hydrology in the estuary.
## Industry
The channelization of Sabine Lake has made it an important industrial waterway, one component of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway and the heart of the Sabine–Neches Waterway. The three ports it links to the Gulf of Mexico (Port Arthur, Beaumont and Orange) form a major nexus for the shipping and petrochemical industries, the so-called Golden Triangle of Texas. The largest industries around the lake are petroleum and natural gas extraction, petrochemical processing, shipping, and shipbuilding. Agriculture also forms a significant component of the regional economy, principally rice and soybean cultivation, livestock ranching, and commercial fishing. |
10,068,310 | Mike Burns (cricketer) | 1,149,614,863 | English cricketer and umpire | [
"1969 births",
"Cornwall cricketers",
"Cricketers from Cumbria",
"Cumberland cricketers",
"English One Day International cricket umpires",
"English Twenty20 International cricket umpires",
"English cricket umpires",
"English cricketers",
"Living people",
"Somerset cricket captains",
"Sportspeople from Barrow-in-Furness",
"Warwickshire cricketers"
]
| Michael Burns (born 6 February 1969) is an English first-class list cricket umpire and former first-class cricketer who played county cricket for Warwickshire and Somerset in a first-class career which spanned from 1992 until 2005. He also played Minor Counties cricket for Cumberland and Cornwall. An adaptable cricketer, he appeared for Cumberland and Warwickshire as a wicket-keeper, but when he moved to Somerset he developed into an aggressive batsman who bowled at medium-pace when needed.
Burns started his cricket career with Cumberland in 1988, but moved to Warwickshire in late 1990. He struggled to break into the first team with his new county, and spent most of his time with the club playing in the second team. As a wicket-keeper, his opportunities were limited by the presence of Keith Piper, and he failed to make an impact as a batsman when he was given chances in the first team. He only started to play regularly for the county in 1996, but opted to move to Somerset the following year.
For Somerset, Burns passed 1,000 first-class runs in a season twice, and was part of the team which won the 2001 Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy. He provided Somerset with a batting all-rounder, particularly in one-day cricket in which he averaged 27 with the bat and 30 with the ball for the county. He took over as Somerset captain in 2003, primarily due to the lack of other suitable candidates. He continued in the role in the following year, though he was criticised throughout due to poor results, which at one stage resulted in a number of Somerset's players being threatened with being sacked. He was replaced as captain in 2005 by Graeme Smith, and retired from first-class cricket at the end of that year. He subsequently trained as an umpire, and was promoted to the England and Wales Cricket Board's (ECB) reserve list in 2012.
In January 2016 Burns was promoted to the full list of the ECB's umpiring list.
## Career
### Early life and minor counties cricket
Burns was born on 6 February 1969 in Barrow-in-Furness, Lancashire. He attended Walney Comprehensive in Barrow, and after completing his studies, joined the engineering firm Vickers. Burns began his county career playing Minor Counties cricket with Cumberland. He made his debut for the side in a two-day Championship match against Norfolk in July 1988. Playing as wicket-keeper, he claimed one catch and one stumping. He did not appear for the county's first team again for another year; in 1989, he played three times for Cumberland, appearing on each occasion as a specialist lower-order batsman. Early during the 1990 season, Burns played one match, without excelling, for Glamorgan's second team. He was a regular for Cumberland during 1990, and in his seven appearances in the Championship, he scored 180 runs at an average of 22.50, and took eleven catches and three stumpings.
### Limited opportunities at Warwickshire
After initially playing club cricket for Vickerstown, Burns moved to Netherfield Cricket Club, where he played alongside Dermot Reeve, the club's professional player. Reeve was impressed by an innings in which Burns scored a half-century, and arranged for Warwickshire to offer him a trial. Burns scored 83 runs in his trial match, and signed a contract shortly thereafter. At the end of that 1990 season, Burns played a second-team match for Warwickshire; the following season he made his debut in professional cricket for the county, playing a Benson & Hedges Cup match against Essex. He batted at number eight and kept wicket in a narrow loss for Warwickshire. He spent the remainder of the season playing for the county's second team, for whom he scored a number of half-centuries, with a top score of 93, scored against Worcestershire's seconds in a one-day match. He got his first opportunities in first-class cricket near the start of the 1992 season, making his debut in the format against Cambridge University in May. During his only batting innings, he scored 78 runs, and he also claimed two catches and a stumping. He was selected to play in the County Championship match a week later against Glamorgan, but in a match dominated by the spin of Robert Croft he was dismissed for scores of three and four. He returned to play in the second team for most of the season, though he played one further first-team match in August; appearing as a specialist batsman, Burns scored one run against Durham. In a late season second team match against Lancashire seconds, Burns scored 165 runs in the first innings of a drawn match.
Burns had more first team opportunities during the 1993 season, due to a series of hand injuries to the first-choice wicket-keeper, Keith Piper. Burns' chances came particularly in one-day cricket; he appeared in eleven List A matches during the year. He scored 151 runs across nine batting innings at an average of 25.16, and reached his highest score of the season, 48 not out, against the touring Zimbabweans in September. Despite making another large century for the second team, scoring 172 against Yorkshire seconds, he struggled in first-class cricket; in six appearances he averaged just 9.60 for his 96 runs. The following year, his only first-class match was against Oxford University, with Piper ever-present in the County Championship. Burns continued to be selected as a wicket-keeper batsman in one-day cricket, though he was less successful than the previous year, scoring 86 runs at 10.75.
In 1995, Burns was given a prolonged run in the Warwickshire team, playing both first-class and one-day cricket throughout April and May; he failed to impress during these matches, recording a highest score of 35 and averaging well under twenty in both forms of the game. He spent the rest of the season playing for the second team. Some strong performances for the seconds at the start of the 1996 season, including scores of 77 and 81 not out in a match against the Marylebone Cricket Club Young Cricketers, and a finger injury suffered by Piper, saw him regain a place in the Warwickshire first team in June. He remained in the first team for the rest of the season, playing as a specialist batsman when Piper returned to the side, and scored three half-centuries in first-class cricket, including his highest first-class score to that point, 81 runs scored against Nottinghamshire, during a match in which he also remained 65 not out in the second innings.
### Move to Somerset
Towards the end of the 1996 season, Warwickshire's captain Dermot Reeve was forced to retire with a chronic hip injury. He moved to Somerset in 1997, where he took on the role of team coach; Burns followed him soon after. Somerset did not have a vacancy for a wicket-keeper; in 1997, Wisden Cricketers' Almanack described Robert Turner as top-class. As a result, Burns focussed on his batting, particularly in one-day cricket, and also developed as an occasional medium-pace bowler. He played significantly more cricket in 1997 than in any year previously; in first-class cricket he maintained his average from the previous year, scoring 510 runs at 25.50, and in one-day cricket he scored his maiden century in top-level cricket. Having never scored more than 48 runs in a List A match prior to 1997, Burns scored five half-centuries in addition to the 115 not out that he hit against Middlesex in September. His average of 31.35 in List A cricket that year was the highest of any season during his career, and Wisden judged that he had "made a good impression" in the season. As a bowler, Burns took almost a third of his List A wickets during 1997, claiming 18 at a bowling average of 24.77, while in the first-class game he was used more sparingly, and took 5 wickets at 53.20.
During the 1998 season, Burns recorded similar batting averages to the previous season, but was rarely used as a bowler. Wisden noted that he played some good first-class innings, but needed to be more consistent; an improvement he made in 1999. That following year, Burns achieved a batting average in excess of thirty for the first time, and scored the maiden century of his first-class career. Facing Leicestershire, who had not lost in the County Championship for 21 months, Burns scored 109, and shared a 244-run partnership with Peter Bowler to help Somerset to victory by 9 wickets. His second century that season came in a defeat to Worcestershire; chasing 316 runs to win in the fourth innings, Somerset were reduced to 56 for three. Burns played an attacking innings, hitting 105 runs from 103 deliveries to give his side a chance of victory, but Worcestershire eventually won by 26 runs.
His batting continued to flourish at Somerset in first-class cricket; between 1999 and 2004, he consistently averaged over 35. His highest batting average came in 2000, when he scored 775 runs at 40.78. He was boosted that season by an early-season tally of 160 against Oxford Universities, as part of a 305-run partnership with Peter Bowler for the fourth wicket. The partnership was only five runs less than Somerset's record for the fourth wicket, made in 1980 by Peter Denning and Ian Botham. His performances in the County Championship were less impressive than his overall first-class record in 2000; he averaged below thirty in the competition, and only reached a century once, against Lancashire. In 2001, Burns reached his highest first-class score, and only double-century, scoring 221 against Yorkshire at the Recreation Ground in Bath. The total, made on what Wisden described as the "benignest of pitches", included 28 fours and 1 six, and took seven and three-quarter hours. The match finished as a high-scoring draw, with over 1,000 runs being scored. Burns' score is the highest by a Somerset batsman at the Recreation Ground during a first-class match, although three players have scored more playing against Somerset at the ground; Reggie Spooner scored 240 runs in 1906, Mike Gatting got 258 in 1984 and Warwick Armstrong scored an unbeaten 303 for Australia in 1905. Burns also scored his second century in List A cricket during 2001, striking 101 not out against Northamptonshire from 112 balls. When Somerset captain Jamie Cox broke his thumb, Burns took charge of the team for six matches in June and July 2001, a role he reprised for eight matches the following season. In 2001, Somerset recorded one of the best seasons in their history: they finished second in the County Championship, their highest ever position, and won the Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy.
In 2002, Burns scored 1,000 first-class runs for the first time in his career, though he did not score a century during the year. He passed 50 on nine occasions, and narrowly missed out on tons against both Surrey, when he was dismissed on 99 by Rikki Clarke, and Sussex, when he was caught off the bowling of Mark Davis for 98. Despite Burns' run-tally, and in stark contrast to the previous year, Somerset's season was described in Wisden as "a sorry story". No other Somerset batsman passed 1,000 runs in the year, and the county were relegated in both the County Championship and the Norwich Union League, though they did reach the final of the Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy for the second consecutive year. In the semi-final of that competition, Burns scored 72 runs, and "admirably set the foundations" for Somerset's victory.
### Somerset captaincy
Cox resigned the club captaincy at the end of the 2002 season, and Burns was named as his replacement; Wisden described him as a "dedicated, down-to-earth cricketer who hopes to lead by example from high in the order." In a preview of the 2003 season for the BBC, Simon Mann wrote that Somerset had the talent to improve and he predicted that an immediate promotion back to the first division of the County Championship was "a strong possibility." The season began in positive fashion for Burns; in a first-class match against Loughborough University he scored 83 runs in the first innings and was 118 not out in the second. He continued to score runs regularly, if not spectacularly, throughout the season, and passed 1,000 first-class runs for the second consecutive year. Ian Blackwell and Cox both reached the milestone as well for Somerset, but despite these individual achievements, the county struggled. Eight losses were suffered on the way to finishing third from bottom of the second division of the County Championship, and after one such result, a two-day loss against Northamptonshire in July, the club's chief executive sent a letter to ten members of the team warning them that they could be sacked. A few days later, against Durham, a second-innings total of 56 was the county's lowest score in a first-class match since 1970. Although Burns had a relatively successful season statistically—his 1,133 first-class runs were the most he scored in any season of his career, and his first-class average was just under 40—he offered to step down as Somerset captain, but when a suitable alternative could not be found, he continued in the position for 2004.
The following season was another difficult one for both Burns and Somerset. Burns scored 733 first-class runs, but only passed 50 on five occasions, including a top score of 124 not out against Essex. Four wins late in the season pushed Somerset up to fourth in the second division of the County Championship, but the county were knocked out of the 2004 Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy in the third round, and they finished eighth of ten in the second division of the totesport League. Their elimination from the Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy came at the hands of Worcestershire; after Somerset had won the toss and Burns had chosen to bat, his side were bowled out for 95 runs, the tenth lowest List A total for the county. Burns was dismissed for a first-ball duck in the match, which Wisden reported was dominated by the "muscular hostility" of Andy Bichel, who took four wickets for Worcestershire. Both Burns and Somerset's first-team coach, Kevin Shine were criticised for the team's failures; Shine was reassigned as the county's academy director, while a committee of former captains was set up to assess the captaincy. On the recommendations of the group, composed of Roy Kerslake, Vic Marks and Brian Rose, Somerset signed the captain of the South Africa national cricket team, Graeme Smith, to lead them in 2005.
### Later career
The signing of Smith, along with the youth policy adopted by Somerset's new first-team coach, Mark Garaway, meant that Burns had limited opportunities in 2005; he played nine first-class and eight List A matches during the season, and did not appear for the first team after July. He scored an early-season century, hitting eleven boundaries on his way to 107 runs against Warwickshire in the totesport League, but only scored 63 runs across his remaining seven one-day matches. As a result of his lack of first-team action, he opted to retire from first-class cricket at the end of the 2005 season. In all, he scored 7,648 first-class runs at an average of 32.68, and 4,802 List A runs at 25.81. He also took 68 first-class wickets and 58 in List A cricket.
Burns continued to play club cricket in Somerset for Taunton St Andrews Cricket Club until 2009, helping them to become West of England Premier League champions in his final season with the club. He made minor counties appearances for Cumberland throughout 2006, before switching to Cornwall in 2008. He also toured with the Marylebone Cricket Club, travelling to Brazil and Chile in March 2007, and to Saint Kitts and Nevis in March 2008. He has subsequently stood as an umpire, and after standing in second-eleven matches in 2011, he was added to the ECB's reserve list of umpires for 2012. He made his debut as an umpire in first-class matches in March 2012, officiating in the match between Somerset and the Cardiff MCC University side.
## See also
- List of One Day International cricket umpires
- List of Twenty20 International cricket umpires |
2,146,732 | Die Forelle | 1,171,314,325 | Lied, or song | [
"1817 songs",
"Art songs",
"Compositions in D-flat major",
"Lieder composed by Franz Schubert",
"Songs about fish"
]
| "Die Forelle" (German for "The Trout"), Op. 32, 550. is a lied, or song, composed in early 1817 for solo voice and piano with music by the Austrian composer Franz Schubert (1797–1828). Schubert chose to set the text of a poem by Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart, first published in the Schwäbischer Musenalmanach in 1783. The full poem tells the story of a trout being caught by a fisherman, but in its final stanza reveals its purpose as a moral piece warning young women to guard against young men. When Schubert set the poem to music, he removed the last verse, which contained the moral, changing the song's focus and enabling it to be sung by male or female singers. Schubert produced six subsequent copies of the work, all with minor variations.
Schubert wrote "Die Forelle" in the single key of D-flat major with a varied (or modified) strophic form. The first two verses have the same structure but change for the final verse to give a musical impression of the trout being caught. In the Deutsch catalogue of Schubert's works it is number 550, or D. 550. The musicologist Marjorie Wing Hirsch describes its type in the Schubert lieder as a "lyrical song with admixtures of dramatic traits".
The song was popular with contemporary audiences, which led to Schubert being commissioned to write a piece of chamber music based on the song. This commission resulted in the Trout Quintet (D. 667), in which a set of variations of "Die Forelle" are present in the fourth movement.
## Context
The lyrics of the lied are from a poem by Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart. Opinion is divided on his abilities: The Musical Times considers him to be "one of the feeblest poets" whose work was used by Schubert, and comments that he "was content with versifying pretty ideas", while the singer and author Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau considered Schubart to be "a very talented poet, musician and orator". Schubart wrote "Die Forelle" in 1782, while imprisoned in the fortress of Hohenasperg; he was a prisoner there from 1777 to 1787 for insulting the mistress of Charles Eugene, Duke of Württemberg. The poem was published in the Schwäbischer Musenalmanach of 1783, consisting of four stanzas.
The Schubert scholar John Reed thought the poem to be "sentimental" and "feeble", with the final stanza of the poem consisting of a "smug moral" that "pointedly advises young girls to be on their guard against young men with rods". The academic Thomas Kramer observes that "Die Forelle" is "somewhat unusual with its mock-naive pretense of being about a bona fide fish", whereas he describes it as "a sexual parable". Fischer-Dieskau saw the poem as "didactic ... with its Baroque moral". Schubert did not set this final stanza, however, and instead concentrated on a person's observation of the trout and the reaction to its being caught by a fisherman.
## Creation
In 1815 Schubert wrote a series of twenty songs based on the works of Ludwig Gotthard Kosegarten (1758–1818). Among them was "Die Erscheinung" (D 229), written in July that year; John Reed sees the song as a forerunner to "Die Forelle", observing that "Die Erscheinung" and other similar songs, "convey an intensity of feeling that belies their small scale". From the following year to 1821 Schubert composed four songs using the poems of Schubart, "An den Tod" (D518), "An mein Klavier" (D342), "Die Forelle" (D550) and "Grablied auf einen Soldaten" (D454). Although the first draft of "Die Forelle" was lost and the exact date of composition is unknown, the lied is known to have been written in early 1817, the same year he composed "Der Tod und das Mädchen" and "An die Musik".
After Schubert completed the song, one of his friends, Johann Leopold Ebner, recounted that Schubert was told that "Die Forelle" unconsciously quoted Beethoven's Coriolan Overture; on hearing the comparison, Schubert decided to destroy the manuscript, but he was stopped by Ebner and others. On 9 December 1820 the song was published in a supplement to the Wiener Zeitung, along with a number of others of Schubert's lieder. He received no payment for publishing his songs, but was provided with free publicity.
## Composition
"Die Forelle" is written for solo voice and piano in the key of D major. The song is written with a varied (or modified) strophic structure, meaning the "verse music" is generally the same, with one different verse. According to the American historian Mark Ringer, Schubert used a "musical structure that reflects both the life cycle of the earth and the progress from innocence to experience". Schubert directed the piece to be played "Etwas lebhaft", or at a "somewhat lively" pace.
The different verse is the third, and it demonstrates the "admixture of dramatic traits" in the lyrical song, which Fischer-Dieskau calls "a classic example of the strophic song with Abgesang ... 'after-strain'." The "after-strain" comes at the final stanza; the composer and Schubert scholar Brian Newbould observed that for three-quarters of the song's final stanza, Schubert departed from the strophe to give a musical impression of the trout being caught, but returned to the strophe for the final couplet. The primary rhythmic figure in the piano accompaniment suggests the movement of the fish in the water. When the fisherman catches the trout, the vocal line changes from major to minor, the piano figuration becomes darker and the flowing phrases are "broken by startled rests". According to Mark Ringer, the melody evokes a "folklike naïveté" that "delivers both delight and emotional power".
Schubart's poem takes the viewpoint of a male speaker, advising women to be careful of young men. By removing the stanza, Schubert removes the moral and creates uncertainty in the sex of the narrator.
## Variations
After completing his original in 1817, Schubert made six subsequent autographs. These differing versions were not necessarily an attempt to improve a work, with some later versions being written from memory with only minor variations; Newbould considers that Schubert's close replication was a "feat of musicianship ... and a sign that Schubert spoke the language of music with the naturalness of conversation." The differences between the autographs are small: according to Reed, they "are concerned ... with the tempo indication and the prelude – postlude." The first version, marked Mässig, has no introduction, although "the shape of the familiar introduction is already adumbrated in a seven-bar postlude". The draft is undated, although is from 1817 and is kept in the Stadler, Ebner and Schindler collection in Lund. A second copy, written in May or June 1817, was for Franz Sales Kandler's album: this version was marked Nicht zu geschwind (not too fast).
A third variation was written during the night of 21 February 1818. Schubert and Anselm Hüttenbrenner, a friend and fellow composer, had finished a few bottles of Hungarian wine when Anselm commented that his brother Josef was an aficionado of Schubert's work. Schubert completed a copy of "Die Forelle" that was "somewhat messy". The messiness was partly accounted for by Schubert's drunken state, but also explained by the accompanying note he wrote to Josef: "Just as, in my haste, I was going to send the thing, I rather sleepily took up the ink-well and poured it calmly over it. What a disaster!" The manuscript was held by the Hüttenbrenner family for a number of years and was photographed in 1870, before being lost. Schubert wrote a further version in 1820 for publication in the Wiener Zeitung, and a final copy in October 1821 for publication in the Neue Ausgabe. The final version has "a five-bar piano prelude" and is presently in the Gertrude Clarke Whittall Foundation Collection of the Library of Congress.
In 1819 Sylvester Baumgartner—a music patron and amateur cellist in Steyr—commissioned Schubert to write a piece of chamber music based on "Die Forelle"; Schubert then wrote a quintet for piano and strings in which he quoted the song in a set of variations in the fourth movement. The piece later became known as the Trout Quintet (D. 667). Franz Liszt transcribed and paraphrased "Die Forelle" in two versions for solo piano. The first was in 1844 as the sixth part of his composition Sechs Melodien von Franz Schubert (S 563); the second transcription was in 1846 (S 564).
## Reception
Information regarding the contemporary reception to "Die Forelle" is scant. Reed relates that the song had "immediate popularity", and that Schubert composing the Trout Quintet was evidence that "Die Forelle" "was already widely known" by 1819. Newbould agrees, pointing out that the quintet was "acknowledging the song's meteoric rise up early nineteenth-century Vienna's equivalent to the charts". Fischer-Dieskau takes a longer-term view of the song's popularity, writing that "the vividness of the imagery, with the alternate troubling and smoothing of the surface of the water along with the exuberance of the melody itself, account for the song's universal appeal".
## In popular culture
The song is featured in the movie Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.
It is used as a notification tone on some models of Samsung washing machines and dishwashers when the cycle is complete. |
2,393,537 | Sometime Samurai | 1,173,591,317 | 2005 promotional single by Towa Tei and Kylie Minogue | [
"1996 songs",
"2005 singles",
"Kylie Minogue songs",
"Songs written by Kylie Minogue",
"Songs written by Towa Tei",
"Towa Tei songs"
]
| "Sometime Samurai" is a song by Japanese music producer Towa Tei featuring vocals by Australian singer Kylie Minogue for Tei's fifth studio album, Flash (2005). The song was originally recorded as an instrumental demo in 1996 for Minogue's album Impossible Princess (1997), alongside "GBI (German Bold Italic)". It remained unfinished for eight years until Minogue re-recorded her vocals in 2004 in London. Several Japanese musicians contributed to the making of the song, including singer-songwriter Chisato Moritaka on drums. In it, a rock song with elements of house music, Minogue sings about her then-boyfriend, French photographer Stéphane Sednaoui.
In 2005, "Sometime Samurai" was released in Japan as a promotional radio single, and was included in two EPs: Melody / Sometime Samurai and Fresher. It received a significant amount of airplay in Tokyo, becoming the year's 47th most-played song on the radio station J-Wave. An accompanying music video, directed by Daniel Gorrel, shows two graffiti artists riding on mopeds. The video was nominated for the MTV Video Music Awards Japan for Best Dance Video. Tei played the song during his promotional tour for Flash in Tokyo in 2005, before Minogue filmed an interlude video for the track during her KylieX2008 tour three years later.
## Background and recording
After releasing her 1994 self-titled album, Australian singer Kylie Minogue initiated a romantic relationship with French photographer Stéphane Sednaoui and embarked on a series of worldwide excursions with him in search of inspiration for her then-upcoming record. The couple often traveled to Japan and were heavily interested in anime and Japanese culture. Towa Tei, who had delved into lounge music with his previous album Future Listening! (1994), aimed to return to his dance music origins for his next project. In 1996, while at his home studio in Sangenjaya, Tei received a handwritten fax from Minogue that contained a picture along with a message: "Music with you! Kylie. Call Me." The producer was interested in working with her and aware of her broad appeal to both Japanese and Western audiences.
Minogue visited Tei's project studio in Sangenjaya, where she participated in writing lyrics to his instrumental demos. "She could instantly understand my ideas and direction," Tei recalled. During their collaborative sessions, Minogue recorded two songs for her album with Tei: "GBI (German Bold Italic)" and "Sometime Samurai". Despite the smooth collaboration process between Minogue and Tei, the producer felt that their staff was not supportive of their work. Deconstruction Records eventually decided to not include those tracks on Minogue's sixth studio album, Impossible Princess (1997). Instead, Tei included "GBI (German Bold Italic)" on his 1997 studio album, Sound Museum. It was released as a single between 1997 and 1998, reaching the top 60 in Australia, Scotland and the UK.
"Sometime Samurai" remained unfinished for eight years until Tei was working on his fifth studio album, titled Flash, in late 2003. He recalled the track and how Minogue had a special fondness for it during the creation process. The producer sent an email to Minogue expressing his intention to include it in his then-upcoming album, to which she replied, "I can't forget that song. I can sing it even better now. Will you come to London?" Tei subsequently went to London in 2004 and recorded the track with the singer for around three hours. He enjoyed the brief session and found her singing had improved since the original recording, saying that the result exceeded the 1996 demo. "I guess 1997 was too early to release it for us, but I hope the world is ready for it now!", Tei said. "Sometime Samurai" was the first track completed for Flash, which was released in April 2005.
## Production and composition
Musically, "Sometime Samurai" is a rock song with elements of house music. It is composed in the key of D minor and has a tempo of 118 beats per minute. The track incorporates electric guitars, four-on-the-floor house beats and elastic sitars. During Minogue's microphone test, the producer captured her introducing herself in Japanese, saying "ワタシノナマエハカイリーデス" ("My name is Kylie"). The brief recording was included in the song intro. Tei referred to the track as a product from the "Nu 'Japanese Curry' Wave era", highlighting its unique musical style that he and Minogue had not explored before. "Sometime Samurai" and Tei's version of the Knack's "My Sharona" (1979) marked the first inclusion of rock-influenced tracks in his solo album. The producer believed that these two songs served as the centerpiece of Flash, influencing the overall tone and impact of the other album tracks.
During the production of "Sometime Samurai", Tei contemplated the diverse subgenres of rock music and invited several renowned Japanese musicians to participate in making the track. Among them were singer-songwriter Chisato Moritaka, who played drums on the 1997 demo and Tei chose to retain her work for the final result. Having listened to her music, Tei believed that her involvement would facilitate the production process. Musician Hiroshi Takano and the Plastics' guitarist Hajime Tachibana contributed electric guitars, while Yumiko Ohno, a member of the Japanese rock band Buffalo Daughter, handled the bass and Moog synthesizer.
Minogue wrote the song about Sednaoui, referring to him as "the man of the moment" and comparing him to a samurai. The lyrics convey Minogue's sense of admiration and protection from her lover. She refers to him as her Dreamtime with the lyrics "You are my Dreamtime / Wisely when you guide me / Lovely in your lights," alluding to an ancient period in Australian Aboriginals when ancestral figures inhabited the land. In Love, Kylie or Metaphors of Love in the Lyrics of Kylie Minogue (2015), Janne Harpela suggests that the Dreamtime reference signifies Minogue's lover as a guiding force who helps reshape the foundations of her world. Harpela also found the love portrayed in the song extends beyond the sexual ("eros") context and encompasses themes of familial love ("storge") and potentially religious love ("agape"). In the photobook Kylie: La La La (2002), fashion designer William Baker draws a comparison between the track and "Cowboy Style" (1997) from Impossible Princess. Baker observes that both songs incorporate Eastern religious elements to depict Sednaoui, suggesting his significant influence on Minogue. He further suggested that the lyrics hint at a teacher-disciple connection, symbolizing a transformative journey that Minogue experienced during the relationship.
## Release and promotion
"Sometime Samurai" was released as a promotional radio single in Japan in 2005. Additionally, the track was featured in a 12-inch EP, titled Melody / Sometime Samurai, which was released in June and limited to 100 copies. The EP also included three other tracks from Flash: "Melody", "Risk Some Soul" and "Red Card Jumbo". In November 2005, remixes of "Sometime Samurai" by DJs Uwe Schmidt (credited as Don Atom) and Aydin Hasirci (credited as ATFC) were included in another remix EP called Fresher, which was an extension of Tei's album Fresh. Tei later included "Sometime Samurai" in his 2014 compilation album, 94-14. Although he considered including "GBI (German Bold Italic)" in 94-14 as well, he ultimately decided that one song with Minogue was sufficient.
Simon Sheridan, the author of The Complete Kylie (2009), feels that the track is more accessible than "GBI (German Bold Italic)". Writing for Metropolis, Dan Grunebaum commented that Minogue delivered an agile vocal performance on the kitschy track. "Sometime Samurai" received a significant amount of airplay on J-Wave, a Tokyo-based commercial radio station, from February to May 2005. By the end of 2005, it was the station's 47th most-played song of the year.
The song's music video, directed by Daniel Gorrel and edited by Evan Andrews, shows two graffiti artists riding on mopeds. Minogue does not appear in the video, which has several scenes filmed in black and white. It was nominated for Best Dance Video at the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards Japan, marking Minogue's third nomination in the category. The award ultimately went to Gorillaz's "Feel Good Inc." (2005). In 2014, Tei released the music video on his YouTube account as part of his 94-14 releases. Several songs from Flash, including "Sometime Samurai", gained significant exposure through prominent Japanese TV commercials in 2005. The track was used for a commercial celebrating the 80th Anniversary of Kewpie, a popular Japanese brand of mayonnaise. The commercial features a giant Kewpie doll appearing in a skyscraper. Tei shared his perspective on the advertising strategies, stating, "That's what Flash is all about. Commercials are all about catching people's attention in a short amount of time. And there's a client involved. By being involved in that kind of work, I trained muscles that I hadn't used before... I would like to communicate in various ways."
Tei played "Sometime Samurai" during his promotional tour for Flash in Tokyo, starting from 1 April to 12 June 2005. Three years later, Minogue filmed an interlude video for her KylieX2008 tour, in which she performed "Sometime Samurai". For the interlude, she donned a vibrant pink kimono created by Jean Paul Gaultier, a voluminous blonde wig and porcelain-inspired makeup characterized by a white foundation, dramatic eyeliner and pink eyeshadow. A promotional picture taken from the shoot was released earlier to promote the tour. Writers of News.com.au and China Daily observed the similarity of her appearance to the music video of "GBI (German Bold Italic)" and remarked on the "classic geisha material" look. The interlude was part of the Japanese-inspired segment called "Naughty Manga Girl" in KylieX2008, during which Minogue performed in a kimono-style short dress. A show at the O2 Arena in London was filmed for television broadcast and later released commercially in 2008, also titled KylieX2008.
## Formats and track listings
- Japanese promotional CD single
1. "Sometime Samurai" (Radio edit) – 3:39
- Melody / Sometime Samurai 12-inch EP
1. "Melody" – 6:13
2. "Melodypella" – 2:24
3. "Risk Some Soul" – 4:33
4. "Sometime Samurai" – 3:58
5. "Red Card Jumbo" – 0:44
## Credits and personnel
Credits adapted from the liner notes of Flash:
- Towa Tei – songwriting, production, arrangement, editor
- Kylie Minogue – vocals, songwriting
- Hiroshi Takano – electric guitars
- Hajime Tachibana – electric guitars
- Yumiko Ohno – bass and Moog synthesizer
- Chisato Moritaka – drums
- Stéphane Sednaoui – a samurai
- Tadashi Matsuda – mixing engineer |
20,379 | Micronation | 1,173,455,944 | Self-proclaimed political entity | [
"Hobbies",
"Micronations",
"Political neologisms"
]
| A micronation is a political entity whose representatives claim that they belong to an independent nation or sovereign state, but which lacks legal recognition by any sovereign state. Micronations are classified separately from de facto states and quasi-states; they are also not considered to be autonomous nor self-governing as they lack the legal basis in international law for their existence. Micronations' activities are almost always trivial enough to be ignored rather than challenged by the established nations whose territory they claim—referred to in micronationalism as "macronations." Several micronations have issued coins, flags, postage stamps, passports, medals and other state-related items, some as a source of revenue. Motivations for the creation of micronations include theoretical experimentation, political protest, artistic expression, personal entertainment and the conduct of criminal activity. The study of micronationalism is known as micropatriology or micropatrology.
Although several historical states have been retroactively called micronations, the concept was formulated in the 1970s, with a particular influence from the International Micropatrological Society. Micronationalism saw several developments thereafter, with several micronations being founded in Australia in the 1970s and a "micronations boom" in Japan in the 1980s. As a result of the emergence of the World Wide Web in the mid-1990s, micronationalism lost much of its traditionally eccentric anti-establishment sentiment in favour of more hobbyist perspectives, and the number of exclusively online or merely simulation-based micronations expanded dramatically. This has allowed several intermicronational organisations to form, as well as allow for numerous diplomatic summits to take place between micronations since the 2000s.
## Definition
Micronations are aspirant states that claim independence but lack legal recognition by world governments or major international organisations. Micronations are classified separately from states with limited recognition and quasi-states, nor are they considered to be autonomous nor self-governing as they lack the legal basis in international law for their existence. While some are secessionist in nature, most micronations are widely regarded as sovereignty projects that instead seek to mimic a sovereign state rather than to achieve international recognition, and their activities are almost always trivial enough to be ignored rather than challenged by the established nations whose territory they claim—referred to as a "macronation" in micronationalism. Some micronations admit to having no intention of actually becoming internationally recognised as sovereign. Geographically, most micronations are very small, are often the outgrowth of a single individual, rely on their sovereign state to some extent, and mimic sovereign states by creating their own government, legislation, proclaiming national symbols, holding national elections and engaging in diplomacy with other micronations. While most micronations claim sovereignty over physical territory, others are based solely around the Internet or do not claim sovereignty at all, a hobbyist paradigm of micronationalism that arose with the rise of the Internet from the mid-1990s onwards.
In 2021, legal academics Harry Hobbs and George Williams, in their Micronations and the Search for Sovereignty, defined micronations as:
> self-declared nations that perform and mimic acts of sovereignty, and adopt many of the protocols of nations, but lack a foundation in domestic and international law for their existence and are not recognised as nations in domestic or international forums.
Online dictionary Collins English Dictionary, published by HarperCollins, gives a similar definition:
> An entity, typically existing only on the internet or within the private property of its members, that lays claim to sovereign status as an independent nation, but which is unrecognized by real nations.
## History
### Retrospective micronations
Several historical political entities have been retroactively described as "micronations" in academic and journalistic works, including the Islands of Refreshment (existed 1811–16), Kingdom of Araucanía and Patagonia (since 1860), State of Scott (1861–1986), Republic of Parva Domus Magna Quies (since 1878), and the more contemporary Kingdom of Elleore (since 1944), Republic of Saugeais (since 1947), Principality of Outer Baldonia (1949–1973) and Sultanate of M'Simbati (1959–).
### Libertarian micronations and seasteading projects: 1964–1972
Several entities that can be considered micronations by contemporary standards were established throughout the 1960s and early 1970s and based on ideals of libertarianism and many of them created via seasteading.
New Atlantis was founded in 1964 by writer Leicester Hemingway, claiming a bamboo raft that he had constructed with steel, iron piping and rock. Hemingway had it towed 9.7 kilometres (6.0 mi) off the coast of Jamaica and argued that it was technically an island and fully sovereign based on the Guano Islands Act of 1856. Although Hemingway had plans to expand the raft, it was destroyed within a few years by a cyclone, and the project was completely abandoned in 1973. In 1967, Paddy Roy Bates squatted on HM Fort Roughs, an offshore platform in the North Sea used during World War II approximately 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) off the coast of the United Kingdom. Bates had intended to broadcast a pirate radio station from the platform, however ultimately never did so. He instead declared the independence of Fort Roughs and deemed it the Principality of Sealand. Bates died in 2012, and Michael Bates has since succeeded him as Prince of Sealand.
Operation Atlantis was a project started in 1968 by Werner Stiefel, aiming to establish a new, libertarian nation in international waters via seasteading. The operation launched a ferrocement boat on the Hudson River in December 1971, piloting it to an area near the Bahamas with the intent to permanently anchor it as their territory. Upon reaching its destination, however, it sank in a hurricane. After a number of subsequent failed attempts to construct a habitable sea platform and achieve sovereign status, the project was abandoned in 1976. The Republic of Rose Island was an artificial platform originally constructed as a tourist attraction in the Adriatic Sea in 1968. However, Italian architect Giorgio Rosa soon declared it as sovereign. The micronation had its own currency, a post office and commercial establishments. In 1969, the Italian Navy used explosives to destroy the facility, claiming it was a ploy to raise money from tourists while avoiding national taxation. The Republic of Minerva was a libertarian project that succeeded in building a small, artificial island on the Minerva Reefs in 1972 by importing sand. It was invaded by troops from Tonga that same year, who annexed it before destroying the island. During its brief existence, Minerva was a media sensation.
### Conceptualisation
As of January 1973, the Office of the Geographer of the United States Department of State had a file cabinet for "countries which are only partially real", which included the Kingdom of Humanity, Outer Baldonia, Minerva and the Sovereign Military Order of Malta—not a micronation—among others. Writer Philip J. Hilts added "We know the Eastern bloc, the Western bloc, and the Third World nations. But there is another universe of nations which exist apart from the familiar countries." The International Micropatrological Society (IMS), an American learned society and research institute, was founded in 1973 and dedicated to the study of micronations, a discipline it named micropatrology. By 1976, it had documents pertaining to 128 micronations and similar political entities. The earliest attested use of micronation in its current meaning appeared on 28 March 1976 in an article by the New York Times about the IMS. The first use of micronation in a book was in an eponymous dedicated section of the 1978 The People's Almanac \#2 by David Wallechinsky and Irving Wallace. In 1979, the first book about micronations, How to Start Your Own Country, was published by Erwin S. Strauss. The IMS contributed considerably to the work. However, the word micronation is notably absent from the book. A second edition of the work was published in 1984 by Loompanics, followed in 1999 by a third edition published by Paladin Press. According to the Yearbook of International Organizations, the IMS was disestablished in 1988.
### Initial developments in Australia: 1970–1981
Australia has a disproportionate number of micronations compared to other countries. The first micronation founded within Australia was the Principality of Hutt River in 1970. It was declared independent by farmer Leonard Casley over a dispute concerning wheat production quotas. In 2017, the Supreme Court of Western Australia ordered that Casley pay \$2.7 million in unpaid tax, and that his son Arthur Casley pay \$242,000 in unpaid tax. Casley abdicated in 2017 in favour of his son Graeme. Leonard died in 2019, and Hutt River dissolved the following year amidst continued disputes with the Australian Taxation Office as well as the financial impact caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. In 1976, the Province of Bumbunga was declared by Alec Brackstone in response to the 1975 Australian constitutional crisis. Brackstone, an ardent British monarchist, became alarmed by what he saw as a drift away from the Australian system of constitutional monarchy toward outright republicanism. Thus, to ensure that at least one portion of Australia would remain loyal to the British Crown, Bumbunga was declared.
The Sovereign State of Aeterna Lucina was proclaimed in 1978 by German migrant Paul Neuman. Aeterna Lucina came to public attention in 1990 when Neuman faced fraud charges in the New South Wales court system relating to land sale offences; the case was abandoned in 1992. In 1979, the Independent State of Rainbow Creek was declared by Thomas Barnes in protest of alleged incompetence by the Government of Victoria in regards to the flooding of his and others' properties. He was inspired by Hutt River. The Grand Duchy of Avram was established in Tasmania in the early 1980s by politician John Charlton Rudge, and issues its own banknotes. In recognition of his status, Rudge legally changed his name to John the Duke of Avram. In 1981, the Empire of Atlantium was founded in Sydney as a non-territorial global government based on the ideals of secularism, progressivism and liberalism. Among the causes Atlantium supports are the right to unrestricted international freedom of movement, the right to abortion, and the right to assisted suicide.
### Micronational community in Japan: 1981–1991
In 1981, drawing on a news story about Hemingway's New Atlantis, novelist Hisashi Inoue wrote a 700-page work of magic realism, Kirikirijin, about a village that secedes from Japan and proclaims its bumpkinish, marginalized dialect its national language, and its subsequent war of independence. This single-handedly inspired a large number of real-world Japanese villages, mostly in the northern regions, to "declare independence", generally as a move to raise awareness of their unique culture and crafts for urban Japanese who saw village life as backwards and uncultured. These micronations, known as independent mini-nations (Japanese: ミニ独立国, romanized: mini dokuritsu koku), held intermicronational summits, and some of them formed confederations and intermicronational organisations. The Ginko Federation held an intermicronational Olympic games in 1986. However, the economic impact of the Japanese asset price bubble in 1991 ended the boom. Many of the villages were forced to merge with larger cities, and the micronations and confederations were generally dissolved.
### Protest micronations: 1980s
The 1980s saw the establishment of several micronational entities in protest.
The Free Republic of Wendland was a protest camp established in Gorleben, West Germany in 1980 in order to protest against the establishment of a nuclear waste dump at the site. The residents created a border checkpoint and built a temporary village with more than 100 huts, ranging from elaborate round houses to tents. After 33 days, the local police moved in and evicted the camp. Also in 1980, the Independent State of Aramoana was declared by residents of the eponymous settlement during the Save Aramoana Campaign, which was opposed to the proposed construction of an aluminium smelter at Aramoana in New Zealand. This was because the project called for the destruction of the villages of Aramoana and Te Ngaru, and also threatened a local wildlife reserve. The project was ultimately abandoned in the early 1980s, and the micronation of Aramoana peacefully reintegrated into New Zealand.
The Conch Republic was founded by local residents of the Florida Keys in 1982 after the United States Border Patrol set up a roadblock and inspection point on one of the only two roads connecting the Florida Keys with the mainland. The Key West City Council complained repeatedly about the inconvenience, claiming that it hurt the Keys' tourism industry. Though the roadblock was soon removed, the claim to sovereignty of the Conch Republic has persisted as a tongue-in-cheek venture meant to booster tourism. In 1986, the Kingdom of North Dumpling was declared by inventor Dean Kamen after a denial from local officials to build his own wind turbine on North Dumpling Island, which Kamen privately owns. Kamen wrote his own constitution and created a flag, currency and national anthem for the micronation. In 1992, despite still being recognised as part of the United States, Kamen was able to leverage his personal relationship with then-president George H. W. Bush to sign an unofficial non-aggression pact.
### Artistic micronations: 1990s
Several conceptual art projects with micronational claims arose in the 1990s, usually as a means to challenge the idea of statehood.
In 1991, Neue Slowenische Kunst (NSK), a Slovenian political art collective, declared independence. NSK describes itself as a "State in Time," claiming no territory in order to be a "stateless state." Elgaland-Vargaland is a conceptual art project founded in 1992 by Swedish artists Carl Michael von Hausswolff and Leif Elggren. According to them, everyone who dies is automatically granted citizenship. Among Elgaland-Vargaland's territorial claims include graveyards, people's mental states and "the distance between high tide and low tide" of France. They also claim to operate embassies around the world. In 1996, Swedish artist Lars Vilks proclaimed the Royal Republic of Ladonia as a result of a court battle between local authorities over Vilks' illegal construction of two sculptures in the natural reserve of Kullaberg in southern Sweden. Ladonia's claim of independence has since persisted following Vilks' death in 2021, with Carolyn Shelby serving as Queen since 2011. In 1997, the neighbourhood of Užupis in Vilnius, Lithuania declared tongue-in-cheek independence as a republic consisting of laidback artists.
### Effects of the Internet and media attention
In the mid-1990s, the emerging popularity of the World Wide Web made it possible for anyone to create their own virtual state-like entity with relative ease, and many micronations launched their own websites. As a result, micronationalism lost much of its traditionally eccentric anti-establishment sentiment in favour of more hobbyist perspectives, and the number of exclusively online or merely simulation-based micronations expanded dramatically. Several intermicronational organisations were also established, with the League of Secessionist States, originally founded in 1980 by the Kingdom of Talossa, and the United Micronations being at the forefront. The French Institute of Micropatrology (French: l'Institut français de micropatrologie) was founded in 1996 by Swiss academic Fabrice O'Driscoll to study this phenomenon. Other online micronational services during the 1990s included MicroWorld, a monthly micronational magazine, and alt.politics.micronations, a Usenet newsgroup dedicated to discussions regarding micronationalism. In 2000, O'Driscoll authored Ils ne siègent pas à l'ONU: revue de quelques micro-Etats, micro-nations et autres entités éphémères (They do not sit at the UN: a review of some micro-states, micro-nations and other ephemeral entities), which details over 600 micronations.
In 2000, the Republic of Molossia and the erstwhile Kingdom of TorHavn hosted an Intermicronational Olympic Games online to coincide with the 2000 Summer Olympics. Six micronations competed and were asked to record their performances then report it to a Molossian message board. In 2003, the First Summit of Micronations summit commenced in Helsinki, Finland, coinciding with a performance art festival called Amorph!03. Six micronations were represented. An art exhibition exhibiting various micronational miscellanea, We Could Have Invited Everyone, occurred in 2004 and 2005 at the Reg Vardy Gallery, University of Sunderland, England and Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York City, United States respectively. The items were featured alongside artwork by artists including Yoko Ono and Nina Katchadourian. Both exhibitions coincided with an intermicronational summit. In 2005, the six-part BBC comedy-documentary series How to Start Your Own Country aired on BBC Two, in which comedian Danny Wallace attempts to create his own country in his apartment in Bow, London. The micronation he created was eventually named the Kingdom of Lovely. The following year, the travel guide company Lonely Planet published a light-hearted guide to numerous micronations titled Micronations: The Lonely Planet Guide to Home-Made Nations.
In 2007, two self-proclaimed princesses of the Sunda Democratic Empire, sisters Puteri Lamia Roro Wiranata and Puteri Fathia Reza, were detained by Malaysian immigration authorities for attempting to enter from Brunei using diplomatic passports from the Sunda Empire. They claimed to be the princesses of the historical Sunda Kingdom and that their parents were in "exile." In early 2008, they were freed by the Sessions Court, but maintained their claim of Sundan citizenship, thus making them ineligible for deportation to Indonesia. The Malaysian authorities subsequently deemed them stateless individuals, and they were interned at an immigration depot under supervision of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
### 2010s
In 2010, the documentary film How to Start Your Own Country, directed by Jody Shapiro, was screened as part of the 35th Toronto International Film Festival. The documentary explored various micronations around the world and included an analysis of the concept of statehood, seasteading and citizenship. The film was inspired by Erwin Strauss' eponymous book. Also that same year, an intermicronational summit, PoliNation 2010, was held at Dangar Island in Sydney, Australia. It was organised by Judy Lattas of Macquarie University, Princess Paula of the Principality of Snake Hill and George Cruickshank of the Empire of Atlantium. Between 2013 and 2014, two Aboriginal Australian nations declared independence from Australia as part of the concept of Australian Aboriginal sovereignty—first the Murrawarri Republic, comprising the Muruwari, in 2013, and the Sovereign Yidindji Government, comprising the Yidindji, in 2014. In both cases, the declarations of independence went wholly unrecognised by the Government of Australia.
In 2015, the first convention of the biannual MicroCon was held in Anaheim, California, United States. Hosted by the Republic of Molossia, several presentations were held by micronationalists regarding various topics in micronationalism. The Organisation de la microfrancophonie, a French intermicronational organisation, was founded in 2015. The organisation organised its first summit in 2016, hosted by the Principality of Aigues-Mortes. In 2018, the Principality of Islandia was established by two individuals aiming to build a crowdfunded micronation. Successfully purchasing the uninhabited Coffee Caye in the Caribbean Sea off the coast of Belize in 2019, Prime Minister of Belize John Briceño dismissed the project in 2022, calling them "stupid" and stating "We will never allow anybody to have their own country within this country [Belize] - what a stupid thing. If you stupid enough to pay a lot of money to buy [a] piece of land, good for you."
### 2020s
During the COVID-19 pandemic that began in 2020, several micronations imposed their own restrictions, mimicking countries. Some inactive Internet-based micronations also returned to activity as people were commanded to stay home and quarantine. In 2020, Netflix released the film Rose Island, based on the story of engineer Giorgio Rosa and the Republic of Rose Island. In 2021, academics Harry Hobbs and George Williams published Micronations and the Search for Sovereignty, a book exploring various aspects of micronationalism. It was published by Cambridge University Press. A follow-up book on micronations by Hobbs and Williams, entitled How to Rule Your Own Country: The Weird and Wonderful World of Micronations, was published in 2022 by the University of New South Wales Press. Also in 2022, illusionist Uri Geller purchased Lamb, an uninhabited island off the coast of Scotland and declared it independent as the Republic of Lamb. Geller offers citizenship, with proceeds going to Save a Child's Heart, an Israeli charity.
## Territorial claims
While most micronations claim land they can administer, often private property, some have made claims to uninhabitable tracts of land. For instance, some micronations have claimed Bir Tawil and Marie Byrd Land in West Antarctica, lands which are terra nullius—unclaimed by any other sovereign state. Several others have also made claims to other portions of Antarctica. Examples are the Grand Duchy of Westarctica and Grand Duchy of Flandrensis. However, due to Antartica's remoteness, no micronation has yet to establish a permanent residence on the continent. On the other hand, at least one micronationalist has physically reached Bir Tawil; in June 2014, Virginian farmer Jeremiah Heaton travelled to the area and proclaimed the Kingdom of North Sudan. Heaton stated that he claimed the territory in order to fulfil a promise to his daughter to make her a princess, however Heaton has appeared to have other motivations, offering several initiatives—such as the implementation of a national currency and the construction of an international airport and capital city—via crowdfunding.
Other micronational claims have been made to small pockets on the west bank of the Danube between Serbia and Croatia. Some micronationalists argue that the land is terra nullius because Croatia states the pockets are Serbian, whilst Serbia makes no claims on the land. However, the Croatian Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs has rejected these claims, stating that the differing border claims between Serbia and Croatia do not involve terra nullius and are not subject to occupation by a third party. The most prominent example is the Free Republic of Liberland, which was proclaimed in April 2015 by Czech right-libertarian politician and activist Vít Jedlička, and claims the largest pocket Gornja Siga. The land lacks infrastructure and lies on the floodplain of the Danube.
### Other claims
Some micronations have attempted to establish themselves in international waters—parts of the sea that cannot be claimed by any sovereign state—by seasteading. This involves the creation of permanent dwellings at sea. Some micronations are associated with the Seasteading Institute, a non-profit organisation formed to facilitate the establishment of these seasteads.
The Space Kingdom of Asgardia, founded in October 2016, claims an artificial satellite that orbited the Earth. Named Asgardia-1, the two-unit CubeSat was successfully launched by Orbital ATK in November 2017 as part of an International Space Station resupply mission. Asgardia-1 reportedly re-entered the atmosphere in September 2022. The Nation of Celestial Space claims all of outer space, whilst the Empire of Angyalistan lays claim to garbage patches around the world's oceans in protest against their existence.
## Functions as a sovereign state
Micronations function in the same way as sovereign states in that they have their own government, constitution, legislation, and (if a democracy) hold national elections. Micronations often have national symbols such as a flag, coat of arms or seal, motto and anthem, and many micronations also issue coins, banknotes, stamps, passports, passport stamps, orders of merit and bestow honours and titles of nobility, although these are not recognised internationally. Some micronations have made profits by selling these items as souvenirs and memorabilia to tourists and via their national websites, and others have even sold citizenship and titles of nobility. Some micronational coinage and stamps, if professionally made, have become valued as collector's items by numismatists and philatelists (stamp collectors) alike. In addition, both Sealand and Seborga have their own national association football teams. The Sealand national football team was founded in 2004 and became an associate member of the N.F.-Board, a federation made up of unrecognised states, stateless peoples, regions and micronations that are not allowed to join FIFA, in 2006. The Seborga national football team was founded in 2014 and is run by the Football Federation of the Principality of Seborga.
## Community
### Diplomacy
Like countries, micronations engage in intermicronational diplomacy with one another. This includes the signing of treaties, non-aggression pacts and intermicronational conventions, diplomatic missions and declarations of war. Several intermicronational organisations also exist, with some having as many as 80 member states. Most of these organisations generally work to maintain peace, strengthen micronational cooperation and to improve diplomatic relations between member states.
#### Intermicronational summits
Intermicronational summits are also commonplace within the micronational community, and several reoccurring summits have taken place. These include the sporadically-held PoliNation, biennial MicroCon; and the Organisation de la microfrancophonie has hosted three intermicronational summits between its member states. PoliNation 2010 was held at Dangar Island, Sydney, Australia and was organised by Judy Lattas of Macquarie University, Princess Paula of the Principality of Snake Hill and George Cruickshank of the Empire of Atlantium. PoliNation 2012 was held in London, United Kingdom, and PoliNation 2015 commenced at Umbria, Italy. MicroCon 2015 was held in Anaheim, California and hosted by Molossia; MicroCon 2017 in Tucker, Georgia by the Kingdom of Ruritania; MicroCon 2019 in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada by the Kingdom of Slabovia; and MicroCon 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada by Westarctica, having been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The first summit hosted by the Microfrancophonie was held in 2016 in Aigues-Mortes, Occitania, and hosted by the Principality of Aigues-Mortes; the second summit took place in 2018 in Vincennes, Paris and was hosted by Angyalistan; the third summit took place in 2022 in Blaye, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, organised by the Principality of Hélianthis.
### Websites and online communities
There are thousands of micronations which exist and operate solely online. Micronationalists convene and engage with one another through several online platforms, especially social media and historically forums (message boards), where micronationalists can share lessons and ideas as well as gain inspiration for establishing their own micronation. MicroWiki, the largest micronational wiki and encyclopaedia, has thousands of articles on various topics related to micronationalism "with many country pages [on MicroWiki] longer than those of real nations [on Wikipedia]," and a number of micronations exist and conduct diplomacy solely on the wiki, utilising it as an online community. As of December 2022, the largest micronational group on Facebook, Micronations and Alternative Polities, had almost 3,400 members, and the subreddit forum r/micronations on Reddit had another 6,700.
## Legality
### Arguments for sovereignty
Micronation as a word has no basis in international law. Despite this, several micronations have attempted to justify their claims to sovereignty by citing loopholes in local laws. A commonly attempted tactic used by micronationalists to legitimise their claims is the declarative theory of statehood as defined by the Montevideo Convention, which defines a state as: "a person of international law [that] possess the following qualifications: (a) a permanent population; (b) a defined territory; (c) government; and (d) capacity to enter into relations with the other states."
In 2019, a couple seasteading off the coast of Thailand went into hiding after being accused by the Royal Thai Navy of violating Thailand's sovereignty. If found guilty, they could face life in prison or the death penalty.
### Based on historical claims
Some micronations are founded on the basis of historical anomalies. The Principality of Seborga was founded in 1963 by Giorgio Carbone, who claimed to have found documents from the Vatican archives which, according to Carbone, indicated that Seborga had never been a possession of the House of Savoy and was thus not legally included in the Kingdom of Italy when it was formed in 1861, meaning that Seborga had remained sovereign. The Romanov Empire, created by chairman of the Monarchist Party of Russia Anton Bakov, claims to be a re-creation of the Russian Empire that holds Prince Karl Emich of Leiningen as the rightful heir to the imperial throne.
## See also
- League of Small and Subject Nationalities
- List of micronations
- List of unrecognised countries
- Fictional country
- Nation-building
- State-building |
42,854,537 | Ziggurat (video game) | 1,152,447,236 | 2012 video game | [
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| Ziggurat, stylized as ZiGGURAT, is a retro-style arcade shooter video game developed by Action Button Entertainment for iOS platforms. As the world's last human fighting off incoming alien freaks from atop a ziggurat, the player uses touch controls to charge and shoot the enemies away, and dies if hit by an enemy. The game has 16-bit graphics style and an 8-bit chiptune soundtrack. Action Button designer Tim Rogers developed the game idea based on his experience with Angry Birds, which later led to his forming Action Button as a company with Ziggurat as its first release on February 17, 2012.
The game received "generally favorable" reviews, according to video game review score aggregator Metacritic. Reviewers praised Ziggurat's nuanced controls and minimalism. Time magazine picked the game as one of the best for the then new high-resolution third generation iPad.
## Gameplay
As the "Last Human on Earth", the player fights off approaching enemies with their laser rifle. The player-character, stationary atop a mountain peak (ziggurat) at the top of the world and end of time, attacks incoming mono-eyed alien freaks and dies upon the first hit from any enemy. The player earns a score based on their number of aliens killed before succumbing. The aliens vary in size and shape, from "blue freaks" who pogo like the Tektites from Zelda, to stealth yellow freaks, to shielded, aggressive red freaks, to bullet-sponge giant freaks.
There are two shooting modes: Precision and Slingshot. In Precision, players control the shot by sliding their fingers along the bottom of the screen, which calculates the arc and direction of the shot. In Slingshot, like Angry Birds, players draw back their shots like slingshots. The shot grows in power the longer the screen is held, and the shot is fired when the player lets go. Weak shots will also arc down with gravity, and strong shots will decrease in power if held too long. There are no power-ups, no gamified micropayments, and no pause function, but there are achievements such as living to see the end of the universe. It also integrates "pro-social" features like GameCenter and Twitter.
Ziggurat uses retro-style 16-bit graphics and an 8-bit chiptune soundtrack. The player-character is blonde and dressed in a red jumpsuit, and clouds pass by in parallax motion in the background. The sun's position in the distance appears as a function of game's duration. The chiptune soundtrack includes wailing solos, and its pitch appears to intensify with the game's difficulty. The player's death is accompanied by a "wince-inducing digital screech" or siren and a "blood-red screen".
## Development
Action Button Entertainment was founded by Tim Rogers. The studio consists of Rogers, Brent Porter, Michael Kerwin, and Nicholas Wasilewski, who have built all of the studio's four games from Ziggurat through Videoball. Their games are consistently simple in their aesthetics and controls. Rogers cited Angry Birds as the inspiration for Ziggurat. He found the former "an incredible collision of game design concepts" that worked, though he wanted the game to be more of a "driving range" where he could throw birds at falling stuff, an idea which he refined into a Raiders of the Lost Ark-themed game of slowly hurling projectiles that push back bats in a corridor with no limit of projectiles. When riding the Bay Area Rapid Transit from Oakland to San Francisco a year later, Rogers watched a man play Angry Birds as he perfected a level, whereupon Rogers decided to make his game idea. He asked his friend and indie developer Adam Saltsman for advice, who confirmed and encouraged Rogers's interest in trying Flixel, the Adobe Flash tools used to make Saltsman's Canabalt. Upon deciding that he lacked the expertise, he tweeted to recruit others on the project and received some responses that later fell through.
Rogers continued to work as a video game design consultant and met Bob Pelloni (of Bob's Game) at the 2010 Game Developers Conference. The two worked on games (including Ziggurat) together. Rogers put out a call for artists on Twitter with a submissions request of "fan art of the Japanese box art of Phantasy Star II", and Action Button artist Brent Porter replied in under an hour with an entry Rogers called "incredible". In mid 2011, Rogers decided to work on an iPhone game for a few weeks as a break from a larger project. While Pelloni was against the buttonless iPhone as a platform, Rogers said the team was convinced by his design document. He contacted an Internet acquaintance who had previously mocked up a design idea from Rogers's Kotaku column, programmer Michael Kerwin, who came through in a week with a version without graphics or sound, which was later added. Rogers recorded "some insane and rough music" with his band, Large Prime Numbers, that Andrew Toups converted into an 8-bit soundtrack in the "original Nintendo sound format" that Rogers found "breathtaking". His friend, QWOP creator Bennett Foddy, deemed the game "sort of interesting".
Six months passed as Rogers worked on a social game before he chose to make a few more changes: more enemy types and progression, graphics in the background, and so emailed people to continue development. Rogers described his own critical list of video games as having minimalist aesthetics with no overt story to tell other than through its game mechanics, and wanted the game to live up to those expectations. He fine-tuned the game with gut-driven decisions. For example, he applied a concept he called "sticky friction" from Super Mario Bros. 3 to the game's controls. One of the final features was the "scream sound effect" Rogers made with his guitar and "crushed" for a distorted and quasi-digital sound that he compared to those made by eccentric Japanese musicians whose records he owned.
Rogers explained that they did not add a pause option because he did not want non-game icons in the screen and because (like in Contra) players would die too soon after resuming. He saw the game as simultaneously a "snow globe of an electric toy" and a "gosh darn airtight hardcore video game" homage to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and Sega Genesis, and called Ziggurat a descendant of his hobbies: Ibara: Black Label and the Rubik's Cube. Rogers added that the game contained nine hours of scripted events and that the Archenemy alien "is only the beginning". Rogers produced a trailer for the game. It was released for iOS platforms on February 17, 2012. Two months later, Freshuu, then the game's publisher, signed Ziggurat as the first client for Gimme, an in-game achievement to "real-life rewards" incentive program. The game received two spikes in sales following positive reviews from journalists, and from a mock infomercial's release on YouTube, all postrelease and not at the time of launch. Brandon Sheffield, writing for Game Developer, thought that Rogers handled the postrelease well since leaking details to the press before the game was available may have impacted sales. Action Button later became the game's publisher.
## Reception
The game received "generally favorable" reviews, according to video game review score aggregator Metacritic. It won a Destructoid Editors' Choice Award, and Time magazine picked the game as one of the best for the then new high-resolution third generation iPad.
Edge compared the game to a more pleasurable version of Halo: Reach's final scene. The magazine also compared the feeling of prioritization as a swarm of enemies appear to the feeling of clutter when stacking Tetris blocks haphazardly. Edge also called the red screen and sound effect that flashes upon the player's death "brash and lo-fi and unexpectedly poignant", for which they noted Rogers's interest in noise rock and credited the effect as "a beguiling personal signature". Alternatively, Paste's Joe Bernardi thought the sound did not accomplish what it intended. Joseph Leray of TouchArcade noticed how the guitar sound in Gears of War was reaffirming but the opposite in Ziggurat. Edge noted that nuances such as gravity's influence on the arc of uncharged shots make Ziggurat more of a basketball or golf-like sport skill than a "2D Halo". Edge awarded the game a 9 of 10, adding that it "prized immediacy" in a manner that matched the iOS platform.
Eurogamer's Martin Robinson said the game made him nostalgic for a score attack game from the early 90s that does not exist, and as such called Ziggurat "one of the finer simple score-attack shooters ... on the App Store" and an expression of the golden age of the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis. He called the game's mechanics "fine-tuned" and the gun's abilities collated from the best elements of other video games. Danny Cowan of IndieGames.com likewise found the controls "very well suited" for touchscreens. He also praised the chained explosions and shot charging as "satisfying", and compared the game to Missile Command in its allure. Robinson of Eurogamer said the game's deserving peers were Geometry Wars and Robotron for their refined play styles that make players predict what enemies are about to act. TouchArcade's Leray praised the game design and never reached a place where his skills plateaued. He advised against using the Slingshot mode controls.
Joe Bernardi of Paste put Ziggurat in a lineage of iOS games where the player tries to do a fun thing as much as possible before dying, including Canabalt, Bit Pilot, and Super Crate Box. He connected Ziggurat's mechanics to Rogers's longstanding interest in "infinite mode" without external rewards, and praised the charge time mechanics as "excellent" and the perfect awkward length to confuse muscle memory. Leray of TouchArcade praised its attention to detail, especially in the character sprites. Paste's Bernardi called Action Button's design restraint "admirable" and lauded the game's balance. He noted its "extremely focused shallowness" as defining, like a Dorito, and called it "one of the best iOS games [he had] ever played". Reviewing for ActionButton.net, indie developer Adam Saltsman called Ziggurat "French New Wave action videogame fan art". |
2,602,246 | Scott Baker (right-handed pitcher) | 1,142,573,516 | American baseball player | [
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| Timothy Scott Baker (born September 19, 1981) is an American former professional baseball starting pitcher. He stands 6 feet 4 inches (1.93 m) tall and weighs 215 pounds (98 kg). He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Minnesota Twins, Chicago Cubs, Texas Rangers and Los Angeles Dodgers. He bats and throws right-handed.
Baker grew up in Shreveport, Louisiana, and attended Oklahoma State University. He was drafted by the Twins in the second round of the 2003 Major League Baseball draft and reached the major leagues in 2005. In 2006, he made their starting rotation out of Spring training but struggled and was sent to the minor leagues for most of the rest of the season. Beginning 2007 in the minors, he was called up in May and nearly threw a perfect game on August 31. He went 11–4 in 2008 and posted a 3.45 earned run average (ERA). In 2009, Baker logged a career-high 200 innings and started the American League (AL) tiebreaker game against the Detroit Tigers which the Twins won to advance to the postseason. He had a 12–9 record in 2010 but battled injuries towards the end of the year and was left out of the Twins' postseason rotation. Injuries limited Baker in 2011 again, but he was the only Twins' pitcher to post a winning record. He missed 2012 after undergoing Tommy John surgery; this also caused him to miss most of 2013, which he spent with the Chicago Cubs. He began 2014 in the minor leagues but was later added to the Texas Rangers' roster. Baker started eight games for the Rangers but was used mainly as a relief pitcher. In 2015, he signed with the New York Yankees but was released before the season started. Signed by the Los Angeles Dodgers, he started two games for them, the last appearances of his major league career.
## Early years
Baker was born September 19, 1981, in Shreveport, Louisiana. He attended Captain Shreve High School in Shreveport, graduating in 2000. He was selected to the All-State team his senior year and played college baseball at Oklahoma State University. In the 2001 season, he was named a Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American. In 2002, he played collegiate summer baseball for the Orleans Cardinals of the Cape Cod Baseball League, and was named a league all-star. In the 2003 season, he was named to the second team All-Big 12. In 2009–10, Baker became part of Captain Shreve's "Circle of Honor."
## Draft and minor league career
Baker was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the second round (58th overall) of the 2003 Major League Baseball draft. He began his minor league career with the Class A Quad Cities River Bandits that same year. In 2004, he played for the Class A-Advanced Fort Myers Miracle, Double-A New Britain Rock Cats, and Triple-A Rochester Red Wings, where he would spend the rest of his minor league career outside of rehab assignments until 2014. In 2004, Baker went a combined 10–8 with a 3.24 ERA in 26 minor league starts. He pitched the majority of his 2005 and 2006 seasons with Rochester. He pitched just seven games in 2007 for the Red Wings before being called up to pitch the rest of his 2007 season with the Twins.
## Major league career
### Minnesota Twins
#### 2005 season
Baker was called up on May 2, 2005; Baseball Prospectus speculated he might make starts in place of Kyle Lohse; Twins' manager Ron Gardenhire said he might be used to start if Lohse did not continue to improve. Baker did not wind up starting, making his MLB debut by pitching one scoreless inning out of the bullpen in an 8–1 victory over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays on May 7. That was his only appearance with the Twins in May. He was recalled in July to make his first major league start. On July 5, he pitched five innings, giving up just two runs on five hits and striking out five; however, he took the loss in a 2–1 defeat to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Though he was expected to get sent back to Rochester, Twins' manager Ron Gardenhire had praise for him, saying after the game, "We think we have a quality major leaguer ready to go, and he kind of proved that theory again." A few weeks later, on July 23, Baker had his first career win in Detroit with a 5–2 victory over the Tigers in Game 2 of a doubleheader. He started and pitched seven strong innings, allowing just two runs, but was sent back to Rochester immediately after the game, as he had been called up specifically to start in the doubleheader. On August 29, he returned to the Twins starting rotation for the remainder of the year, making seven consecutive starts to close the season as he replaced Joe Mays in the rotation. Baker finished his rookie year with a record of 3–3 and an earned run average (ERA) of 3.35 in 10 games (nine starts).
#### 2006 season
Baker beat out Francisco Liriano to earn the Twins' No. 5 starting spot out of Spring training. However, he struggled with his command, was unable to keep the ball down, and did not live up to the expectations following his rookie season. The 2–5 start with a 6.06 ERA caused Baker to be demoted to Rochester on June 1.
Baker ended up spending nearly the entire second half with the Rochester Red Wings, making only a handful of starts after the demotion. While the Twins played great baseball after a 25–33 start by winning the division on the last game of the regular season, Baker's season was a major disappointment. He finished the year with a 5–8 record and a 6.37 ERA in 16 starts and 83.1 innings, with two of the wins coming against the New York Yankees. Baker did not make the Twins' postseason roster.
#### 2007 season
Baker struggled in 2007 spring training, opening the season with Rochester. In May, though, the Twins removed Sidney Ponson from the rotation, giving Baker a chance to start again. In his first start of the season, on May 19, he pitched into the ninth inning, allowing two runs in a 5–2 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers. On July 26, after scuffling in several starts, he struck out a career-high nine hitters over seven innings in a 12-inning, 2–1 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays. He pitched a complete game on July 1, allowing only a home run to Marcus Thames, but that run was the only run of the game in a 1–0 loss to Detroit. He threw eight shutout innings on August 5, earning the victory in a 1–0 win over the Cleveland Indians. On August 31, Baker took a perfect game into the ninth inning against the Kansas City Royals at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome during the second game of a doubleheader, but lost his bid for perfection when he issued a walk to the first batter he faced in the ninth, John Buck. The second hitter after Buck that he faced, Mike Sweeney, hit a single, ending Baker's bid for a no-hitter. Baker finished the game by beating the Royals 5-0 allowing just one hit and completing his second complete game of his career. In 24 games (23 starts), Baker had a 9–9 record, a 4.26 ERA, and 102 strikeouts in 143+2⁄3 innings.
#### 2008 season
Baker opened the 2008 season as the Twins' fifth starter. He won his first two starts of the season, the first coming on April 4 and the second coming on April 9. However, he placed was on the disabled list (DL) on May 7 with a strained right groin. This was the first DL stint of his career, and it lasted until June 5. On June 15, 2008, Baker became the first Twins pitcher to ever throw four strikeouts in the same inning. In the third inning against the Milwaukee Brewers, Baker struck out Ryan Braun, then struck out Prince Fielder, but the ball bounced away from catcher Mike Redmond, so Fielder went to first base. Baker then proceeded to strike out Russell Branyan and Mike Cameron. The last pitcher to record such a feat was Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Brad Penny, who did it on September 23, 2006, against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Baker picked up his first career hit against Josh Banks on June 26 and earned the win in a 4–3 victory over the San Diego Padres. On July 20, Baker opened a game against the Texas Rangers with 5+2⁄3 perfect innings but again wound up losing a game in which he pitched eight innings 1–0 when he allowed a solo home run to Taylor Teagarden. On August 21, he allowed one run in eight innings and earned a no-decision in a 12-inning, 2–1 victory over the Angels. Baker finished the season 11–4 with a 3.45 ERA and 141 strikeouts in 28 starts. His 0.48 ground ball/fly ball ratio was the lowest in the major leagues for 2008. The Twins finished the season tied with the Chicago White Sox for the American League (AL) Central lead, but the White Sox won a one-game playoff, eliminating the Twins.
#### 2009 season
Baker was expected to be the Twins' Opening Day starter, but he opened the 2009 season on the disabled list with right shoulder stiffness and posted a 9.15 ERA in his first four starts when he returned. On May 3, he no-hit the Royals through six innings, but he gave up five runs in the seventh inning of that game. He earned his first win on May 8, pitching seven shutout innings in an 11–0 victory over the Seattle Mariners. On May 24, he gave up three runs in 8+1⁄3 innings and earned the win in a 6–3 victory over Milwaukee. Baker began trying to stand taller in his delivery, and on June 4 he struck out a career-high 10 batters in an 11–3 victory over the Indians. Baker went 4–0 in June, and from July 12 through September 5, he set a career-high with seven straight wins. On August 14, he had a two-hit shutout in an 11–0 win over Cleveland. After sitting seven games out of the AL Central lead on September 6, the Twins forced a tiebreaker with the Tigers, and Baker made the start. He allowed three runs over six innings, left eligible for the win, but took a no-decision. However, the Twins won 6–5 in 12 innings to clinch a trip to the playoffs. He led the Twins with 15 wins, 162 strikeouts, and finished second on the team behind Nick Blackburn with a 4.37 ERA, while pitching a career high 200 innings. However, the Twins were swept in three games in the AL Division Series (ALDS) against the Yankees, preventing Baker from making any playoff appearances.
#### 2010 season
Baker started on Opening Day for the Twins to kick off the 2010 season against the Angels but allowed four earned runs in 4+2⁄3 innings, taking the loss in a 6–3 defeat. He won his next start, allowing one run in seven innings in a 2–1 victory over the Chicago White Sox on April 10. Through May 8, he went 4–2. On June 16, Baker struck out a career-best 12 batters through seven innings in a 2–1 victory over the Colorado Rockies. He picked up his 50th career win on July 2, allowing one earned run in seven innings in a 2–1 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays. On August 10, he allowed five runs (four earned) in six innings but earned his 10th win of the season in a 12–6 victory over the White Sox. He left a start with elbow pain on September 2 and did not pitch again until September 21. Baker finished the season on a 9–1 stretch and helped the Twins repeat as winners of the AL Central. In 29 starts, he had a 12–9 record, a 4.49 ERA, and 148 strikeouts in 170+1⁄3 innings. During the season, he moved from 22nd to 12th all-time on the Twins' strikeout list. Baker was left out of the Twins' postseason rotation, though he was a member of their bullpen. He made his playoff debut in Game 3 of the ALDS, allowing one run in 2+1⁄3 innings as the Twins were again swept by the Yankees.
#### 2011 season
Baker had to compete with Kevin Slowey for the starting rotation in 2011, but he won the competition and entered the season as the Twins' No. 5 starter. He threw seven shutout innings on April 21 in a 3–1 victory over the Baltimore Orioles. He threw a complete game on June 11, allowing one run and striking out seven in an 8–1 victory over the Rangers. One week later, he threw eight shutout innings and had 10 strikeouts in a 1–0 victory over the San Diego Padres. Baker had a strong season before missing time with injuries. His ERA at the end of July was 2.86, and he made two starts in August before spending much of the rest of the season on the disabled list with an injured elbow. He finished the season with an 8–6 record and a 3.14 ERA in 23 games (21 starts). Baker was the Twins only starting pitcher to have a winning record in 2011, and he led the team in ERA, strikeouts (123), and WHIP (1.17).
#### 2012 season
Baker began 2012 on the disabled list due to elbow tendinitis. He made a rehab start with the Class A Fort Myers Miracle in their first game of the season but threw just 11 pitches in the start before leaving the game after talking to the trainers. It was announced on April 11 that Baker would miss the entire 2012 season with Tommy John surgery. Baker said, "It's something that I've been battling for a while. I don't mind pitching through pain, as long as you don't have the chance to further the injury. But when it comes to a point where your velocity's not there and you don't have the ability to finish pitches like you know you're capable of doing, then something's got to be done." On October 29, the Twins announced they declined their club option for Baker worth \$9.25 million, ending Baker's tenure with the team.
### Chicago Cubs
On November 13, 2012, the Chicago Cubs announced they signed Baker to a one-year deal worth \$5.5 million with \$1.5 million in possible bonuses. Due to various setbacks and injuries that lingered throughout the season, Baker did not pitch for the Cubs until September. He made his first start since 2011 on September 8, pitching five shutout innings in a 3–1 loss to the Brewers. "It felt very good," Baker said after the game. "There were some emotions there. It's been a long road and I was happy my family was here to share this moment because they're just as much a part of this as I am. Rehab process is hard on everyone just not the player himself. It's been a long road so that definitely plays into it being a very special day for me and my family." He started three games for the Cubs, with no record and a 3.60 ERA in 15 innings.
### Seattle Mariners
Baker signed a minor-league deal with the Seattle Mariners on January 29, 2014. After posting a 6.75 ERA in four Spring training starts with the Mariners and refusing a minor league assignment, Baker was released on March 24.
### Texas Rangers
On March 25, 2014, Baker signed a minor league deal with the Texas Rangers. He was brought up to the Rangers on May 7, to serve as a long reliever. He was designated for assignment after throwing 5+1⁄3 innings of relief in a game, with the Rangers needing more-rested arms in their bullpen, but he was soon recalled. He was added to the rotation on May 23 when the Rangers moved Robbie Ross to the bullpen. However, Baker returned to a long relief role after two starts when Joe Saunders came off the DL. Late in the season, Baker was again used as a starter, making starts August 24, August 29, September 5, and September 27. In 25 games (eight starts), Baker had a 3–4 record, a 5.47 ERA, 55 strikeouts, and 14 walks in 80+2⁄3 innings. On October 30, he became a free agent.
### New York Yankees
In late January 2015, Baker signed with the New York Yankees to a minor league contract worth \$1.5 million if he made the major league roster. He struggled in spring training, allowing nine earned runs in 10+1⁄3 innings before drawing his release on March 29.
### Los Angeles Dodgers
In April 2015, he signed a minor league contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers and was assigned to the Triple-A Oklahoma City Dodgers. He made three starts for Oklahoma City in April and was 1–1 with a 1.06 ERA. In a seven inning game (shortened due to it being the first game of a doubleheader) against the Iowa Cubs on April 20, Baker came within one strike of pitching a perfect game, retiring the first 20 batters he faced before Addison Russell's double up the middle with two strikes on him. The Dodgers purchased his contract and called him up to the Majors to make a spot start against the San Diego Padres on April 26. He made two starts for the Dodgers and was 0–1 with a 5.73 ERA before he was designated for assignment on May 3, 2015. He made 13 starts in Triple-A and was 7–3 with a 3.39 ERA. He left a start in July because of injury and spent the rest of the season on the disabled list.
## Pitching style
Baker threw a fastball, a cut fastball, a slider, a changeup, and a curveball. The fastball was his main pitch, which he threw over 60 percent of the time; it had an average velocity in the high nineties for much of his career. After Baker's return in 2013, his average fastball velocity had dropped to the high eighties, and he stopped throwing the curveball after the 2013 season.
Baker has been a good control pitcher throughout his career, finishing in the top 10 in the American League in strikeout-to-walk ratio three times. He has the fourth-best strikeout-to-walk ratio in the history of the Twins, including their time as the Washington Senators, at 3.438 (behind Slowey's 4.702, Jim Merritt's 3.904, and Johan Santana's 3.794); he also has the eighth-best strikeouts per 9 innings pitched number in Twins' history (7.234).
## Personal life
Baker and his wife Leann have two sons, Eli and Easton. He is known for being soft-spoken. Since a "young age", Baker has been a Christian. He says, "I can't tell you how much I appreciated my parents for [bringing me to church]" and that he is "eternally grateful." He especially enjoys Paul's letters to the churches, saying, "It gives you hope... insight... peace in our daily lives." He credited his faith with helping him after he was sent to the minor leagues in 2006.
## See also
- List of Major League Baseball single-inning strikeout leaders |
69,359,224 | Uranium mining in the Bancroft area | 1,172,980,146 | History of mining in Bancroft, Canada | [
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| Uranium mining around Bancroft, Ontario, was conducted at four sites, beginning in the early 1950s and concluding by 1982. Bancroft was one of two major uranium-producing areas in Ontario, and one of seven in Canada, all located along the edge of the Canadian Shield. In the context of mining, the "Bancroft area" includes Haliburton, Hastings, and Renfrew counties, and all areas between Minden and Lake Clear. Activity in the mid-1950s was described by engineer A. S. Bayne in a 1977 report as the "greatest uranium prospecting rush in the world".
As a result of activities at its four major uranium mines, Bancroft experienced rapid population and economic growth throughout the 1950s. By 1958, Canada had become one of the world's leading producers of uranium; the \$274 million of uranium exports that year represented Canada's most significant mineral export. By 1963, the federal government had purchased more than \$1.5 billion of uranium from Canadian producers, but soon thereafter the global supply uranium market collapsed and the government stopped issuing contracts to buy. Mining resumed when uranium prices rose during the 1970s energy crisis, but this second period of activity ended by 1982.
Three of the uranium mines are decommissioned, and one is undergoing rehabilitation. A twofold increase in lung cancer development and mortality has been observed among former mine workers. Bancroft continues to be known for gems and mineralogy.
## Geology and mineralogy
During the most recent ice age, in the area of what is now Bancroft, Ontario, ancient glaciers removed soil and rock, exposing the Precambrian granite that had been the heart of volcanic mountains on an ancient sea bed. During the Grenville orogenies, sedimentary rocks were transformed by heat and pressure into banded gneiss and marble, incorporating gabbro and diorite (rich in iron and other dark minerals). Some uranium ores in these structures are about 1,000 million years old, while others are understood to be 1,200 million years old.
In Canada, 99% of known uranium occurrences and 93% of properties producing uranium are located on the geological shield known as the Canadian Shield, almost all on the western and southern edges of it. The Grenville Province in Eastern Canada has small quantities of uranium-thorium-rare earth element in granitic pegmatite which appear in numerous locations around the Bancroft area, giving Bancroft the moniker of the "Mineral Capital of Canada". The "Bancroft area" includes Haliburton, Hastings, and Renfrew counties, and all areas between Minden and Lake Clear.
Bancroft is unusual as one of the limited global locations where uranium is extracted from intrusive rocks, notably the only one from the pegmatite type. Other locations include the Rössing and Husabmines in Namibia, Kvanefjeld in Greenland, Palabora in South Africa, along with the Radium Hill mine and sites in Southern Australia's Olary Province. The key geological features in the Bancroft area relevant to uranium mining are three circular granitic complexes, each about 10 kilometres (6 mi) across. They are (from southwest to northeast):
- The Cheddar complex is a circular double dome of granitic rock surrounded by paragneiss, para-amphibolite, and pyroxene granulite. All these rocks contain younger granitic and syenitic intrusions.
- The Cardiff plutonic complex consists mainly of three southeast-dipping cylindrical sheet intrusions: the Centre Lake granite, the Monck Lake granite, and the Deer Lake syenite. They intrude metasedimentary rocks.
- The Faraday granite is a sheet of granite covered by gneisses and metagabbro. The Faraday granite sheet dips to the south and it is the southern edge of the Hastings Highland gneiss complex.
### Gems and other resources
Finds of gold in nearby Madoc, Ontario, (then known as Eldorado) from 1886 to 1887, inspired many to seek gold around Bancroft. Surface gold was found in October 1897 by R. Bradshaw, 32 km (20 mi) southwest of Bancroft (towards Bobcaygeon). This triggered a rush of prospectors to the area. Iron and magnetic ores were mined from 1882, gold, copper and mica from the late 1890s, and marble from 1911. More than 1,600 identifiable minerals and non-metallic collectibles can be found in the area, including 175 species of gemstones.
Aside from uranium, mines in the Bancroft area produced sought-after gemstones of 175 species, most notably calcite, clinohumite, corundum, diopside, dravite, edenite, euxenite-(Y), ferri-fluoro-katophorite, fluorapatite, fluorite, fluoro-richterite, ilmenite, kainosite-(Y), molybdenite, nepheline, phlogopite, crystals of the pyrochlore supergroup, thorite, titanite, tremolite, uraninite, uranophane, and zircon. Madawaska Mine produced samples of the very rare kainosite-(Y), globally renowned samples of the common calcite and fluorite, "superb" samples of ilmenite, and "fine" samples of molybdenite.
Marble mined in Bancroft was used to make the floor of the Whitney Block and the Royal Ontario Museum.
## Uranium mining
Uranium was first discovered in the area of Cardiff, Ontario, in 1922 by prospector W. M. Richardson. His find was first called "the Richardson deposit" and later "the Fission property" and is located 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) east of the Wilberforce community of Cardiff township. Between 1929 and 1931, attempts were made to extract radon from the uranium ore dug from a tunnel driven into a hill.
In 1943, during World War II, global interest in mining uranium escalated. The government sent geologists to Bancroft, who concluded that all known uranium deposits were unviable due to accessibility, size and uranium concentration. 1948 saw an increase in private staking of claims for uranium, but due to the difficulties in extracting uranium from lower grade ore, none developed into mines.
In 1953, "intelligent prospecting and excellent preliminary exploration" by G. W. Burns, R. J. Steele and Arthur H. Shore led successful prospecting of the area. Between 1953 and 1956, 100 claims were staked around Bancroft and at approximately the same time, another ten mines were started in the Elliot Lake area. Burns and Steele discovered the Central Lake deposits, which were developed into Bicroft Mine, while Shore's prospect became the Faraday Mine.Activity in the mid-1950s was described by engineer A. S. Bayne in a 1977 report as the "greatest uranium prospecting rush in the world".
Uranium mining operations in the Bancroft area were conducted at four sites, beginning in the early 1950s and concluding by 1982. Each of these used underground hard-rock mining methods to access and collect uranium ores from the surrounding granite and gneiss. The mines were:
### Bicroft Mine
In 1952 G. W. Burns, an amateur prospector from Peterborough, found uranium deposits 16 kilometres (10 mi) southwest of Bancroft, near Cardiff township and Paudash Lake. At another property near Centre Lake (between Cheddar and Cardiff), he observed purple rocks which he knew to be fluorspar, an indicator of radioactive geology. He brought the samples to Robert Steele in Peterborough who used a Geiger counter to confirm their radioactivity. The two then formed a partnership and immediately began staking land claims. Their slow careful staking disadvantaged them as others rushed to the area and staked their own claims; nonetheless, their work paid off and they started mining what the Geological Survey of Canada (GCS) confirmed to be uraninite.
In late 1952, Burns sold his property to a Toronto syndicate that formed into the Centre Lake Uranium Mines Limited, led by C. C. Huston. The company worked on the surface, opened an adit and started diamond drilling, mostly every 30 metres (100 ft), sometimes 15 m (50 ft) between the holes. A shaft was created in 1954. Simultaneous to this, Croft Uranium Mines Limited, a subsidiary of Macassa Mines Limited, formed in 1953 and discovered uranium north of the original site. In 1955 the two sites were merged under the ownership of Bicroft Uranium Mines Limited, with work focused on the Centre Lake part of the property. A shaft was sunk to 400 metres (1,300 ft) and ten levels created. A treatment plant capable of processing 1,000 tonnes (1,100 short tons) of ore per day was built and operations started in late 1956. Production in 1957 was 183,828 kg (405,271 lb) of U<sub>3</sub>O<sub>8</sub> from ore with a grade of 0.0859%. Production increased to 1,200 tonnes (1,300 short tons) per day in 1958 and exploration started to the south of the site. Mining continued until 1963, producing about 247,000 tonnes (243,000 long tons; 272,000 short tons) of uranium ore.
2,284,421 tonnes (2,248,342 long tons; 2,518,143 short tons) of tailings remain on site in two impoundments. Repairs to the decommissioned site, including the addition of vegetation over the tailings, were completed in 1980. Subsequent upgrades of the dams were completed in the 1990s. The site is now a wetlands.
The uranium deposits of Bicroft mine occur in a set of eastward-dipping en-echelon lens-shaped dykes of syenite and granite, up to 24 m (80 ft) wide and 120 m (400 ft) long, which extend over an area of about 4.5 square kilometres (1.75 sq mi) within a north–south oriented belt of amphibolite and paragneiss (the eastern part of the Centre Lake granite). The ore minerals are uranothorite and uraninite. The uranium-to-thorium ratio is variable. Pyroxene-rich granite of this area is richer in thorium.
### Faraday Mine/Madawaska Mine
The area that is now known as Madawaska Mine was first mapped by Jack Satterly in the early 1950s.
Arthur H. Shore, an independent prospector, first found uranium at his lot on Faraday township in 1949. He founded Faraday Uranium Mines Limited in 1949, but injured himself shortly afterwards. Newkirk Mining Corporation led work in 1952, including diamond drilling in December 1952 which helped identify seven main zones of uranium ore. Further drilling the following year identified additional deposits to a depth of 150 metres (500 ft). 1954 drilling found more uranium and adits were created. By 1955 it was established that there were 1,506,820 tonnes (1,660,980 short tons) of ore that was 0.112% U<sub>3</sub>O<sub>8</sub> (uranium oxide). A sale price was agreed in January 1956. A 263-metre-deep (863 ft) shaft was sunk from an adit, from which five levels were established. A treatment plant with a 680-tonne-per-day (750-short-ton) capacity was built and operations started in April 1957. In 1958, the treatment capacity was increased to 1,220 tonnes (1,350 short tons) per day in order to support processing of ore from Greyhawk Mine. Production in 1957 was 183,828 kg (405,271 lb) from ore with a grade of 0.0859% U<sub>3</sub>O<sub>8</sub>. Between 1948 and 1964 Faraday Mine had produced \$54 million of ore.
After \$7 million of investment to rehabilitate the mine, it reopened as the Madawaska Mine in 1976 and production continued to 1982. The shaft into the uranium-bearing pegmatite reached a depth of 473 metres (1,552 ft). During this period, the mine was producing 1,400 tonnes (1,500 short tons) of ore per day.
In 2015, inspections found improper surface protection of the tailings and the site has been undergoing rehabilitation.
At the Faraday and Madawaska mines, lens-shaped bodies of ore occur in granitic pegmatite dykes within an area of steeply-dipping amphibolite and metagabbro at the southern edge of the Faraday granite. Uraninite and uranothorite are the principal ore minerals at Faraday and Madawaska. Other radioactive minerals found at this locality include allanite, cyrtolite (a uranium-thorium rich variety of zircon), uranophane-α and uranophane-β. The uranium-to-thorium ratio is about 2-to-1. Uranium ore concentrations range from 0.07 to 0.4 per cent U<sub>3</sub>O<sub>8</sub> (uranium-oxide.)
### Dyno Mine
Prospector Paul Mullette discovered radioactive occurrences in November 1953 that were sold to Dyno Mines Limited (later Canadian Dyno Mines Limited). The company undertook diamond drilling that same month simultaneous to geological mapping. This identified three zones, resulting in drilling, which discovered two additional zones. Surface diamond drilling of 124 holes at 61-metre (200 ft) intervals occurred through 1954 and 1955. A 300-metre (1,000 ft) shaft, in the "B" zone, was sunk creating five levels. A price to sell uranium was agreed, and an ore treatment plant with 1,000-tonne-per-day (1,100-short-ton) capacity was started in 1956. Production started in May 1958.
At Dyno mine, at the eastern edge of the Cheddar granite, five zones of ore occur as uranothorite and uraninite in a set of steeply-dipping lens-shaped dykes of pegmatitic granite 0.9 to 20 m (3 to 60 ft) wide, which intrude into gneisses. Ore occurs across the full width of narrower dykes (up to about 3.7 m [12 ft] wide); in wider dykes, ore is usually restricted to only parts of the dyke. The ores are closely associated with a set of north–south trending fractures. Ore concentrations vary from 0.05 to more than 1.00 per cent U<sub>3</sub>O<sub>8</sub>, averaging 0.093 per cent. The ore often contains magnetite, particularly where the ore is of higher grade. Cyrtolite and allanite also occur.
### Greyhawk Mine
Radioactive materials were first discovered in Faraday Township in 1955 by K. D. Thompson and M. Card, two employees of Goldhawk Porcupine Mines Limited who were surveying with Geiger counters. They found exposed rock to be radioactive across a 18-by-91-metre (60 by 300 ft) area. Ownership subsequently shifted to Greyhawk Uranium Mines Limited. Diamond drilling followed at 15- to 122-metre (50 to 400 ft) intervals at 140-metre (450 ft) depth. An exploration shaft was begun in 1956 and three levels created. Operations uncovered no high-grade ore deposits, leaving the average grade below that of other Bancroft mines. Mining operations subsequently stopped in 1959.
Ore was transferred for processing at the Faraday Mine site, starting August 1957 at a rate of about 180 tonnes (200 short tons) per day. By the end of 1957, 17,752 tonnes (19,568 short tons) at a value of \$12.6 per tonne (\$11.4/short ton) had been shipped. Through 1958, production was 140 tonnes (150 short tons) per day averaging at 0.082% U<sub>3</sub>O<sub>8.</sub> The tonnage of ore was 30% less than feasibility estimates. Faraday Uranium Mines Limited purchased the site in 1962. Madawaska Mines Limited was formed in 1975 and purchased the mine, as well as the Faraday Mine. Mining operations restarted in 1976 and continued until 1982.
After mining, the uranium ore was treated in acid leaching plants located at the mines. The leaching process produced yellowcake high-grade uranium compounds which were either processed further at the Port Hope refinery or sold to the US government for processing in that country. Processing uranium ore from Bancroft cost \$3.00 per ton
In the Greyhawk area, metagabbro is intruded by east–west trending pegmatitic granite dykes up to 18 m (60 ft) wide. Ore bodies of uranothorite and uraninite with an average length of 30 m (100 ft) and average width of 1.8 m (6 ft) occur within these pegmatitic dykes, often at the contact with metagabbro. Radioactive minerals are concentrated in the more mafic parts of the host rock. Ores of 0.095 per cent U<sub>3</sub>O<sub>8</sub> have been reported from this area.
### Other mines
Located at , the Kemp Uranium Mine, sometimes called the Kemp Property or Kemp Prospect, produced uranium and a world-class specimen of thorite between 1954 and 1955.
Nu-Age Uranium Mines Limited owned the Old Smokey Occurrence, also known as the Tripp property and the Montgomery property. Surveying was done by Nu-Age Uranium Mines in 1955 and by Imperial Oil Limited in 1975. Although a 50-ton-per-day concentrator was known to be on site in the 1950s, the production quantities are unknown.
Blue Rock Cerium Mines Limited started exploratory work for a mine at a location in Monmouth township (now known as Highlands East, Ontario) during 1954. Silver Crater Mines company purchased the Silver Crater Mine in Cardiff, Ontario in 1953 hoping to find uranium. The mine produced betafite crystals, which contained 15% to 20% uranium.
## Economic and political influence
Eldorado Mining and Refining Limited was the crown company that purchased all uranium oxide in Canada; it entered into contracts with mine owners at fixed prices. Faraday Mine alone produced \$54 million of uranium ore, creating a rapid economic boom. The mine succeeded due to a combination of economic factors, including Bancroft's geographical proximity to the only uranium processing facility in Canada (located at Port Hope) and a good road and rail network.
Employment of miners in Bancroft started in 1955 and peaked in 1958 at around 1,600 jobs. Mine workers unionized in 1957, forming Local 1006 Bancroft Mine and Mill Worker's Union. Housing for miners was quickly established around the mines and in nearby Bancroft village, which extended to cover ten square kilometres (4 sq mi). Other construction quickly followed, including two single-men's bunkhouses, a canteen, an eleven-room school, an ice-curling rink, and a recreation center. In 1957, a swimming pool was started.
By 1958, Canada had become one of the world's leading producers of uranium; the \$274 million of uranium exports that year represented Canada's most significant mineral export. By 1963, the federal government had purchased more than \$1.5 billion of uranium from Canadian producers, but soon thereafter the global supply uranium market collapsed and the government stopped issuing contracts to buy.
Mining in Bancroft initially stopped in 1964 due to global reductions in demand for uranium. Local Catholic priest Henry Joseph Maloney (brother of former Ontario Ombudsman Arthur Maloney, and also brother of Minister of Mines James Anthony Maloney) rallied the community to demand support from the provincial and federal governments. Canadian Prime Minister John Diefenbaker, relying on an old agreement with the United Kingdom to buy uranium from Canada, was able to prolong the life of the mine by eighteen months, giving the community time to plan for the closure.
Some mines re-opened during the 1970s energy crisis, although, by the early 1980s, uranium demand was again down, with global energy consumption growing at 2%, much less than the expected 7%. The price of uranium dropped from US\$43.57 per pound in 1979 to US\$23.50 per pound in March 1982.
Combined with environmental concerns about the nuclear industry following the Three Mile Island accident and increasing costs of building nuclear power plants, circumstances lead to the cancellation of a contract to buy uranium by Italian energy company Agip. While the uranium mining at Elliot Lake continued to grow, the remaining uranium mining in Bancroft ended in 1982, closing the mines and jeopardizing the local economy.
## Regulatory environment
The Atomic Energy Control Board (AECB) issued licenses for uranium mines and mills in Canada, and began regulating uranium mines in 1977. As a result of this, mines that closed prior to 1977 (i.e. Bicroft and Dyno Mines) were able to abandon their sites without any regulatory oversight. Faraday Mine/Madawaska Mine and Greyhawk Mine both resumed mining from 1976 until 1982, so their operation and closure had AECB oversight.
Greyhawk Mine's tailings were processed at the mill located at Madawaska Mine, leaving no tailings on site. As a consequence of this, the primary hazards that are regulated are present only at Faraday/Madawaska Mine, and resulted in ongoing environmental monitoring by AECB's successor organization, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC).
## Mineral and environmental legacy
After the closure of the mines, the various tailing sites attracted mineral collectors, especially to the annual Rockbound Gemboree in which tourists travelled to Bancroft in search of gems and minerals. Reserves of 180,000 tonnes (200,000 short tons) of ore, averaging 0.065% U<sub>3</sub>O<sub>8</sub>, remain in the ground at Greyhawk Mine. Dyno Mine ran out of uranium ore in 1959. In 2007,a \$3 million uranium development project was underway in nearby Haliburton.
1978 and 1980 studies found that the natural weathering of the granite and gabbro rocks left at Greyhawk Mine had caused uranium leaching into the aquifer at concentrations ranging between 1.2 and 380 parts per billion, with higher concentrations measured deeper in the water table and in sediments.
Rural Canadians predominantly rely on groundwater for drinking water supply. Mining activity expanded fissures and widened the area of groundwater contamination. Public health concerns around groundwater contamination focus on uranium and thorium, plus the presence of decay products of both.
1988 background radiation levels at parts of Paudash Lake were twenty times the safety limit and lumps of semi-refined uranium lay in the abandoned Dyno mine buildings. The same year, Crowe Valley Conservation Authority called for greater supervision of radioactive waste. A 2016 Geological Survey of Canada study noted that 70% of ground water samples taken from diamond drilling holes, mine shafts and adits had uranium concentrates above national drinking water safety standards of 0.02 milligrams per litre (1.2×10<sup>−8</sup> oz/cu in). 2019 sampling found radioactive and hazardous contamination in two of several water samples. Subsequent inspections in 2020 from nearby locations reported water quality to be within provincial standards.
Tailings remain at Bicroft, Madawaska and Dyno mine sites where water sampling by the CNSC is ongoing. Madawaska, Dyno and Greyhawk mines were managed by EWL Management Limited, until February 2022 when it dissolved into its parent company Ovintiv. Bicroft Mine is owned by Barrick Gold; the owners of all four legacy tailing sites at former mines are responsible for the ongoing management of the sites.
## Health legacy for miners
According to a 2012 study published in Nature, there is a "positive exposure-response between silica and lung cancer". Uranium mining produces silica-laden dust at a free silica rate of 5–15% in Bancroft, significantly less than the Elliot Lake mines which produced ore with 60–70% free silica.
In 1974, the Ontario Workmen's Compensation Board studied 15,094 people who worked in uranium mines in Bancroft and around Elliot Lake for at least one month, between 1955 and 1974. Of those 15,094 people, 94 silicosis cases were found in 1974, of which one was attributed to working a Bancroft mine, i.e. the other 93 were attributed to working in an Elliot Lake mine.
According to the Committee on Uranium Mining in Virginia, mines produce radon gas which can increase lung cancer risks. Miners' exposure to radiation was not measured before 1958 and exposure limits were not enacted until 1968. Risks to miners at Bancroft and Elliot Lake mines were investigated and the official report of that investigation quotes a miner:
> "We have been led to believe through the years that the working environment in these mines was safe for us to work in. We have been deceived."
The aforementioned 1974 study of 15,094 Ontario uranium miners found 81 former miners who died of lung cancer. Factoring in predicted lung cancer rate for men in Ontario led to the conclusion that by 1974 there were 36 more deaths than expected attributable to both Bancroft and Elliot Lake mines, with the additional risk appearing to be twice as high for Bancroft miners compared to Elliot Lake miners.
A study report for the CNSC undertaken by the Occupational Cancer Research Centre at Cancer Care Ontario tracked the health of 28,959 former uranium miners over 21 years and found a two-fold increase in lung cancer mortality and incidence. In an article published in The BMJ (journal of the British Medical Association) reported an increase of lung cancer risk; miners who have worked at least 100 months in uranium mines have a twofold increased risk of developing lung cancer. The study is expected to be updated in 2023.
## See also
- Uranium mining in the Elliot Lake area
- Royal Commission on the Health and Safety of Workers in Mines
- Uranium ore deposits
- List of uranium mines
- List of mines in the Bancroft area
- List of uranium mines in Ontario
- 1974 Elliot Lake miners strike |
21,213,405 | SM U-30 (Austria-Hungary) | 1,143,984,803 | Austro-Hungarian U-27 class submarine | [
"1916 ships",
"Ships built in Fiume",
"U-27-class submarines (Austria-Hungary)",
"U-boats commissioned in 1917",
"World War I shipwrecks in the Adriatic Sea",
"World War I submarines of Austria-Hungary"
]
| SM U-30 or U-XXX was a U-27 class U-boat or submarine of the Austro-Hungarian Navy. U-30, built by the Hungarian firm of Ganz Danubius at Fiume, was launched in December 1916 and commissioned in February 1917.
U-30 had a single hull and was just over 121 feet (37 m) in length. She displaced nearly 265 metric tons (261 long tons) when surfaced and over 300 metric tons (295 long tons) when submerged. Her two diesel engines moved her at up to 9 knots (17 km/h) on the surface, while her twin electric motors propelled her at up to 7.5 knots (13.9 km/h) while underwater. She was armed with two bow torpedo tubes and could carry a load of up to four torpedoes. She was also equipped with a 75 mm (3.0 in) deck gun and a machine gun.
U-30 sank no ships during her brief service career. She departed from Cattaro on 31 March 1917 and was never heard from again. She may have succumbed to a mine in the Otranto Barrage but her fate remains a mystery.
## Design and construction
Austria-Hungary's U-boat fleet was largely obsolete at the outbreak of World War I. The Austro-Hungarian Navy satisfied its most urgent needs by purchasing five Type UB I submarines that comprised the U-10 class from Germany, by raising and recommissioning the sunken French submarine Curie as U-14, and by building four submarines of the U-20 class that were based on the 1911 Danish Havmanden class.
After these steps alleviated their most urgent needs, the Austro-Hungarian Navy selected the German Type UB II design for its newest submarines in mid 1915. The Germans were reluctant to allocate any of their wartime resources to Austro-Hungarian construction, but were willing to sell plans for up to six of the UB II boats to be constructed under license in Austria-Hungary. The Navy agreed to the proposal and purchased the plans from AG Weser of Bremen.
U-30 displaced 264 metric tons (260 long tons) surfaced and 301 metric tons (296 long tons) submerged. She had a single hull with saddle tanks, and was 121 feet 1 inch (36.91 m) long with a beam of 14 feet 4 inches (4.37 m) and a draft of 12 feet 2 inches (3.71 m). For propulsion, she had two shafts, twin diesel engines of 270 bhp (200 kW) for surface running, and twin electric motors of 280 shp (210 kW) for submerged travel. She was capable of 9 knots (16.7 km/h) while surfaced and 7.5 knots (13.9 km/h) while submerged. Although there is no specific notation of a range for U-30 in Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921, the German UB II boats, upon which the U-27 class was based, had a range of over 6,000 nautical miles (11,000 km) at 5 knots (9.3 km/h) surfaced, and 45 nautical miles (83 km) at 4 knots (7.4 km/h) submerged. U-27-class boats were designed for a crew of 23–24.
U-30 was armed with two 45 cm (17.7 in) bow torpedo tubes and could carry a complement of four torpedoes. She was also equipped with a 75 mm/26 (3.0 in) deck gun and an 8 mm (0.31 in) machine gun.
After intricate political negotiations to allocate production of the class between Austrian and Hungarian firms, U-27 was ordered from Ganz Danubius on 12 October 1915. She was laid down on 9 March 1916 at Fiume and launched on 27 December.
## Service career
U-30 began diving trials on 8 January 1917, and made her first underwater cruise on 27 January. On 1 February, she successfully reached a depth of 30 metres (98 ft) in compression tests. Four days later she took on a crew for a training voyage, and made her way to Pola. At that port, on 21 January 1917, SM U-30 was commissioned into the Austro-Hungarian Navy under the command of Linienschiffsleutnant Friedrich Fähndrich. Fähndrich, a 29-year-old native of Budapest, had previously served as commander of U-15.
U-30 departed on her first patrol on 26 February, for duty off Cape Matapan and the Gulf of Taranto. During the patrol, U-30 did not encounter any hostile ships, but did encounter a storm that caused extensive damage. Cutting short her cruise with damage to the parapet on her conning tower, a missing radio aerial, and a broken gyrocompass, U-30 arrived in Cattaro on 16 March for repairs.
With the repairs complete, U-30 set out from Cattaro on 31 March and was never heard from again. Author Paul Halpern suggests that a mine in the Otranto Barrage might have been responsible. Authors R. H. Gibson and Maurice Prendergast report that there is no evidence in Allied records to indicate the possible fate of the U-boat, and conclude that the fate of U-30 remains a mystery, and "is likely to remain so for ever [sic]". U-30 was not credited with the sinking of any ships in her brief career. She was also the only member of the U-27-class to be lost during the war. |
4,062,265 | Devil's Due (Star Trek: The Next Generation) | 1,149,425,828 | null | [
"1991 American television episodes",
"Fiction about the Devil",
"Star Trek: Phase II",
"Star Trek: The Next Generation (season 4) episodes",
"Television episodes about magic",
"Works based on the Faust legend"
]
| "Devil's Due" is the 13th episode of the fourth season of the American science fiction television series Star Trek: The Next Generation, originally aired on February 4, 1991, in broadcast syndication in the United States. Based on an episode written by William Douglas Lansford for the planned Star Trek: Phase II (1978) television series, it was adapted for The Next Generation by Philip Lazebnik and directed by Tom Benko.
Set in the 24th century, the series follows the adventures of the Starfleet crew of the Federation starship Enterprise-D. In "Devil's Due", the crew of the Enterprise confront an individual claiming to be Ardra (Marta DuBois), a mythological entity from the planet Ventax II. She claims that the planet, and the orbiting Enterprise, are her legal property due to an agreement signed a thousand years earlier. Together, Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and the crew reveal Ardra to be a con artist, leading to her arrest by the Ventaxian authorities.
Numerous changes were made from the original Phase II script, with only the general theme of the episode remaining. Originally pitched for use during season three, following changes made, it was added to season four. Critical reception of the episode has been mixed, with it generally being thought to be very reminiscent of Star Trek: The Original Series.
## Plot
The USS Enterprise receives a distress call from Dr. Howard Clarke (Paul Lambert), the leader of a Federation scientific delegation on Ventax II, where the population is in a state of panic, because they are convinced that their world will soon end. After the Enterprise arrives, they rescue Dr. Clarke who brings them up to date: A thousand years ago, according to Ventaxian history, the population entered a Faustian deal with Ardra, their mythology's devil. In exchange for ending wars and restoring the ecological balance, and improving their heavily polluted planet, the population would become the personal slaves of Ardra a thousand years later. As the millennium is about to come to a close, the planet has recently begun experiencing mild earthquakes, as well as seeing images of Ardra in the skies. These were said to be signs of her arrival.
As Captain Picard and Commander Data (Brent Spiner) discuss the matter with the Ventaxian leader, Accost Jared (Marcelo Tubert), a woman appears in the chamber, announcing herself as Ardra. She demonstrates her identity by starting an earthquake at will, and transforming into the Klingon devil Fek'lhr of Gre'Thor. Ardra states that she has come to claim the planet. Picard is instantly suspicious and orders Data to examine the contract that supposedly was signed by Ardra and the leaders of the planet a thousand years earlier. Picard returns to the Enterprise afterwards, and Ardra appears on the bridge, sitting in the Captain's chair. Security Chief Worf (Michael Dorn) is unable to remove her. Data returns just then and confirms the language of the contract as well as Ardra's claim to the planet and anything in its orbit, including the Enterprise.
Later, in a meeting with the senior staff, after speculating if she is Q in disguise or another member of the Q Continuum, Picard expresses his belief that she is a con artist and points out that all of her alleged powers can be recreated with theatrically delivered technology. After the meeting, Picard goes to bed for the evening. As Picard sleeps, Ardra appears and tries to seduce him, but he rejects her. She transports him to the planet dressed in his pajamas. Data comes to collect Picard by shuttle after Worf is unable to transport him back the normal way. When Picard and Data attempt to return to the Enterprise, the ship disappears. Not knowing what to do, they return to the planet.
Citing old legal precedent, Picard calls for a Ventaxian arbitration hearing, to which Ardra agrees, provided Data acts as the arbitrator, as he will act with impartiality. Picard explains to Jared that his people had actually improved their planet by themselves, through their own gradual hard work, ingenuity, and dedication. However, continued demonstrations of powers further the claim that Ardra is indeed who she says she is. During the course of the hearing, Chief Engineer La Forge (LeVar Burton) and Clarke discover that Ardra has a cloaked ship nearby, that she is indeed using technology to simulate magic, and that she is a known criminal. Picard sends an away team, led by Commander Riker (Jonathan Frakes), to take control of Ardra's ship, giving Picard control of her powers. He demonstrates technology-based fraud and she is taken into custody by local authorities. As Ardra has voluntarily withdrawn her suit, Data proclaims that the 1,000-year-old contract is null and void. Now convinced that Ardra is not Ardra from his culture's mythology, Jared thanks Picard for saving him and his people from their doom. Picard however, states that Jared and the Ventaxians have saved themselves a long time ago.
This episode illustrates Arthur C. Clarke's Third Law: "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
## Production
The episode was originally developed from a premise for the cancelled Star Trek: Phase II, although it underwent significant changes. It first appeared in a memo dated August 16, 1977, as part of a status update for the cancelled series. The only other episode of Phase II to be redeveloped for The Next Generation was "The Child" from season two.
In the original version, the Enterprise visits Naterra and meets the planet's leader, Zxolar, who is concerned that Captain Kirk is an alien called Komether, who is due to return within twenty days to destroy their world. Zxolar suddenly collapses and Doctor McCoy tries to help him, but an energy field surrounds the doctor's head and he runs into a wall and disappears. The landing party searches for McCoy, to no avail, and Zxolar is beamed to the Enterprise. Doctor Chapel attempts to help him, but the energy field appears around her and she passes out. Xon and Kirk discuss the energy and realize it wants Zxolar to die, as it has attacked anyone who helps him. The pair beam back down the planet to investigate the palace in which they met Zxolar and discover an archive that shows them the original agreement made by six philosophers, including a much younger Zxolar, and Komether a thousand years earlier. They note one of the philosophers is Zxolar and Komether is the energy being that attacked the two doctors. As in the later version used on Star Trek: The Next Generation, the agreement was that the being would correct the pollution of the planet in return for ownership of the planet a thousand years later. Xon and Kirk decide to move Zxolar to a life support table and ask for other volunteers, as it is apparent that Komether will attack them as they attempt to save Zxolar. Scotty, Sulu and Chekov all volunteer as well, and the alien disables each of them as they move Zxolar. It is only because of Xon's strength as he is being attacked that they manage to attach Zxolar to a life support machine and his life signs immediately improve. Zxolar tells Kirk about the contract, who retrieves it from the planet's surface and challenges it. Komether appears and agrees to a trial with the Enterprise's computer acting as an impartial judge. Kirk realizes that Komether was created by the six philosophers, and as the last remaining, Zxolar is in control of it. Zxolar manages to defeat the creature using his will and releases the stunned crewmen. He finds that McCoy was trapped within the wall and releases him, too. The Enterprise departs shortly thereafter.
The story was once again brought up during a story pitch for the season three of The Next Generation, and it was modified by several staff writers. Michael Piller made several changes, including making the devil character female. Marta DuBois was cast as Ardra, after Stella Stevens and Adrienne Barbeau were also considered. Paul Lambert had previously appeared in the episode "When the Bough Breaks" as a member of the Aldean race.
## Release
The episode was originally aired on February 4, 1991, in broadcast syndication in the United States. It was first released on VHS cassette on May 21, 1996. The episode was later included on the Star Trek: The Next Generation season four DVD box set, released in the United States on September 3, 2002. The first Blu-ray release was in the United Kingdom on July 29, 2013, followed by the United States on July 30.
On May 25, 1996, episodes "Devils Due" and "Clues" were released on LaserDisc in the United States. Published by Paramount Home Video, the single 12" double sided disc retailed for 34.95 USD. The disc video was NTSC format with a Dolby Surround audio track.
CBS announced on September 28, 2011, in celebration of the series' twenty-fifth anniversary, that Star Trek: The Next Generation would be completely re-mastered in 1080p high definition from the original 35mm film negatives. For the remaster almost 25,000 reels of original film stock were rescanned and reedited, and all visual effects were digitally recomposed from original large-format negatives and newly created CGI shots. The release was accompanied by 7.1 DTS Master Audio. On July 30, 2013 "Devil's Due" was released on 1080p high definition as part of the Season 4 Blu-ray box set in the United States. The set was released on July 29, 2013, in the United Kingdom.
## Reception
Several reviewers re-watched Star Trek: The Next Generation after the end of the series. Keith DeCandido watched the episode for Tor.com, and thought that Marta DuBois' performance was "the only reason why this episode is in any way watchable. Barely". He thought that the episode felt more similar to an original series story than a normal Next Generation story, and that was due to the episode's origins. He said "overall, it’s just dumb" and gave it a score of two out of ten. Zack Handlen thought more positively of the episode when he reviewed it for The A.V. Club. He did think that Captain Picard was pretending to be Captain Kirk for most of the episode and that it didn't have any real drama, but that it was "silly, goofy fun for the most part". He thought the episode was "cute" and gave it an overall score of B+.
Robert Blackman was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Costumes for a Series for his work in this episode. It was instead awarded to Bill Hargate for his work on the Murphy Brown episode "Eldin Imitates Life". Blackman would go on to win the award for the following two years for the episodes "Cost of Living" and "Time's Arrow, Part II".
## See also
- Barge of the Dead (Star Trek: Voyager) (This episode further explores Klingon afterlife including Gre'thor) |
70,421,546 | Jørgen Læssøe | 1,133,058,373 | Danish Assyriologist | [
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| Jørgen Læssøe (26 June 1924 – 2 February 1993) was a Danish Assyriologist and professor at the University of Copenhagen. He directed the Danish excavations at Tell Shemshara, uncovering an Old Assyrian palace complex and a substantial cache of cuneiform texts known as the Shemshara Archives, which became his main object of study. He also worked on inscriptions from Max Mallowan's excavations at Nimrud, served as the field director of the Scandinavian Joint Expedition to Sudanese Nubia, and published a number of popular history books on Assyriology in Danish, including his magnum opus, The People of Ancient Assyria (1963).
Læssøe studied under Otto E. Ravn and succeeded him as Professor Extraordinaire of Assyriology at Copenhagen in 1957. The only Assyriologist active in Denmark at the time of his appointment, the discipline is said to have "come of age" during his thirty-year tenure: his students included Assyriologists Ebbe Egede Knudsen, Aage Westenholz, Mogens Trolle Larsen [ru] and Jesper Eidem. Læssøe also worked in the United States, first on the Chicago Assyrian Dictionary (1948–1951) and then as a visiting professor at the University of California, Berkeley (1953–1955 and 1966–1967).
## Early life
Læssøe was born on 26 June 1924, in Jægerspris, Denmark. He was the son of Albert Læssøe and Karen Stroyer Nielsen, and a descendant of Danish officer Frederik Læssøe. In 1928 the family moved to the suburbs of Copenhagen, where his father managed a branch of the department store Magasin du Nord, and Jørgen attended a private school in Farum.
He began studying comparative linguistics at the University of Copenhagen in 1942. Since the curriculum required knowledge of a non-Indo-European language, he took a course in Akkadian taught by Assyriologist Otto E. Ravn, which thereafter became the main focus of his studies. His education was disrupted by the German occupation of Denmark, during which Læssøe was active in the Danish resistance movement. Despite this, he completed his studies and graduated with a magister degree in Semitic philology in 1948. His thesis on the Code of Hammurabi was awarded a gold medal by the university. After graduating, he spent three years in the United States, working on the Chicago Assyrian Dictionary.
## Career
In 1951, Læssøe returned to Copenhagen and was appointed a lecturer. He received his doctorate in 1955 with a thesis on the bīt rimki, an Assyrian ritual, and in 1957, succeeded Ravn as Professor Extraordinaire of Assyriology. At the time of his appointment he was the only Assyriologist active in the country, and Danish Assyriology is said to have "come of age" during his tenure. His first magister student was Ebbe Egede Knudsen, later professor of Semitic philology in Oslo, followed by Aage Westenholz and Mogens Trolle Larsen [ru], with both eventually succeeding Læssøe as professors of Assyriology at Copenhagen. He also served as dean of the Faculty of Humanities from 1968 to 1969.
Læssøe was elected a member of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters in 1970. He held visiting professors at the University of California, Berkeley twice, first from 1953 to 1955 and then as a Fulbright scholar in 1966–1967.
## Scholarship
Between 1956 and 1960 Læssøe worked as the epigrapher on Max Mallowan's excavations at Nimrud, publishing two papers on inscriptions from the reign of Shalmaneser III. During his time there he became friends with Mallowan and his wife Agatha Christie, who wrote a number of verses about Læssøe and his Danish colleagues, whose names the English team found unpronounceable.
At Nimrud Læssøe learned of the construction of the Dukan Dam, which was set to flood some forty archaeological sites in the area of what is now Lake Dukan. Securing funding from the Carlsberg Foundation and the Danish government, he and archaeologist Harold Ingholt led the "Danish Dokan Expedition" in a rescue excavation of Tell Shemshara in 1957. The excavations uncovered an Old Assyrian palace complex and substantial cache of cuneiform tablets, which occupied Læssøe for much of the rest of his career. He published a preliminary report on the Shemshara Archives in 1959, and after his death his student Jesper Eidem continued the work, finally publishing the texts in two volumes in 1992 and 2001.
From 1960, Læssøe also worked on the Scandinavian Joint Expedition to Sudanese Nubia, serving as its field director in 1966 and 1967. In the latter part of his career, he authored several popular history books on Assyriology in Danish, including Fra Assyriens arkiver ("From the Archives of Assyria", 1960), Babylon (1966), and Assyriologien i Danmark ("Assyriology in Denmark", 1977). His book The People of Ancient Assyria (1963) is regarded as his magnum opus.
## Personal life and later years
Læssøe married Herdis Elsie Aaberg (died 2007), of Dwight, Illinois, in 1949. He retired in 1986 and died on 2 February 1993 after a prolonged bout of illness. Prior to his death, he had been preparing a section on Assyriology for Den Store Danske Encyklopædi.
In an obituary, Læssøe's student Jesper Eidem highlighted his "peculiar devotion" to Assyriology: "Jørgen was a learned scholar of extraordinary intelligence and talent who insisted on the highest standard in his work, but who simultaneously refused to regard his profession as more than a schoolboy hobby in comparison with more pressing human and personal concerns." |
69,744,665 | Albert Freedman | 1,157,559,906 | American television producer | [
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| Albert Freedman (March 27, 1922 – April 11, 2017) was an American television producer who was involved with the 1950s quiz show scandals. He became a central figure in the cheating scandals and was the first person indicted. He was arrested for perjury after lying about giving contestants questions, and then recanted his grand jury testimony which led to the arrests of 14 former contestants. After the quiz show investigations concluded, Freedman moved to London to work in pornography publications.
## Early life
He was born on March 27, 1922, in Taunton, Massachusetts. During World War II he enlisted in the U.S. Marines and was sent to the Pacific Theater. After the war Freedman went to study at Boston College, and later at the University of Southern California. He also studied in Paris at a film school. He was married to Esther Katz and had four children with her.
## Career
In the 1950s television was just becoming popular, and Freedman moved to New York and got a job with a Groucho Marx show called You Bet Your Life before becoming a television producer. He produced a show called Tic-Tac-Dough and The Big Surprise. Quiz shows also gained popularity: CBS started a show called The \$64,000 Question and it was immediately very popular. Dan Enright started a show called Twenty-One to compete, it was produced by Entertainment Productions Inc. Freedman took over producing Twenty-One in 1956. At the time, the show Twenty-One had a contestant named Herb Stempel who seemed unstoppable. The continuing success of Stempel caused the show's ratings to fall. In response, Geritol (the show's sponsor) sought a new contestant to rival Stempel.
### Scandal
In 1956 Freedman found a teacher from Columbia University named Charles Van Doren who he thought could be a rival to Stempel. He planned to do this by helping Van Doren cheat. In a 2008 New Yorker Magazine article Van Doren stated that Freedman told him, "I've thought about it, Charlie, and I've decided you should be the person to beat Stempel. And I'll help you do it." In speaking to the Archive of American Television in 2000, Freedman would only admit that he told Van Doren what to study prior to the shows. Van Doren debuted on the show November 28, 1956.
in 1958 another contestant on Twenty-One (Elfrida von Nardroff) went on to have a long run on the show and earned \$220,500 in winnings. Shortly after her appearance on the show, an investigation into quiz shows was begun by Manhattan District Attorney, Frank Hogan. The investigation was prompted by a standby contestant who had hoped to be on the television show Dotto. The contestant complained to the New York District Attorney's office about irregularities.
The Manhattan district attorney's investigation discovered that Twenty-One had been paying some contestants to lose. The trouble began when a losing contestant did not receive compensation that was promised to him. The man went to the media and revealed the game show's scheme. A grand jury was convened on September 17, 1958, to look into allegations which were made regarding quiz shows. The Grand Jury heard from more than 200 witnesses over a nine-month period. On November 7, 1958, Freedman became the first person indicted and arrested in the quiz show scandal. He became the central figure in the quiz show scandals. When Freedman was previously before the grand jury he had denied that he supplied contestants with answers, and when he was led out of court after his testimony he stated, "Everything I told the grand jury is the truth." Van Doren stated that Freedman tried to extort \$5000 from him as payment for Freedman helping him win: a charge which Freedman denied.
In September 1959 Freedman admitted he had lied to the grand jury and he was indicted for perjury. He was arrested and then recanted his testimony to the grand jury in order to avoid a conviction. He was facing two counts of perjury and 10 years in prison. Faced with the prospect of prison, he finally admitted that he had given contestants answers. On October 7, 1959, he testified before the House Subcommittee on Legislative Oversight and admitted that he assisted contestants on the show "21" about 50% of the time. In 1962, von Nardroff pleaded guilty to second-degree perjury and Van Doren pleaded guilty to perjury. Twelve other former contestants were also arrested in the scandal.
## Later life
Freedman relocated in London and worked for Penthouse and other pornography publications. In 1981 Freedman went on to earn a Ph.D. from the Institute for the Advanced Study of Human Sexuality. He later remarried to his second wife, Nancy Blumberg, and took on her two children as stepchildren. Freedman died of heart failure on April 11, 2017. At the time of his death he lived in Greenbrae, California.
## Popular culture
In 1994, the film Quiz Show was released and it depicted the events of the 1950s quiz show scandal. It was directed and produced by Robert Redford and Albert Freedman was portrayed by Hank Azaria. Freedman said he did not enjoy the movie, because it made it seem as if there was more cheating than there actually was on "Twenty-One". |
2,146,711 | Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex | 1,172,810,010 | 2001 video game | [
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| Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex is a 2001 platform game developed by Traveller's Tales and published by Universal Interactive. It was first released for the PlayStation 2 and later ported to the Xbox, and GameCube, with Eurocom developing the GameCube version. It is the fourth main installment and the sixth overall in the Crash Bandicoot video game series, being the first of the series to not be released solely for a PlayStation console.
The plot centers on the appearance of Crunch Bandicoot, a genetically advanced bandicoot created by the main antagonist of the series, Doctor Neo Cortex, who has harnessed the power of a group of destructive mask spirits known as the Elementals. Crash Bandicoot and his sister Coco must travel the world and gather special Crystals that will return the Elementals to a hibernated state, and thwart Cortex's plans to use Crunch as a weapon for world domination.
Critical reception of the game was mixed, with many reviewers opining that the game recycled elements from its PlayStation predecessors with minimal innovation. The PlayStation 2 edition sold 1.56 million copies in North America, and the game qualified for various best-seller ranges, including the Platinum Range for PlayStation 2, Xbox Classics, and Player's Choice on GameCube. It was released as a launch title for the Xbox Originals line of downloadable original-Xbox games for the Xbox 360's Live Marketplace service in December 2007.
## Gameplay
The Wrath of Cortex is a platform game in which the player controls Crash and Coco Bandicoot, who must gather 25 Crystals and defeat the main antagonists of the story: Doctor Neo Cortex, his new superweapon Crunch Bandicoot and Crunch's power sources, the renegade Elementals. Much of the game takes place in a "Virtual Reality (VR) Hub System" created by Coco to help Crash gather the Crystals. The VR Hub System is split up into five "VR Hubs"; initially, only the first VR Hub is available. Each VR Hub has five teleportation portals to different levels. The goal in each level is to find and obtain the Crystal hidden in the area. In some levels, the Crystal will be located at the end of a level or must be earned by completing a specific challenge. Most levels contain a "Bonus Platform" that leads to a special bonus area, where the player must navigate through a maze and collect everything in sight. Once a bonus area is completed, it cannot be played again unless the level is replayed. After completing all five levels in a VR Hub, a sixth teleportation portal to a boss fight with Crunch will appear. By defeating the boss, the next VR Hub will become available for play. When all 25 Crystals are collected and Doctor Cortex and Crunch are defeated, the game is won.
Besides Crystals, Gems and Coloured Gems can be collected for extra accomplishment. Gems are rewarded to the player if all of the crates in a level are broken open or if a secret area is completed. Coloured Gems are found in special levels and lead to hidden areas. "Relics" can be won by re-entering a level where the Crystal has already been retrieved. To obtain a Relic, the player must initiate the "Time Trial" mode and race through a level in the pre-designated time displayed before entering a level. To begin a Time Trial run, the player must enter a level and activate the floating stopwatch near the beginning of the level to activate the timer; if the stopwatch is not touched, the level can be played regularly. The player must then race through the level as quickly as possible. Scattered throughout the level are yellow crates with the numbers one, two, or three on them. When these crates are broken, the timer is frozen for the number of seconds designated by the box. As no lives are lost in the Time Trial mode, the level can be played through as often as the player desires. Sapphire, Gold and Platinum Relics can be won depending on how low the player's final time is. The first five Relics the player receives unlocks access to a secret level. Every five Relics thereafter open up another level in the Secret Warp Room. The levels in the Secret Warp Room must be won before the game can be fully completed.
Crash and Coco Bandicoot start the game with five lives. Crash and Coco lose a life when they are struck by an enemy attack or suffer any other type of damage. More lives can be earned by collecting 100 "Wumpa Fruits" or break open a special crate to collect a life. Crash and Coco can be shielded from enemy attack by collecting an Aku Aku mask. Collecting three of these masks allows temporary invulnerability from all minor dangers. If Crash or Coco run out of lives, the game is over. However, the game can be continued by selecting "Continue" at the "Game over" screen.
## Plot
### Characters
Ten returning characters from previous Crash titles star in Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex along with five new characters. The protagonist of the series, Crash Bandicoot, is a genetically enhanced eastern barred bandicoot who must defeat the antagonist Doctor Neo Cortex and his new superweapon. Coco Bandicoot, Crash's younger sister, is a highly intelligent computer expert with an interest in Hong Kong martial arts films, having developed a highly masterful ability of martial arts from being self taught. Aku Aku is an omnipotent witch doctor mask who guides and aids Crash and Coco in stopping the plans of Doctor Neo Cortex. Pura, Coco's pet tiger cub, serves a very minor role and appears only in the introduction of the game.
The main antagonist of the series, Doctor Neo Cortex, is a mad scientist who created Crash Bandicoot among other characters and now seeks Crash's elimination along with world domination. The controlling force behind Cortex's plots for conquering the world is Uka Uka, the twin brother of Aku Aku. Four recurring villains from the series serve minor roles in the game: Dr. N. Gin, Cortex's main assistant; Dr. Nefarious Tropy, a scientist who specialises in time travel; Tiny Tiger, a hulking and ferocious thylacine; and Dingodile, a dingo-crocodile hybrid armed with a flamethrower.
Five new characters in the series make their appearance in The Wrath of Cortex, of which the most important is Dr. Cortex's genetically enhanced superweapon Crunch Bandicoot, a bionic bandicoot created for the purpose of destroying Crash Bandicoot. Acting as Crunch's power source are the Elementals, a group of evil masks who control the elements of Earth, Water, Fire, and Air. The Elementals consist of Rok-Ko, a temperamental and rock-headed earthbending mask who controls earthquakes and landslides, Wa-Wa, a waterbending mask who controls thunderstorms and floods, Py-Ro, an easily perturbed firebending mask who controls volcano eruptions, and Lo-Lo, a joke-cracking airbending mask who controls tornadoes.
### Story
Outraged by their poor "track record for spreading evil", Uka Uka orders Dr. Neo Cortex, Tiny Tiger, Dingodile, Dr. Nefarious Tropy and Dr. N. Gin to devise a plan to eliminate Crash Bandicoot. Cortex reluctantly comes forward with the announcement of a previously secret "genetically enhanced superweapon of unbelievable strength", but reveals that it is missing a power source. Uka Uka then suggests using the Elementals, a group of renegade masks who had elemental power over earth, water, fire and air, and were used to ravage the globe. The Elementals caused earthquakes, floods, and an Ice Age many centuries ago until they were imprisoned by the ancients with the aid of special Crystals that put the masks in a state of hibernation. Cortex deduces that if they awaken the Elementals and harness their destructive power, they can bring his secret weapon to life and eliminate Crash Bandicoot forever.
Back on Earth, the world is suddenly terrorised by severe natural disasters, leading Aku Aku to realize that Uka Uka has released the Elementals. Aku Aku returns to Crash and Coco Bandicoot and alerts them of the current situation, disclosing that the only way to stop the Elementals is to imprison them once more with the Crystals, which have been scattered across the Earth. Using Coco's new Virtual Reality Hub System, Crash and Coco travel the world and gather the Crystals, fending off attacks from Cortex's superweapon, Crunch Bandicoot, and the Elementals along the way. However, by the time the Crystals have been gathered and the Elementals have been put in their hibernation state, Crunch's elemental powers have reached maximum capacity, forcing Crash to battle Crunch at full power in Cortex's space station. However, despite this, Crash defeats Crunch, which releases him from Cortex's control. Infuriated by this failure, Uka Uka attacks Cortex with a fireball, only to have it hit a vital part of the space station, which causes a chain reaction that results in the space station's self-destruction. Crash, Aku Aku, and Crunch escape and return to the Bandicoot home on Coco's space fighter ship, while Cortex and Uka Uka deploy an escape pod and end up landing somewhere in Antarctica, where Uka Uka furiously chases Cortex around a small ice floe.
## Development
The Wrath of Cortex was originally intended to be designed by Mark Cerny, who had designed all the games in the series thus far, and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. The game under Cerny's direction was to be a free-roaming title with puzzle elements that would see Crash travelling between different planets. In early 2000, when Universal approached Traveller's Tales to be the development team behind the game, they produced a 3-D rendered demo of Crash running through a volcanic level. Development of the game's engine began in mid-2000. It was originally titled Crash Bandicoot Worlds.
On September 21, 2000, Universal Interactive Studios and Konami announced that they had entered an agreement that would enable Konami to publish a Crash Bandicoot game for next-generation game systems, with Universal Interactive handling the production of the games. The agreement served to break the Crash Bandicoot franchise's exclusivity to Sony-produced consoles and effectively made Crash Bandicoot a mascot character for Universal rather than Sony. After Universal fell out with Cerny and Sony, Traveller's Tales was forced to alter the game from a free-roaming title to a standard Crash title. Traveller's Tales had to begin development of the game from scratch and were given only twelve months to complete the game.
The character Crunch Bandicoot was designed by Craig Whittle of Traveller's Tales and Sean Krankel of Universal. The concept of battling mini-bosses within the game's levels was dropped to uphold the fast and frantic pace of the series' gameplay. Multiplayer capability was also considered before being dropped. An earlier draft of the story featured an alternate version of the game's climax and ending, which involved Crash battling Crunch in a mechanical robot suit. At the end of the fight, Crunch would destroy Crash's suit with a bolt of electricity. The resulting debris would render Cortex unconscious, destroy the remote control device controlling Crunch and start an electrical fire in the space station. As the Bandicoots escape to resume their beach-going vacation, the ruins of the space station would crash-land onto the island of Cortex's original settlement, conveniently allowing Cortex and Uka Uka to resume their world domination bids.
The majority of the characters and vehicles in the game were built and textured by Nicola Daly and animated by Jeremy Pardon. The main game systems and game code as a whole were coded by John Hodskinson. The game's music is composed by Andy Blythe and Marten Joustra of Swallow Studios. A rearranged version of the original Crash Bandicoot theme by Mutato Muzika's Josh Mancell also appears in the game. The game's sound effects were created by Ron Horwitz, Tom Jaeger, John Robinson, and Harry Woolway of Universal Sound Studios. The game's voice actors were cast and directed by Margaret Tang with dialog editing from Rik Schaffer. Clancy Brown voices the dual role of Doctor Neo Cortex and Uka Uka, while Mel Winkler provides the voice of Aku Aku, and Debi Derryberry provides the voice of Coco Bandicoot. Corey Burton voices the returning villains Doctor N. Gin and Doctor Nefarious Tropy. Kevin Michael Richardson provides the voice of new character Crunch Bandicoot, while the Elementals, consisting of Rok-Ko, Wa-Wa, Py-Ro, and Lo-Lo, are voiced by Thomas F. Wilson, R. Lee Ermey, Mark Hamill, and Jess Harnell respectively.
## Release
The Wrath of Cortex was released onto the PlayStation 2 on October 30, 2001. The Xbox version of the game was announced by Universal Interactive on January 31, 2002, and features reduced loading times and improved graphics. It was released in North America on April 16, 2002. On May 7, 2002, the company announced a GameCube version of the game, which was later confirmed to have connectivity to the Game Boy Advance. The GameCube version was released on September 17, 2002, initially in North America. Commercially, the PlayStation 2 version sold over 1.56 million units in North America, and around 170,000 copies in 2001 in Japan. The PlayStation 2 version also received a "Double Platinum" sales award from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA), indicating sales of at least 600,000 copies in the United Kingdom. As a result, the game was re-released for the Platinum Range on October 11, 2002, for the Sony Greatest Hits line-up on October 15, 2002, and for the Best line-up on October 17, 2002. The "Greatest Hits" version of the game features quicker load times than those of the original version. The Xbox version was re-released for the Xbox Classics line-up on April 11, 2003, and the GameCube version was re-released for the Player's Choice line-up in Europe on October 22, 2004.
## Reception
The Wrath of Cortex received "mixed or average" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic. Reviewers felt that the game was a non-challenging repetition of the formula set by the previous games, with Ben Kosmina of Nintendo World Report summarizing the game's structure as "a carbon copy of Crash 3". Louis Bedigian of GameZone, however, declared Wrath of Cortex to be better than the preceding games, as well as the hardest game in the series, and welcomed the new levels, abilities and vehicles. The Atlasphere levels were positively received and commonly compared to Marble Madness, with Bedigian remarking that "Traveller's Tales could develop a whole game based on the sphere levels alone". The game's fixed camera angles and limited perspectives were said to result in frustrating trial-and-error gameplay. Bedigian and Mike Sabine of PlanetXbox found the controls to be sluggish. Sabine and Kosmina criticized Coco Bandicoot as an unnecessary inclusion that was harder to control than Crash. Hilary Goldstein of IGN went into further detail, dismissing Coco as "a less powerful and less enjoyable playable character" and saying "She's just not fun the way Crash is. Crash is a silly creature to look at. He's almost absurd, which works great with his various animations. Coco isn't really silly at all. The game isn't called Crash and Coco so why must I be forced to play her? Rather than add variety, Coco detracts from the only real selling point of the game -- Crash Bandicoot". Star Dingo of GamePro called the underwater levels "insidious" and suggested they be "used as an example in classes on how not to make a 2D shooter". Kosmina appreciated the GameCube version's GameCube – Game Boy Advance link cable support through the Crash Blast minigame. The long loading times in the PS2 version were widely criticized, and their reduction in the Xbox and GameCube versions was welcomed.
The graphics were positively received for their rich colour palette and increased definition and special effects from the previous games, but were generally seen as less impressive than those of competing games on their respective systems. The Xbox version was noted to have enhanced fur, lighting and particle effects compared to the PS2 version. Star Dingo also commented on the Xbox version's improved visuals, but considered the fur effects to be "creepy". Bedigian, while impressed by the graphics and effects, acknowledged that the visual style was conservative. Lafferty pointed out that the environments were less defined and detailed than other GameCube titles. Casamassina said that the presentation was sterile, elaborating that the environments lacked roundness and that the architecture felt empty. Goldstein was relieved by the reduction of slowdown and stuttering in the Xbox version and lauded the visuals as having the best use of colour on the system, but dismissed the enemy design as bland. Shane Satterfield of GameSpot singled out the game's underwater scenes as impressive. Matthew Gallant, also of GameSpot, and Andrei Alupului of PlanetPS2 deemed the graphics to be average, and Gallant was particularly disappointed with the opening sequence, which "has Crash water-skiing across a flat blue-and-white surface that approximates water much the same way "3" approximates pi". Randy Nelson of PlayStation: The Official Magazine considered the game to be "one of the best-looking titles on PS2 at the moment", but found the levels to be sparsely populated as a result of their increased width. The GameCube version was observed to suffer from framerate drops.
Sabine complimented the game's "quirky and playful" music as "fresh and lively". Bedigian was annoyed by Crash's voice, and considered "less than half" of the game's soundtrack to be worth listening to. Kosmina commended the audio as well done, and singled out the voice-acting for Cortex as "great", but criticized the poor looping of the music. Perry summed up the audio as familiar "thumping conga" music and "cartoony" sound effects. Lafferty described the audio as "fun, with a solid soundtrack and over-acted vocal characterizations". McElfish felt that the music was "consistently fresh and memorable" and the voice-overs were believable, but the sound effects were bland. Casamassina described the music as "well composed and catchy, with enough variation to keep you tapping your feet without realizing it", but criticized the voice-acting, which he felt was overdone and made some of the characters come off as annoying, and lamented the GameCube version's lack of Dolby Pro Logic support. Goldstein, while saying the audio was good in its own right, derided the Xbox version's surround sound mixing as sloppy. Gallant also criticized the sound mixing, and complained of a "loud, unidentifiable thunking noise" throughout the first vehicle-based level in the GameCube version. Alupului dismissed the music as "cheesy standard-fare cartoon stuff that sounds like it's done in primitive MIDI", and considered the voice-acting to be poor. Star Dingo described the music as "cool" and "rhythm-happy" and the celebrity voice-overs for the villains as "droll", but said the sound effects were uninspired. Kilo Watt, also of GamePro, said that the game's "bouncy" soundtrack was pleasant, but nothing new for the series. Mark Hamill's presence in the voice cast was noticed, with Alupului, despite not being a Star Wars fan, feeling sorrow for Hamill having been "relegated to doing voice work for mediocre video games". |
635,536 | Battle of Wilson's Creek | 1,166,380,297 | Battle of the American Civil War | [
"1861 in Missouri",
"1861 in the American Civil War",
"August 1861 events",
"Battles of the American Civil War in Missouri",
"Battles of the Trans-Mississippi Theater of the American Civil War",
"Christian County, Missouri",
"Confederate victories of the American Civil War",
"History of Greene County, Missouri",
"Operations to control Missouri (American Civil War)"
]
| The Battle of Wilson's Creek, also known as the Battle of Oak Hills, was the first major battle of the Trans-Mississippi Theater of the American Civil War. It was fought on August 10, 1861, near Springfield, Missouri. Missouri was officially a neutral state, but its governor, Claiborne Fox Jackson, supported the South and secretly collaborated with Confederate troops.
In August, Confederates under Brigadier General Benjamin McCulloch and Missouri State Guard troops under Maj. Gen. Sterling Price approached Brig. Gen. Nathaniel Lyon's Army of the West, camped at Springfield. On August 10, Lyon, in two columns commanded by himself and Col. Franz Sigel, attacked the Confederates on Wilson's Creek about 10 miles (16 km) southwest of Springfield. Confederate cavalry received the first blow and retreated from the high ground. Confederate infantry attacked the Union forces three times during the day but failed to break through. Eventually, Sigel's column was driven back to Springfield, allowing the Confederates to consolidate their forces against Lyon's main column. When Lyon was killed and General Thomas William Sweeny wounded, Major Samuel D. Sturgis assumed command of the Union forces. When Sturgis realized that his men were exhausted and lacking ammunition, he ordered a retreat to Springfield. The battle was reckoned as a Confederate victory, but the Confederates were too disorganized and ill-equipped to pursue the retreating Union forces.
Although the state remained in the Union for the remainder of the war, the battle effectively gave the Confederates control of southwestern Missouri. The victory at Wilson's Creek also allowed Price to lead the Missouri State Guard north in a campaign culminating at the siege of Lexington, Missouri.
## Background
### Military and political situation
At the beginning of the American Civil War, Missouri declared that it would be an "armed neutral" in the conflict, and not send materials or men to either side. On April 20, a secessionist mob seized the arsenal in Liberty, Missouri, increasing Union concerns in the state. The neutrality was put to a major test on May 10, in what became known as the Camp Jackson Affair. Governor Claiborne F. Jackson had called out the Missouri Volunteer Militia (MVM) to drill on the edge of St. Louis in Lindell Grove. The governor had clandestinely obtained artillery from the Confederacy and smuggled the pieces into the militia encampment – referred to as "Camp Jackson". Capt. Nathaniel Lyon was aware of this shipment and was concerned the militia would move on the St. Louis Arsenal. Thomas W. Sweeny was put in command of the arsenal's defense, and Lyon surrounded the militia camp with Union troops and home guards, forcing the surrender of the militia. When he marched the prisoners through the streets to the arsenal, some angry members of the crowd began to press against the procession. Taunts and jostling eventually led to gunfire and many deaths. Most of the dead were civilians, but several soldiers and members of the militia were also killed.
A day later, the Missouri General Assembly created the Missouri State Guard (replacing the MVM) theoretically to defend the state from attacks by perceived enemies on either side of the war. The governor appointed Sterling Price as the commander with the rank of major general of state forces. The state guard was divided into divisions, with each division consisting of units raised from a military district of Missouri and commanded by a brigadier general. Because many of the organization's recruiting areas were behind Union lines, many divisions were the size of a brigade, consisting of only a few regiments. Fearing Missouri's tilt to the South, William S. Harney, the Federal commander of the U.S. Army's Department of the West (which included Missouri) negotiated the Price-Harney Truce on May 12, which nominally created cooperation between the U.S. Army and the MSG to maintain order in Missouri and protect it from outside interference. Jackson publicly declared his support for the truce, while secretly requesting that Confederate forces enter Missouri to "liberate" Missouri from Federal control.
After complaints by Missouri Unionists, Harney was replaced by Lyon (who was promoted to brigadier general of volunteers), further undermining the fragile truce. On June 12, Lyon and Jackson met at the St. Louis' Planter's House Hotel in a last attempt to avoid a resumption of fighting. Both sides were inflexible, with Lyon demanding the right to inspect any area of the state for Confederate intervention, and Jackson refusing and demanding that Federal forces be restricted to the St. Louis metropolitan area. Colonel Snead, the only surviving witness to that meeting, stated that the meeting ended with Lyon reportedly saying:
> ...rather than concede to the State of Missouri for one single instant the right to dictate to my Government in any matter however unimportant, I would see you, and you, and you, and every man, woman, and child in the State, dead and buried. This means war. In an hour one of my officers will call for you and conduct you out of my lines.
Lyon sent a force under Sweeney to Springfield while his own forces quickly captured the capital and pursued Jackson, Price, and the now-exiled state government across Missouri. Skirmishes followed, including the Battle of Boonville on June 17 and the Battle of Carthage on July 5. In light of the crisis, the delegates of the Missouri Constitutional Convention that had rejected secession in February reconvened. On July 27, the convention declared the governor's office vacant and selected Hamilton Rowan Gamble to be the new provisional governor.
By July 13, Lyon's army of approximately 5,430 men was encamped at Springfield. His force was composed of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 5th Missouri infantry, the 1st Iowa Infantry, the 1st and 2nd Kansas infantry, as well as several companies of regular army infantry and cavalry and three batteries of artillery. He divided the units into four brigades commanded by Major Samuel D. Sturgis, Colonel Franz Sigel, Lieutenant Colonel George Andrews, and Colonel George Dietzler.
By the end of July, the Missouri State Guard was camped about 75 mi (121 km) southwest of Springfield and had been reinforced by Confederate Brigadier General Benjamin McCulloch and Arkansas state militia Brigadier General N. Bart Pearce, making the mixed Missouri/Arkansas/Confederate force about 12,120 strong. Price and McCulloch developed plans to attack Springfield, but Lyon marched out of the city on August 1 in an attempt to surprise the Southern forces. The armies' vanguards skirmished at Dug Springs, Missouri on August 2. The Union force emerged as the victor, but Lyon learned he was outnumbered by more than two-to-one and retreated back to Springfield. McCulloch, now in command of the Missourian army, gave chase. By August 6, his force was encamped at Wilson's Creek, 10 miles (16 km) southwest of the city. Price favored an immediate attack on Springfield but McCulloch, doubtful about the quality of the Missouri State Guard, preferred to remain in place. After Price threatened to launch an attack without his support, McCulloch agreed to an attack at dawn on the 10th but when a rainstorm started during the evening of the ninth, he canceled his plans and ordered his troops back to camp.
Outnumbered, Lyon planned to withdraw northeast to Rolla to reinforce and resupply, but not before launching a surprise attack on the Missourian camp to delay pursuit. Sigel proposed striking McCullough in a pincer movement, which would split the already outnumbered Union force; he planned to lead 1,200 men in a flanking maneuver while the main body under Lyon struck from the north. Lyon concurred, and in accord with Sigel's plan, the Union army marched out of Springfield on the rainy night of August 9, leaving about 1,000 men to protect supplies and cover the retreat.
## Opposing forces
### Union
### Confederate
## Battle
At first light on the morning of August 10, the Union began a surprise attack on the opposing forces. Lyon's force overran the enemy camps and took the high ground at the crest of a ridge, which would become known as "Bloody Hill". Early Union hopes for a rout were dashed, however, when the artillery of the Pulaski Arkansas Battery unlimbered and checked the advance, which gave Price's infantry time and cover to organize lines on the south slope of the hill. Lyon organized a line on the southern slope of Bloody Hill, from which he launched an unsuccessful counterattack. Price launched a series of frontal and flank attacks but was also unsuccessful; a shortage of ammunition in the Confederate army was a factor in the Confederate defeats.
The two Union forces lost contact with each other, with no means of communicating or supporting each other if anything went wrong. Sigel's attack was successful at first; the brigade arrived in the Confederate rear soon after dawn. Artillery fire routed the Confederate cavalry units, which were encamped at Sharp's farm. Sigel began a pursuit, but stopped along Skegg's Branch. During the break, he failed to post skirmishers, leaving his left flank open for an attack. Meanwhile, McCulloch rallied several Confederate units, including the 3rd Louisiana Infantry and the 3rd Division from the Missouri State Guard, to lead a counterattack. Sigel's men mistook the 3rd Louisiana for the 1st Iowa Infantry (which also wore gray uniforms) and withheld their fire until the Confederates were nearly upon them. His flank was consequently devastated by the counterattack, and his brigade was routed, losing four cannons. Sigel and his men fled the field, leaving the force under Lyon, Sweeny, and Sturgis holding out alone.
With the rout of Sigel's flank, the momentum of the battle shifted in the South's favor. Lyon was wounded twice, and worried that "the day was lost", he attempted to lead a counterattack. However, Lyon was shot in the heart, and the charge fell apart after his death. Lyon became the first Union general to be killed in the war. General Sweeny was shot in the leg, and Major Sturgis, as the highest ranking Regular Army officer, assumed command of the Union army. Despite still being in a defensible position atop the hill, Union supplies were low and morale was worsening. By 11:00 a.m., the Union forces had already repulsed three separate Confederate charges. Ammunition and men were nearly exhausted, and Sturgis retreated rather than risk a fourth Confederate attack. Henry Clay Wood, in command of a company that helped cover the retreat, later received the Medal of Honor for the heroism he displayed in keeping his company organized and functioning as it left the battlefield.
## Aftermath
The casualties were about equal on both sides – around 1,317 Union and an estimated 1,232 Confederate/Missourian/Arkansan soldiers were either killed, wounded, or captured. Though the Confederate force won the field, they were unable to pursue the retreating Union forces to Rolla. Price wanted to start a pursuit of the Union force immediately, but McCulloch refused, worried about the quality of the Missouri State Guard and the length of his supply line back to Arkansas. With the victory, Price's Missouri Guard began an invasion of northern Missouri that culminated in the First Battle of Lexington on September 20. The Confederate and Arkansas forces withdrew from the state.
After falling back to Springfield, Sturgis handed command of the Union army over to Sigel. At a council of war that evening, it was agreed that the army had to fall back to Rolla, beginning at 3 a.m. the next morning. However, Sigel failed to get his brigade ready at that time, forcing a delay of several hours. Along the retreat route, Sigel's men took several lengthy delays to prepare meals; this caused the other officers to force Sigel to turn command back over to Sturgis.
On October 30, the Missourians under Price and Jackson formally joined the Confederate cause in Neosho, Missouri. A rump of the Missouri State Assembly meeting in Neosho passed the resolutions for Missouri secession and Jackson became (nominally) the Governor of Confederate Missouri (Jackson had never accepted his July removal from office by the State Convention). However, the secession action was never accepted by most of the population of Missouri, and the state remained in the Union throughout the war. What little control Price and Jackson did have was diminished by Confederate reverses during the Battles of Fredericktown on October 21 and the First Battle of Springfield on October 25. The Confederate state government was soon forced to leave the state. Although Price enjoyed some Missouri victories, notably the siege and capture of Lexington, he did not have the popular support to remain in the field, eventually retreating to northwest Arkansas. After 1861, he was commissioned as a Confederate Major General and led his forces in battles in Arkansas and Mississippi. While there were smaller incursions and skirmishes in Missouri, Price did not return to Missouri with a major force until 1864. Nevertheless, Missouri suffered extensive guerrilla warfare between Unionists and pro-Confederate bushwhackers such as Quantrill's Raiders and Bloody Bill Anderson throughout the war.
By early 1862, Federal forces had effectively pushed Price out of Missouri. An army under Union general Samuel Ryan Curtis pursued Price into Arkansas, where General Earl Van Dorn assumed command of combined forces led by Price and McCulloch. Outnumbered, Curtis nonetheless defeated Van Dorn's Confederate Army of the West at the Battle of Pea Ridge on March 6–8, ending any attempt by a major Confederate force to occupy Missouri until Price's Raid in 1864.
The Battle of Wilson's Creek was the first major battle fought west of the Mississippi River. The battle was known as the Battle of Oak Hills in the Confederacy, and is sometimes called the "Bull Run of the West".
## Battlefield preservation
The site of the battle has been protected as Wilson's Creek National Battlefield. The National Park Service operates a visitor center featuring exhibits, a fiber optic map displaying the course of the battle, and a research library. Living history programs depicting various aspects of the soldier's experience of that area are presented on weekends seasonally. With the exception of the vegetation and the addition of interpretive hiking trails and a self-guided auto tour route, the 1,750 acres (7.1 km<sup>2</sup>) battlefield has changed little from its historic setting, allowing visitors to experience the battlefield in nearly pristine condition. The home of the Ray family, which served as a Confederate field hospital during the battle, has been preserved and represents one of only two structures in existence during the battle to still be extant on the park today (the other being a springhouse). In addition, the American Battlefield Trust has preserved 278 acres (1.13 km<sup>2</sup>) of the Wilson's Creek battlefield.
## See also
- List of costliest American Civil War land battles
- Troop engagements of the American Civil War, 1861
- Frémont Emancipation
- Missouri in the American Civil War |
23,735,889 | 1990 Andhra Pradesh cyclone | 1,155,057,467 | Category 4 North Indian tropical cyclone in 1990 | [
"1990 North Indian Ocean cyclone season",
"1990 disasters in India",
"Disasters in Andhra Pradesh",
"History of Andhra Pradesh (1947–2014)",
"Super cyclonic storms",
"Tropical cyclones in India"
]
| The 1990 Andhra Pradesh cyclone or the 1990 Machilipatnam Cyclone was the worst disaster to affect Southern India since the 1977 Andhra Pradesh cyclone. The system was first noted as a depression on 4 May 1990, while it was located over the Bay of Bengal about 600 km (375 mi) to the southeast of Chennai, India. During the next day the depression intensified into a cyclonic storm and started to intensify rapidly, becoming a super cyclonic storm early on 8 May. The cyclone weakened slightly before it made landfall on India about 300 km (190 mi) to the north of Madras in the Andhra Pradesh state as a very severe cyclonic storm with winds of 165 km/h (105 mph). While over land the cyclone gradually dissipated. The cyclone had a severe impact on India, with over 967 people reported to have been killed. Over 100,000 animals also died in the cyclone with the total cost of damages to crops estimated at over \$600 million (1990 USD).
## Meteorological history
On 4 May 1990, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) reported that a depression had developed over the Bay of Bengal about 600 km (375 mi) to the southeast of Chennai, India. During that day the system gradually developed further and became the subject of a Tropical Cyclone Formation Alert, by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center as it moved westwards under the influence of the subtropical ridge of high pressure. The depression subsequently intensified into a cyclonic storm early the next day, before the JTWC initiated advisories on the system and designated it as Tropical Cyclone 02B later that day. At this stage the JTWC only expected the cyclone to intensify marginally before it weakened as it made landfall in Southern India within 72 hours. During 6 May, the system started to move more towards the north-west because of a weakness in the subtropical ridge, as it continued to intensify and became a Very Severe Cyclonic Storm. This turn towards the northwest turned out to be more northerly than had been expected, which as a result allowed the system to stay offshore for longer than had been expected by the JTWC.
Over the next couple of days the system rapidly intensified before the JTWC reported early on 8 May, that the system had peaked with 1-minute sustained windspeeds of 230 km/h (145 mph), which made the system equivalent to a category 4 hurricane on the Saffir–Simpson hurricane wind scale. At around the same time the IMD also reported that the cyclone had peaked as a Super Cyclonic Storm, with 3-minute sustained wind speeds of 235 km/h (145 mph) and an estimated central pressure of 920 hPa (27.17 inHg). By this time the system was located about 150 km (95 mi) to the northeast of Madras and was moving northwards slowly. Later that day as the ship Visvamohini moved through the systems eye region, it measured a central pressure of 912 hPa (26.93 inHg), which the IMD reported would be one of the lowest central pressures ever measured in the Bay of Bengal if it was correct. The system subsequently weakened and had become a Very Severe Cyclonic Storm by the time it made landfall during 9 May, near the mouth of the Krishna River in southern Andhra Pradesh. The system subsequently moved north-westwards and gradually weakened further, before it was last noted during 11 May, by both the IMD and JTWC.
## Preparations and impact
### Preparations
As a result of timely warnings issued by the IMD, the Indian government was able to launch an evacuation campaign and order that all fisherman return to shore. This led to more than 150,000 people being evacuated to relief camps which had been set up on higher ground. Due to the thorough preparations, there was fewer deaths than in the 1977 Andhra Pradesh cyclone.
### Impact
On Edurumondi Island over 7,000 people were left stranded after they refused to evacuate. The island itself was reported to have experienced the full brunt of the system. However, all of the residents reportedly sought protection within a shelter provided by the government. The cyclone had a significant effect on India, with storm surge tides as high as 4.9 meters (16 ft) above normal. Consequently, over 100 villages were submerged in water and destroyed. At least 967 people were killed by the cyclone; most of the deaths occurred when houses made mostly out of mud and straw collapsed. Other people were killed when electrical wires were knocked down and while some people were carried away by flooded rivers. The storm left at least 3 million people homeless, while over 100,000 farm animals were killed. At least 435,000 acres (1,760 km<sup>2</sup>) of rice paddies were destroyed along with huge tracts of mango and banana trees. The total damage to crops and property was estimated at over \$600 million (1990 USD). The cyclone was described as the worst disaster in southern India since the 1977 storm. Sea water contaminated fresh drinking wells, prompting warnings about outbreaks of Cholera and Typhoid as many people were drinking and cooking with water from the drains which was causing stomach disorders.
#### Tamil Nadu
Overall the cyclone only caused minor damage to Tamil Nadu with the worst affected area being the district of Chengalpattu, where one of the old shrines of Kasiviswanathar Temple collapsed as high waves hit the coast. A large number of huts were also washed away by the waves, while six deaths were reported in the state.
## Aftermath
On 11 May, two days after the cyclone had hit, the Indian Government launched a massive relief and rescue operation. The Indian Army and Naval helicopters took surveys of areas affected by the cyclone, and also dropped food packets. Although the Indian Government did not request international assistance, the Red Cross provided food, oil, medicines and water tanks for the affected families; the Commission on Inter-Church Aid, Refugee and World Service (CICARWS) at the World Council of Churches issued an appeal for \$262,000 (1990 USD) so they could provide immediate needs with World Vision providing \$160,000 (1990 USD) for food blankets and utensils.
## See also
- 1990 North Indian Ocean cyclone season
- 1977 Andhra Pradesh cyclone |
20,805,826 | Carry Me in Your Dreams | 1,153,809,080 | 2009 song by Kejsi Tola | [
"2008 singles",
"2008 songs",
"English-language Albanian songs",
"Eurovision songs of 2009",
"Eurovision songs of Albania",
"Folktronica songs"
]
| "Carry Me in Your Dreams" is a song by Albanian singer Kejsi Tola, independently released as a single in 2008. It was written by Agim Doçi and composed by Edmond Zhulali. Musically, it is an English-language uptempo pop song, inspired by folk music and 1970s French pop. Its lyrics are a declaration of love by singing someone else's praise and also focuses on the longing between two separated people.
"Carry Me in Your Dreams" represented in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 in Moscow, Russia, after Tola won the country's pre-selection competition, Festivali i Këngës 47, with the Albanian-language version "Më merr në ëndërr". The country reached the 17th place in a field of 25, gaining a total of 48 points. During her Cirque du Soleil-described show of the song, she was performing against slightly dark-coloured LED screens and was accompanied by three dancers and two backing vocalists.
## Background and composition
In 2008, Kejsi Tola was announced as one of the twenty contestants selected to compete in the 47th edition of Festivali i Këngës, a competition to determine Albania's entrant for the Eurovision Song Contest 2009. Following the competition's rules, the lyrics of the participating entries had to be in the Albanian language. Tola took part with the song "Më merr në ëndërr", composed by Edmond Zhulali and written by Agim Doçi. For the purpose of the Tola's Eurovision Song Contest participation, the latter song was translated and remastered to "Carry Me in Your Dreams".
"Më merr në ëndërr" had a duration time of more than four minutes and contained a guitar solo in its beginnings as well as several instrumental passages throughout the song. Due to Eurovision's performative requirements on songs length, the song was then shortened and transformed to a solo-described number. Musically, "Carry Me in Your Dreams" is an uptempo electronic and disco song with "some text book schlager rhythms and key change". It was inspired by 1970s French pop and incorporates folk elements. Costa from ESCXtra noted a "psychedelic turbo-folk production". Its lyrics are a declaration of love by singing someone else's praise and also focuses on the longing between two separated people.
## Release and promotion
"Carry Me in Your Dreams" was independently released as a single on 1 January 2008 for download and streaming. The song was also included on the Eurovision Song Contest: Moscow 2009 compilation album on CD issued by EMI. For promotional purposes, Tola made diverse live appearances on multiple occasions in April 2009 to perform the song, including in Greece, Macedonia, Montenegro and the Netherlands, giving interviews and appearing on television shows. An accompanying music video for the song premiered prior to the start of the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 on 12 May 2009.
## Critical reception
"Carry Me in Your Dreams" has received generally positive reviews from music critics. In a later review for the song conducted by several ESCXtra staff members, the song's ethnic nature, instrumentation and lyrics, as well as Tola's vocal delivery were praised. Angelos of the same website labelled it as "catchy, fun and memorable" and found the song to be among the "few" songs that worked "well" in English after having been performed in Albanian. The website's Riccardo expressed praise towards the song's ethnic nature and the instrumental part near the end simultaneously calling it "mesmerising". Borislava, another editor, was similarly positive regarding the song's "Balkan" influence while as of Costa, the song "is often regarded as one of Albania's best entries".
## At Eurovision
### Festivali i Këngës
The national broadcaster of Albania, Radio Televizioni Shqiptar (RTSH), organised the 47th edition of Festivali i Këngës to determine the country's participant for the Eurovision Song Contest 2009. The former consisted of two semi-finals on 19 and 20 December, and the grand final on 21 December 2008. Tola was chosen to represent the country in the contest, after gathering the maximum votes, 126 points, from an expert jury.
### Moscow
The 54th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest took place in Moscow, Russia, and consisted of two semi-finals held on 12 and 14 May, and the grand final on 16 May 2009. According to the Eurovision rules at the time, each participating country, apart from the host country and the "Big Four", consisting of , , , and the , were required to qualify from one of the two semi-finals to compete for the grand final. However, the top ten countries from the respective semi-final progressed to the grand final. On 28 January 2008, it was announced that "Carry Me in Your Dreams" would be performed in the second semi-final of the contest. During the second semi-final, Albania performed 16th, following and preceding , and qualified for the grand final in seventh place with 73 points. At the grand final, the country performed 19th, following and preceding . Albania finished in the 17th place in a field of 25 with 48 total points, ranking 23rd by the jury's 26 points as well as 11th by the televote of 81 points.
On stage, Tola performed against slightly dark LED screens whose colors were predominately a mixture of red, orange, yellow and white. The singer was accompanied by three male dancers and two female backing vocalists during her Cirque du Soleil-described performance of the song. She wore a short white and pink tulle dress and her backing vocalists long white dresses. Two of the dancers were dressed all in a black costume while the other wore a green glittery costume, covering his body and face. The glittery costume of the dancer was often compared to the fictional character of Spider-Man.
## Track listing
- Digital download
1. "Carry Me in Your Dreams" – 3:07
## Release history |
1,106,297 | John Albert Taylor | 1,172,418,906 | American executed in 1996 for a Utah murder | [
"1959 births",
"1989 murders in the United States",
"1996 deaths",
"20th-century executions by Utah",
"20th-century executions of American people",
"American murderers of children",
"American people convicted of burglary",
"American people convicted of child sexual abuse",
"American people executed for murder",
"American rapists",
"Deaths by firearm in Utah",
"Executed people from Utah",
"People convicted of murder by Utah",
"People executed by Utah by firing squad",
"People from Ogden, Utah",
"Volunteer execution"
]
| John Albert Taylor (June 6, 1959 – January 26, 1996) was an American who was convicted of burglary and carrying a concealed weapon in the state of Florida, and sexual assault and murder in the state of Utah. Taylor's own sister tipped off police in June 1989 after 11-year-old Charla King was found raped and strangled to death in Washington Terrace, Utah. His fingerprints were found at the crime scene, which was located in an apartment complex where he had been staying. In December 1989, Taylor was sentenced to death and placed on death row at Utah State Prison.
Taylor gave up appealing his sentence after his request for retrial was rejected by the Utah Supreme Court, though he continued to maintain his innocence. He became the second person to be executed by firing squad in the United States (after Gary Gilmore) since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. Taylor said he chose this method of execution to embarrass the state of Utah. On January 26, 1996, the day of Taylor's execution, legislation was introduced in the Utah House of Representatives to eliminate the firing squad.
## Background
John Albert Taylor was born in Ogden, Utah to Albert and Gaylene Taylor, who separated during his infancy. He moved several times during his youth, including a move to Colorado at the age of nine, when he was told that his father had died. According to Taylor, he was raised in Florida, where he was abused as a child and became involved in drugs by his teens. Taylor stated that he did not get along with his stepfather, a Vietnam veteran, or his mother: "But she could never control me. My mother had a lot of animosity toward my father. They alienated me for a long time. I was the whipping post." At the age of 13, he stabbed his stepfather. According to court records, he repeatedly raped and sodomized his sister Laurie during his teens, and raped, and sodomized other young girls, and was committed to a sex offender program. In 1974, Taylor moved back to Ogden to live with his grandmother, but soon returned to Florida.
In 1977, Taylor was arrested in Florida and charged with burglary and carrying a concealed weapon after he was caught with a stolen gun. He was convicted and imprisoned until December 1981, when he was released on parole. In March 1982, he was arrested in Fort Lauderdale, Florida for armed burglary, armed robbery, and sexual assault. He had been diagnosed at the age of 17 as "a remorseless pedophile." He was acquitted of the charges in September 1982, but was sentenced to 15 additional years in prison for parole violations. In 1989, Taylor was released and departed for Utah to be with his sisters and biological father, who he discovered was still alive.
> From all I saw, my father was a good man. But while I was growing up, I was told so many stories about him that I've come to learn were all lies. My father was being painted a villain when he really wasn't one. I've come to learn that the real villain was my mother.
## Murder of Charla King
At around 3:20 p.m. on June 23, 1989, Sherron King returned from work to her apartment in Washington Terrace, Utah to find the body of her daughter Charla in the bedroom with a nightgown wrapped around her head and panties stuffed in her mouth. After calling the police, she was instructed to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation and discovered that Charla had been strangled to death with a telephone cord. Charla's foster grandmother Bertha Poster stated that she had dropped Charla off at the apartment at about 1:30 p.m. after visiting the mall. Charla had been planning to celebrate her 12th birthday at an amusement park on the next day. Prosecutors believe that Taylor entered the house with intent on sexually molesting the girl. When she caught him in the house, prosecutors believe, he chased her into the bedroom, and placed her underwear in her mouth. He raped her, placed a nightgown over her head, and strangled her to death.
### Arrest
On June 25, a tipster, who was later revealed to be Taylor's sister Laurie Galli, contacted Washington Terrace Police officer Marcia Gathercole with information connected to the murder. Taylor's fingerprints were found on a telephone in the King residence and matched to records provided by authorities in Fort Lauderdale. He was arrested at about 9 p.m. on June 28 at the home of his half-sister/incestous lover Tresa Taylor in Ogden, Utah and charged with first-degree burglary, first-degree child rape, and first-degree murder the next morning. Taylor had arrived from Florida four days before the murder and had been staying with another sister in the same apartment complex.
> I remember telling my father that whoever they arrested for this crime was history, and that was before my arrest.
Sherron King moved out of the apartment complex on June 28. She was upset that the neighbors who came forward as witnesses did nothing when they heard her daughter screaming.
### Murder trial
On November 27, 1989, the trial commenced under District Judge David Roth after Taylor waived his right to a jury. Taylor testified on his own behalf that he only entered the apartment in the act of burglary while no one was home, leaving his fingerprints on the phone when he found money underneath it. Weber County deputy attorney William Daines stated that Taylor previously denied being in the apartment and that two witnesses placed him at the scene at the time of the crime. Prison inmate Mike Gallegos testified that he had a brief conversation in which Taylor told him that he killed a girl by accident, and masturbated on the corpse. Duane Moyes and James Gaskill of the Weber State College crime laboratory testified that the person who cut the telephone cord with a knife and wrapped it around the neck of the victim was likely the same as the one who left behind fingerprints on the phone. Lab director Gaskill stated that the prints, three of which were matched to fingers on Taylor's left hand, were the only evidence that placed Taylor at the crime scene. Gaskill said there was no evidence in the apartment to indicate a burglary took place or that any other person was connected to the murder.
On December 5, 1989, Judge Roth found Taylor guilty of the first-degree child rape and first-degree murder of Charla Nicole King. During the penalty phase of Taylor's trial, his half-sister Leslie Beale traveled from Florida to testify about his harsh treatment under his stepfather and the three years that Taylor spent in a sex offender program at a Florida mental institution. On December 19, Taylor became the first convict in 40 years to be sent to death row by a Weber County court. Roth said that the facts of the case outweighed any mitigating circumstances. Taylor's father Albert attended most of his son's court proceedings until he died of heart failure on October 8, 1990. Taylor said he was not permitted to attend his father's funeral.
### Appeals
The case was automatically appealed to the Utah Supreme Court, which upheld Taylor's conviction and sentence in October 1991. Taylor's execution was initially scheduled for January 15, 1992. The date was rescheduled to June 24 when Taylor's attorney Martin Gravis requested to withdraw from the case. On June 17, Judge Roth granted a stay of execution after Taylor's new defense attorney Ron Yengich requested more time to prepare an appeal. At issue was a new 1992 law in Utah that established the sentence of life imprisonment without parole.
While incarcerated at Utah State Prison, Taylor kept busy in an effort to overcome his claustrophobia and boredom. He earned his high school diploma and studied to be a paralegal until his educational grant money ran out.
In October 1995, Taylor decided to end further appeals after the Utah Supreme Court rejected his argument that his legal counsel was ineffective. He fired defense attorney Ed Brass, stating: "If I don't fight for my appeal, I don't need an attorney." Taylor said he was prepared to die partly because of his failing health, including an enlarged heart, bleeding ulcers, and swollen legs and feet.
> I don't want to die alone in my cell.
Judge Roth ordered Taylor to choose a method of execution. Taylor chose to be executed by firing squad to make the process more difficult for Utah state officials. In an interview with the Deseret News, he stated: "I didn't commit the murder, and I'm not going to submit to letting them kill me on that table." Regarding the option of lethal injection, Taylor said, "I don't want to go flipping around like a fish out of water on that table."
> To be strapped to a table and injected full of drugs leaves me with a feeling of helplessness; because I am innocent of the crime for which I was convicted of. Anyway, if my execution is carried out, it will be a murder. Granted, it may be legally sanctioned, but, nonetheless, murder it will be, and the firing squad is my way of showing that point; and because of the cost and the inconvenience it will cause the state because they are not really prepared for an execution by firing squad.
## Execution
For his last meal Taylor ordered a large Ambassador pizza with thin crust, onions, mushrooms, hot peppers, sausage, pepperoni, ham and extra cheese. He also asked for a Coke. When Taylor ordered a last meal of pizzas "with everything," some law enforcement veterans recalled that the same request was made by Barton Kay Kirkham, the last man to be hanged in Utah. Like Taylor, Kirkham had selected his method of execution with the goal of inconveniencing the state. On January 25, 1996, Taylor spent his final evening sharing his pizza with his uncle Gordon Lee while joined by former attorney Ed Brass and Catholic priest Reyes Rodriguez, who administered the Last Rites. Taylor, whose stomach had been doing "flip-flops" earlier in the day, requested antacid medication and declined deputy warden Wally Schulsen's offer for more pizza, soda, and coffee. He gave his glasses to warden Hank Galetka and said, "There is no need for them." Taylor refused an offer to be sedated before his execution, but was allowed his first cigarette in six years.
Five police officers, who volunteered to carry out the execution, were each paid \$300. The shooters used identical Winchester Model 94 rifles. One prison official selected each rifle at random from a table and handed them to another prison official sitting in a small room, out of sight. The second prison official would then load the rifle, and return it to the table. Four of the rifles were loaded with live ammunition. One chosen at random was loaded with a wax bullet so that none of the officers would be certain that they fired a deadly shot. The non-lethal cartridge was tested to ensure that the report and recoil were difficult to distinguish from those of a real cartridge.
### Media coverage
Over 168 news and television crews from around the world were on hand to report the execution, which was set up inside a warehouse at Utah State Prison in Draper. Nine media witnesses were allowed to record the actual event. Actor and activist Mike Farrell appeared as a commentator for the American Civil Liberties Union in opposition to the death penalty. Elliott King, the uncle of Charla King, was the sole member of the victim's family to arrive as a witness and expressed that he had no sympathy for Taylor. Sister Helen Prejean, the author of Dead Man Walking, wrote Taylor a letter that was delivered right before his execution.
### Death
Shortly before midnight, Taylor was led into the execution chamber and strapped to a chair 17 feet away from the shooters with a hood covering his head. Multiple bright lights covered Taylor. Sandbags were arranged behind him to prevent any ricochets. The captain walked down the aisle, tapping each shooter on the shoulder to check to see if they were ready. At 12:03 a.m. Mountain Standard Time on January 26, 1996, every shooter fired at the count of five and the white cloth target on Taylor's chest flew off. His chest moved upward and his left hand tightened into a fist. His grip gradually loosened and his head fell back. A doctor checked Taylor's neck for a pulse and cut two holes in his hood to check for a pupillary light reflex. Taylor was declared dead at 12:07 a.m. and became the 49th person to be executed in the state of Utah since 1852.
> I would like to say for my family and my friends — as the poem was written, 'Remember me, but let me go.'
### Aftermath
After an autopsy, Taylor's remains were cremated and shipped to his uncle Gordon Lee in Oregon. The Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office said it would specify homicide as the cause of death on Taylor's death certificate because the execution met the state's definition of "death by another's hand." A commemorative coin was created to recognize the staff who had participated in the execution. Eight hours after Taylor's execution, Utah State Representative Sheryl Allen first introduced a bill to eliminate the firing squad, and later succeeded in passing HB180, which removed the right of the condemned to choose their method of execution after February 2004.
> If they choose the firing squad, it's one last magnificent manipulation of the system to bring attention to themselves... It's time for Utah to do away with the firing squad.
## See also
- Capital punishment in the United States
- Capital punishment in Utah
- List of people executed in Utah
- Opposition to capital punishment in the United States |
4,794,915 | Battle of Málaga (1704) | 1,172,658,887 | 1704 naval battle of the War of the Spanish Succession | [
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| The battle of Málaga, also known as the battle of Vélez-Málaga, was a major fleet action which took place during the War of the Spanish Succession between an Anglo-Dutch fleet and a French naval force on 24 August 1704. Both sides fought an intense engagement before the Anglo-Dutch fleet withdrew the next day. The French subsequently returned to Toulon, transforming the battle from a tactical stalemate into a strategic defeat, as they would not put out to sea again for the duration of the conflict. Occurring soon after the Anglo-Dutch capture of Gibraltar a few weeks prior, the battle served as one of the numerous engagements which took place for control over the settlement during the war.
In 1701, the War of the Spanish Succession broke out, pitting the Bourbon kingdoms of France and Spain against Grand Alliance, which included the English and Dutch. An Anglo-Dutch fleet under Sir George Rooke was sent into the Mediterranean in 1704, capturing Gibraltar on 4 August. Upon receiving news of the capture, the French dispatched a fleet to recapture the settlement; Rooke received intelligence that the French had put to sea, and mobilised his ships to intercept them. The Anglo-Dutch fleet spotted the French on 22 August, engaging them two days later. Both sides exchanged broadsides for several hours before the Anglo-Dutch fleet ran low of ammunition and withdrew the next day.
After the battle, both fleets returned home; strategically, the battle proved to be a success for the Grand Alliance, which saw their occupation of Gibraltar continue for the remainder of the conflict. Rooke unloaded as many men and material as he could before returning to England on 24 September. Upon receiving news of the loss of Gibraltar, Spanish Bourbons quickly moved to recapture it, beginning an investment in late September. However, several attempts to storm the settlement were repulsed by its garrison, and the siege was eventually lifted in May 1705. The battle of Málaga went on to play a role in solidifying the importance of a defensive line of battle in British and French tactical thinking.
## Background
In 1701, the War of the Spanish Succession broke out, pitting an anti-French coalition known as the Grand Alliance on one side and the Bourbon kingdoms of France and Spain on the other. The conflict erupted over a dispute on whether Bourbon prince Philip of Anjou, supported by King Louis XIV of France, or Habsburg royal Archduke Charles, backed by the Grand Alliance, would succeed to the Spanish throne and assume control over Spain's colonial empire after Charles II of Spain died on 1 November 1700.
Archduke Charles landed at Lisbon in March 1704 at the head of a large military expedition to conduct a campaign in the Iberian Peninsula. In May of that year, Royal Navy officer Sir George Rooke led a combined Anglo-Dutch fleet into the Mediterranean, accompanied by Austrian military officer Prince George of Hesse-Darmstadt and Dutch admiral Gerard Callenburgh. After an attempt to capture Barcelona on 30 May was frustrated by a lack of support, the expedition sailed for the Portuguese port of Lagos. There, they linked up with an English squadron under the command of Sir Cloudesley Shovell there on 27 June and proceeded to anchor near Tétouan.
While at anchor, senior officers in the Anglo-Dutch fleet drafted a plan to attack Gibraltar, which was under Bourbon control. On 28 July, they presented their plan to Prince George, who gave it his approval. Beginning on 1 August, a Grand Alliance force laid siege to Gibraltar, capturing it three days later. News of the capture soon reached France, and the French Navy responded by combined their squadrons at Toulon and Brest into one fleet (consisting of 50 ships of the line, 24 galleys, 9 frigates and 9 fire ships) under the command of the Count of Toulouse and Victor-Marie d'Estrées which set sail for Gibraltar roughly a week after its capture. Rooke received intelligence that a French fleet had been spotted approaching Gibraltar; leaving half of the marines under his command there, he immediately set off with the Anglo-Dutch fleet (which comprised 53 ships of the line, 6 frigates and 7 fire ships) to engage the French.
## Battle
On 24 August, the two fleets engaged each other off the city of Málaga after the French fleet was spotted on 22 August. Rooke and Callenburgh ordered their combined fleet to form a line of battle, while the French commanders directed their ships to form a parallel crescent. A general engagement subsequently ensued over the course of the day, with the two fleets exchanging damaging broadsides which inflicted numerous casualties. French galleys would occasionally sail into the battle line to tow damaged ships of the line out of the battlefield to safety. Meanwhile, the Anglo-Dutch fleet suffered from a shortage of round shot and gunpowder during the battle, having expended large quantities of ammunition bombarding Gibraltar during their capture of the settlement.
As the night set in, senior officers in the Anglo-Dutch fleet ordered a redistribution of ammunition among their ships to sustain the engagement, though by the next morning each ship only had approximately ten cannonballs left per gun. When a change in the wind direction gave the French fleet a favourable weather gage, Rooke and Callenburgh decided to withdraw, deciding that the shortage of ammunition onboard their ships meant that they could no longer continue the engagement. As noted by historian Cathal J. Nolan, the French captains present proved reluctant to pursue, being unaware of the superior gunnery skills of their crews, which had killed 3,000 sailors, marines and officers from the Anglo-Dutch fleet (in comparison, the French lost 1,500 men killed and wounded).
During the battle, neither side lost a single ship, though both fleets had suffered extensive damage; many ships in the Anglo-Dutch fleet had lost some or all of their masts. On 26 August, the two fleets sighted each other again, though no engagement occurred as both sides were reluctant to commit their ships to battle, with the French in particular being concerned about a shortage of ammunition. The French fleet eventually returned to Toulon, claiming a victory in the engagement based on their enemies unwillingness to engage on the 26th. However, the French decision to return to Toulon turned what up until that point had been a tactical draw into a strategic defeat, as France never put a fleet to sea again for the duration of the conflict, allowing the Grand Alliance to gain naval supremacy in the Mediterranean. Once he had ensured that the French Navy was no longer pursuing him, Rooke ordered his fleet to sail for Gibraltar for repairs on 19 August.
## Aftermath
Having managed to successfully counter the French naval threat, Rooke left as much men, weaponry and supplies as he could at Gibraltar before sailing for home on 24 September. Before leaving, he split off a portion of his fleet (consisting of 18 warships), ordering his subordinate Sir John Leake to lead it in undergoing naval patrols off the Portuguese and Spanish coastlines. Spanish Bourbons had already received news of the loss of Gibraltar, and in early September the Marquis of Villadarias led 4,000 Bourbon troops to the vicinity of the region, who were supplemented by civilian refugees which had fled the settlement. The Marquis of Villadarias also made plans to reinforce his army with 8,000 more men in anticipation of an upcoming Bourbon siege of Gibraltar.
Aware that the Spanish would soon lay siege to Gibraltar, Prince George set about reinforcing the settlement's fortifications and garrison. In late September, the Marquis of Villadarias began an investment of Gibraltar, being reinforced by 3,000 French soldiers on 4 October. Over the next month, he launched several assaults on the settlement, inflicting numerous casualties on the defenders. After receiving supplies from Leake on 21 October, the garrison repulsed a major Franco-Spanish assault on 11 November. The siege soon settled into a stalemate, punctuated by naval engagements and another failed Bourbon assault on 7 February 1705. It was eventually abandoned on May 1705, and Gibraltar would remain under Grand Alliance control for the rest of the war.
According to Canadian historian Nicholas Tracy in his 2007 work Nelson's Battles: The Triumph of British Seapower, the naval engagement off Málaga "established in both British and French tactical thinking the absolute importance of maintaining the defensive strength of a well-ordered line of battle." Naval officers in both navies proceeded to place a greater emphasis on training their crews in gunnery skills after the engagement, while the French Navy's belief in the "defensive power of a well-ordered line" was reinforced as a result of the battle. Though both sides had fire ships at their disposal, none were expended during the battle, a fact which Tracy claims was a consequence of 18th-century naval battles increasingly taking place in the open sea (as opposed to their 17th-century counterparts, many of which prominently featured the use of fire ships). By the late 18th century, fire ships had largely fallen out of use among the naval powers of Europe. |
22,709 | Okapi | 1,171,919,871 | Species of mammal | [
"Articles containing video clips",
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"Endemic fauna of the Democratic Republic of the Congo",
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"Northeastern Congolian lowland forests",
"Taxa named by Philip Sclater"
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| The okapi (/oʊˈkɑːpiː/; Okapia johnstoni), also known as the forest giraffe, Congolese giraffe and zebra giraffe, is an artiodactyl mammal that is endemic to the northeast Democratic Republic of the Congo in central Africa. It is the only species in the genus Okapia. Although the okapi has striped markings reminiscent of zebras, it is most closely related to the giraffe. The okapi and the giraffe are the only living members of the family Giraffidae.
The okapi stands about 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) tall at the shoulder and has a typical body length around 2.5 m (8 ft 2 in). Its weight ranges from 200 to 350 kg (440 to 770 lb). It has a long neck, and large, flexible ears. Its coat is a chocolate to reddish brown, much in contrast with the white horizontal stripes and rings on the legs, and white ankles. Male okapis have short, distinct horn-like protuberances on their heads called ossicones, less than 15 cm (5.9 in) in length. Females possess hair whorls, and ossicones are absent.
Okapis are primarily diurnal, but may be active for a few hours in darkness. They are essentially solitary, coming together only to breed. Okapis are herbivores, feeding on tree leaves and buds, grasses, ferns, fruits, and fungi. Rut in males and estrus in females does not depend on the season. In captivity, estrus cycles recur every 15 days. The gestational period is around 440 to 450 days long, following which usually a single calf is born. The juveniles are kept in hiding, and nursing takes place infrequently. Juveniles start taking solid food from three months, and weaning takes place at six months.
Okapis inhabit canopy forests at altitudes of 500–1,500 m (1,600–4,900 ft). The International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources classifies the okapi as endangered. Major threats include habitat loss due to logging and human settlement. Illegal mining and extensive hunting for bushmeat and skin have also led to a decline in populations. The Okapi Conservation Project was established in 1987 to protect okapi populations.
## Etymology and taxonomy
Although the okapi was unknown to the Western world until the 20th century, it may have been depicted since the early fifth century BCE on the façade of the Apadana at Persepolis, a gift from the Ethiopian procession to the Achaemenid kingdom.
For years, Europeans in Africa had heard of an animal that they came to call the African unicorn. The animal was brought to prominent European attention by speculation on its existence found in press reports covering Henry Morton Stanley's journeys in 1887. In his travelogue of exploring the Congo, Stanley mentioned a kind of donkey that the natives called the atti, which scholars later identified as the okapi.
When the British special commissioner in Uganda, Sir Harry Johnston, discovered some Pygmy inhabitants of the Congo being abducted by a showman for exhibition, he rescued them and promised to return them to their homes. The Pygmies fed Johnston's curiosity about the animal mentioned in Stanley's book. Johnston was puzzled by the okapi tracks the natives showed him; while he had expected to be on the trail of some sort of forest-dwelling horse, the tracks were of a cloven-hoofed beast.
Though Johnston did not see an okapi himself, he did manage to obtain pieces of striped skin and eventually a skull. From this skull, the okapi was correctly classified as a relative of the giraffe; in 1901, the species was formally recognized as Okapia johnstoni.
Okapia johnstoni was first described as Equus johnstoni by English zoologist Philip Lutley Sclater in 1901. The generic name Okapia derives either from the Mbuba name okapi or the related Lese Karo name o'api, while the specific name (johnstoni) is in recognition of Johnston, who first acquired an okapi specimen for science from the Ituri Forest.
In 1901, Sclater presented a painting of the okapi before the Zoological Society of London that depicted its physical features with some clarity. Much confusion arose regarding the taxonomical status of this newly discovered animal. Sir Harry Johnston himself called it a Helladotherium, or a relative of other extinct giraffids. Based on the description of the okapi by Pygmies, who referred to it as a "horse", Sclater named the species Equus johnstoni. Subsequently, zoologist Ray Lankester declared that the okapi represented an unknown genus of the Giraffidae, which he placed in its own genus, Okapia, and assigned the name Okapia johnstoni to the species.
In 1902, Swiss zoologist Charles Immanuel Forsyth Major suggested the inclusion of O. johnstoni in the extinct giraffid subfamily Palaeotraginae. However, the species was placed in its own subfamily Okapiinae, by Swedish palaeontologist Birger Bohlin in 1926, mainly due to the lack of a cingulum, a major feature of the palaeotragids. In 1986, Okapia was finally established as a sister genus of Giraffa on the basis of cladistic analysis. The two genera together with Palaeotragus constitute the tribe Giraffini.
### Evolution
The earliest members of the Giraffidae first appeared in the early Miocene in Africa, having diverged from the superficially deer-like climacoceratids. Giraffids spread into Europe and Asia by the middle Miocene in a first radiation. Another radiation began in the Pliocene, but was terminated by a decline in diversity in the Pleistocene. Several important primitive giraffids existed more or less contemporaneously in the Miocene (23–10 million years ago), including Canthumeryx, Giraffokeryx, Palaeotragus, and Samotherium. According to palaeontologist and author Kathleen Hunt, Samotherium split into Okapia (18 million years ago) and Giraffa (12 million years ago). However, J. D. Skinner argued that Canthumeryx gave rise to the okapi and giraffe through the latter three genera and that the okapi is the extant form of Palaeotragus. The okapi is sometimes referred to as a living fossil, as it has existed as a species over a long geological time period, and morphologically resembles more primitive forms (e.g. Samotherium).
In 2016, a genetic study found that the common ancestor of giraffe and okapi lived about 11.5 million years ago.
## Description
The okapi is a medium-sized giraffid, standing 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) tall at the shoulder. Its average body length is about 2.5 m (8 ft 2 in) and its weight ranges from 200 to 350 kg (440 to 770 lb). It has a long neck, and large and flexible ears. In sharp contrast to the white horizontal stripes on the legs and white ankles, the okapi's coat is a chocolate to reddish brown. The distinctive stripes resemble those of a zebra. These features serve as an effective camouflage amidst dense vegetation. The face, throat, and chest are greyish white. Interdigital glands are present on all four feet, and are slightly larger on the front feet. Male okapis have short, hair-covered horn-like structures called ossicones, less than 15 cm (5.9 in) in length, which are similar in form and function to the ossicones of a giraffe. The okapi exhibits sexual dimorphism, with females 4.2 cm (1.7 in) taller on average, slightly redder, and lacking prominent ossicones, instead possessing hair whorls.
The okapi shows several adaptations to its tropical habitat. The large number of rod cells in the retina facilitate night vision, and an efficient olfactory system is present. The large auditory bullae of the temporal bone allow a strong sense of hearing. The dental formula of the okapi is . Teeth are low-crowned and finely cusped, and efficiently cut tender foliage. The large cecum and colon help in microbial digestion, and a quick rate of food passage allows for lower cell wall digestion than in other ruminants.
The okapi is easily distinguished from its nearest extant relative, the giraffe. It is much smaller than the giraffe and shares more external similarities with bovids and cervids. Ossicones are present only in the male okapi, while both sexes of giraffe possess this feature. The okapi has large palatine sinuses (hollow cavities in the palate), unique among the giraffids. Morphological features shared between the giraffe and the okapi include a similar gait – both use a pacing gait, stepping simultaneously with the front and the hind leg on the same side of the body, unlike other ungulates that walk by moving alternate legs on either side of the body – and a long, black tongue (longer in the okapi) useful for plucking buds and leaves, as well as for grooming.
## Ecology and behaviour
Okapis are primarily diurnal, but may be active for a few hours in darkness. They are essentially solitary, coming together only to breed. They have overlapping home ranges and typically occur at densities around 0.6 animals per square kilometre. Male home ranges average 13 km<sup>2</sup> (5.0 sq mi), while female home ranges average 3–5 km<sup>2</sup> (1.2–1.9 sq mi). Males migrate continuously, while females are sedentary. Males often mark territories and bushes with their urine, while females use common defecation sites. Grooming is a common practice, focused at the earlobes and the neck. Okapis often rub their necks against trees, leaving a brown exudate.
The male is protective of his territory, but allows females to pass through the domain to forage. Males visit female home ranges at breeding time. Although generally tranquil, the okapi can kick and butt with its head to show aggression. As the vocal cords are poorly developed, vocal communication is mainly restricted to three sounds — "chuff" (contact calls used by both sexes), "moan" (by females during courtship) and "bleat" (by infants under stress). Individuals may engage in Flehmen response, a visual expression in which the animal curls back its upper lips, displays the teeth, and inhales through the mouth for a few seconds. The leopard is the main natural predator of the okapi.
### Diet
Okapis are herbivores, feeding on tree leaves and buds, branches, grasses, ferns, fruits, and fungi. They are unique in the Ituri Forest as they are the only known mammal that feeds solely on understory vegetation, where they use their 18-inch-long (46 cm) tongues to selectively browse for suitable plants. The tongue is also used to groom their ears and eyes. They prefer to feed in treefall gaps. The okapi has been known to feed on over 100 species of plants, some of which are known to be poisonous to humans and other animals. Fecal analysis shows that none of those 100 species dominates the diet of the okapi. Staple foods comprise shrubs and lianas. The main constituents of the diet are woody, dicotyledonous species; monocotyledonous plants are not eaten regularly. In the Ituri forest, the okapi feeds mainly upon the plant families Acanthaceae, Ebenaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Flacourtiaceae, Loganiaceae, Rubiaceae, and Violaceae.
### Reproduction
Female okapis become sexually mature at about one-and-a-half years old, while males reach maturity after two years. Rut in males and estrous in females does not depend on the season. In captivity, estrous cycles recur every 15 days. The male and the female begin courtship by circling, smelling, and licking each other. The male shows his interest by extending his neck, tossing his head, and protruding one leg forward. This is followed by mounting and copulation.
The gestational period is around 440 to 450 days long, following which usually a single calf is born, weighing 14–30 kg (31–66 lb). The udder of the pregnant female starts swelling 2 months before parturition, and vulval discharges may occur. Parturition takes 3–4 hours, and the female stands throughout this period, though she may rest during brief intervals. The mother consumes the afterbirth and extensively grooms the infant. Her milk is very rich in proteins and low in fat.
As in other ruminants, the infant can stand within 30 minutes of birth. Although generally similar to adults, newborn calves have long hairs around the eye (resembling false eyelashes), a long dorsal mane, and long white hairs in the stripes. These features gradually disappear and give way to the general appearance within a year. The juveniles are kept in hiding, and nursing takes place infrequently. Calves are known not to defecate for the first month or two of life, which is hypothesized to help avoid predator detection in their most vulnerable phase of life. The growth rate of calves is appreciably high in the first few months of life, after which it gradually declines. Juveniles start taking solid food from 3 months, and weaning takes place at 6 months. Ossicone development in males takes 1 year after birth. The okapi's typical lifespan is 20–30 years.
## Distribution and habitat
The okapi is endemic to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where it occurs north and east of the Congo River. It ranges from the Maiko National Park northward to the Ituri rainforest, then through the river basins of the Rubi, Lake Tele, and Ebola to the west and the Ubangi River further north. Smaller populations exist west and south of the Congo River. It is also common in the Wamba and Epulu areas. It is extinct in Uganda.
The okapi inhabits canopy forests at altitudes of 500–1,500 m (1,600–4,900 ft). It occasionally uses seasonally inundated areas, but does not occur in gallery forests, swamp forests, and habitats disturbed by human settlements. In the wet season, it visits rocky inselbergs that offer forage uncommon elsewhere. Results of research conducted in the late 1980s in a mixed Cynometra forest indicated that the okapi population density averaged 0.53 animals per square kilometre. In 2008, it was recorded in Virunga National Park. There is also evidence that okapis were also observed in the Semuliki Valley in Uganda by Europeans, but later became extinct in the late 1970s. The Semuliki Valley provides a similar habitat to the Congo Basin.
## Status
### Threats and conservation
The IUCN classifies the okapi as endangered. It is fully protected under Congolese law. The Okapi Wildlife Reserve and Maiko National Park support significant populations of the okapi, though a steady decline in numbers has occurred due to several threats. Other areas of occurrence are the Rubi Tele Hunting Reserve and the Abumombanzi Reserve. Major threats include habitat loss due to logging and human settlement. Extensive hunting for bushmeat and skin and illegal mining have also led to population declines. A threat that has emerged quite recently is the presence of illegal armed groups around protected areas, inhibiting conservation and monitoring actions. A small population occurs north of the Virunga National Park, but lacks protection due to the presence of armed groups in the vicinity. In June 2012, a gang of poachers attacked the headquarters of the Okapi Wildlife Reserve, killing six guards and other staff as well as all 14 okapis at their breeding center.
The Okapi Conservation Project, established in 1987, works towards the conservation of the okapi, as well as the growth of the indigenous Mbuti people. In November 2011, the White Oak Conservation center and Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens hosted an international meeting of the Okapi Species Survival Plan and the Okapi European Endangered Species Programme at Jacksonville, which was attended by representatives from zoos from the US, Europe, and Japan. The aim was to discuss the management of captive okapis and arrange support for okapi conservation. Many zoos in North America and Europe currently have okapis in captivity.
### Okapis in zoos
Around 100 okapis are in accredited Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) zoos. The okapi population is managed in America by the AZA's Species Survival Plan, a breeding program that works to ensure genetic diversity in the captive population of endangered animals, while the EEP (European studbook) and ISB (Global studbook) are managed by Antwerp Zoo in Belgium, which was the first zoo to have an Okapi on display (in 1919), as well as one of the most successful in breeding them.
In 1937, the Bronx Zoo became the first in North America to acquire an okapi. With one of the most successful breeding programs, 13 calves have been born there between 1991 and 2011. The San Diego Zoo has exhibited okapis since 1956, and their first okapi calf was born in 1962. Since then, there have been more than 60 okapis born at the zoo and the nearby San Diego Zoo Safari Park, the most recent being Mosi, a male calf born on 21 July 2017 at the zoo. The Brookfield Zoo in Chicago has also greatly contributed to the captive population of okapis in accredited zoos. The zoo has had 28 okapi births since 1959.
Other North American zoos that exhibit and breed okapis include: Denver Zoo and Cheyenne Mountain Zoo (Colorado); Houston Zoo, Dallas Zoo, and San Antonio Zoo (Texas); Disney's Animal Kingdom, White Oak Conservation, Zoo Miami, and ZooTampa at Lowry Park (Florida); Los Angeles Zoo, Sacramento Zoo, and San Diego Zoo (California); Saint Louis Zoo (Missouri); Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden and Columbus Zoo and Aquarium (Ohio); Memphis Zoo and Nashville Zoo (Tennessee); The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore (Maryland); Sedgwick County Zoo and Tanganyika Wildlife Park (Kansas); Roosevelt Park Zoo (North Dakota); Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium (Nebraska); Philadelphia Zoo (Pennsylvania); Potawatomi Zoo (Indiana); Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Garden (Oklahoma); and Blank Park Zoo (Iowa).
In Europe, zoos that exhibit and breed okapis include: Chester Zoo, London Zoo, Marwell Zoo, The Wild Place, and Yorkshire Wildlife Park (United Kingdom); Dublin Zoo (Ireland); Berlin Zoo, Frankfurt Zoo, Wilhelma Zoo, Wuppertal Zoo, Cologne Zoo, and Leipzig Zoo (Germany); Zoo Basel (Switzerland); Copenhagen Zoo (Denmark); Rotterdam Zoo and Safaripark Beekse Bergen (Netherlands); Dvůr Králové Zoo (Czech Republic); Wrocław Zoo (Poland); Bioparc Zoo de Doué and ZooParc de Beauval (France); and Lisbon Zoo (Portugal).
In Asia, three Japanese zoos exhibit okapis: Ueno Zoo in Tokyo; Kanazawa Zoo and Zoorasia in Yokohama.
## See also |
4,409,112 | Quinceañera (film) | 1,150,571,503 | 2006 film directed by Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland | [
"2000s American films",
"2000s English-language films",
"2000s Spanish-language films",
"2006 LGBT-related films",
"2006 drama films",
"2006 films",
"2006 independent films",
"American LGBT-related films",
"American drama films",
"American independent films",
"American pregnancy films",
"Films about Mexican Americans",
"Films directed by Wash West",
"Films scored by J. Peter Robinson",
"Films set in Los Angeles",
"Films shot in Los Angeles",
"Gentrification in the United States",
"Hispanic and Latino American LGBT-related films",
"Hispanic and Latino American drama films",
"Hood films",
"John Cassavetes Award winners",
"Sony Pictures Classics films",
"Sundance Film Festival award-winning films",
"Teenage pregnancy in film",
"Works about gentrification"
]
| Quinceañera (English: "Fifteen-year-old") is a 2006 American independent drama film written and directed by Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland. Set in Echo Park, Los Angeles, the film follows the lives of two young Mexican American cousins who become estranged from their families—Magdalena (played by Emily Rios) because of her unwed teenage pregnancy and Carlos (Jesse Garcia) because of his homosexuality—and are taken in by their elderly great-uncle Tomas (Chalo González).
The film was inspired by Glatzer and Westmoreland's experience as a white gay couple moving into the gentrifying neighborhood of Echo Park, a predominantly Hispanic working-class community. They wrote, cast and filmed Quinceañera over four months in 2005 after securing a US\$400,000 budget from investors. It was filmed in Echo Park with the assistance of Glatzer and Westmoreland's neighbors and a cast of largely nonprofessional actors. It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 23, 2006, where it won the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award. It was released in the United States on August 2, 2006, to mostly positive reviews and earned \$2.5 million at the box office.
## Plot
Magdalena, a fourteen-year-old girl from a working-class Mexican American family in Echo Park, Los Angeles, attends her cousin Eileen's quinceañera, an extravagant coming-of-age ceremony to celebrate her fifteenth birthday. Eileen's older brother Carlos—who has been disowned by his family due to his homosexuality and now lives with his great-uncle Tomas—arrives at the celebrations but is forced to leave by his father.
Magdalena herself is about to turn fifteen but her parents cannot afford to host a quinceañera as lavish as Eileen's, and they deny her repeated requests to hire a Hummer limousine for the occasion. While preparing for her quinceañera, Magdalena learns that she is pregnant by her friend Herman although they had only once engaged in non-penetrative intercourse.
Her Christian father is furious, believing that Magdalena has had premarital sex despite her protestations that she is still a virgin. She leaves her family to move in with Tomas and Carlos and continues to see Herman until she discovers that his mother has sent him away to live with relatives to prevent him from seeing Magdalena.
Carlos becomes sexually involved with the Caucasian gay couple, James and Gary, who recently bought Tomas's property and are now his landlords and neighbors, but he eventually begins a secret affair with Gary without James's knowledge. With Magdalena's pregnancy progressing, Carlos offers to financially support her and to act as a surrogate father for the child once it is born. When James discovers his partner's affair with Carlos he feels betrayed and Tomas soon receives a letter notifying him that his landlords are evicting him.
Tomas, Magdalena and Carlos struggle to find an affordable place to live due to the gentrification of the area and the rising real estate prices, but Tomas dies in his sleep shortly before they are due to be evicted. In the aftermath, Magdalena is reunited with her mother and together they visit a gynecologist, who confirms that Magdalena conceived without having penetrative sex. Magdalena's father apologizes to her at Tomas's funeral, believing her conception to be a miracle, and she forgives him.
Magdalena eventually receives the quinceañera she had wished for, complete with a Hummer limousine, with her parents in attendance and Carlos as her escort.
## Cast
- Emily Rios as Magdalena
- Jesse Garcia as Carlos
- Chalo González as Tio Tomas
- J.R. Cruz as Herman
- David W. Ross as Gary
- Alicia Sixtos as Eileen
- Jesus Castaños-Chima as Ernesto
- Jason L. Wood as James
- Araceli Guzman-Rico as Maria
## Production
Quinceañera was written and directed by Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland, filmmaking partners and a romantic couple. They conceived the idea for the film in January 2005, based on their own experiences as a white gay couple moving into the predominantly Latino working-class neighborhood of Echo Park, Los Angeles, as the area underwent gentrification.
They were inspired to make a film about the traditional quinceañera celebration after being invited to their fifteen-year-old neighbor's ceremony. With producer Anne Clements, they pitched the idea to three investors—immigrants to the United States from Greece and Israel—who agreed to provide \$300,000 to finance the project. (The budget was later raised to \$400,000.) Glatzer and Westmoreland then wrote the screenplay over three weeks in February.
Casting for the film took place over March 2005 through the internet, a Los Angeles-based organization for Latino actors, and word of mouth. Glatzer and Westmoreland chose to cast non-union actors; none of the cast except Chalo González belonged to the Screen Actors Guild. Most of the actors were nonprofessional and had never acted in a film before. Emily Rios's only experience before playing the lead role of Magdalena was in a school play, while Jesse Garcia had only acted in commercials.
The film's casting director, Jason L. Wood, ended up playing the character of James, and Glatzer and Westmoreland cast their cleaning lady in a small role. They borrowed props from their cleaner's niece, who had recently had a quinceañera, and mimicked her video of the ceremony to create part of the film. Although the script called for the actors to speak "Spanglish"—a mixture of English and Spanish—neither Glatzer nor Westmoreland were fluent in Spanish, so many of the actors translated their own lines from English. The teenage cast members also improvised dialogue for some scenes and provided their own clothes to wear in character.
The film was shot over eighteen days in April 2005. It was filmed on location in Echo Park inside Glatzer and Westmoreland's house and in three houses on their block that their neighbors allowed them to use for little or no money. Many of Glatzer and Westmoreland's Echo Park neighbors also stood in as extras. Due to California's child labor laws, they could only film with the underage cast members for six hours a day, so cinematographer Eric Steelberg used a hand-held camera with few accessories to maximize the time they could spend filming. Steelberg filmed the project in high-definition video format, which was converted to film during post-production. The film's soundtrack included reggaeton songs as well as music composed by Westmoreland's brother as a favor since the filmmakers could afford little else. Robin Katz finished editing the film in August 2005.
## Release
Quinceañera premiered on January 23, 2006, at the Sundance Film Festival, where it won both the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award in the dramatic feature category. Its U.S. distribution rights were bought by Sony Pictures Classics while its international rights were purchased by Celluloid Dreams. The film was later screened at the Berlin International Film Festival before its theatrical release.
The film opened in limited release in the United States on August 4, 2006, earning \$95,400 on its opening weekend from eight theatres. It gradually expanded over the next three weeks, achieving a widest release of 96 theatres by its fourth weekend. Its theatrical run lasted for 14 weeks, concluding with a total gross of \$1,692,693. It grossed \$830,094 internationally, making a total box office gross of \$2,522,787.
It was released in DVD format on January 9, 2007. Extra features on the DVD included an audio commentary with Glatzer, Westmoreland and the film's actors, a "making-of" featurette, and a mock quinceañera home video made by Glatzer and Westmoreland.
## Reception
### Critical response
Quinceañera received generally positive reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a rating of 86%, based on 95 reviews, with an average rating of 7.1/10. The site's consensus reads, "This slice-of-life story of a teenage girl in Echo Park is both a sweet crowd-pleaser and a perceptive look at socioeconomic community issues." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 72 out of 100, based on reviews from 31 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
Variety critic David Rooney summarized Quinceañera as "a fresh, spirited drama, charming and unpretentious" as well as a "small gem of a movie with a stirring soul". He praised the "subdued, natural performances" of the inexperienced teenaged actors as well as Chalo González's portrayal of Tomas. Stephen Holden of The New York Times described the film as "smart and warmhearted" with "a wonderfully organic feel for the fluid interaction of cultures and generations" in Los Angeles. Slate's Dana Stevens commended the film for avoiding clichés and for its "sharp-eyed analysis of class conflict". She singled out the performance of Emily Rios, who she said "carries the movie on her square broad shoulders".
Claudia Puig of USA Today awarded the film three out of four stars and described it as "spirited and poignant", with Rios' performance providing "the heart of the film". Wesley Morris, writing for The Boston Globe, found the film to be "a modest but remarkably poignant comedy" and believed that, despite the predictability of the broader story, "somehow it feels authentic in all its small details". The San Francisco Chronicle's Ruthe Stein commented that the film was "directed with obvious love" by Glatzer and Westmoreland and commended González for his "hypnotic performance" as Tomas. Gianni Truzzi, who reviewed the film for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, wrote of its "charm, sensitivity and intelligence" as well as the "great authenticity" of Rios's portrayal of Magdalena.
Conversely, Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly, who gave the film a C grade, found the plot "contrived" and melodramatic, and summarized it as "suds being sold as ethno-sensitive reality". The Christian Science Monitor's Peter Rainer felt that the Quinceañera "is best approached with lowered expectations", and that despite being "heartfelt and well-observed" it failed to adequately explore its contrasting themes of race, sexuality and religion.
### Awards and nominations |
19,876,261 | AMiBA | 1,171,920,171 | Radio telescope on Mauna Loa, Hawaii | [
"Astronomical observatories in Hawaii",
"Cosmic microwave background experiments",
"Mauna Loa"
]
| The Yuan-Tseh Lee Array for Microwave Background Anisotropy, also known as the Array for Microwave Background Anisotropy (AMiBA), is a radio telescope designed to observe the cosmic microwave background and the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect in clusters of galaxies.
After completion of the SZE campaigns, the telescope has been repurposed to study the evolution of molecular gas throughout the history of the Universe. It is now referred to as the Yuan-Tseh Lee Array (YTLA).
It is located on Mauna Loa in Hawaii, at 3,396 metres (11,142 ft) above sea level.
AMiBA was originally configured as a 7-element interferometer atop a hexapod mount. Observations at a wavelength of 3 mm (86–102 GHz) started in October 2006, and the detections of six clusters by the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect were announced in 2008. In 2009 the telescope was upgraded to 13 elements, and it is capable of further expansion to 19 elements. AMiBA is the result of a collaboration between the Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, the National Taiwan University and the Australia Telescope National Facility, and also involves researchers from other universities.
## Design
AMiBA was initially configured as a 7-element interferometer, using 0.576 m Cassegrain dishes mounted on a 6 m carbon fibre hexapod mount. It is located on Mauna Loa, Hawaii, and observes at 3 mm (86–102 GHz) to minimize foreground emission from other, non-thermal sources. The telescope has a retractable shelter, made from seven steel trusses and PVC fabric.
The receivers are based on monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) technology, with low-noise amplifiers cooled to 15 K, which have 20 GHz bandwidths and provide 46 dB of amplification. The signals are mixed with a local oscillator to reduce their frequency, prior to correlation with an analog correlator. The system temperatures are between 55 and 75 K.
AMiBA started in 2000, with funding for 4 years from the Cosmology and Particle Astrophysics Project of the Taiwan Ministry of Education. A 2-element prototype was set up on Mauna Loa in 2002. Further funding for a second 4 years was provided by the National Science Council. The mount arrived on site in 2004, and the platform was installed in 2005. The first 7 elements were then installed ("AMiBA7"), and the telescope's first light was in September 2006, observing Jupiter. The telescope was dedicated in October 2006 to Yuan-Tseh Lee. The array was upgraded to have thirteen 1.2 m dishes in 2009 ("AMiBA13"). After extensive testing and calibration, scientific observations resumed in 2011. It is further expandable up to 19 elements.
## SZE Observations
The primary goal of AMiBA is to observe both the temperature and polarization anisotropies in the cosmic microwave background at multipoles between 800 and 8,000 (corresponding to between 2 and 20 arcminutes on the sky), as well as observing the thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect in clusters of galaxies, which has a maximum decrement around 100 GHz. In its initial configuration, it measures up to multipoles of 3,000 with a resolution of around 6 arcminutes. The telescope only observes at night during good weather, using planets for calibration.
Six clusters were imaged in 2007: the Abell clusters 1689, 1995, 2142, 2163, 2261 and 2390, which have redshifts between 0.091 and 0.322. For the largest and brightest four of these—Abell 1689, 2261, 2142 and 2390—comparisons were made with X-ray and Subaru weak lensing data to study the cluster layout and radial properties, specifically of the mass profiles and baryon content.
13-element results from the YTLA were published in this paper.
## Intensity Mapping of Molecular Gas
The YTLA has been repurposed with the goal of detection and characterization of molecular gas at high redshift through the technique of intensity mapping. Molecular gas, which is primarily in the form of the hydrogen molecule H<sub>2</sub>, is the material from which stars form. Understanding the gas content and evolution throughout the history of the Universe informs astronomers about the processes of star formation and galaxy growth. Unfortunately, cold H<sub>2</sub> is not easily detectable. Carbon monoxide (CO) is commonly used as a tracer of H<sub>2</sub>.
The YTLA uses the technique of intensity mapping (IM) to study molecular gas. Rather than attempting to detect individual, distant and faint galaxies directly, the YTLA measures the statistical properties of many galaxies over a very large volume. Although it is much smaller than powerful telescopes such as ALMA and the VLA, the YTLA can provide critical and unique information on galaxy evolution. The intensity mapping technique is used over a wide range of wavelengths to study the distant Universe.
An upgrade of analog and digital infrastructure at the YTLA was necessary to enable IM. In particular, a digital correlator based on CASPER technology and the ASIAA-developed 5 GS/s sampler was developed. The digital correlator produces 2 x 2 GHz bandwidth in each of two polarizations for 7 antennas.
## Collaboration
AMiBA is the result of a collaboration between the Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, the National Taiwan University and the Australia Telescope National Facility. It also involves researchers from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, the University of Hawaii, the University of Bristol, Nottingham Trent University, the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics and the Carnegie-Mellon University.
## See also
- List of astronomical observatories |
1,333,861 | Walter O'Malley | 1,173,138,450 | American businessman (1903–1979) | [
"1903 births",
"1979 deaths",
"20th-century American people",
"American people of Irish descent",
"American sports businesspeople",
"Brooklyn Dodgers executives",
"Brooklyn Dodgers owners",
"Burials at Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City",
"Businesspeople from the Bronx",
"Catholics from New York (state)",
"Columbia Law School alumni",
"Culver Academies alumni",
"Fordham University School of Law alumni",
"Los Angeles Dodgers executives",
"Los Angeles Dodgers owners",
"Major League Baseball executives",
"Major League Baseball owners",
"Major League Baseball team presidents",
"National Baseball Hall of Fame inductees",
"O'Malley family",
"People from Amityville, New York",
"University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering and Applied Science alumni"
]
| Walter Francis O'Malley (October 9, 1903 – August 9, 1979) was an American sports executive who owned the Brooklyn / Los Angeles Dodgers team in Major League Baseball from 1950 to 1979. In 1958, as owner of the Dodgers, he brought major league baseball to the West Coast, moving the Dodgers from Brooklyn to Los Angeles despite the Dodgers being the second most profitable team in baseball from 1946 to 1956, and coordinating the move of the New York Giants to San Francisco at a time when there were no teams west of Kansas City, Missouri. In 2008, O'Malley was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame for his contributions to and influence on the game of baseball.
O'Malley's father, Edwin Joseph O'Malley, was politically connected. Walter, a University of Pennsylvania salutatorian, went on to obtain a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.), and he used the combination of his family connections, his personal contacts, and both his educational and vocational skills to rise to prominence. First, he became an entrepreneur involved in public works contracting, and then he became an executive with the Dodgers. He progressed from being a team lawyer to being both the Dodgers' owner and president, and he eventually made the business decision to relocate the Dodgers franchise. Although he moved the franchise, O'Malley is known as a businessman whose major philosophy was stability through loyalty to and from his employees.
O'Malley ceded the team presidency to his son, Peter, in 1970. He would become the first chairman of the Dodgers, a title established for him, and remain so until his death in 1979. During the 1975 season, the Dodgers' inability to negotiate a contract with Andy Messersmith led to the Seitz decision, which limited the baseball reserve clause and paved the way for modern free agency. He bequeathed the team to his children Peter O'Malley and Therese O'Malley Seidler upon his death in 1979.
## Early years
Walter O'Malley was the only child of Edwin Joseph O'Malley (1881–1953), who worked as a cotton goods salesman in the Bronx in 1903. Edwin O'Malley later became the Commissioner of Public Markets for New York City. Walter's mother was Alma Feltner (1882–1940). Walter was a third-generation Irish-American. His grandfather was born in County Mayo, Ireland. O'Malley grew up as a Bronx-born New York Giants fan. He frequently attended Giants games at the Polo Grounds with his uncle Clarence. O'Malley was a Boy Scout who rose to the rank of Star Scout.
O'Malley attended Jamaica High School in Queens from 1918 to 1920 and then the Culver Academy (the eventual high school alma mater of future New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner) in Indiana. He managed both the baseball and tennis teams, served on the executive staff of the student newspaper, was a member of the Hospital Visitation Committee as well as the debate team, Bible Discipline Committee and the YMCA. At Culver, his baseball career was ended with a baseball that hit him on the nose.
Later, he attended the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) and graduated in 1926 as the senior class Salutatorian. At Penn, he was initiated into Theta Delta Chi, and he also served as president of the Phi Deuteron Charge. Upon his graduation from the University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering and Applied Science his father gave him a cabin cruiser that slept eight. He was also Junior and Senior class president. O'Malley originally enrolled at Columbia University in New York City for law school, but after his family lost their money in the Wall Street Crash of 1929, he switched from Columbia Law School to night school at Fordham University. Edwin O'Malley's dry goods business was failing and Walter had to help run the business.
## Personal life
On September 5, 1931, he married Katherine Elizabeth "Kay" Hanson (1907–79), whom he had dated since high school, at Saint Malachy's Roman Catholic Church in Manhattan. Kay had been diagnosed with laryngeal cancer in 1927 before the engagement and had to have her larynx removed. She was unable to speak above a whisper the rest of her life. Edwin O'Malley encouraged Walter to break off his engagement, and after Walter refused his parents did not attend the wedding. The couple had two children: Therese O'Malley Seidler (born 1933) and Peter O'Malley (born 1937).
In 1944, he remodelled his parents' summer house in Amityville, New York and relocated his family there from Brooklyn. The house was next door to the house Kay had grown up and where her parents lived.
O'Malley was a smoker who golfed occasionally, but more commonly gardened for recreation. As a family man, he attended church regularly, attended Peter's football games at LaSalle Academy, and chaperoned his daughter's dances. On summer weekends, he took the family sailing on his boat, which was named Dodger.
## Pre-baseball career
After he completed his law degree in 1930 at Fordham Law, he worked as an assistant engineer for the New York City Subway. After earning his law degree he needed to obtain a clerkship, but it was during the depression and no one could afford to hire him. He allowed a struggling lawyer to use space in his office and paid for his own clerkship. After working for the Subway, he worked for Thomas F. Riley, who owned the Riley Drilling Company, and they formed the partnership of Riley and O'Malley. With the help of Edwin O'Malley's political connections, Walter's company received contracts from the New York Telephone Company and the New York City Board of Education to perform geological surveys. Subsequently, Walter started the Walter F. O'Malley Engineering Company and published the Subcontractors Register with his uncle, Joseph O'Malley (1893–1985).
Walter eventually concentrated on the field of law, starting with work on wills and deeds. By 1933, he was senior partner in a 20-man Midtown Manhattan law firm. He developed the business habits of smoking cigars and of answering questions only after taking two puffs. During the Great Depression, O'Malley represented bankrupt companies and enriched himself, while building his thriving law practice. He invested wisely in firms such as the Long Island Rail Road, Brooklyn Borough Gas Company, the New York Subways Advertising Company, a building materials firm, a beer firm and some hotels. His success begot both influence and attention. The Brooklyn Democratic Machine powers such as judge Henry Ughetta and Brooklyn Trust Company president George Vincent McLaughlin were among those who noticed the rising O'Malley.
## Dodgers
McLaughlin had been New York City Police Commissioner in 1926, knew O'Malley's father, and had attended Philadelphia Athletics games with O'Malley when O'Malley was still at the University of Pennsylvania. McLaughlin hired O'Malley to administer mortgage foreclosures against failing businesses for the Trust Company. O'Malley earned McLaughlin's confidence by acting in numerous capacities including bodyguard, valet, chauffeur, adopted son, confidant and right-hand man. The trust company owned the estate of Charles Ebbets, who had died in 1925 and owned half of the Brooklyn Dodgers. It was 1933 when Walter again met George V. McLaughlin, president of the Brooklyn Trust Company. O'Malley was chosen to protect the company's financial interests in the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1933. O'Malley also served as designated driver for the hard drinking McLaughlin. It was through McLaughlin that Walter was brought into the financial arrangements for Ebbets Field in 1940. In 1942, when Larry MacPhail resigned as general manager to serve in the United States Army as a lieutenant colonel, O'Malley was appointed the attorney for the Dodgers, and he obtained a minority ownership interest on November 1, 1944. He purchased 25% as did Branch Rickey and John L. Smith (president of Pfizer Chemical), while the heirs of Stephen McKeever retained the final quarter. In 1943, he replaced Wendell Willkie as chief legal counsel. Branch Rickey, who had built the St. Louis Cardinals into champions, replaced MacPhail, and O'Malley began to accumulate stock in the Dodgers.
Rickey was a teetotaler, while O'Malley enjoyed alcoholic beverages and tobacco. As O'Malley became more involved in affairs, he became critical of Rickey, the highest-paid individual in baseball, counting salary, attendance bonuses, and player contract sales commissions. O'Malley and Rickey had very different backgrounds and philosophies. It was O'Malley who put pressure on Rickey to fire manager Leo Durocher, who O'Malley felt was a drain on attendance. In board of directors meetings, O'Malley also opposed Rickey's extravagances. When he was with his political friends, he made fun of Rickey at every chance. Daily News columnist Jimmy Powers would deride Rickey for selling off players and for general miserliness. When Rickey asked O'Malley, the team lawyer, if he should sue, O'Malley said no. Powers' campaign became so public that after the 1946 season Rickey gave each player a new Studebaker, which gave O'Malley, a Dodgers shareholder, reason to speak ill of Rickey in the press. It got to the point where everything Rickey did was something O'Malley derided: O'Malley thought Rickey's construction of the state of the art Vero Beach spring training facility, known as Dodgertown, was extravagant; he thought Rickey's investment in the Brooklyn Dodgers of the All-America Football Conference was questionable; he fought Rickey on the team's beer sponsor; and he demanded that players return their 1947 World Series rings before receiving the new ones Rickey ordered. As team lawyer, O'Malley had a role in breaking the racial barrier as well. In particular, he had a significant role in Rickey's top-secret search for suitable ballplayers to break the color barrier and then later he had a role in assessing the ongoing legal risks to the franchise. Other accounts, however, suggest that he played a lesser role in Robinson's signing.
### Control
When co-owner Smith died in July 1950, O'Malley convinced his widow to turn over control of the shares to the Brooklyn Trust Company, which O'Malley controlled as chief legal counsel. Rickey's contract as general manager was set to expire on October 28, 1950. Rickey's Dodgers stock was held on margin and he had fully leveraged his life insurance policy. O'Malley lowballed Rickey with an offer of \$346,000 (the purchase price). Rickey demanded \$1 million (\$ today). O'Malley eventually pursued a complicated buyout of Rickey, who had received an outside offer from William Zeckendorf of \$1 million for his interests. There were varying accounts about the sincerity of the offer because Zeckendorf and Pittsburgh Pirates owner John Galbreath were fraternity brothers, but there is a lot of evidence that he had a sincere interest in acquiring the team. The outside offer triggered a clause in the partnership agreement whereby the asking price of a third party had to be matched if a current owner wanted to retain control and the third party would be compensated \$50,000. The canceled \$50,000 check would later include Rickey's signature showing that Zeckendorf turned over the \$50,000 to Rickey.
O'Malley replaced Rickey with Buzzie Bavasi. O'Malley became the president and chief stockholder (owner) on October 26, 1950. O'Malley assumed the title of president from Rickey, who was a trailblazer in baseball both for instituting the farm system and for breaking the racial barrier with Jackie Robinson. According to pitcher Clem Labine and noted author Roger Kahn, the first thing O'Malley did when he took over was assign Bavasi to enamor himself to Dick Young of the Daily News so that O'Malley would not have to worry about ever getting bad press from the Daily News.
After the ownership transfer, O'Malley's rivalry with Rickey became very public. O'Malley forbade the speaking of Rickey's name in Dodgers offices with transgressors being subjected to a fine. He abolished Rickey's title of General Manager so that no front office person could perpetuate Rickey's role. In addition, when Rickey assumed the title with the Pittsburgh Pirates, O'Malley arranged for the Dodgers to omit the Pirates from their spring training schedule. Nonetheless, after the transfer, the Dodgers remained successful under O'Malley: they won the National League pennants in 1952, 1953, 1955—the year of their first World Series championship—and 1956. Under O'Malley, the Dodgers were the most overtly political post World War II franchise. In 1951, Brooklyn native and United States Congressman Emanuel Celler's Judiciary Committee investigated whether the reserve clause was in violation of federal anti-trust laws. Celler represented half of Brooklyn in Congress and O'Malley used the local press such as the Brooklyn Eagle to pressure Celler into backing off of the issue. During the 1951 season, the Dodgers engaged former West Point varsity baseball player and U.S. Army General Douglas MacArthur to lure war veterans. O'Malley attempted to entice him to take the post of Commissioner of Baseball. After the 1956 season, O'Malley sold Ebbets Field to Marvin Kratter and agreed to lease the stadium for three years.
Jackie Robinson had been a Rickey protege, and O'Malley did not have the same respect for Robinson that Rickey did. O'Malley referred to him as "Rickey's prima donna". Robinson did not like O'Malley's choice for manager, Walter Alston. Robinson liked to argue with umpires, and Alston rarely did so. Robinson derided Alston in the press. In 1955, Alston played Don Hoak at third base during the exhibition season. Robinson voiced his complaints to the press. Robinson did not get along with Bavasi either, and the three seasons under Alston were uncomfortable for Robinson. Robinson announced his retirement in Look magazine after the 1956 season.
The signing of Robinson brought the team international fame, making O'Malley an international baseball ambassador to celebrities such as Iraq's King Faisal II. In 1954, Dodgers scout Al Campanis signed Sandy Koufax in large part for two reasons, according to a memo to O'Malley that said "No. 1, he's a Brooklyn boy. No. 2, he's Jewish." Bavasi noted that "there were many people of the Jewish faith in Brooklyn." During the 1955 season, Dodgers catcher Roy Campanella had a medical billing controversy regarding neurosurgery services by Manhattan doctor Dr. Samuel Shenkman. Shenkman billed \$9,500, an amount which Campanella forwarded to the Dodgers and the Dodgers refused to pay. O'Malley felt the doctor was overcharging: "It appears that [Dr. Shenkman] thought he was operating on Roy's bankroll..." The Dodgers had convinced Campanella to have the surgery after enduring a slump in 1954 following MVP seasons in 1951 and 1953. The surgery was intended to restore complete use of his hand.
Despite having won the National League pennants in 1947, 1949, 1952 and 1953, they lost to the New York Yankees in the World Series each time, which frustrated O'Malley and all Dodgers fans. In 1955, the team won the World Series for the first time in their history. However, attendance declined from a peak of 1.7 million in 1946 and 1947 to just over one million per year in the mid-1950s. With the advent of the affordable automobile and post-war prosperity, Brooklyn's formerly heterogeneous, middle-class fan base for the Dodgers began to splinter. A large white flight took place, and Ebbets Field's shabby condition and lack of parking spaces led to the loss of fans who relocated to Long Island.
`O'Malley tried to raise money and get the political backing to build a new ballpark elsewhere in Brooklyn. The one person whose backing he needed was Robert Moses, a powerful figure who influenced development in New York through the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority. O'Malley envisioned a domed stadium near the Long Island Rail Road station on Brooklyn's west end, and even invited R. Buckminster Fuller to design the structure; Fuller, in conjunction with graduate students from Princeton University, constructed a model of the "Dodgers' Dome". Moses did not like O'Malley and derided O'Malley's pro-Brooklyn and pro-Irish sentiments in the press. O'Malley wanted to build a new Brooklyn Dodgers stadium at Flatbush and Atlantic Avenue, but Moses wanted the Dodgers to move to Queens and play in Flushing Meadows Park (the location where the New York Mets play today). Although O'Malley lined up bipartisan political support including New York Governor W. Averell Harriman, Moses blocked the sale of the land necessary for the planned new Brooklyn stadium. O'Malley bought the Chicago Cubs minor league baseball team, the Los Angeles Angels, as well as their stadium, Wrigley Field, from Philip Wrigley in 1956 at the winter baseball meetings, and during spring training, Los Angeles Mayor Norris Poulson traveled to the Dodgers' training camp at Vero Beach, Florida in an attempt to lure the franchise. O'Malley met with Moses at Moses' home after purchasing the Angels to discuss final offers from New York to no avail. O'Malley noticed the great success of the Milwaukee Braves after their move from Boston in 1953. They had a 43,000-seat stadium, parking for 10,000 cars and an arrangement for no city or real estate taxes. He also felt the limitations of the small landlocked Ebbets Field, which held less than 32,111 fans and accommodated only 700 parking spaces. Attendance between 1950 and 1957 was between 1,020,000 in 1954 and 1,280,000 in 1951. O'Malley had sold the ballpark to Marvin Kratter for about $2,000,000 on October 31, 1956. The deal included a five-year lease that allowed the Dodgers to move out as soon as the proposed domed stadium in Downtown Brooklyn was ready for business.`
Ultimately, O'Malley decided to leave Brooklyn for Los Angeles in 1957. Robert Moses authority Robert Caro and other contemporaneous sports historians felt that Moses was more to blame for the Dodgers' leaving. The 1956 season had marked the end of the Jackie Robinson era in which the Dodgers won six pennants, lost two pennant series and finished as low as third only once in ten years, and the new era would begin in a new home. During the 1957 season, he negotiated a deal for the Dodgers to be viewed on an early pay TV network by the Skiatron Corporation subject to the approval of other teams and owners. The rest of baseball was not ready for the risks of such a venture and it did not pan out at the time.
### Move to Los Angeles
O'Malley is considered by baseball experts to be "perhaps the most influential owner of baseball's early expansion era." Following the 1957 Major League Baseball season, he moved the Dodgers to Los Angeles, and New York's Dodgers fans felt betrayed. O'Malley was also influential in getting the rival New York Giants to move west to become the San Francisco Giants, thus preserving the two teams' longstanding rivalry. He needed another team to go with him, for had he moved out west alone, the St. Louis Cardinals—1,600 mi (2,575.0 km) away— would have been the closest National League team. The joint move made West Coast road trips more economical for visiting teams. O'Malley invited San Francisco Mayor George Christopher to New York to meet with Giants owner Horace Stoneham. Stoneham was considering moving the Giants to Minnesota, but he was convinced to join O'Malley on the West Coast at the end of the 1957 campaign. Since the meetings occurred during the 1957 season and against the wishes of Commissioner of Baseball Ford Frick, there was media gamesmanship. On April 15, 1958, the Dodgers and Giants ushered in West Coast baseball at Seals Stadium. When O'Malley moved the Dodgers from Brooklyn the story transcended the world of sport and he found himself on the cover of Time. The cover art for the issue was created by sports cartoonist Willard Mullin, long noted for his caricature of the "Brooklyn Bum" that personified the team. The dual moves broke the hearts of New York's National League fans but ultimately were successful for both franchises – and for Major League Baseball as a whole. In fact, the move was an immediate success as well since the Dodgers set a major league single-game attendance record in their first home appearance with 78,672 fans. During the first year after the move, the Dodgers made \$500,000 more profit than any other Major League Baseball team and paid off all of their debts. This did not assuage many Dodgers fans in New York; many years later, newspaper writers Pete Hamill and Jack Newfield each challenged the other to choose the three worst people of the 20th century. Independently, they produced identical lists: "Hitler, Stalin, O'Malley."
In the years following the move of the New York clubs, Major League Baseball added two completely new teams in California, as well as two in Texas, two in Canada, two in Florida, one each in the Twin Cities, Denver, and Phoenix, and two teams at separate times in Seattle. In addition, the Athletics, who had already moved to Kansas City, moved to Oakland; Kansas City would get a new team the year after the A's moved to Oakland. The National League returned to New York with the introduction of the New York Mets four years after the Dodgers and Giants had departed for California.
When he made the decision to relocate in October 1957 to Los Angeles, O'Malley did not have an established location for where the Dodgers would play in 1958. O'Malley worked out a deal with Los Angeles County and the state of California to rent the Los Angeles Coliseum for \$200,000 per year for 1958 and 1959, plus 10% of the ticket revenue, and all concession profits for the first nine games of each season following an opening series with the San Francisco Giants. The Dodgers temporarily took up residence while they awaited the completion of 56,000-seat capacity Dodger Stadium, built for \$23 million. The Dodgers were soon drawing more than two million fans a year. They remained successful on the field as well, winning the World Series in 1959, 1963, and 1965. The Los Angeles Angels also played in Dodger Stadium from 1962 to 1965.
#### Controversy regarding land deal with city of Los Angeles
The dealings with the city of Los Angeles after the Vero Beach meeting raised questions. The initial offer of 500 acres (2.02 km<sup>2</sup>) and tax exemptions was determined to be illegal and improper. The minor league San Diego Padres owners led an opposition effort to stop the transfer of 352 acres (1.42 km<sup>2</sup>) in Chavez Ravine via a referendum. O'Malley engaged in an extensive marketing and media campaign that helped the referendum pass, but there were extensive subsequent taxpayer lawsuits. The plaintiffs initially prevailed in some of these suits. Finally, during the middle of the 1959 season, the Los Angeles City Council was able to approve the final parcel for the stadium. One legendary negotiation with the city over concession revenue is that in O'Malley's move to the Coliseum he agreed to accept concession revenues from only half the team's games—the home half. The land was eventually transferred by the Los Angeles city government to O'Malley by an agreement which required O'Malley and the Dodgers to design, build, privately finance and maintain a 50,000-seat stadium; develop a youth recreation center on the land. O'Malley was to pay \$500,000 initially, plus annual payments of \$60,000 for 20 years; and pay \$345,000 in property taxes starting in 1962, putting the land on the tax rolls. Also, the Dodgers would transfer team-owned Wrigley Field, then appraised at \$2.2 million, to the city. The city exchanged "300 acres, more or less, in the Chavez Ravine area", while L.A. County Supervisors unanimously agreed to provide \$2.74 million for access roads. In addition, the Dodgers also had to pay \$450,000 for territorial rights to the Pacific Coast League, whose Los Angeles Angels and Hollywood Stars suspended play.
### Management philosophy
His son, Peter O'Malley, described his management style as follows: "As president, the way he ran the business, he believed in stability and very little turnover. It was the strength of the organization. The management team worked as well as the team on the field." This is evidenced in many ways, including the long tenure of both Walter Alston and Tommy Lasorda as Dodgers managers and Vin Scully, the broadcast voice of the Dodgers. Alston was repeatedly rehired to consecutive one-year contracts from 1954 to 1976 until he retired. Then Lasorda, who had been a long-time employee in as a coach and minor league baseball manager, took over as manager for another 20 years. Scully was the voice of the Dodgers for 67 seasons until his retirement in 2016, the infield of first baseman Steve Garvey, second baseman Davey Lopes, shortstop Bill Russell and third baseman Ron Cey was the longest-running intact infield in major league history. Furthermore, O'Malley is said to have kept Bowie Kuhn in office as the Commissioner of Baseball until O'Malley's death. O'Malley rewarded loyal employee Bavasi by allowing the San Diego Padres franchise to establish an expansion team with Bavasi as president in Southern California. Alston said O'Malley convinced him that when he signed his first one-year contract it could be a lifetime job by pointing out that "signing one-year contracts can mean a lifetime job, if you keep signing enough of them." Although O'Malley had good stories of loyalty with some employees, there were several stories of O'Malley's frugality.
Although O'Malley was loyal to his employees, he did not take kindly to demands from employees such as manager Charlie Dressen's request for a three-year contract. When Dressen requested a multi-year contract after losing a second consecutive World Series to the Yankees, he was released. Then when he hired Walter Alston as a replacement, he made it clear to the press that Alston would only receive one-year contracts and would not attempt to show up the management in the national media. There were rumors that Alston even signed blank contracts in the fall and showed up in the spring to find out his salary. O'Malley also did not support those who remained friends with Rickey, which was a large factor in Red Barber quitting as Dodgers announcer.
O'Malley also engaged in several high-profile salary disputes with his players. In 1960, he refused to pay right fielder Carl Furillo for the 1960 season after he was released early due to injury, which led Furillo to sue the team. Because of this, O'Malley allegedly blacklisted Furillo from any job in baseball. In 1966, Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale, who employed the same lawyer, engaged in a joint contract holdout. They had earned \$70,000 and \$75,000 respectively during the 1965 season, during which the Dodgers won the World Series, and O'Malley offered \$105,000 and \$95,000 for the 1966 season. At the time, Willie Mays was Major League Baseball's highest paid player at \$125,000 per year and multi-year contracts were very unusual. They demanded three-year \$167,000 per year contracts and after holding out until less than two weeks before Opening Day, they received one-year \$130,000 and \$115,000 contracts respectively.
O'Malley liked clubhouse turmoil only slightly less than free agent disloyalty. When he traded Maury Wills to the Pittsburgh Pirates following consecutive National League pennants, it was attributed to Wills having quit during the middle of the Dodgers' post-season tour of Japan.
### Retirement from presidency
On March 17, 1970, Walter turned over the presidency of the team to his son Peter, remaining as Chairman until his death in 1979. Peter O'Malley held the position until 1998 when the team was sold to Rupert Murdoch. The team remained successful on the field under Peter and won the World Series in both 1981 and 1988. They remained successful at the box office as well: by the end of the 1980s, they had not only became the first franchise to draw three million fans, but also they had done it more times than all other franchises combined. During the 1970s, O'Malley was credited for stagemanaging Lasorda's career. Lasorda become known for his die-hard Dodgers clichés, such as describing the color of his blood by saying "Cut me, I bleed Dodger blue." It was even said that the reciprocal loyalty and respect between Lasorda and O'Malley was so high that O'Malley gave Lasorda a tombstone as a gift that had an inscription that read "TOMMY LASORDA, A DODGER".
The McKeevers held their 25% interest in the Dodgers until 1975 when Dearie McKeever died. They sold out to O'Malley making him the sole owner of the Dodgers. Also during 1975, the Dodgers franchise was embroiled in the Andy Messersmith controversy that led to the Seitz decision, which struck down baseball's reserve clause and opened up the sport to modern free agency. Messersmith and the Dodgers were unable to come to contract terms in part because of a then unheard of no-trade clause demand, and Messersmith pitched the entire season without a contract under the reserve clause, which stated that team has the right to extend the prior years contract one year if a player does not agree to terms. Teams had previously had the right to continue such re-signings year after year. This gave owners the right to issue "take it or leave it" offers to the players. Although the Dodgers and Messersmith nearly hammered out a deal monetarily, they could not come to terms on the no-trade clause. Supposedly Major League Baseball instructed the Dodgers not to surrender such a clause for the good of the game. The Seitz decision limited the re-signings to one year, and since Messersmith performed quite well in 1975, winning a Gold Glove Award and leading the National League in complete games and shutouts, while finishing second in earned run average, he was a valuable talent. He earned offers from six different teams. Messersmith became the first free agent, except for Catfish Hunter who had been declared a 1974 free agent by breach of contract. O'Malley felt the price wars would be the downfall of baseball because the fans only have so much money. The scenario led to an eighteen-day lockout during spring training in 1976 over the prospect of dozens of players playing becoming free agents and the inability to redesign the reserve clause.
## Death and legacy
O'Malley was diagnosed with cancer, and he sought treatment at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. He died of congestive heart failure on August 9, 1979, at the Methodist Hospital in Rochester. O'Malley had never returned to Brooklyn before his death. He was buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California. His wife Kay had died a few weeks earlier.
Although O'Malley had later retired and had relinquished control of the Dodgers before his death, he is still hated in Brooklyn, not only for moving the Dodgers, but also for forcing out legendary general manager Branch Rickey from the team in 1950. At one time, Brooklyn Dodgers fans hated O'Malley so much that he was routinely mentioned along with Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin as the most villainous 20th-century men; one version of a joke went, "If a Brooklyn man finds himself in a room with Hitler, Stalin, and O'Malley, but has only two bullets, what does he do? Shoot O'Malley twice." Some still consider him among the worst three men of the 20th century. Much of the animosity was not just for moving the team, but robbing Brooklyn of the sense of a cohesive cultural and social identity that a major sports franchise provides. Despite the long-standing animosity of Brooklyn fans and their supporters in baseball, O'Malley was posthumously inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2008 after having been elected by the Veterans Committee with the minimum number of votes necessary for induction.
His legacy is that of changing the mindset of a league that had the St. Louis Cardinals as its southernmost and westernmost team (the Philadelphia Athletics of the American League had moved to Kansas City just three years prior). Tommy Lasorda said upon hearing of his election to the Hall, "He's a pioneer. He made a tremendous change in the game, opening up the West Coast to Major League Baseball." When asked how he wanted to be remembered, O'Malley said, "for planting a tree." The tree provided the branches to open up the West Coast to baseball, but O'Malley's son remembers his father's 28 years on Major League Baseball's executive council as service that "was instrumental in the early stages of the game's international growth." His contributions to baseball were widely recognized even before his Hall of Fame election: he was ranked 8th and 11th respectively by ABC Sports and The Sporting News in their lists of the most influential sports figures of the 20th century.
On July 7, 2009, Walter O'Malley was inducted into the Irish American Baseball Hall of Fame along with two other Dodger icons: slugger Steve Garvey and announcer Vin Scully. "Over the years, we have learned more of his decade-long quest to build a new stadium in Brooklyn and about how those efforts were thwarted by city officials. Perhaps this induction will inspire fans who themselves started new lives outside the borough to reconsider their thoughts about Walter O'Malley", said John Mooney, curator of the Irish American Baseball Hall of Fame. "He privately built one of baseball's more beautiful ballparks, Dodger Stadium, and set attendance records annually. While New York is the home of the Irish American Baseball Hall of Fame, it seeks to honor inductees whose impact was and is national."
O'Malley's detractors say that he was not a visionary for taking baseball west. They say the game was naturally heading toward geographical expansion and O'Malley was just an opportunist. Rather than truly being a leader, these detractors say his leadership was a manifestation of making the most money.
## Popular culture
O'Malley was mentioned several times in Danny Kaye's 1962 song tribute The D-O-D-G-E-R-S Song (Oh, Really? No, O'Malley!), which spins a tale of a fantasy game between the Dodgers and the Giants. At one point, the umpire's call goes against the home team:
Down in the dugout, Alston glowers
Up in the booth, Vin Scully frowns;
Out in the stands, O'Malley grins...
Attendance 50,000!
So ....what does O'Malley do? CHARGE!!
O'Malley was featured prominently in the HBO documentary film Brooklyn Dodgers: Ghosts of Flatbush, which chronicled his executive management of the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers. The documentary focuses on the post World War II glory years of the franchise and presents a compelling case that O'Malley truly wanted to keep the Dodgers in Brooklyn in a stadium near the Long Island Rail Road's Atlantic Terminal, but he was unable to get the proper support from urban planner Robert Moses. |
692,503 | Mega Man 5 | 1,151,711,309 | 1992 video game | [
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| Mega Man 5 is an action-platform video game developed by Capcom for the Nintendo Entertainment System. It is the fifth game in the original Mega Man series and was released in Japan on December 4, 1992. It saw a release during the same month in North America and in 1993 in Europe.
Taking place after the events of Mega Man 4, Mega Man's brother and ally Proto Man leads a group of menacing robots in attacks on the world and kidnaps his creator Dr. Light, forcing Mega Man to fight against his brother. Mega Man 5 carries over the same graphical style and action-platforming gameplay as the four preceding chapters in the series. The game introduces a new character, Beat, a robotic bird that the player can use as a weapon once a series of eight collectible letters are found. Artist Keiji Inafune had to re-illustrate the bosses several times but described his work as fun.
Mega Man 5 was met with a positive critical reception for its graphics, difficulty, and music, while receiving criticism for its lack of innovation in its plot or gameplay. Like previous games in the series, Mega Man 5 was remade for PlayStation in Japan. It later appeared on mobile phones, and become part of game collections, including Mega Man Anniversary Collection. It has also been released through Virtual Console and PlayStation Network in emulated form. Two follow-ups were developed at the same time and released in 1993: Mega Man 6, a direct sequel for NES, and Mega Man X, a spin-off for Super Nintendo, and start of its own game series.
## Plot
Mega Man 5 takes place during the 21st century, about two months after the events of Mega Man 4, when the mad scientist Dr. Wily once again attempted to take over the world. Proto Man, secret brother and once ally to the world's greatest hero Mega Man, leads an army of robots in a series of destructive attacks on the world. To cripple the world's defenders, he kidnaps his own creator, the genius scientist Dr. Light. Mega Man wonders why Proto Man is doing this, but with little choice left, he sets out to stop him, assisted by Beat, a robot bird gifted to him by Dr. Cossack.
Mega Man prevails over a new group of eight powerful "Robot Masters" working under Proto Man: Star Man, Gravity Man, Gyro Man, Stone Man, Crystal Man, Charge Man, Napalm Man, and Wave Man. Mega Man then makes his way to Proto Man's fortress and confronts his fellow creation, who nearly destroys the protagonist in the process. However, a second Proto Man arrives just in time, revealing the first as an imposter: Dark Man, one of Dr. Wily's newest robots. Mega Man vanquishes the impostor, then pursues Wily to his newest hideout, defeats him, and saves Dr. Light. However, the fortress begins collapsing, and while Mega Man is distracted from holding up the ceiling from crushing himself and Dr. Light, Wily manages yet another retreat. Just after Wily escapes, a familiar whistle is heard, and part of the ceiling is blasted away, allowing Mega Man and Dr. Light to also escape. As the two watch the castle collapse from a distance, their mystery savior is revealed to be the real Proto Man, who quietly slips off unnoticed.
## Gameplay
Mega Man 5 is an action-platform game that is very similar to previous titles in the series. Gameplay revolves around the player using the central character Mega Man to run, jump, and shoot his way through a set of stages. If the player takes damage, Mega Man's life meter can be refilled by picking up energy capsules scattered about each level or from fallen enemies. Mega Man's default Mega Buster arm cannon can be fired an unlimited number of times. The Mega Buster's charge feature, introduced in Mega Man 4, has been upgraded to allow its powerful, charged shots to encompass a slightly wider area. Each stage ends with a boss battle with a Robot Master; destroying that Robot Master lets the player copy its special "Master Weapon", which can be toggled and used throughout the remainder of the game. Unlike the Mega Buster, Master Weapons require weapon energy to use and must be replenished if it is depleted in the same selected stage. Other power-ups including extra lives, "Energy Tanks", and a new "Mystery Tank", which fully refills health and all item power, can be picked up as well.
After completing certain stages, the player can call on Mega Man's faithful dog Rush to reach higher platforms or cross large gaps using his "Coil" and "Jet" transformations. These abilities require refills with the same weapon energy that Master Weapons use. Some of the level designs in Mega Man 5 are different from earlier games in the series. For example, in Gravity Man's stage, the gravitation is reversed from the floor to the ceiling, while in Wave Man's stage, the player drives a water craft from the halfway point to the boss room. Hidden within each of the eight Robot Master stages is a collectible circuit board. Gathering all eight of these boards (spelling "M-E-G-A-M-A-N-V" in English versions or "R-O-C-K-M-A-N-5" in the Japanese version) gives the player access to a robot-bird friend by the name of Beat. The player can then call on Beat to attack any onscreen enemies.
## Development
Mega Man 5 was developed by Capcom. Having had major involvement in the development in all prior Mega Man games, artist Keiji Inafune, credited as "Inafking", worked under a new project leader for Mega Man 5. As with past entries in the series, Inafune used his experience to guide his supervisor and the other team members. He did this in order to avoid making what he considered to be an "unreasonable game, [...] an affront to the players". As a result of this leadership, Inafune felt Mega Man 5 turned out with a lower difficulty level. The team already felt they had accomplished all the gameplay they could with the release of Mega Man 4, so they decided to simply "introduce powered up versions of everything", such as the Mega Buster. After working diligently on the fourth installment of the series and being the man behind the concept of the chargeable Mega Buster, Hayato Kaji, credited as "H.K", was called in to help out during the middle of Mega Man 5's development. The game was "taking a while to come together" at that point according to Kaji. Inafune summarized his work on Mega Man 5 as being fun, but he admitted having trouble with the designs, balance, and colors.
In a new direction Capcom held a contest in collaboration with Nintendo Power Magazine requesting submissions for new villain characters, the eight Robot Master bosses in Mega Man 5 are a result of fans sending in their own designs to Capcom. Capcom received over 130,000 character submissions for the game. Inafune recounted having a difficult time getting approval on the chosen bosses, having had to re-illustrate them several times. However, the artist had little trouble in designing Beat, whose first draft was accepted by Inafune's superiors. The idea for Beat originated in the development of Mega Man 3, where the concept support robots included a dog and bird. The team chose to keep the dog character as Rush for this earlier game, while the bird would serve as the basis for the character Beat in Mega Man 5. The musical score of Mega Man 5 was composed by Mari Yamaguchi (credited as "Mari").
## Reception and legacy
Mega Man 5 has enjoyed generally positive reactions from printed and online publications. Many critics were complimentary of the game's graphics, music, play control, and challenge level. IGN's Lucas M. Thomas holds Mega Man 5 as one of his favorite entries in the series and, because of its lowered difficulty compared to its predecessors, considers it the easiest of the bunch to casually pick up and play through. IGN lists Mega Man 5 as the 84th best game on the NES.
Like other sequels in the Mega Man series, Mega Man 5 has suffered criticism for its lack of innovative gameplay and storytelling. GamePro summarized the game as "déjà vu all over again for disciples of the series" and that "Capcom must get some kind of cash rebate for recycling video games". 1UP.com's Jeremy Parish considered Mega Man 5 as "a painfully phoned-in episode lacking not only innovation, but pretty much all the polish and balance that made the earlier games so enjoyable".
In 1999, Mega Man 5 was re-released for the PlayStation as part of the Japan-exclusive Rockman Complete Works series. It featured a helpful "navi mode" for beginners, arranged music, encyclopedia modes, and artwork. A port of this version with fewer extras was released in North America for the PlayStation 2 and GameCube in 2004 and Xbox in 2005 as part of Mega Man Anniversary Collection. Another port of the game was released in Japan in 2007 for mobile phones compatible with Yahoo! Mobile and EZweb applications. Finally, in 2011, the NES version was made available on the Wii Virtual Console service in both Japan and North America, and the PlayStation Network in Japan. It has also been released on the Wii U's Virtual Console as well as the 3DS eShop. |
373,154 | Rameswaram | 1,172,062,497 | Pilgrimage centre and a town in Tamilnadu, India | [
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| Rameswaram (; also transliterated as Ramesvaram, Rameshwaram) is a municipality in the Ramanathapuram district of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is on Pamban Island separated from mainland India by the Pamban channel and is about 40 kilometres from Mannar Island, Sri Lanka. It is in the Gulf of Mannar, at the tip of the Indian peninsula. Pamban Island, also known as Rameswaram Island, is connected to mainland India by the Pamban Bridge. Rameswaram is the terminus of the railway line from Chennai and Madurai. Together with Varanasi, it is considered to be one of the holiest places in India to Hindus and is part of the Char Dham pilgrimage.
According to the Ramayana, Rama is described to have built a bridge from the region approximating this town across the sea to Lanka to rescue his wife Sita from her abductor Ravana. The temple, dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva, is at the centre of the town and is closely associated with Rama and Shiva. The temple and the town are considered a holy pilgrimage site for Shaivas and Vaishnavas.
Rameswaram is the second closest point from which to reach Sri Lanka from India and geological evidence suggests that the Rama Sethu was a former land connection between India and Sri Lanka.
The town has been in the news in past due to controversies such as the Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project, Kachchatheevu, Sri Lankan Tamil refugees and capturing local fishermen for alleged cross-border activities by Sri Lankan Forces.
Rameswaram is administered by a municipality established in 1994. The town covers an area of 53 km<sup>2</sup> (20 sq mi) and had a population of 44,856 as of 2011. Tourism and fishery employ the majority of workforce in Rameswaram.
## Legend
Rameswaram means "Lord of Rama" (Rāma-īśvaram) in Sanskrit, an epithet of Shiva, the presiding deity of the Ramanathaswamy Temple. According to Hindu epic Ramayana, Rama, the seventh avatar of the god Vishnu, prayed to Shiva here to absolve any sins that he might have committed during his war against the demon-king Ravana in Sri Lanka. According to the Puranas (Hindu scriptures), upon the advice of sages, Rama, along with his wife Sita and his brother Lakshmana, installed and worshipped the lingam (an iconic symbol of Shiva) here to expiate the sin of Brahmahatya incurred while killing of the Brahmin Ravana. To worship Shiva, Rama wanted to have a lingam and directed his trusted lieutenant Hanuman to bring it from Himalayas. Since it took longer to bring the lingam, Sita built a lingam made of sand from the nearby seashore, which is also believed to be the one in the sanctum of the temple. Sethu Karai is a place 22 km before the island of Rameswaram from where Rama is believed to have built a floating stone bridge, the Ramsetu bridge, that further continued to Dhanushkodi in Rameswaram till Talaimannar in Sri Lanka. According to another version, as quoted in Adhyatma Ramayana, Rama installed the lingam before the construction of the bridge to Lanka.
## History
The history of Rameswaram is centred around the island being a transit point to reach Sri Lanka (Ceylon historically) and the presence of Ramanathaswamy Temple. Tevaram, the 7th–8th century Tamil compositions on Shiva by the three prominent Nayanars (Saivites) namely Appar, Sundarar and Thirugnanasambandar. The Chola king Rajendra Chola I (1012–1040 CE) had a control of the town for a short period. The Jaffna kingdom (1215–1624 CE) had close connections with the island and claimed the title Setukavalan meaning custodians of the Rameswaram. Hinduism was their state religion and they made generous contribution to the temple. Setu was used in their coins as well as in inscriptions as marker of the dynasty.
According to Firishta, Malik Kafur, the head general of Alauddin Khalji, the ruler of Delhi Sultanate, reached Rameswaram during his political campaign in spite of stiff resistance from the Pandyan princes in the early 14th century. He erected a mosque by name Alia al-Din Khaldji in honour of victory of Islam. During the early 15th century, the present day Ramanathapuram, Kamuthi and Rameswaram were included in the Pandya dynasty. In 1520 CE, the town came under the rule of Vijayanagara Empire. The Sethupathis, the breakaway from Madurai Nayaks, ruled Ramanathapuram and contributed to the Ramanathaswamy temple. The most notable of them are the contributions of Muthu Kumara Ragunatha and Muthu Ramalinga Sethupathi, who transformed the temple to an architectural ensemble. The region then fell under the rule of different leaders Chanda Sahib (1740–1754 CE), Arcot Nawab and Muhammed Yusuf Khan (1725–1764 CE) in the middle of the 18th century. In 1795 CE, Rameswaram came under the direct control of the British East India Company and was annexed to the Madras Presidency. After 1947, the town became a part of Independent India.
## Geography
Rameswaram has an average elevation of 10 m (33 ft). The island is spread across an area of 61.8 km<sup>2</sup> (23.9 sq mi) and is in the shape of a conch. 74% of the area has sandy soil due to the presence of sea and it has many islands surrounding it, the Palk Strait in the north west and Gulf of Mannar in the south East. The Ramanathaswamy Temple occupies major area of Rameswaram. The beach of Rameswaram is featured with no waves at all – the sea waves rise to a maximum height of 3 cm (0.10 ft) and the view looks like a very big river.
Rameswaram has dry tropical climate with low humidity, with average monthly rainfall of 75.73 mm (2.981 in), mostly from North-East monsoon from October to January. The highest ever temperature recorded at Pamban station was 37 °C and the lowest was 17 °C.
Ramsetu Bridge is a chain of limestone shoals, between Rameswaram and Mannar Island, off the northwestern coast of Sri Lanka. Geological evidence suggests that this bridge is a former land connection between India and Sri Lanka. The bridge is 29 km (18 mi) long and separates the Gulf of Mannar (North-East) from the Palk Strait (South-West). It was reportedly passable on foot up to the 15th century until storms deepened the channel. The temple records record that Rama's Bridge was completely above sea level until it broke in a cyclone in 1480 CE. The bridge was first mentioned in the ancient Indian Sanskrit epic Ramayana of Valmiki. The name Rama's Bridge or Rama Setu (Sanskrit; setu: bridge) refers to the bridge built by the Vanara (ape men) army of Rama in Hindu mythology, which he used to reach Lanka and rescue his wife Sita from the demon king Ravana. The Ramayana attributes the building of this bridge to Rama in verse 2-22-76, naming it as Setubandhanam. The sea separating India and Sri Lanka is called Sethusamudram meaning "Sea of the Bridge". Maps prepared by a Dutch cartographer in 1747 CE, available at the Tanjore Saraswathi Mahal Library show this area as Ramancoil, a colloquial form of the Tamil Raman Kovil (or Rama's Temple). Many other maps in Schwartzberg's historical atlas and other sources such as travel texts by Marco Polo call this area by various names such as Adam's Bridge, Sethubandha and Sethubandha Rameswaram.
## Demographics
According to 2011 census, Rameswaram had a population of 44,856 with a sex-ratio of 969 females for every 1,000 males, much above the national average of 929. A total of 5,022 were under the age of six, constituting 2,544 males and 2,478 females. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes accounted for 6.8% and .03% of the population respectively. The average literacy of the town was 73.36%, compared to the national average of 72.99%. The town had a total of 10579 households. There were a total of 16,645 workers, comprising 69 cultivators, 20 main agricultural labourers, 148 in house hold industries, 15,130 other workers, 1,278 marginal workers, 11 marginal cultivators, 26 marginal agricultural labourers, 44 marginal workers in household industries and 1,197 other marginal workers. The total number of households below poverty lane (BPL) in 2003 were 976, which is 10.45% of the total households in the town and these were raised to 3003 (29.12%) in 2007.
As per the religious census of 2011, Rameswaram had 87.4% Hindus, 4.36% Muslims, 8.13% Christians, 0.03% Sikhs, 0.01% Buddhists, and 0.07% following other religions.
## Municipal Administration and politics
According to the Madras Presidency Panchayat Act of 1885, Rameswaram was declared a panchyat union during British times. It became a township during 1958 and was declared a municipality in 2004. Rameswaram is a 3rd grade municipality having 21 wards, out of which 6 are general wards for women and one is reserved for Scheduled Caste women. The major sources of budgeted income for Rameswaram municipality comes from the Devolution Fund of ₹17 million (equivalent to ₹38 million or US\$480,000 in 2023) and property tax of ₹2.4 million (equivalent to ₹5.4 million or US\$67,000 in 2023). The major expense heads are for salaries of ₹6 million (equivalent to ₹13 million or US\$170,000 in 2023), operating expenses of ₹3.7 million (equivalent to ₹8.3 million or US\$100,000 in 2023), and repair & maintenance expenditure of ₹2.3 million (equivalent to ₹5.1 million or US\$64,000 in 2023). The functions of the municipality are devolved into six departments: General, Engineering, Revenue, Public Health, Town planning and the Computer Wing. All these departments are under the control of a Municipal Commissioner who is the supreme executive head. The legislative powers are vested in a body of 21 members, one each from the 21 wards. The legislative body is headed by an elected Chairperson assisted by a Deputy Chairperson.
Rameswaram comes under the Ramanathapuram assembly constituency and it elects a member to the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly once every five years. The current MLA of the constituency is Dr. Manikandan from the AIADMK.
Rameswaram is a part of the Ramanathapuram (Lok Sabha constituency) – it has been realigned in 2008 to have the following assembly constituencies – Paramakudi (SC), Ramanathapuram, Mudukulathur, Aranthangi, Tiruchuli (newly created). The constituency was traditionally a stronghold of the Indian National Congress that won 6 times till the 1991 elections, after which it was won twice each by the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (ADMK) and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). The current Member of Parliament from the constituency is A. Anwhar Raajhaa from the AIADMK party.
## Economy
Being a pilgrimage town, the majority of the population is involved in tourism related industry consisting of trade and services. Service sector increased from 70% in 1971 to 98.78% in 2001, while the agricultural sector reduced from 23% in 1971 to 0.13% in 2001. Rameswaram is an industrially backward town – there has been no demarcation for industrial land due to the pilgrim sanctity and ecological fragile geography. Being an island town, the traditional occupation was fishing, but due to poor returns, the people in fishing community have gradually shifted to other professions. Banks such as State Bank of India, Indian Bank, Union Bank of India and RDCC Bank have their branches in Rameswaram.
## Transport and Communication
Pamban Bridge is a cantilever bridge on the Palk Strait that connects Rameswaram to mainland India. The railway bridge is 6,776 ft (2,065 m) and was opened to traffic in 1914. The railroad bridge is a double-leaf bascule bridge section that can be raised to let ships pass under it . The railway bridge historically carried metre-gauge trains on it, but Indian Railways upgraded the bridge to carry broad-gauge trains in a project that finished on 12 August 2007. Historically, the two leaves of the bridge were opened manually using levers by workers. About 10 ships – cargo carriers, coast guard ships, fishing vessels and oil tankers pass through the bridge every month. After completion of bridge, metre-gauge lines were laid from Mandapam up to Pamban Station, from where the railway lines bifurcated into two directions, one towards Rameswaram about 6.25 miles (10.06 km) up and another branch line of 15 miles (24 km) terminating at Dhanushkodi. The noted Boat Mail ran on this track between 1915 and 1964 from Chennai Egmore up to Dhanushkodi, from where the passengers were ferried to Talaimannar in Ceylon. The metre-gauge branch line from Pamban Junction to Dhanushkodi was abandoned after it was destroyed in a cyclone in 1964.
There are daily express trains connecting major cities in Tamil Nadu like Chennai, Madurai, Trichy and Coimbatore. There are express and passenger trains connecting to major destinations. The Ramanathapuram – Rameswaram National Highway is the main connecting link from Rameswaram to the mainland. Before the 1914 train service linked the mainland with Rameswaram, boats were the only mode of transport to Rameswaram island.
The Rameswaram municipality covers a total road length of 52 km and 20 km of national highway covering about 80 percent of the town. The Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation runs daily services connecting various cities to Rameswaram and operates a computerised reservation centre in the municipal bus stand of Rameswaram.
Rameswaram is the important port among all the ports in the district, having a ferry service to Talaimannar of Sri Lanka, though not operational throughout the year. Limited foreign trade is conducted with Jaffna, Kaits, Talaimannar and Colombo.
The Rameswaram TV Tower is the tallest tower in India. The tower is a 323m tall circular concrete tower with a square steel mast of 45m height, diameter of 24m at the bottom tapering to 6.5m at top. The tower has been designed for a wind velocity of 160 km/h. There are two lighthouses in Rameswaram, the Pamban lighthouse and Rameswaram lighthouse.
## Education and utility services
Ramanathapuram district has one of the lowest literacy rates in the state of Tamil Nadu and Rameswaram, following the district statistics has a lower literacy rate. There are two Government high schools, one each for boys and girls. There are seven other schools namely, Swami Vivekananda vidyalaya Matriculation School, St. Joseph Higher Secondary School, Mandapam Panchayat Union 9 – School, Micro Matriculation School, Sri Sankara Vidhyalaya, Holy Island Little Flower School and Kendriya Vidhyalaya School. Alagappa University Evening College is the only college present in the town and all the nearest colleges are located in Ramanathapuram and Paramakudi.
Electricity supply to the town is regulated and distributed by the Ramanathapuram circle of Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB). Water supply is provided by the Rameswaram Municipality – the head works is located at Nambunayaki Amman Kovil, Meyyambuli, Semmamadam & Natarajapuram and distributed through four over head tanks having a total capacity of 1430,000 litres. About 6 metric tonnes of solid waste are collected from the town every day in the four zones covering the whole of the town. Rameswaram does not have a sewerage system for disposal of sullage and the disposal system consists of septic tanks and public conveniences. Roadside drains carry untreated sewage out of the town to let out raw into the sea or accumulates in low-lying area.
Rameswaram comes under the Karaikudi Telecom circle of the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), India's state-owned telecom and internet services provider. Apart from telecom, BSNL also provides broadband internet service along with other major internet service provider including Reliance.
## Tourism
The town is a famous Hindu pilgrimage centre, attracting the visit of thousands of devotees everyday. Adherents assemble to receive a darshana (auspicious sight) of the temple's image of the deity Shiva, which is regarded to have been installed by Rama according to the regional legend.
### Ramanathaswamy Temple
The Ramanathaswamy Temple is the most notable historic landmark of the town. Located in the centre of town, It is a famous Hindu temple dedicated to the deity Shiva. The temple is one of the 12 Jyotirlinga shrines, where Shiva is worshipped in the form of a Jyotirlinga, meaning "pillar of light". It is also one of the 275 Paadal Petra Sthalam temples and is glorified in hymns by the three of the most revered Nayanar saints (7th century Saivite saints), Appar, Sundarar, and Tirugnana Sambandar. The temple in its current structure was built during the 12th century by Pandya Dynasty. The temple has the longest corridor among all Hindu temples in India. The breadth of these columned corridors varies from 17 to 21 feet with a height of 25 feet. Each pillar is sculpted in Nayak style as in Madurai Meenakshi Amman Temple. The contribution of the kings of the Sethupathy dynasty (17th century) to the temple was considerable. Large amount of money was spent during the tenure of Pradani Muthirulappa Pillai towards the restoration of the pagodas which were falling into ruins – the Chockattan Mantapam or the cloistered precincts of the temple was reconstructed by him. The rulers of Sri Lanka contributed to the temple – Parakrama Bahu (1153–1186 CE) was involved in the construction of the sanctum sanctorum of the temple. The eastern tower and shrine of Nataraja were built by Dalavai Sethupathy in 1649 CE. The second enclosure is ascribed to Chinna Udayar Sethupathy and his son Ragunatha Thirumalai (1500–1540 CE). The third enclosure was constructed by Muthu Ramalinga Sethupathy (1725–1771 CE) – his statue is located in the entrance of the corridor.
### Temple tanks
There are sixty-four Tīrthas or Tirthams (holy water bodies) in and around Rameswaram. According to the Skanda Purana, twenty-four of them are important. Of the 24, 14 are in the form of tanks and wells within the precincts of the temple. Bathing in these tanks is a major aspect of the pilgrimage to Rameswaram and is considered equivalent to penance. Twenty-two of the tanks are within the Ramanathaswamy Temple. The foremost one is called Agni Tirtham, the sea (Bay of Bengal). Jatayu, a vulture/eagle demigod, is believed to have fought in vain with the rakshasa-king Ravana to save Sita, and is said to have fallen down at Jatayu Tirtham, as his wings were severed. Villoondi Tirtham literally translates to 'buried bow', is located around 7 kilometres from the main temple on the way to Pamban. It is believed to be the place where Rama quenched the thirst of Sita by dipping the bow into the sea water. Other major holy bodies are Hanuman Tirtham, Sugriva Tirtham, and Lakshmana Tirtham.
### Gandhamathana Parvatham
Gandhamathan Parvatham, a hillock situated 3 km to the north of the temple is the highest point in the island. In a two-storeyed hall, Rama's feet are venerated by adherents as an imprint on a chakra (wheel). The Ramarpatham Temple is located on the hillock.
### Dhanushkodi
Dhanushkodi is the southernmost tip of the island and houses the Kothandaramaswamy Temple dedicated to Rama. Though Dhanushkodi was washed away during the 1964 cyclone, the temple alone remained intact. It is 18 km way from the centre of the town and can be reached by road. According to local tradition, Dhanushkodi is the site where Vibhishana, a brother of Ravana, surrendered to Rama in the epic Ramayana.
### Hindu pilgrimage
Rameswaram is significant for many Hindus as a pilgrimage to Varanasi is considered to be incomplete without a pilgrimage to Rameswaram. The town along with the Ramanathaswamy temple is one of the holiest Hindu Char Dham (four divine sites) sites comprising Badrinath, Puri, and Dwarka. Though the origins are not clearly known, the Advaita school of Hinduism established by Sankaracharya, attributes the origin of Char Dham to the seer. The four monasteries are located across the four corners of India and their attendant temples are Badrinath Temple at Badrinath in the North, Jagannath Temple at Puri in the East, Dwarakadheesh Temple at Dwarka in the West and Ramanathaswamy Temple at Rameswaram in the South. Though ideologically the temples are divided between the sects of Hinduism, namely Shaivism and Vaishnavism, the Char Dham pilgrimage is an all Hindu affair. The journey across the four cardinal points in India is considered sacred by Hindus who aspire to visit these temples once in their lifetime. Traditionally the trip starts at the eastern end from Puri, proceeding in clockwise direction in a manner typically followed for circuambulation in Hindu temples. The temple is one of the famous pilgrimage sites historically – the Maratha kings who ruled Thanjavur established chatrams or rest houses all through Mayiladuthurai and Rameswaram between 1745 and 1837 CE and donated them to the temple.
## Interaction with Sri Lanka
Rameswaram is frequently in headlines over fishermen issues like attack, arrest and alleged harassment by Sri Lankan navy for alleged cross border activities, Sethusamudram canal project, Kachchatheevu, Sri Lankan Tamil refugees and also on intercountry smuggling between India and Sri Lanka. As an initial step to curb enhanced smuggling, the Tamil Nadu government has set up 30 more marine police stations to bring the state's entire coastal belt under close vigil.
### Sri Lankan Tamil Refugees
During the intense civil war of Sri Lanka, post 1980, Rameswaram acted as one of the focal points of smuggling and intense patrolling was carried out during the period. There are a total of 65,940 registered destitute Sri Lankan refugees dwelling in 129 Refugee camps situated in different parts of Tamil Nadu as of Apr 2000 and a majority of them enter via Rameswaram. There are an additional 20,667 non-camp refugees who entered via Rameswaram, registered in Mandapam transit camp and opted to reside outside the camps in various parts of Tamil Nadu. On 11 March 1990, a record number of 2,337 refugees in 38 boats arrived from Talaimannar in Sri Lanka to Rameswaram – this was the largest number of refugees arriving in a single day since the ethnic violence from July 1983. As of October 2006, an estimated 200,000 refugees have been reported in Mandapam Camp. Sivarasan, one of the mastermind behind the Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, the ex-prime minister of India registered as refugee in Rameswaram camp on 12 September 1990.
### Rameswaram Fishery
Being an island, a significant population is involved in fishery traditionally. There have been incremental cases of Rameswaram fishermen allegedly killed or arrested by Sri Lankan navy along the maritime borders of India and Sri Lanka from the time of Sri Lankan civil war during 1983. In the face of simmering tension after the 1985 January Colombo bound Yaldevi train attack in which 22 Sri Lankan soldiers and 16 civilians were killed, Rameswaram fishermen dared to venture to seas spelling acute hardship for the 10,000 fishermen family. An estimated 381 fishermen have been killed in the sea due to shoot outs from 1983 to 2009. The Sri Lankan army attributed the killings to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), but the casualty continues even after the end of LTTE in the region. The Tamil Nadu state government has increased the compensation of casualty from the original ₹ 100,000 to 500,000 (US\$1,800 to \$9,000). There has not been a single prosecution in any of the 381 killings committed so far from the Indian judiciary. The cases not being filed is attributed to the fact that people killed beyond the maritime boundary of India are not eligible for compensation and not many file complaints against the Sri Lankan navy. Though the Indian judiciary has provisions to prosecute foreigners, there is little progress due to the diplomatic overheads involved. Indian government has also ventured into the use of technology like use of Global positioning system (GPS) by the fishermen and enabling cellphone blips to alert their mobile phones whenever they are crossing into Sri Lankan waters. The Sri Lankan navy has confirmed reports on Indian fishermen risking the international boundary due to depleted catch in Indian waters.
There is a yearly 45-day ban on fishery with motorboats in the region. The fishing ban for the year 2012 was effective during the months of April–May. The jetty at Rameswaram is the largest landing centre for fishing boats in the region and it usually comes alive after the ban, with the arrival of fishermen, boat captains, shore workers and others from their native places.
Sea World Aquarium is a natural habitat lying opposite to the Rameswaram Bus Stand, having an assortment of underwater creatures – it is the only one of its kind in the state, filled with such varied marine life forms including exotic species.
### Kachchatheevu
Another focal point on the simmering tension between Indian and Sri Lankan governments is over the use of Kachchatheevu, an uninhabited island 15 km north of Rameswaram, belonging to Sri Lanka. The accord of 1974 allows fishermen of both the countries for resting and soaking the nets in the island. Repeated allegations on attacks by the Lankan navy, which on many occasions killed Indian fishermen, prevented them from making it to the island. The annual two-day Saint Anthony fest at the island draws huge number of people from the fishermen community of both the countries. The number of pilgrims for the 2012 function crossed 4,000, the largest attendance in the past two decades. The feast also provides an opportunity for the Indian fishermen to meet their Sri Lankan counterparts and exchange views on their mutual problems. The event served as a meeting point to find brides and grooms from both countries, but this practice has now been stopped from the 90s due to political constraint of fishermen family living in different countries.
### Sethusamudram Canal Project
Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project proposes linking the Palk Bay and the Gulf of Mannar between India and Sri Lanka by creating a shipping canal through the shallow sea sometimes called Setu Samudram, and through the chain of islands variously known as Ram Setu or the Rama's Bridge. A few organisations are opposing the dredging of Rama Setu on religious, environmental and economical grounds. Many of these parties and organisations support implementation of this project using one of the five alternative alignments considered earlier without damaging the structure considered sacred by Hindus. With 22 km (14 mi) of dredging remaining, the project is held from March 2010 by a Supreme Court order seeking the Central Government to clarify the status of the bridge as a national monument.
## Notable people
- A. P. J. Abdul Kalam (1931–2015) – former President of India (2002–2007), Ex-secretary of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Prime minister's chief scientific advisor, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) scientist and Bharat Ratna recipient.
## See also
- Coral reefs in India |
48,850,425 | Square Enix Montreal | 1,169,963,796 | Canadian video game developer | [
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"2022 disestablishments in Quebec",
"2022 mergers and acquisitions",
"Canadian companies disestablished in 2022",
"Canadian companies established in 2011",
"Canadian subsidiaries of foreign companies",
"Companies based in Montreal",
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"Defunct video game companies of Canada",
"Embracer Group",
"Square Enix",
"Video game companies disestablished in 2022",
"Video game companies established in 2011",
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| Square Enix Montréal was a Canadian video game developer based in Montreal. It created the Go series of turn-based puzzle games for mobile devices based on former Eidos Interactive intellectual properties.
Square Enix Montréal was founded in November 2011 as a traditional studio under Square Enix Europe. Initially planning to create a new Hitman series game for consoles and employ several hundred people, its parent company mandated it to produce mobile games in 2013. The company developed prototypes for two mobile Hitman games, which became the board game-inspired puzzle game Hitman Go (2014) and the shooter Hitman: Sniper (2015). The commercial success of the latter and the critical success of the former led to two additional titles in the Go series: Lara Croft Go (2015), based on the Tomb Raider series, and Deus Ex Go (2016), based on the Deus Ex series. It focused on free-to-play games after 2016 and later added the London-based studio Square Enix London Mobile founded in 2021.
Embracer Group acquired Square Enix Montréal alongside several other Square Enix Europe assets in August 2022, which formed CDE Entertainment. The studio was briefly rebranded Onoma in October 2022 before it closed the next month.
## History
### Formation (2011–2013)
Video game developer Square Enix announced the opening of Square Enix Montréal on November 21, 2011, aiming to debut operations in 2012 with 150 employees headed by Lee Singleton, a former general manager at Square Enix London Studios. The new studio was founded to create high-production quality (AAA) titles within Square Enix intellectual properties. Its first project was a new Hitman series game for home consoles, to be co-developed with another Square Enix subsidiary, IO Interactive of Denmark, which created the series and was at work on Hitman: Absolution (2012). Square Enix Montréal began with four staff members—Singleton and three developers from IO Interactive—but planned to grow beyond the single Hitman team to have multiple concurrent projects with up to 150 employees. Singleton planned a slow design process, with no rush to production. The studio also received support from the Quebecois government.
### Go series (2013–2016)
Spurred by company-wide changes beginning late the next year and Square Enix's decision to designate a studio to focus on mobile games, Square Enix Montréal pivoted to mobile game development with an emphasis on the Hitman franchise and tablet computers in June 2013. Patrick Naud became its director. The studio quietly cancelled its work on the Hitman console game, while IO Interactive assumed a similar project. Many employees left to work on AAA titles elsewhere and those who stayed became vested in the ethos of a smaller studio, leaving their siloed specialty areas to work as generalists across specialties, as necessitated by smaller teams. The company spent two weeks designing proposals for mobile Hitman series games, which led to Hitman Go (2014) and Hitman: Sniper (2015). The former began the Go series of highly manicured, turn-based, board game-style puzzle video games, while the latter more closely resembled a traditional mobile game in which players competitively shoot targets through the scope of a sniper rifle. Though Hitman Go and the subsequent Lara Croft Go (2015, based on the Tomb Raider series) received awards, critical acclaim, and modest sales, Hitman: Sniper became the studio's revenue generator.
This work was considered novel in an industry where major companies created free-to-play games rather than small games with small teams. But the two styles of mobile games—opposite ends of indie and AAA development cultures—clashed, and divided the studio's internal identity. They intended to resolve this conflict with Deus Ex Go (2016), whose development team was split evenly between the Go series and Sniper staff and intended to mix the "tight, hand-crafted feel" of the former with the "ongoing updates" of the latter. The studio employed about 40 people at the time of Deus Ex Go's release, who clustered together in a space once designed for several hundred people. The company has not released information on its future plans, though based on Square Enix's philosophy of each studio covering its own niche well, they are expected to continue making mobile games. Its recent hires included indie developers Teddy Dief, designer of Hyper Light Drifter, and Renaud Bédard, sole programmer of Fez.
Square Enix Montréal's Go series was released to high praise. Ryan McCaffrey of IGN wrote that the first two releases were the "smartest" mobile games of any console franchise. Sam Loveridge of Digital Spy summarized the series as immensely successful. The games use simple touchscreen gameplay mechanics to move the main characters from each screen around a minimalist board game-like puzzle. With each entry, Square Enix Montréal distills and reinterprets the parent series' essential gameplay elements for the board game format. Hitman Go was released in 2014, Lara Croft Go (of the Tomb Raider series) in 2015, and Deus Ex Go of the Deus Ex series in 2016. The studio released documentary videos on their Go series development process. The Go games reached a wider audience than Sniper, and half of their players found the games through App Store or friend recommendations. The studio partially attributes their success with the series to their unique position of being able to work with major franchises with the resources of a larger company, while retaining the smaller size and flexibility of an independent development studio. They also viewed the critical response to Deus Ex Go as an indication that the studio had thrice succeeded in its intention to translate an older console intellectual property to mobile with its own personality. Square Enix Montréal saw their work as the converging intersection between Square Enix's AAA tradition and reputable mobile games.
### Free-to-play games, acquisition, and closure (2016–2022)
In the last 5 years from 2021, Square Enix Montréal turned its focus toward free-to-play games and began a "2.0" business phase. It grew its headcount from 40 to 170 by March 2021 and intended to expand further. In January 2018, Dief left Square Enix Montréal after the project he was working on was canceled. In June 2018, Naud stated that the studio had disconnected work on the Go series. He said that the series "was a great adventure for us as a studio", but that the premium mobile returns were disappointing, saying "it's sad to see that our games are only played by a small slither of the population because of the price point". The studio planned to continue to work in the mobile space, with Naud stating their intent to make "high-end, high-quality pristine mobile experiences" from either existing or new intellectual property.
The developer announced Hitman Sniper Assassins in March 2021 and an augmented reality adaptation of Space Invaders, licensed from Taito. In October 2021, Square Enix founded another mobile studio, Square Enix London Mobile, which later became part of Square Enix Montréal. Also directed by Naud, Square Enix London Mobile focused on publishing and external development, with franchise partnerships in the Tomb Raider and Avatar: The Last Airbender properties. In May 2022, Embracer Group announced an agreement to acquire several assets of Square Enix Europe, including Square Enix Montréal, for \$300 million. At the time, the studio had 160 employees, of which 144 in Montreal and 16 in London. Anticipating a rebranding once detached from Square Enix, Square Enix Montréal established the "Rebrand Squad" to find a new name that was easy to pronounce in both English and French. After exploring 165 names, they chose "Onoma" (Greek for "name"), meant to reflect the studio's open possibilities. They trademarked "Studio Onoma" by August 2022. Embracer Group's acquisition was completed on August 26, 2022, with the assets being held under CDE Entertainment. Its rebrand to Onoma, serving "multiple products, programs, and initiatives", was publicized in October.
On November 1, 2022, Embracer Group and CDE Entertainment announced the impending closure of Onoma and CDE Entertainment's internal quality assurance team, affecting 200 employees. CDE Entertainment's director, Phil Rogers, cited growth opportunities with AAA games developed at its other studios, Eidos-Montréal and Crystal Dynamics. Onoma's staff were informed that some of them would be transferred to Eidos-Montréal. On November 23, the studio announced Deus Ex Go, Space Invaders: Hidden Heroes, Arena Battle Champions, and Hitman Sniper: The Shadows would be discontinued in January 2023.
## Games developed |
39,308,394 | Galactic habitable zone | 1,172,270,312 | Region of a galaxy in which life might most likely develop | [
"Galactic astronomy",
"Planetary habitability"
]
| In astrobiology and planetary astrophysics, the galactic habitable zone is the region of a galaxy in which life might most likely develop. The concept of a galactic habitable zone analyzes various factors, such as metallicity (the presence of elements heavier than hydrogen and helium) and the rate and density of major catastrophes such as supernovae, and uses these to calculate which regions of a galaxy are more likely to form terrestrial planets, initially develop simple life, and provide a suitable environment for this life to evolve and advance. According to research published in August 2015, very large galaxies may favor the birth and development of habitable planets more than smaller galaxies such as the Milky Way. In the case of the Milky Way, its galactic habitable zone is commonly believed to be an annulus with an outer radius of about 10 kiloparsecs (33,000 ly) and an inner radius close to the Galactic Center (with both radii lacking hard boundaries).
Galactic habitable-zone theory has been criticized due to an inability to accurately quantify the factors making a region of a galaxy favorable for the emergence of life. In addition, computer simulations suggest that stars may change their orbits around the galactic center significantly, therefore challenging at least part of the view that some galactic areas are necessarily more life-supporting than others.
## History
### Background
The idea of the circumstellar habitable zone was introduced in 1953 by Hubertus Strughold and Harlow Shapley and in 1959 by Su-Shu Huang as the region around a star in which an orbiting planet could retain water at its surface. From the 1970s, planetary scientists and astrobiologists began to consider various other factors required for the creation and sustenance of life, including the impact that a nearby supernova may have on life's development. In 1981, computer scientist Jim Clarke proposed that the apparent lack of extraterrestrial civilizations in the Milky Way could be explained by Seyfert-type outbursts from an active galactic nucleus, with Earth alone being spared from this radiation by virtue of its location in the galaxy. In the same year, Wallace Hampton Tucker analyzed galactic habitability in a more general context, but later work superseded his proposals.
Modern galactic habitable-zone theory was introduced in 1986 by L.S. Marochnik and L.M. Mukhin of the Russian Space Research Institute, who defined the zone as the region in which intelligent life could flourish. Donald Brownlee and palaeontologist Peter Ward expanded upon the concept of a galactic habitable zone, as well as the other factors required for the emergence of complex life, in their 2000 book Rare Earth: Why Complex Life is Uncommon in the Universe. In that book, the authors used the galactic habitable zone, among other factors, to argue that intelligent life is not a common occurrence in the Universe.
The idea of a galactic habitable zone was further developed in 2001 in a paper by Ward and Brownlee, in collaboration with Guillermo Gonzalez of the University of Washington. In that paper, Gonzalez, Brownlee, and Ward stated that regions near the galactic halo would lack the heavier elements required to produce habitable terrestrial planets, thus creating an outward limit to the size of the galactic habitable zone. Being too close to the galactic center, however, would expose an otherwise habitable planet to numerous supernovae and other energetic cosmic events, as well as excessive cometary impacts caused by perturbations of the host star's Oort cloud. Therefore, the authors established an inner boundary for the galactic habitable zone, located just outside the galactic bulge.
## Considerations
In order to identify a location in the galaxy as being a part of the galactic habitable zone, a variety of factors must be accounted for. These include the distribution of stars and spiral arms, the presence or absence of an active galactic nucleus, the frequency of nearby supernovae that can threaten the existence of life, the metallicity of that location, and other factors. Without fulfilling these factors, a region of the galaxy cannot create or sustain life with efficiency.
### Chemical evolution
One of the most basic requirements for the existence of life around a star is the ability of that star to produce a terrestrial planet of sufficient mass to sustain it. Various elements, such as iron, magnesium, titanium, carbon, oxygen, silicon, and others, are required to produce habitable planets, and the concentration and ratios of these vary throughout the galaxy.
The most common benchmark elemental ratio is that of [Fe/H], one of the factors determining the propensity of a region of the galaxy to produce terrestrial planets. The galactic bulge, the region of the galaxy closest to the Galactic Center, has an [Fe/H] distribution peaking at −0.2 decimal exponent units (dex) relative to the Sun's ratio (where −1 would be 1⁄10 such metallicity); the thin disk, in which local sectors of the local Arm are, has an average metallicity of −0.02 dex at the orbital distance of the Sun around the galactic center, reducing by 0.07 dex for every additional kiloparsec of orbital distance. The extended thick disk has an average [Fe/H] of −0.6 dex, while the halo, the region farthest from the galactic center, has the lowest [Fe/H] distribution peak, at around −1.5 dex. In addition, ratios such as [C/O], [Mg/Fe], [Si/Fe], and [S/Fe] may be relevant to the ability of a region of a galaxy to form habitable terrestrial planets, and of these [Mg/Fe] and [Si/Fe] are slowly reducing over time, meaning that future terrestrial planets are more likely to possess larger iron cores.
In addition to specific amounts of the various stable elements that comprise a terrestrial planet's mass, an abundance of radionuclides such as <sup>40</sup>K, <sup>235</sup>U, <sup>238</sup>U, and <sup>232</sup>Th is required in order to heat the planet's interior and power life-sustaining processes such as plate tectonics, volcanism, and a geomagnetic dynamo. The [U/H] and [Th/H] ratios are dependent on the [Fe/H] ratio; however, a general function for the abundance of <sup>40</sup>K cannot be created with existing data.
Even on a habitable planet with enough radioisotopes to heat its interior, various prebiotic molecules are required in order to produce life; therefore, the distribution of these molecules in the galaxy is important in determining the galactic habitable zone. A 2008 study by Samantha Blair and colleagues attempted to determine the outer edge of the galactic habitable zone by means of analyzing formaldehyde and carbon monoxide emissions from various giant molecular clouds scattered throughout the Milky Way; however, the data is neither conclusive nor complete.
While high metallicity is beneficial for the creation of terrestrial extrasolar planets, an excess amount can be harmful for life. Excess metallicity may lead to the formation of a large number of gas giants in a given system, which may subsequently migrate from beyond the system's frost line and become hot Jupiters, disturbing planets that would otherwise have been located in the system's circumstellar habitable zone. Thus, it was found that the Goldilocks principle applies to metallicity as well; low-metallicity systems have low probabilities of forming terrestrial-mass planets at all, while excessive metallicities cause a large number of gas giants to develop, disrupting the orbital dynamics of the system and altering the habitability of terrestrial planets in the system.
### Catastrophic events
As well as being in a region of the galaxy that is chemically advantageous for the development of life, a star must also avoid an excessive number of catastrophic cosmic events with the potential to damage life on its otherwise habitable planets. Nearby supernovae, for example, have the potential to severely harm life on a planet; with excessive frequency, such catastrophic outbursts have the potential to sterilize an entire region of a galaxy for billions of years. The galactic bulge, for example, experienced an initial wave of extremely rapid star formation, triggering a cascade of supernovae that for five billion years left that area almost completely unable to develop life.
In addition to supernovae, gamma-ray bursts, excessive amounts of radiation, gravitational perturbations and various other events have been proposed to affect the distribution of life within the galaxy. These include, controversially, such proposals as "galactic tides" with the potential to induce cometary impacts or even cold bodies of dark matter that pass through organisms and induce genetic mutations. However, the impact of many of these events may be difficult to quantify.
### Galactic morphology
Various morphological features of galaxies can affect their potential for habitability. Spiral arms, for example, are the location of star formation, but they contain numerous giant molecular clouds and a high density of stars that can perturb a star's Oort cloud, sending avalanches of comets and asteroids toward any planets further in. In addition, the high density of stars and rate of massive star formation can expose any stars orbiting within the spiral arms for too long to supernova explosions, reducing their prospects for the survival and development of life. Considering these factors, the Sun is advantageously placed within the galaxy because, in addition to being outside a spiral arm, it orbits near the corotation circle, maximizing the interval between spiral-arm crossings.
Spiral arms also have the ability to cause climatic changes on a planet. Passing through the dense molecular clouds of galactic spiral arms, stellar winds may be pushed back to the point that a reflective hydrogen layer accumulates in an orbiting planet's atmosphere, perhaps leading to a snowball Earth scenario.
A galactic bar also has the potential to affect the size of the galactic habitable zone. Galactic bars are thought to grow over time, eventually reaching the corotation radius of the galaxy and perturbing the orbits of the stars already there. High-metallicity stars like the Sun, for example, at an intermediate location between the low-metallicity galactic halo and the high-radiation galactic center, may be scattered throughout the galaxy, affecting the definition of the galactic habitable zone. It has been suggested that for this reason, it may be impossible to properly define a galactic habitable zone.
## Boundaries
Early research on the galactic habitable zone, including the 2001 paper by Gonzalez, Brownlee, and Ward, did not demarcate any specific boundaries, merely stating that the zone was an annulus encompassing a region of the galaxy that was both enriched with metals and spared from excessive radiation, and that habitability would be more likely in the galaxy's thin disk. However, later research conducted in 2004 by Lineweaver and colleagues did create boundaries for this annulus, in the case of the Milky Way ranging from 7 kpc to 9 kpc from the galactic center.
The Lineweaver team also analyzed the evolution of the galactic habitable zone with respect to time, finding, for example, that stars close to the galactic bulge had to form within a time window of about two billion years in order to have habitable planets. Before that window, galactic-bulge stars would be prevented from having life-sustaining planets from frequent supernova events. After the supernova threat had subsided, though, the increasing metallicity of the galactic core would eventually mean that stars there would have a high number of giant planets, with the potential to destabilize star systems and radically alter the orbit of any planet located in a star's circumstellar habitable zone. Simulations conducted in 2005 at the University of Washington, however, show that even in the presence of hot Jupiters, terrestrial planets may remain stable over long timescales.
A 2006 study by Milan Ćirković and colleagues extended the notion of a time-dependent galactic habitable zone, analyzing various catastrophic events as well as the underlying secular evolution of galactic dynamics. The paper considers that the number of habitable planets may fluctuate wildly with time due to the unpredictable timing of catastrophic events, thereby creating a punctuated equilibrium in which habitable planets are more likely at some times than at others. Based on the results of Monte Carlo simulations on a toy model of the Milky Way, the team found that the number of habitable planets is likely to increase with time, though not in a perfectly linear pattern.
Subsequent studies saw more fundamental revision of the old concept of the galactic habitable zone as an annulus. In 2008, a study by Nikos Prantzos revealed that, while the probability of a planet escaping sterilization by supernova was highest at a distance of about 10 kpc from the galactic center, the sheer density of stars in the inner galaxy meant that the highest number of habitable planets could be found there. The research was corroborated in a 2011 paper by Michael Gowanlock, who calculated the frequency of supernova-surviving planets as a function of their distance from the galactic center, their height above the galactic plane, and their age, ultimately discovering that about 0.3% of stars in the galaxy could today support complex life, or 1.2% if one does not consider the tidal locking of red dwarf planets as precluding the development of complex life.
## Criticism
The idea of the galactic habitable zone has been criticized by Nikos Prantzos, on the grounds that the parameters to create it are impossible to define even approximately, and that thus the galactic habitable zone may merely be a useful conceptual tool to enable a better understanding of the distribution of life, rather than an end to itself. For these reasons, Prantzos has suggested that the entire galaxy may be habitable, rather than habitability being restricted to a specific region in space and time. In addition, stars "riding" the galaxy's spiral arms may move tens of thousands of light years from their original orbits, thus supporting the notion that there may not be one specific galactic habitable zone. A Monte Carlo simulation, improving on the mechanisms used by Ćirković in 2006, was conducted in 2010 by Duncan Forgan of Royal Observatory Edinburgh. The data collected from the experiments support Prantzos's notion that there is no solidly defined galactic habitable zone, indicating the possibility of hundreds of extraterrestrial civilizations in the Milky Way, though further data will be required in order for a definitive determination to be made.
## See also |
44,844,574 | Spanish Hill | 1,162,068,825 | Hill and archaeological site in Pennsylvania, USA | [
"Archaeological controversies",
"Archaeological sites in Pennsylvania",
"Geologic formations of Pennsylvania",
"Landforms of Bradford County, Pennsylvania"
]
| Spanish Hill is a hill located in the borough of South Waverly, Pennsylvania. Opinions regarding the origin of structures found on the site vary from embankments created by early farmers, to the remnants of a Native American village and battlements, due to the site's similarity to the description found in the account of Étienne Brûlé of a settlement called Carantouan. The area in the hill's vicinity was previously occupied by Susquehannock Native Americans. It was a common site for both amateur and professional archaeology, as well as relic hunting. The source of the name remains unknown, but various theories have been proposed as to its origin.
## Geography
In 1795, François Alexandre Frédéric visited Spanish Hill while en route to Canada. He described the hill as "a mountain in the shape of a sugar loaf, about 100 feet high, with level top, on which are remains of intrenchments. One perpendicular breastwork is still remaining, plainly indicating a parapet and ditch." In 1833, another individual visiting the hill described "the remains of a wall which runs around the whole exactly on the brow, and within a deep ditch or intrenchment running round the whole summit." In 1898, I.P. Shepard created a sketch of Spanish Hill, including the portions still visible at the time as well as those no longer extant. Shepard enlisted the assistance of a longtime local resident, Charles Henry Shepard, who claimed to remember "fortifications as consisting of an embankment with a trench behind, giving a height of four or five feet on the inside." In addition, an indent was discovered on the site which was pronounced to be a corn cache by Beauchamp.
According to John S. Clark, a surveyor and historian active in the area until the early twentieth century, the topography and size of the site were appropriate to correspond with Brûlé's description of Carantouan; Brûlé described a palisaded town, populated by approximately 800 warriors and 4,000 individuals in total. He also described the dwellings and fortifications as being similar to those built by the Wyandot people. Clark's conclusions were based in part on surveys he conducted at the site in 1878, when he observed what he believed were fortifications atop the hill. Amateur archaeologist Ellsworth C. Cowles conducted an excavation at the base of the hill in 1932, uncovering what he described as "seventy five postholes extending east and west," as well as the "effigy of a huge animal."
## History
Early scholars believed that the monument was created by receding glaciers; Spanish Hill comprises approximately 10 acres (40,000 m<sup>2</sup>) of earth in a site that is included within the Sayre quadrangle documented by the United States Geological Survey (USGS). Located at an elevation of 978 feet (298 m) above sea level, it rises approximately 230 feet (70 m) over the nearby floodplain of the Chemung River. The hill is located in South Waverly, Pennsylvania, in Bradford County, just south of the state border with New York. This territory was occupied by the Susquehannock people for centuries before European contact.
The remnant of the hill depicted in the late 19th century etching show has a striking resemblance to major earthwork platform mounds of the Mississippian culture and preceding cultures. The most recent of these were built and occupied from the 9th to the 15th centuries CE, and earlier mounds have also been found. These mounds typically were built as the center of villages along the lowland of rivers throughout the Mississippi and Ohio river valleys, and their tributaries. Many such mounds have been found at the site of former Cherokee villages in western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee narrow river valleys in the Appalachian foothills. The mounds were built as earthworks.
The hill has been acknowledged and studied by historians and archaeologists for more than two hundred years. The source of the name is unknown, but individuals traveling through the area between 1795 and 1804 described "Spanish Ramparts" as a feature of the hill. Some of the earliest settlers to the region reported that local Native Americans referred to the hill either as "Hispan" or "Espan."
In 1615, Étienne Brûlé was sent to the area by Samuel de Champlain to meet with Native American tribes in the hope of finding assistance to fight the Iroquois nations, against whom Champlain had allied with the Wyandot people. During his voyage, Brûlé recorded a town called Carantouan (meaning "Big Tree," according to ethnologist William Martin Beauchamp), which was subsequently included on a map published by de Champlain in 1632. In the early nineteenth century, a Native American man who lived in the area near Spanish Hill reportedly refused to ascend it, for fear of a deadly spirit that lived on top. According to the man, the spirit spoke with a thunderous voice and "made holes through Indians' bodies." Archaeologist Louise Welles Murray suggested that this could be a reference to cannon or musket fire.
In the early twentieth century, archaeological and historical research was conducted regarding a potential connection between Carantouan and the structures described in historical accounts of the hill. After surveying the area in spring and fall, archaeologist L.D. Shoemaker discovered evidence of Native American habitation, including shell heaps, corn and flint chips, along with various other implements. In 1918, historian and archaeologist George P. Donehoo, after a survey of the site, determined that it was impossible for Spanish Hill to have been the site of the town described by Brûlé. He cited the sharp incline, which would have made ascent difficult, as well as the lack of water. Archaeological evidence on the hill appeared to be in conflict with its having been the location of Carantouan. But archeology was just being developed as an academic area, and early excavations did not follow current protocols for assessing layers and ages of artifacts. In addition, architectural development and looting could have destroyed important evidence.
Speculation that Spanish Hill was the site of the village was also countered by James Bennett Griffin, who found nothing of interest in the area following an archaeological survey in 1931. But 21st-century historian Deb Twigg suggests that prior excavations conducted by early twentieth-century archaeologist Warren Moorehead, as well as years of extensive farming activity in the area, may have contributed to the lack of artifacts found during the Griffin expedition. As Twig wrote: “Until more information is known, it seems imprudent to eliminate Spanish Hill as a possible site related to the nation of Carantouan, as some researchers have done.”
The site was a popular location, both for archaeological excavations and amateur collecting. According to Twigg, Spanish Hill was "looted" by Moorehead, and his finds likely sold to collectors. In addition, the area was repeatedly scoured by relic collectors approximately since the early nineteenth-century.
On October 15, 1915, the Historical Society of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, dedicated a memorial on Spanish Hill in honor of the tricentennial of the arrival of Brûlé to the present-day border of Pennsylvania. Later, in 1939, American artist Musa McKim depicted the hill in a mural entitled Spanish Hill and the Early Inhabitants of the Vicinity, commissioned by the Works Progress Administration for display in the United States Post Office branch of nearby Waverly, New York.
In 1970 the hill was threatened with demolition to be used for highway fill. Lobbying by local amateur archaeologist Ellsworth Cowles preserved the hill. |
11,789,878 | Nathan C. Brooks | 1,164,476,641 | American academic (1809–1898) | [
"1809 births",
"1898 deaths",
"19th-century American educators",
"Baltimore City College faculty",
"People from Cecil County, Maryland"
]
| Nathan Covington Brooks (August 12, 1809 – October 6, 1898) was an American educator, historian, and poet. Born in West Nottingham, Cecil County, Maryland, Brooks grew up to become the first principal of Baltimore City College, the third oldest public high school in the United States, and the only president of the Baltimore Female College, the first institution of higher education for women in Maryland. He also was the owner of The American Museum, a literary magazine, in which he published several works of the famed poet Edgar Allan Poe, and the author of several textbooks on classical literature. Brooks died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
## Biography
Nathan Covington Brooks, the youngest son of John and Mary Brooks, was born in West Nottingham, Cecil County, Maryland on August 12, 1809. He began his education at the West Nottingham Academy, and upon graduating enrolled at St. John's College in Annapolis, Maryland. There he received a Master of Arts with his thesis consisting of a poem. After receiving his degree, Brooks began his teaching career at the age of 16 in Charlestown, Cecil County. He held this position for two years before opening a private school in Baltimore, Maryland in 1826, where he remained for five years. In 1831, he was elected principal of the Franklin Academy, located in Reisterstown, Maryland. After three years, Brooks resigned to become principal of the Brookeville Academy in Montgomery County, Maryland. However, in 1836, he resigned from the academy because the school was unable to pay his salary.
In 1839, Brooks was unanimously selected out of a pool of 45 candidates to be the first principal of the new male high school in Baltimore—later renamed the Baltimore City College. He served in this capacity until 1849, when he resigned to serve as the only president of the Baltimore Female College, the first institution of higher learning for women in Maryland. While at the Baltimore Female College, Brooks was granted an LL.D. from Emory College in Oxford, Georgia in 1859. He served as president of the Baltimore Female College until it was closed in 1890.
Brooks was married twice and fathered 11 children. He was wed to Mary Elizabeth Gobright on May 8, 1826, and later married Christiana Octavia Crump on June 26, 1867. Brooks died on October 6, 1898, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was buried in the family lot at Green Mount Cemetery in Baltimore.
## The American Museum
In 1838, Brooks purchased Summer Lincoln Fairfield's The North American Quarterly and moved the publication from Philadelphia to Baltimore. Brooks partnered with Dr. Joseph E. Snodgrass, a Baltimore physician, to transform the publication into The American Museum of Science, Literature and the Arts. The magazine mainly functioned as a literary publication, featuring literary criticism as well as poetry and short stories.
Brooks, who was a friend of the famed poet Edgar Allan Poe, published several of Poe's works in The American Museum. Poe's "Ligeia", "A Predicament" (published as "The Scythe of Time"), and "The Haunted Palace" were all originally published in Brooks' magazine. Nevertheless, the magazine was short lived. Only two volumes of the magazine were published and it ceased to exist after 1839.
## Literary works
Throughout his career as an educator, Brooks contributed poetry and prose writings to various literary magazines. Among the literary magazines that Brooks submitted works to, were Burton's Gentleman's Magazine, Graham's Magazine, the New York Mirror, and the Southern Literary Messenger. Brooks also wrote several anthologies of poetry, including Scriptural Anthology, which was published in 1837 and The Literary Amaranth, which was published in 1840. Poe wrote an ambivalent review of Brooks' Scriptural Anthology, which appeared in Graham's Magazine in December 1841. In his review, Poe wrote, "among many inferior compositions of length, there were several shorter pieces of great merit;—for example 'Shelley's Obsequies' and 'The Nicthanthes'." Poe was also critical of Brooks' comic works, while praising his more serious prose.
In addition to his poetry and prose, Brooks authored several textbooks, which focused mainly on classical literature, and a few popular history texts. These included First Lessons in Latin, published in 1845, First Lessons in Greek, published in 1846, A Complete History Of The Mexican War, published in 1849, and The History of the Church. Brooks also translated and published several editions of the works of Ovid, Caesar, and Virgil. |
23,717,676 | Personal (album) | 1,146,313,687 | null | [
"1996 debut albums",
"550 Music albums",
"Albums produced by Rodney Jerkins",
"Albums produced by Teddy Riley",
"Epic Records albums",
"Men of Vizion albums"
]
| Personal is the debut studio album by the American vocal group Men of Vizion. It was released on June 18, 1996, via Michael Jackson's record label, MJJ Music, after a demo tape was played to him by producer Teddy Riley. The album has been described as a "sumptuous blend" of vocal R&B and "90s production techniques", that alternates between smooth ballads and new jack swing.
Personal received mixed reviews from music critics, with some critics noting similarities between the group and Boyz II Men. Some critics felt as if the material was unmemorable versions of Boyz II Men songs, while others felt that Personal was highly different from the music at the time. The album only managed to chart in the United States, where it peaked at 14 on the Billboard Heatseekers Albums, 29 on the Billboard R&B Albums and 186 on the Billboard Top 200. Two singles were released to promote the album: "House Keeper" and "Do Thangz". The former was a commercial success, peaking at number 13 on the U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks and at 67 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.
## Development and composition
Composed of George Spencer III, Corley Randolph, Desmond T. Greggs, Brian L. DeRamus and Prathan "Spanky" Williams, Men of Vizion were formed in the early 1990s in Brooklyn, New York. Their vocal R&B harmonies impressed American entertainer Michael Jackson, who signed the group to his record label, MJJ Music, after a demo tape was played to him by producer Teddy Riley in 1993. Greggs told Billboard magazine that the band is "here to prove that intimate songwriting in R&B is coming back". He concluded by stating that the band was writing songs "that everyone will understand".
Personal is a "sumptuous blend" of vocal R&B and "90s production techniques", that alternates between smooth ballads and new jack swing. The album incorporates all of the band's beliefs and emotions, from love, romance and sensitivity. "House Keeper" is a story of reversal of the traditional roles that men and women play in relationships. The rest of the album "rolls along similarly", with the songs "Forgive Me", "Joyride" and "Do Thangz", a mid-tempo song on which the group pay homage to the females in their lives. A cover of The Jackson 5's 1977 hit single "Show You the Way to Go" is included on the album. The cover was originally recorded and released on the soundtrack of the 1995 film Money Train.
## Release and promotion
Originally set for release on May 14, 1996, Personal was released by MJJ Music, 550 Music and Epic Records on June 18. The album debuted at 186 on the Billboard Top 200 for the chart issued on July 6. It exited the chart the following week, to re-enter at the same position for the chart issued on July 20. The album spent a total of four weeks in the chart, before its exit on the week of August 10. Personal debuted at its peak position of 29 on the U.S. Billboard R&B Albums on the chart issued on July 6. Spending a total of ten weeks on the R&B Albums chart, the album received its final position of 87 on the chart issued on September 7. Personal debuted at 14 on U.S. Billboard Heatseekers Album chart on the chart issued on July 6. It dropped to 16 in the following week, before moving back to the 14th position on July 20, where it stayed for a second week. The album exited the Heatseekers Album chart on the week of September 7, spending a total of nine weeks on it.
"House Keeper" was released as the lead single from the album on April 9, 1996. To promote the single, tying in with the song's lyric play on reversed gender roles, the group performed track dates at "ladies only" functions. The trek was sponsored by major-market radio stations. The song peaked at number 13 on the U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks and at 67 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. An accompanying music video for "House Keeper" was directed by Jesse Vaughan. "Do Thangz" was released as the second, and final, single from the album on October 8, 1996. It peaked at number 53 on the U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks. An accompanying music video for the song was directed by Lionel C. Martin.
## Critical reception
Darryl Scipio of Vibe stated unlike "today's masculine R&B" that is "laden with jokers who sing of little but freekin' girls—and then of keeping it on the down-low", Personal doesn't use "wordy descriptions of sex to get you in the mood to dance". Scipio stated that all 12 songs on the album feature "tight, bouncy production" and that all the members of the group sing confidently; "there are no weak vocals here". He cited "House Keeper" and "Personal" as having the most soul, "but the rest stand solidly". He concluded his review of the album by stating that: "These visionaries are definitely a sound for sore ears". Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic compared the group and the musical style of Personal to that of Boyz II Men. Erlewine stated that where Boyz II Men have first-rate professional songwriters and producers, Men of Vizion merely have "competent hacks", which means that "no matter how hard the group tries, they can't make any of these songs memorable". Jai Henry of The Daily Cougar commented that although at times they sound "a little too much" like Blackstreet, Men of Vizion "definitely have their own sound".
Jean A. Williams of the Chicago Sun-Times remarked that while the group demonstrates "good, strong and genuine vocal ability" on the album, what they need is "something to set them apart from the proliferation of male harmony groups of the R&B/soul persuasion". Williams complimented the group's cover of "Show You the Way to Go" as a "nice effort" but called "House Keeper" derivative. Ray Marcano of the Dayton Daily News wrote that the album's ballads - especially "That's Alright" and "When You Need Someone" - have "terrific melodies and wonderful hooks that will easily keep listeners' attention". Marcano was, however, critical of the group's indistinct harmonies and said their vocals need to be "a bit sharper". Jerome Cannon of the Chattanooga Times Free Press complimented Men of Vizion's harmonies on "It's Alright" and said that what caught his attention about the album was that the group were "not caught up in what every other new male group is trying to do, and that is to imitate Boyz II Men".
## Track listing
1. "That's Alright" (Prathan Williams) – 5:35
2. "Instant Love" (Teddy Riley, Prathan Williams, Chauncey Hannibal, Rodney Jerkins) – 5:41
3. "House Keeper" (Teddy Riley, Sherri Blair, George Spencer III) – 4:33
4. "When You Need Someone" (Prathan Williams) – 6:47
5. "Forgive Me" (Prathan Williams) – 5:44
6. "Personal" (Bob Kirschner, Y. Babatunde, Prathan Williams, Sydney Joseph, Jr.) – 6:33
7. "Joyride" featuring Tasha Scott (Alexander Richbourg) – 4:30
8. "You Told Me You Loved Me" (Prathan Williams, Bob Kirschner, Yemi Babatunde) – 5:47
9. "Do Thangz" (Teddy Riley, Sherri Blair, Chris Smith, Menton Smith) – 5:02
10. "Show You the Way to Go" (Kenny Gamble, Leon Huff) – 5:28
11. "It's Only Just a Dream" (Teddy Riley, Sherri Blair, Prathan Williams, George Spencer III, Corley Randolph) – 4:44
12. "Night and Day" (Teddy Riley, Corley Randolph, Desmond Greggs, Leon Sylvers IV) – 4:34
## Charts
## Personnel
Credits for Personal adapted from AllMusic.
- Brian DeRamus – vocals
- Kenneth Gamble – composer
- Serban Ghenea – engineer, mixing
- Franklyn Grant – remixing
- Desmond Greggs – composer
- Gene Griffin – remixing
- John Hanes – engineer, mixing
- Chauncey Hannibal – composer
- Leon Huff – composer
- Rodney Jerkins – producer
- Sydney "J.R." Joseph – mixing, remixing
- George Mayers – engineer, mixing
- Men of Vizion – Primary artist, producer, vocals (background)
- Nutta Butta – Guest artist, vocals
- Gene Peoples – producer
- Alexander Richbourg – composer, producer
- Teddy Riley – engineer, mixing, producer
- Tasha Scott – Featured artist, Guest artist, vocals
- Chris "Lil" Smith – producer
- Menton L. Smith – composer
- George Spencer – vocals
- Leon F. Sylvers III – composer
- Prathan "Spanky" Williams – Assistant engineer, composer, engineer, mixing, producer, vocals
- Sprague Williams – Assistant engineer |
21,248,799 | The Poe Clan | 1,170,802,577 | Japanese manga series by Moto Hagio | [
"1972 manga",
"2016 Japanese television series debuts",
"Anime and manga set in Germany",
"Anime and manga set in the United Kingdom",
"Comics adapted into radio series",
"Comics set in the 18th century",
"Comics set in the 19th century",
"Comics set in the 20th century",
"Fantasy anime and manga",
"Japanese television dramas based on manga",
"Manga adapted into television series",
"Moto Hagio",
"Shogakukan manga",
"Shōjo manga",
"Takarazuka Revue",
"Vampires in anime and manga",
"Winners of the Shogakukan Manga Award for shōjo manga",
"Winners of the Shogakukan Manga Award for shōnen manga"
]
| The Poe Clan (Japanese: ポーの一族, Hepburn: Pō no Ichizoku) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Moto Hagio. It was serialized in the manga magazines Bessatsu Shōjo Comic and Shūkan Shōjo Comic from 1972 to 1976, while a revival of the series has been serialized in Flowers since 2016. The Poe Clan is composed of a series of non-chronological stories set between the 18th and 21st centuries that follow the life of Edgar Portsnell, a teenage vampire.
The manga has been collected into seven tankōbon volumes by the publishing house Shogakukan, and was the first shōjo manga series to be published by the company in this format. The Poe Clan has been adapted multiple times, notably as a radio drama, a series of CD audio dramas, a live-action television drama, and a Takarazuka Revue stage play. Fantagraphics Books licensed the manga for an English-language release in North America to be published in two omnibus volumes, the first of which was released in 2019. The Poe Clan was a critical and commercial success upon its release, winning the Shogakukan Manga Award in 1975. The series significantly influenced shōjo manga, the shōnen-ai (male-male romance) genre, and vampire literature.
## Synopsis
The Poe Clan is composed of a series of non-chronological stories set in Europe, primarily England and Germany, between the 18th and 21st centuries. The series chronicles the life of Edgar Portsnell and his two traveling companions: his younger sister Marybelle Portsnell, and his friend Alan Twilight. All three are members of the titular Poe clan, a group of immortal "vampirnellas" (vampires) who do not age and subsist on human blood.
The clan maintains a strict code of only converting humans when they have reached adulthood, but by a confluence of circumstances, Edgar is made into a vampirnella at the age of fourteen. Edgar finds he is isolated from both the human world as a result of his immortality, and from the adult vampirnellas of the clan due to his eternally-teenaged body. Overcome by loneliness, he converts Marybelle when she is thirteen, only to find his loneliness replaced by the remorse of having taken his sister's humanity; he vows to dedicate his life to her happiness and well-being.
Several decades pass and Marybelle meets and falls in love with Alan, who at the time is a human teenager. Shortly thereafter, she and Edgar's adoptive parents are killed by humans who discover their vampirnella nature. Edgar is overwhelmed by grief; Alan, who has himself fallen into despair upon learning that he is to be wed in an arranged marriage, agrees to be converted by Edgar. The two boys form a close companionship, and series follows their exploits over the subsequent century. While the particulars of Edgar and Alan's adventures vary, the series broadly explores the concept of time from the conflicting perspectives of mortality and immortality: the former represented by the humans they encounter, to whom they represent the dream of eternal youth; and the latter represented by Edgar, who must live with "the loneliness of everlasting life."
## Primary characters
Edgar Portsnell (エドガー・ポーツネル, Edogā Pōtsuneru)
Born in 1740 as Edgar Evans, one of the two illegitimate children of a British aristocrat. Edgar and his sister Marybelle are abandoned as children in a forest to die of exposure; they are discovered by Hannah Poe, a woman who brings the children to be raised in the manor house where she lives. At the age of 11, Edgar discovers that the residents of the manor are vampirnellas, and that he will be converted into one as an adult. When the villagers learn the secret of the manor, the clan is forced to flee, and Edgar is made into a vampirnella at the age of fourteen.
Marybelle Portsnell (メリーベル・ポーツネル, Merīberu Pōtsuneru)
Edgar's sister, born in 1744 as Marybelle Evans. She is converted into a vampirnella at the age of thirteen by Edgar. In 1879 she is killed by John Clifford, a doctor who discovers the truth about her vampirnella identity.
Alan Twilight (アラン・トワイライト, Aran Towairaito)
A teenage boy who Edgar and Marybelle encounter in London in 1879. He is converted into a vampirnella at the age of fourteen by Edgar.
## Development
### Context
Japan has no tradition of vampires in literature and other media; the archetype was imported from works of western fiction beginning in the 1930s. Science fiction critic Mari Kotani has argued that in Japan, the vampire as a specifically western figure represents a hostile "other," particularly following the Second World War and subsequent occupation of Japan by the United States. However, Kotani notes that in shōjo manga (girls' comics), the west is often depicted as idealized and utopian, typically a result of the cultural influence of Hollywood cinema, American literature, and western fashion; the figure of the vampire, as a western cultural product, is thus viewed positively in this shōjo context.
In her youth, Moto Hagio disliked stories featuring vampires, as they were depicted as "villains who attack human beings." In 1962, the manga artist Shotaro Ishinomori published the one-shot (single-chapter) manga Mist, Roses and Stars, a science fiction story about the tragic life of a vampire girl, in the manga magazine Shōjo Club. Hagio became inspired by the manga, and began to conceive of her own "beautiful vampire story" about a vampire who "long[s] to return to a normal human existence" but is "rejected by humanity."
In 1971 Hagio published The November Gymnasium, a one-shot about an all-boys school written as an early adaptation of her later series The Heart of Thomas. The story made Hagio realize that she preferred writing stories about male protagonists, and she thus decided to have the protagonist of her vampire story be a boy. She created the term "vampirnella" after misreading a word while searching for terms that could be used as a substitute for "vampire"; attracted to the vaguely Italian sound of her invention, she adopted it for the series. At the same time, Hagio had developed an interest in costumes; she began to write The Poe Clan after becoming inspired by the idea of a story about an immortal protagonist who wears the attire of different historical periods throughout their life.
### Original production and publication
Hagio made her debut as a manga artist in 1969; by 1972 she was still considered as a novice, and thus was only permitted by her editor Junya Yamamoto [ja] to publish short one-shots. Hagio originally conceived of The Poe Clan as a trilogy, with each part consisting of roughly one hundred pages and set respectively in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. In order to publish the story under these editorial constraints, Hagio adopted two strategies: first, she began writing The Poe Clan as a series of one-shots that functioned as standalone stories, but which featured serial-like interrelated narratives and recurring characters. Second, she focused early chapters of The Poe Clan on Marybelle and other female characters, as shōjo manga stories featuring male protagonists were less readily accepted in this era.
In the February 1972 issue of Bessatsu Shōjo Comic, Hagio announced that she would begin publishing a story in the magazine on vampirism; the announcement took the form of an illustrated poem depicting Edgar and Marybelle entwined. Limpid Locks of Silver, the first chapter of what would become The Poe Clan, was published in the subsequent March 1972 issue. Hagio wrote several other unrelated manga one-shots in the next several issues of the magazine before publishing the second chapter of The Poe Clan in July 1972. Upon the publication of the third chapter in August 1972, Yamamoto realized that Hagio was creating a serialization; faced with this fait accompli, he allowed The Poe Clan to continue as an official serial, permitting Hagio to freely publish her originally planned trilogy.
Hagio concluded her original trilogy in July 1973, but began conceiving of new chapters for the series during its serialization; she spent the next year developing new ideas for The Poe Clan before launching her next serialization, The Heart of Thomas, in May 1974. In June 1974, Shogakukan launched its literary imprint Flower Comics, which publishes tankōbon (collected volume) editions of shōjo manga serialized in the company's magazines; The Poe Clan was the first manga series to be released under the imprint. The tankōbon edition of The Poe Clan sold out its initial print run of 30,000 copies in three days, an unprecedented sales volume at the time for a shōjo manga series that had not been adapted into an anime. Shogakukan encouraged Hagio to conclude the then-unpopular The Heart of Thomas to focus on The Poe Clan, though Hagio insisted on continuing the series.
Hagio completed The Heart of Thomas in December 1974; in that same issue, Bessatsu Shōjo Comic published a new illustrated poem by Hagio announcing the publication of nine new chapters of The Poe Clan. The series resumed publication in January 1975, with eight chapters published in Bessatsu Shōjo Comic and one chapter in Shūkan Shōjo Comic, with the final chapter of the series published in June 1976.
### Revival
Following the conclusion of The Poe Clan in 1976, Hagio repeatedly declined requests to create new chapters of the series. Upon turning 60 years old in 2009, Hagio began to fear that she would no longer be able write manga due to declining health, and was convinced by her friend and science fiction writer Baku Yumemakura to create Poe no Ichizoku: Haru no Yume (春の夢, lit. "The Poe Clan: Spring's Dream"), a one-shot sequel to The Poe Clan. Haru no Yume was published on May 28, 2016, in the July issue of Shogakukan's manga magazine Flowers, marking the 40th anniversary of the conclusion of the original series. Shogakukan printed 50,000 copies of the issue, an increase from the magazine's normal circulation of 33,000; the issue sold out in one day regardless, prompting a second printing of 15,000 issues. Hagio subsequently wrote an additional chapter of Haru no Yume, which was published in the May 2017 issue of Flowers; both chapters were compiled as a collected volume published in July 2017.
Hagio has continued to create additional sequels to The Poe Clan following the conclusion of Haru no Yume:
- Poe no Ichizoku: Unicorn (ポーの一族 ユニコーン), which began serialization in the May 2018 issue of Flowers before going on hiatus after the July 2018 issue. The series returned in the March 2019 issue, and concluded in the June 2019 issue. Unicorn was collected as a hardcover released in July 2019.
- Poe no Ichizoku: Himitsu no Hanazono (ポーの一族 秘密 の 花園, lit. "The Poe Clan: The Secret Garden"), the first chapter of which was published in Flowers in the May 2019 issue. The series immediately went on hiatus, and returned in the June 2020 issue. Its second and last volume shipped in November 2021.
- Poe no Ichizoku: Getsuyōbi wa Kirai (ポーの一族 月曜日はキライ, lit. "The Poe Clan: I Hate Mondays"), a short comedic one-shot, was published in the July 2020 issue of Flowers on May 28, 2020.
- Poe no Ichizoku: Ao no Pandora (ポーの一族 青のパンドラ, lit. "The Poe Clan: Blue Pandora"), which began serialization in the July 2022 issue of Flowers on May 27, 2022.
## Media
### Manga
#### Chapters
The following is a list of chapters of The Poe Clan, with officially-translated English-language titles noted where applicable. The following chapters of The Poe Clan were originally serialized in Bessatsu Shōjo Comic:
- Alone in 1971 (1971年のひとりごと, 1971-nen no Hitorigoto), February 1972
- Limpid Locks of Silver (すきとおった銀の髪, Sukitōtta Gin no Kami), March 1972
- The Poe Village (ポーの村, Poe no Mura), July 1972
- Glensmith's Diary (グレンスミスの日記, Glensmith no Nikki), August 1972
- The Poe Clan (ポーの一族, Poe no Ichizoku), September – December 1972
- Marybelle and the Silver Rose (メリーベルと銀のばら, Marybelle to Gin no Bara), January – March 1973
- The Bird's Nest (小鳥の巣, Kotori no Su), April – July 1973
- Poe no Densetsu ni Yosete (ポーの伝説に寄せて, "On the Legend of Poe"), December 1974
- Evans no Isho (エヴァンズの遺書, "Evans' Will"), January – February 1975
- Penny Rain (ペニー・レイン), May 1975
- Liddell, Mori no Naka (リデル・森の中, "Liddell Woods"), June 1975
- Rampton wa Kataru (ランプトンは語る, "Lampton Tells Us"), July 1975
- Piccadilly Shichiji (ピカデリー7時, "Piccadilly 7pm"), August 1975
- Holmes no Bōshi (ホームズの帽子, "Holmes' Hat"), November 1975
- Isshūkan (一週間, "One Week"), December 1975
- Edith (エディス), April – June 1976
The following chapter was originally serialized in Shūkan Shōjo Comic:
- Harukana Kuni no Hana ya Kotori (はるかな国の花や小鳥, "Flowers and Birds in Faraway Lands"), September 1975
The following chapters were originally serialized in Flowers:
- Haru no Yume (はるかな国の花や小鳥, "Spring's Dream"), July 2016 – July 2017
- Unicorn (ユニコーン), July 2018 – June 2019
- Himitsu no Hanazono (秘密の花園, "The Secret Garden"), July 2019 – November 2021
- Getsuyōbi wa Kirai (月曜日はキライ, "I Hate Mondays"), July 2020
- Ao no Pandora (ポーの一族 青のパンドラ, "Blue Pandora"), July 2022 – present
#### Collected editions
The Poe Clan has been collected into seven tankōbon volumes published by Shogakukan under the Flower Comics imprint, with the first volume released on May 28, 1974, and the last volume released on August 11, 1976. The Poe Clan was the first shōjo manga Shogakukan ever published in trade paperback format. Shogakukan later re-released the entire series in three bunkoban volumes on July 17, 1998, and then again in two wide-ban volumes on November 26, 2007, and December 21, 2007, respectively; and finally, in two "premium edition" volumes released on February 26, 2019.
Fantagraphics Books licensed the manga for an English-language release in North America, published in two hardcover omnibus volumes translated by Rachel Thorn. The first volume was released on August 20, 2019, and the second on September 20, 2022. Internationally, the manga is licensed in Italian by Ronin Manga, Spanish by Ediciones Tomodomo, and Polish by Japonica Polonica Fantastica.
### Audio dramas
NHK-FM produced a six-part radio drama adaptation of The Poe Clan that aired on the station from January 1 to January 6, 1980. The adaptation was directed by Tokio Ōtani from a script written by Jun Takada, with sound effects by Shōichi Haraguchi and Tadashi Iwai, and starred Takarazuka Revue actresses Anna Jun [ja] in various male roles and Haruka Kurara [ja] as Edgar and in various female roles. Radio Kansai [ja] produced a radio drama adaptation of the series that aired on the station on October 6, 2007; the drama starred Romi Park as Edgar and Mitsuki Saiga as Alan.
Shogakukan released a series of six audio drama CDs adapting The Poe Clan from December 2007 to May 2008. Each volume covered a different generation of the Poe family and starred Romi Park as Edgar, Mitsuki Saiga as Alan, and Yuka Inokuchi as Marybelle. The first four volumes also starred Kōji Ishitobi as Baron Portsnell and Yōko Sasaki as Sheila Portsnell.
The drama CD label E-Star released an audio drama adaptation of The Poe Clan on March 22, 2013. It stars Yoshitsugu Matsuoka as Edgar, Takuya Eguchi as Alan, Daisuke Hirakawa as Mathias, Takaya Hashi as Aubin, Toshihiko Seki as Clifford, Kazuma Horie as Robin, and Takurou Nakakuni [ja] as a thief.
### Live-action television drama
In February 2016, TV Asahi announced they would produce a television drama adaptation of the manga along with Production I.G and Atmovie. Featuring an original story scripted by Katsuhide Suzuki and directed by Katsuyuki Motohiro, Stranger \~Bakemono ga Jiken wo Abaku\~ (ストレンジャー〜バケモノが事件を暴く〜, lit. "Stranger: Disclosing the Monster Incident") shares the same worldview of Hagio's manga. Its single episode was broadcast on March 27, 2016, and follows Akira Misugi (Shingo Katori), a Taishō era doctor who is mutated into a vampirnella by Maria (Ayami Nakajō), a child descendant of a vampirnella, when he attempts to commit suicide because of the death of his wife and child.
### Theater
In 2018, the all-female Takarazuka Revue's Flower Troupe adapted a chapter of The Poe Clan into a stage musical titled Musical Gothic: The Poe Clan (ミュージカル・ゴシック『ポーの一族』, Myūjikaru Goshikku: Pō no Ichizoku). It was written and directed by Shūichirō Koike, who originally approached Hagio about creating a musical in 1985, and starred Rio Asumi as Edgar Portsnell, Rei Yuzuka as Alan Twilight, and Ayase Senna [ja] as Baroness Sheila Portsnell. The musical ran at the Takarazuka Grand Theater from January 1 to February 5, 2018, and then at the Tokyo Takarazuka Theater from February 16 to March 25, 2018. Its final performance was broadcast live to movie theaters in Japan, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. A performance filmed in January at the Takarazuka Grand Theater was released on Blu-ray and DVD in Japan on March 20, 2018.
In 2021, Shūichirō Koike directed a revival of Musical Gothic: The Poe Clan, this time with a cast composed of both men and women. Rio Asumi returned to reprise her role as Edgar Portsnell in her first musical performance since she left the Takarazuka Revue. New cast members included Airi Kisaki [ja] as Marybelle Portsnell, Yudai Chiba as Alan Twilight, and Nene Yumesaki [ja] as Baroness Sheila Portsnell, among others. The musical ran at the Umeda Arts Theater in Osaka from January 11 to January 26, 2021; then at the Tokyo International Forum from February 3 to February 17, 2021; and finally, at the Misono-za in Nagoya from February 23 to February 28, 2021. Several performances were streamed online as pay-per-view events on February 7, February 13, and February 28, 2021. The musical's final performance was broadcast live to movie theaters in Japan, Hong Kong, and Taiwan; it was also streamed online in Hong Kong and Taiwan. A filmed performance was released on DVD in Japan on July 9, 2021.
## Reception and legacy
### Critical response
Reviewing The Poe Clan for The Comics Journal, Helen Chazan writes that while the series is "not so consistent and refined as in [Hagio's] later comics," she praises its narrative that gradually "grows from a low-stakes short story into a complex serial" and "that in the hands of a less talented writer would be forgettable genre fare." Shaenon K. Garrity concurs in Otaku USA that while early chapters of The Poe Clan are "uneven and sometimes hard to follow," she praises the series' "mastery of composition, emotion, and visual storytelling," describing it as a "classic of modern Gothic horror." Rebecca Silverman similarly praises the artwork and story of the series in her review for Anime News Network, comparing it to My Platonic Sweetheart by Mark Twain and the Japanese concept of mono no aware.
### Sales and accolades
By 2016, collected editions of The Poe Clan have collectively sold 3.5 million copies. The series won the 21st Shogakukan Manga Award in 1975, alongside Hagio's They Were Eleven and Golgo 13 by Saito Takao. Haru no Yume ranked second on the top 20 list of manga for female readers in the 2018 edition of Takarajimasha's Kono Manga ga Sugoi! guidebook, while Unicorn ranked sixth on the same list in the 2020 edition of the guidebook. Unicorn also ranked nineteenth on the 2019 "Book of the Year" list in Kadokawa Media Factory's Da Vinci magazine. In 2019, The Poe Clan was featured in the manga exhibition at the British Museum in London; the museum called the series "representative [of shōjo manga] of the period". In 2020, the English-language translation of The Poe Clan was nominated for the Eisner Award for Best U.S. Edition of International Material—Asia and the Harvey Award for Best Manga. In 2021, TV Asahi announced the results of a poll ranking the top 100 manga of all time, decided by 150,000 voters across Japan; The Poe Clan ranked 34th on the list.
### Impact
Along with The Rose of Versailles by Riyoko Ikeda, The Poe Clan was among the first works of shōjo manga to be lauded and regarded seriously by manga critics. Shōjo manga was typically perceived as frivolous and of low quality, an attitude that changed as a result of works by the Year 24 Group, a grouping of female shōjo artists who emerged in the 1970s of which Hagio was a prominent member. The series particularly influenced vampire literature as one of the earliest works to depict vampires as romantic and tragic rather than predatory, and the shōnen-ai (male-male romance) genre in its rendering of the ambiguously homoerotic relationship between Edgar and Alan. Its critical and commercial success attracted the attention of a male readership that did not typically read shōjo manga, notably by science fiction writers Baku Yumemakura and Azusa Noa, whose works are influenced by The Poe Clan through their rendering of homoeroticism and bishōnen. |
68,351,797 | Chiswick High Road | 1,150,300,372 | Street in the London Borough of Hounslow | [
"Chiswick",
"Streets in the London Borough of Hounslow"
]
| Chiswick High Road is the principal shopping and dining street of Chiswick, a district in the west of London. It was part of the main Roman road running west out of London, and remained the main road until the 1950s when the A4 was built across Chiswick. By the 19th century the road through the village of Turnham Green had grand houses beside it. The road developed into a shopping centre when Chiswick became built up with new streets and housing to the north of Old Chiswick, late in the 19th century. There are several listed buildings including public houses, churches, and a former power station, built to supply electricity to the tram network.
## History
Chiswick High Road follows the alignment of the Roman road to Silchester as it leads west from London. Near the area of Turnham Green in Chiswick it was joined by another Roman road, which thus also followed part of the course of the High Road. The road continued to be London's main route west until the 1950s when the A4 dual carriageway was built further to the south across Chiswick.
In the English Civil War, the royalist forces under Prince Rupert, advancing on London from Oxford along the main road, were halted in a skirmish, the 1642 Battle of Turnham Green, by the forces of the Earl of Essex. The royalists withdrew, and never again threatened the capital.
Several large houses were built in Turnham Green along the High Road in the 17th century; John Bowack recorded in 1706 that the area had as many inhabitants as the old village of Chiswick, which is some way to the south of the High Road, on the river Thames. In the 18th century, the High Road between Acton Lane and Hammersmith was bordered "intermittently" with large detached houses.
The High Road was a toll road from 1717 until the abolition of tolls in 1872. Stage coaches served the road on the way to towns such as Bath and Exeter. Roadside inns for travellers included the Roebuck, and the Packhorse and Talbot.
In November 1805, Royal Navy Captain John Richards Lapenotière travelled Chiswick High Road on his journey from Falmouth to Whitehall to carry the news of the victory at the Battle of Trafalgar. In 1826, Thomas Griffiths Wainewright, in a story told by his biographers, poisoned his uncle George Edward Griffiths, while living in the uncle's grand home, Linden House on the High Road. He inherited and sold the house, but it was insufficient to clear his debts. He was later convicted of forgery and transported to Tasmania.
In 2022, Chiswick High Road provided the basis for the local historian Wesley Henderson-Roe's British Association for Local History award-winning study of changes to shopping habits, based on surveys of the road's shops conducted in 1936 and 2020.
## Street
Chiswick High Road runs the 2.6 kilometres (1.6 mi) from Kew Bridge northeastwards to Chiswick Roundabout, then eastwards through part of Gunnersbury to Turnham Green, and then across Chiswick to King Street, Hammersmith at the corner with Goldhawk Road. The section between Kew Bridge and Chiswick Roundabout is part of the A205 South Circular Road, while the rest of the street is part of the A315.
The street offers many restaurants, bars, and pubs; Time Out describes it as "an undeniably posh but very friendly bubble".
### Gunnersbury
On the north of Chiswick High Road in Gunnersbury is the Chiswick Business Park, on the site of a former bus garage. It was designed in 1990–1991 by the architects Terry Farrell & Partners as a suitable backdrop for buildings by themselves, Foster Associates, and Peter Foggo around the main piazza, and others by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners and ABK Architects around a smaller square to one side.
On the south side is the 18-storey high BSI (British Standards Institution) tower, built above Gunnersbury station. Between 1966 and 1992 it was a headquarters of IBM UK. On the north side of this section of the High Road is The Gunnersbury, formerly the John Bull pub, built in 1853, with a billiards saloon built a little later. It became a music venue, visited by bands including The Who. The playwright Harold Pinter lived at no. 373, on the south side.
### Facing Turnham Green
The 1910 Old Pack Horse is a Grade II listed public house on the corner of Chiswick High Road and Acton Lane, at the western end of Turnham Green common. The building historian Nikolaus Pevsner writes that it has "plenty of jolly terracotta detail and bowed ground-floor windows". The Chiswick Empire was a music hall theatre facing Turnham Green, opened in 1912 and demolished in 1959.
The Crown and Anchor pub, facing the common from the corner of the High Road and Belmont Road, is a Grade II listed early 19th century building. It is of brown brick over three storeys with flat-arched double-hung sash windows. The ground floor is covered with late 19th century tiles and plaques stating "Young and Co. Ales & Stouts". Above the corner doorway on the upper floors is a large round-arched plaque depicting a yellow-coloured ram for the Ram Brewery in Wandsworth.
### On Turnham Green common
The Grade II listed Victorian era Christ Church, Turnham Green, in the middle of the common to the south of the High Road, was designed by George Gilbert Scott. It was completed in 1843 as a short five-sided chancel with an apse, in the "early English lancet style" with a tall spire. It was extended in length by James Brooks in 1887 to provide a square eastern end.
The eastern tip of the common, where Heathfield Terrace joins the High Road, is marked by the Chiswick War Memorial, built in 1921. It too is Grade II listed, both for its historic and for its architectural interest. It is an obelisk designed by Edward Willis, the council's engineer and architect.
### Heathfield Terrace to Chiswick Lane
The Old Fire Station on the south side of Chiswick High Road was purpose-built in 1891. In 1911, it was equipped with a motor fire escape and ambulance, allowing it to claim it was one of the best in London. The building was provided with a tall tower to hang up the leather hosepipes to dry. Its façade is decorated with a carving of a fireman's helmet. It closed in 1963, the station moving to new premises on Heathfield Terrace. The old station has since been used as a restaurant.
Chiswick's old police station was built on the corner with Windmill Place in 1871. In 1890 it held 73 policemen; by 1926, the total had risen to 126. It was closed in 1972 when the police station moved across the road to a new building. The old station served as Carvosso's restaurant, and then as The Crown restaurant.
In 2001, a statue of the painter William Hogarth with his dog Trump, made by Jim Mathieson, was unveiled on the High Road, not far from Hogarth's House, where he lived from 1749 until his death in 1764.
The 1886 Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady of Grace and St Edward stands on the south side of the High Road, on the corner with Duke's Avenue. It is a red brick basilica by the architects Kelly and Birchall. The main door, with a round pediment, faces the High Road. There is no apse; the side walls are stepped. The ground floor is designed with intentionally blind window panels. The building is ornamented with substantial amounts of moulded and rubbed brick and terracotta decoration. The tall rectangular yellow-brown brick bell-tower was added by Giles Gilbert Scott in 1930; a rather more ornate tower was included in the original plans. The roof is covered with pantiles. Next to it on the High Road is the 18th century Presbytery of brown brick with Coade stone details, three storeys with double-hung sash windows; both buildings are Grade II listed.
The High Road has for centuries provided ample inns to refresh thirsty travellers. The Roebuck, the Barley Mow and the Coach & Horses were all licensed drinking premises in the 18th century; by the 1820s, some were able to book stage coaches for their guests. The Roebuck was briefly renamed to the 'Rat and Parrot' in the 1990s; the present building, from 1895 replacing an earlier structure, is decorated with stucco and relief statues of stags on its front and side pediments. The George IV was already licensed in 1771, then called Lord Boston's Arms; Fuller, Smith and Turner bought and renamed it in 1826, and rebuilt it in 1931–32.
### Barley Mow Passage and Bourne Place
Just off Chiswick High Road and parallel to it is Bourne Place, with the sole surviving large detached house of those along the High Road in the 18th and 19th centuries. Afton House, since 1919 the Chiswick Memorial Club, is a Grade II listed building, built circa 1800. It is in brown brick with five bays of double-hung sash windows over four floors; the ground floor and entrance are stuccoed. Its large front garden has been replaced by buildings along the south side of the High Road.
Leading westwards from Bourne Place is the narrow Barley Mow Passage, still with an industrial air. The Sanderson factory building now known as Voysey House was designed by the architect Charles Voysey in 1902. It is faced in white glazed brick, with Staffordshire blue bricks (now painted black) forming horizontal bands, with the plinth, surrounds for door and window openings, and dressings in Portland stone. It was originally a wallpaper printing works, now used as office space. It is Grade II\* listed. It faces the main Devonshire Works building, and was once joined to it by a bridge across the road. It was Voysey's only industrial building, and is considered an "important Arts and Crafts factory building".
### Chiswick Lane to Goldhawk Road
Nos 1-21 Chiswick High Road, on the south side, was designed by William Blore in 1837 and built in 1838. The entire building, then named William's Terrace, survives as a terrace of ten three-storey houses, though with some changes to the front, and additional structures in what were the front gardens, making it less conspicuous than it was when built. The 1837 print omits the roofs and chimneys to make the building look grander and more formal.
The Power House, on the north of Chiswick High Road next to the bus garage, was built as an electricity generating station for the London United Electrical Tramway Company between 1899 and 1901. Pevsner describes it as a "monumental free Baroque brick and stone composition ... by far the most exciting building [on the High Road, and] ... the best surviving example in London from the early, heroic era of generating stations whose bulky intrusion in residential areas was tempered by thoughtful architectural treatment". When it fell into disuse it was threatened with demolition; the campaign to save it resulted in its Grade II listing.
Ballet Rambert's offices and training studios were housed in 94-96 Chiswick High Road from 1971 until 2013, when the company moved across London to the South Bank. The premises have been converted into the Chiswick Cinema, opened in 2021 with five screens and a bar.
## Conservation areas
In 2015, Hounslow Council appraised part of Chiswick High Road as a conservation area, near those of Bedfork Park and the old village of Chiswick, to the north and south respectively. The area's western end is on Clifton Gardens (a short distance east of Turnham Green), and its eastern end is on Chiswick Lane; it extends northwards to take in the buildings on the east side of Turnham Green Terrace, whose shops and restaurants are part of the same shopping centre. The appraisal noted that the "consistent three storey height, regular fenestration pattern, strong parapet line and plot widths work together to provide a regular rhythm" along the High Road.
In 2021, Hounslow Council reappraised the Turnham Green Conservation area. This is adjacent to the Chiswick High Road conservation area, covering the part of the High Road from Chiswick Road in Gunnersbury to the west, via the whole of Turnham Green common and the buildings facing its north side along the High Road, to Clifton Gardens in the east. It takes in a substantial area to the south of the common, and was extended in 2019 to include the streets between Sutton Court Road and Duke's Avenue down to the Great West Road.
## Cycling and traffic
In 2020, Hounslow Council and Transport for London installed a two-way cycle lane, Cycleway 9, on the south side of Chiswick High Road in a "low traffic neighbourhood" scheme. The lane had a mixed reception among traders and the public. |
5,760,156 | Blacktip shark | 1,154,055,187 | Species of shark | [
"Carcharhinus",
"Fish described in 1839",
"Fish of the Dominican Republic",
"Near threatened biota of Africa",
"Near threatened biota of Asia",
"Near threatened biota of Europe",
"Near threatened biota of Oceania",
"Near threatened biota of South America",
"Near threatened fauna of North America",
"Pantropical fish",
"Taxa named by Friedrich Gustav Jakob Henle",
"Taxa named by Johannes Peter Müller",
"Vulnerable fish"
]
| The blacktip shark (Carcharhinus limbatus) is a species of requiem shark, and part of the family Carcharhinidae. It is common to coastal tropical and subtropical waters around the world, including brackish habitats. Genetic analyses have revealed substantial variation within this species, with populations from the western Atlantic Ocean isolated and distinct from those in the rest of its range. The blacktip shark has a stout, fusiform body with a pointed snout, long gill slits, and no ridge between the dorsal fins. Most individuals have black tips or edges on the pectoral, dorsal, pelvic, and caudal fins. It usually attains a length of 1.5 m (4.9 ft).
Swift, energetic piscivores, blacktip sharks are known to make spinning leaps out of the water while attacking schools of small fish. Their demeanor has been described as "timid" compared to other large requiem sharks. Both juveniles and adults form groups of varying size. Like other members of its family, the blacktip shark is viviparous; females bear one to 10 pups every other year. Young blacktip sharks spend the first months of their lives in shallow nurseries, and grown females return to the nurseries where they were born to give birth themselves. In the absence of males, females are also capable of asexual reproduction.
Normally wary of humans, blacktip sharks can become aggressive in the presence of food and have been responsible for a number of attacks on people. This species is of importance to both commercial and recreational fisheries across many parts of its range, with its meat, skin, fins, and liver oil used. It has been assessed as Vulnerable by the IUCN, on the basis of its low reproductive rate and high value to fishers.
## Taxonomy
The blacktip shark was first described by French zoologist Achille Valenciennes as Carcharias (Prionodon) limbatus in Johannes Müller and Friedrich Henle's 1839 Systematische Beschreibung der Plagiostomen. The type specimens were two individuals caught off Martinique, both of which have since been lost. Later authors moved this species to the genus Carcharhinus. The specific epithet limbatus is Latin for "bordered", referring to the black edges of this shark's fins. Other common names used for the blacktip shark include blackfin shark, blacktip whaler, common or small blacktip shark, grey shark, and spotfin ground shark.
## Phylogeny and evolution
The closest relatives of the blacktip shark were originally thought to be the graceful shark (C. amblyrhynchoides) and the spinner shark (C. brevipinna), due to similarities in morphology and behavior. However, this interpretation has not been borne out by studies of mitochondrial and ribosomal DNA, which instead suggest affinity with the blacknose shark (C. acronotus). More work is required to fully resolve the relationship between the blacktip shark and other Carcharhinus species.
Analysis of mitochondrial DNA has also revealed two distinct lineages within this species, one occupying the western Atlantic and the other occupying the eastern Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans. This suggests that Indo-Pacific blacktip sharks are descended from those in the eastern Atlantic, while the western Atlantic sharks became isolated by the widening Atlantic Ocean on one side and the formation of the Isthmus of Panama on the other. Blacktip sharks from these two regions differ in morphology, coloration, and life history characteristics, and the eastern Atlantic lineage may merit species status. Fossil teeth belonging to this species have been found in Early Miocene (23–16 Ma) deposits in Delaware and Florida.
## Description
The blacktip shark has a robust, streamlined body with a long, pointed snout and relatively small eyes. The five pairs of gill slits are longer than those of similar requiem shark species. The jaws contain 15 tooth rows on either side, with two symphysial teeth (at the jaw midline) in the upper jaw and one symphysial tooth in the lower jaw. The teeth are broad-based with a high, narrow cusp and serrated edges. The first dorsal fin is tall and falcate (sickle-shaped) with a short free rear tip; no ridge runs between the first and second dorsal fins. The large pectoral fins are falcate and pointed.
The coloration is gray to brown above and white below, with a conspicuous white stripe running along the sides. The pectoral fins, second dorsal fin, and the lower lobe of the caudal fin usually have black tips. The pelvic fins and rarely the anal fin may also be black-tipped. The first dorsal fin and the upper lobe of the caudal fin typically have black edges. Some larger individuals have unmarked or nearly unmarked fins. Blacktip sharks can temporarily lose almost all their colors during blooms, or "whitings", of coccolithophores. This species attains a maximum known length of 2.8 m (9.2 ft), though 1.5 m (4.9 ft) is more typical, and a maximum known weight of 123 kg (271 lb).
## Distribution and habitat
The blacktip shark has a worldwide distribution in tropical and subtropical waters. In the Atlantic, it is found from Massachusetts to Brazil, including the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, and from the Mediterranean Sea, Madeira, and the Canary Islands to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It occurs all around the periphery of the Indian Ocean, from South Africa and Madagascar to the Arabian Peninsula and the Indian subcontinent, to Southeast Asia. In the western Pacific, it is found from the Ryukyu Islands of Japan to northern Australia, including southern China, the Philippines and Indonesia. In the eastern Pacific, it occurs from Southern California to Peru. It has also been reported at a number of Pacific islands, including New Caledonia, Tahiti, the Marquesas, Hawaii, Revillagigedo, and the Galápagos.
Most blacktip sharks are found in water less than 30 m (98 ft) deep over continental and insular shelves, though they may dive to 64 m (210 ft). Favored habitats are muddy bays, island lagoons, and the drop-offs near coral reefs; they are also tolerant of low salinity and enter estuaries and mangrove swamps. Although an individual may be found some distance offshore, blacktip sharks do not inhabit oceanic waters. Seasonal migration has been documented for the population off the east coast of the United States, moving north to North Carolina in the summer and south to Florida in the winter.
## Biology and ecology
The blacktip shark is an extremely fast, energetic predator that is usually found in groups of varying size. Segregation by sex and age does not occur; adult males and nonpregnant females are found apart from pregnant females, and both are separated from juveniles. In Terra Ceia Bay, Florida, a nursery area for this species, juvenile blacktips form aggregations during the day and disperse at night. They aggregate most strongly in the early summer when the sharks are youngest, suggesting that they are seeking refuge from predators (mostly larger sharks) in numbers. Predator avoidance may also be the reason why juvenile blacktips do not congregate in the areas of highest prey density in the bay. Adults have no known predators. Known parasites of the blacktip shark include the copepods Pandarus sinuatus and P. smithii, and the monogeneans Dermophthirius penneri and Dionchus spp., which attach the shark's skin. This species is also parasitized by nematodes in the family Philometridae (genus Philometra), which infest the ovaries.
### Behaviour
Like the spinner shark, the blacktip shark is known to leap out of the water and spin three or four times about its axis before landing. Some of these jumps are the end product of feeding runs, in which the shark corkscrews vertically through schools of small fish and its momentum launches it into the air. Observations in the Bahamas suggest that blacktip sharks may also jump out of the water to dislodge attached sharksuckers, which irritate the shark's skin and compromise its hydrodynamic shape. The speed attained by the shark during these jumps has been estimated to average 6.3 m/s (21 ft/s).
Blacktip sharks have a timid disposition and consistently lose out to Galapagos sharks (C. galapagensis) and silvertip sharks (C. albimarginatus) of equal size when competing for food. If threatened or challenged, they may perform an agonistic display: the shark swims towards the threat and then turns away, while rolling from side to side, lowering its pectoral fins, tilting its head and tail upwards, and making sideways biting motions. The entire sequence lasts around 25 seconds. This behavior is similar to the actions of a shark attempting to move a sharksucker; one of these behaviors possibly is derived from the other.
### Feeding
Fish make up some 90% of the blacktip shark's diet. A wide variety of fish have been recorded as prey for this species: sardines, herring, anchovies, ladyfish, sea catfish, cornetfish, flatfish, threadfins, mullet, mackerel, jacks, groupers, snook, porgies, mojarras, emperors, grunts, butterfish, tilapia, triggerfish, boxfish, and porcupinefish. They also feed on rays and skates, as well as smaller sharks such as smoothhounds and sharpnose sharks. Crustaceans and cephalopods are occasionally taken. In the Gulf of Mexico, the most important prey of the blacktip shark is the Gulf menhaden (Brevoortia patronus), followed by the Atlantic croaker (Micropogonias undulatus). Off South Africa, jacks and herring are the most important prey. Hunting peaks at dawn and dusk. The excitability and sociability of blacktip sharks makes them prone to feeding frenzies when large quantities of food are suddenly available, such as when fishing vessels dump their refuse overboard.
### Life history
As with other requiem sharks, the blacktip shark is viviparous. Females typically give birth to four to seven (range one to 10) pups every other year, making use of shallow coastal nurseries that offer plentiful food and fewer predators. Known nurseries include Pine Island Sound, Terra Ceia Bay, and Yankeetown along the Gulf Coast of Florida, Bulls Bay on the coast of South Carolina, and Pontal do Paraná on the coast of Brazil. Although adult blacktip sharks are highly mobile and disperse over long distances, they are philopatric and return to their original nursery areas to give birth. This results in a series of genetically distinct breeding stocks that overlap in geographic range.
Mating occurs from spring to early summer, and the young are born around the same time the following year after a gestation period of 10–12 months. Females have one functional ovary and two functional uteri; each uterus is separated into compartments with a single embryo inside each. The embryos are initially sustained by a yolk sac; in the 10th or 11th week of gestation, when the embryo measures 18–19 cm long (7.1–7.5 in), the supply of yolk is exhausted and the yolk sac develops into a placental connection that sustains the embryo until birth. The length at birth is 55–60 cm (22–24 in) off the eastern United States and 61–65 cm (24–26 in) off North Africa. The mortality rate in the first 15 months of life is 61–91%, with major threats being predation and starvation. The young remain in the nurseries until their first fall, when they migrate to their wintering grounds.
The growth rate of this species slows with age: 25–30 cm (9.8–11.8 in) in the first six months, then 20 cm (7.9 in) a year until the second year, then 10 cm (3.9 in) a year until maturation, then 5 cm (2.0 in) a year for adults. The size at maturity varies geographically: males and females mature at 1.4–1.5 m (4.6–4.9 ft) and 1.6 m (5.2 ft), respectively, in the northeastern Atlantic, 1.3–1.4 m (4.3–4.6 ft) and 1.5–1.6 m (4.9–5.2 ft), respectively, in the Gulf of Mexico, 1.5 and 1.6 m (4.9 and 5.2 ft) respectively off South Africa, and 1.7 and 1.8 m (5.6 and 5.9 ft), respectively, off North Africa. The age at maturation is 4–5 years for males and 7–8 years for females. The lifespan is at least 12 years.
In 2007, a 9-year-old female blacktip shark at the Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Center was found to be pregnant with a single near-term female pup, despite having never mated with a male. Genetic analysis confirmed that her offspring was the product of automictic parthenogenesis, a form of asexual reproduction in which an ovum merges with a polar body to form a zygote without fertilization. Along with an earlier case of parthenogenesis in the bonnethead (Sphyrna tiburo), this event suggests that asexual reproduction may be more widespread in sharks than previously thought.
## Human interactions
Blacktip sharks showing curiosity towards divers has been reported, but they remain at a safe distance. Under most circumstances, these timid sharks are not regarded as highly dangerous to humans. However, they may become aggressive in the presence of food, and their size and speed invite respect. As of 2008, the International Shark Attack File lists 28 unprovoked attacks (one fatal) and 13 provoked attacks by this species. Blacktip sharks are responsible annually for 16% of the shark attacks around Florida. Most attacks by this species result in only minor wounds.
As one of the more common large sharks in coastal waters, the blacktip shark is caught in large numbers by commercial fisheries throughout the world, using longlines, fixed-bottom nets, bottom trawls, and hook-and-line. The meat is of high quality and marketed fresh, frozen, or dried and salted. In addition, the fins are used for shark fin soup, the skin for leather, the liver oil for vitamins, and the carcasses for fishmeal. Blacktip sharks are one of the most important species to the northwestern Atlantic shark fishery, second only to the sandbar shark (C. plumbeus). The flesh is considered superior to that of the sandbar shark, resulting in the sandbar and other requiem shark species being sold under the name "blacktip shark" in the United States. The blacktip shark is also very significant to Indian and Mexican fisheries, and is caught in varying numbers by fisheries in the Mediterranean and South China Seas, and off northern Australia.
The blacktip shark is popular with recreational anglers in Florida, the Caribbean, and South Africa. It is listed as a game fish by the International Game Fish Association. Once hooked, this species is a strong, steady fighter that sometimes jumps out of the water. Since 1995, the number of blacktip sharks taken by recreational anglers in the United States has approached or surpassed the number taken by commercial fishing. The International Union for Conservation of Nature has assessed the blacktip shark as Vulnerable, as its low reproductive rate renders it vulnerable to overfishing. The United States and Australia are the only two countries that manage fisheries catching blacktip sharks. In both cases, regulation occurs under umbrella management schemes for multiple shark species, such as that for the large coastal sharks category of the US National Marine Fisheries Service Atlantic shark Fisheries Management Plan. No conservation plans specifically for this species have been implemented. |
19,194,236 | Manchester and Bolton Railway | 1,155,055,786 | Railway in Lancashire, England | [
"1831 establishments in England",
"British companies disestablished in 1848",
"British companies established in 1831",
"Closed railway lines in Greater Manchester",
"Early British railway companies",
"History of the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton",
"Irwell Valley",
"Rail transport in Greater Manchester",
"Railway companies disestablished in 1848",
"Railway companies established in 1831",
"Railway lines opened in 1838",
"Standard gauge railways in England"
]
| The Manchester and Bolton Railway was a railway in the historic county of Lancashire, England, connecting Salford to Bolton. It was built by the proprietors of the Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal Navigation and Railway Company who had in 1831 converted from a canal company. The 10-mile (16 km) long railway was originally to have built upon most of the line of the canal, but it was eventually built alongside the Salford and Bolton arms of the canal. The Act of Parliament also allowed the construction of a connection to Bury, but technical constraints meant that it was never built.
The railway required significant earthworks, including a 295-yard (270 m) tunnel. The railway termini were at Salford railway station and Trinity Street station in Bolton. The railway was opened in 1838 to passenger and freight services. In 1841 it was extended to Preston, and in 1844 to Victoria railway station in Manchester. It amalgamated with the Manchester and Leeds Railway in 1846.
The railway is in use today as part of the Manchester to Preston Line, although some of the original stations are no longer in use.
## History
### Background
In the 1820s a number of proposals for a railway between Manchester and Bolton were made, some well advanced enough to be submitted to Parliament. One, in 1825, was for a line from New Bailey in Salford, to Park Field in Bolton, and included a branch line to the Mersey and Irwell Navigation. The plan included the use of an inclined plane at Clifton to allow the railway to access the higher ground from thereon. Another scheme was to connect with the planned Liverpool and Manchester Railway near Eccles, and would reach Bolton via Moorside and Farnworth. Neither of these schemes progressed beyond the early stages of planning. In 1830 two more proposals to connect the towns were made. The Manchester to Preston Railway was unsuccessful, leaving open the way for the second scheme, which would become known as the Manchester and Bolton Railway.
### Manchester, Bolton & Bury Canal Company
In 1830 the Manchester, Bolton & Bury Canal Company, led by chairman John Tobin, began to promote the construction of a railway along the line of their canal, from Salford to Bolton and Bury. Alexander Nimmo was employed to assess the proposal, and reported that it was possible "so far as he expressed himself capable of judging from his present cursory view of the canal". The shareholders then sought a bill for a railway from Bolton to Manchester and on 23 August 1831 obtained an Act of Parliament to become the "Company of Proprietors of the Manchester, Bolton and Bury Canal Navigation and Railway Company". The act authorised the abandonment of the canal between the Irwell basin and Prestolee, and empowered the company to build a line from Manchester to Bolton and Bury, "upon or near the line of ... the Canal". Two branch lines were also authorised, one from Clifton Aqueduct through to Great Lever, and the other from Giants Seat through to Radcliffe and Bury. Due mainly to the objections of local mine owners who would have lost access to the canal and therefore their supply route, and who also would not have had branch railways built for them, the company agreed to an amending bill which would keep the canal and allow the new railway to be constructed alongside it. In 1832 the company obtained an Act that allowed it to build the railway along the new alignment. The Act also allowed for an extension of the railway to New Bailey Street in Salford, and from Church Wharf (the terminus of the canal at Bolton) to Bridge Street. Smaller branches in Bolton and Salford were also allowed.
Construction of the railway started in 1833, from Salford. The company attempted to alter the route of the Bury branch, and also to extend it to Rawtenstall, but they did not receive Parliamentary approval for this. In July 1834 the committee of management applied to Parliament for "an act to amend the line of the railway between Manchester and Bolton". The amendment would take the railway along much the same course as that proposed by the Manchester to Preston Railway and was authorised by Parliament in 1835. Work proceeded so slowly that further clauses were added to the proposed act, including a continuation of the railway from Bolton, to Liverpool. Although this continuation was never built, the Liverpool and Bury Railway built such a connection in 1848. A line from Clifton to Bolton, authorised in 1835, did not materialise. The connection to Bury was never built, due mainly to the objections of the company's engineer, Jesse Hartley. The Bury branch would have required a 1,100-yard (1,000 m) tunnel on a gradient of 1 in 100, at the time a difficult and expensive proposition.
Initially there were to have been three tracks, one for goods and another two for passengers, but only two were built. Work proceeded at a slow pace, in a piecemeal fashion, with contracts awarded for portions of the work as occasion demanded. Advertisements in the Bolton Chronicle appealed to Quarrymen for quantities of stone blocks to support the rails, and for excavators to construct parts of a proposed addition to the embankment from Agecroft towards Clifton Hall. Another advertisement in November that year advertised for tenders for contracts for the construction of bridges, viaducts, culverts and other structures to finish the line from Irwell Street in Salford, to Bolton. A difficult section of the railway was at Farnworth, where a tunnel was required to cut through the hillside. A double-bore tunnel 295 yards (270 m) long was built between 1835 and 1838, driven from both sides, with a large vertical shaft in the centre. This was later joined by a narrower single-bore tunnel, through which the down line was routed. Traffic along the upline was routed through the original tunnel.
Four acts of parliament were required to raise the necessary funds, and the line opened on 28 May 1838. From a report of the Directors on 9 January 1839, the railway had carried 228,799 passengers since its inception. In 1841 the company had 10 locomotive engines.
In 1845 William Hurst took over as Railway Superintendent for the company.
A branch line was also "to join and communicate with the ... Bolton and Leigh Railway", at a junction near the Daubhill Stationary Engine, this line was however, not built. The company later shared their railway, including their station at Salford, with the Manchester, Bury and Rossendale Railway Company (MB&RRC) and both worked together to construct a junction at Clifton Junction railway station. In 1846 the company was taken over by the Manchester and Leeds Railway, which itself became the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway the following year. In 1922 it amalgamated into the London and North Western Railway, and in 1923 this company amalgamated into the London, Midland and Scottish Railway. This company was nationalised in 1948 under the Transport Act 1947, and became part of British Railways.
## Route
The original terminus was at Salford railway station on New Bailey Street in Salford. Passing through Pendleton, Clifton Junction, Dixon Fold, Stoneclough and Farnworth the line ended at Bolton railway station. In 1841 the line was extended to Preston by the Bolton and Preston Railway. The route northwards to Blackburn followed four years later, whilst the Liverpool and Bury Railway's arrival in 1848 gave Bolton links eastward to Bury and Rochdale and westwards to Wigan and Liverpool. From Salford, the line was extended 1,290 yards (1,180 m) via several bridges and across Chapel Street, to Victoria Station in 1844. These lines had all become part of the expanding Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway system by 1858.
## Design
The rails were of broad-based parallel form and weighed 55 pounds per yard (27 kg/m). Gauge was 4 ft 8 in (1,420 mm). These rails were later replaced with 68 pounds per yard (34 kg/m) rails when the former were discovered to be insufficient to carry the weight of the trains using them. Significant earthworks were required along the route, and the 295-yard (270 m) tunnel at Farnworth was constructed in favour of a cutting. The tunnels were built through clay, and lined entirely with brick or masonry. Turntables were placed at each terminus.
Thirty three bridges were constructed, along with stone drainage facilities to keep water from the cuttings. The railway company was forced to change the design of some of these bridges, as insufficient room was given for the locomotives and carriages on the track to pass between the bridge supports, which were only 10 feet (3.0 m) wide. With only 12 inches (30 cm) of space between some vehicles and the bridge supports, a report by the Inspector of Railways on 11 December 1846 concluded that they were dangerous. On 19 November 1842 a guard named William Parker was killed on the railway, his skull found fractured, and on 26 July 1844 a guard named James Cook was killed as he leant out and was struck by a support. It was also reported that the distance between rails at these bridges was only 4 feet (1.2 m), whereas the normal distance was 6 feet (1.8 m).
## Locomotive types and coaches
The company purchased four Bury Type locomotives from Bury, Curtis and Kennedy, two from George Forrester and Company, and two from William Fairbairn & Sons. Two further Bury 2-2-0s were acquired by the railway in 1844–45. Coaches were first and second class; each first class carriage held 18 passengers, and each second class carriage held 32 passengers. Third class carriages were introduced on 11 June 1838 but discontinued on 1 December 1838 after the company found that many passengers were vacating first and second class, for the cheaper third class. The company had 15 first class carriages, and 22 second class carriages.
## Fares and services
Initially, first class passenger fares were two shillings and six pence (2s 6d - "half-a-crown") for the entire ten mile journey, or 3d per mile. This is the equivalent of at least £10 in 2011 values. Second class was 2s, or 2.40d per mile. On 11 June 1838, a new pricing structure was introduced, with first class costing 2s, second class 1s 6d, and third class 1s. Passenger tickets were taken in transit.
Freight was charged at a maximum rate of 4.02d, and a minimum of 3d per ton per mile.
The first train to use the new line was pulled by the Victoria. It left Manchester at 8:00 am, and arrived in Bolton 26 minutes 30 seconds later. The second train was pulled by the Fairfield. The trains originally ran on the right hand set of rails, an unusual practice in England, however the railway later changed to left-hand running with the connection of the MB&RRC at Clifton. Ten trains ran in each direction per weekday, and two on Sundays. The journey from Salford to Bolton took about 35 minutes.
## See also
- Manchester to Preston Line |
851,580 | Soyuz TM-30 | 1,168,088,918 | Final crewed spaceflight to Mir | [
"Commercial spaceflight",
"Crewed Soyuz missions",
"Spacecraft launched in 2000"
]
| Soyuz TM-30 (Russian: Союз ТМ-30, Union TM-30), also known as Mir EO-28, was a Soyuz mission, the 39th and final human spaceflight to the Mir space station. The crew of the mission was sent by MirCorp, a privately funded company, to reactivate and repair the station. The crew also resupplied the station and boosted the station to an orbit with a low point (perigee) of 360 and a high point (apogee) of 378 kilometers (223 and 235 miles, respectively); the boost in the station's orbit was done by utilizing the engines of the Progress M1-1 and M1-2 spacecraft. At that time a transit between Mir and the International Space Station was already impossible - such a transfer was deemed undesired by NASA - and the orbital plane of ISS had been chosen some time before to be around 120 degrees away from that of Mir. The mission was the first privately funded mission to a space station.
The mission was part of an effort by MirCorp to refurbish and privatize the aging Mir space station, which was nearing the end of its operational life. Further commercially funded missions beyond Soyuz TM-30 were originally planned to continue the restoration efforts of the then 14-year-old space station, but insufficient funding and investment ultimately led to the de-orbit of the station in early 2001.
## Crew
Soyuz TM-30 was the first spaceflight for flight commander Zalyotin, who became a cosmonaut in 1990 and completed his general training two years later in 1992. TM-30 was the third visit to space made by flight engineer Kaleri, who became a cosmonaut in 1984 and completed general training in 1986. He served as flight engineer aboard the Soyuz TM-14 and TM-24 missions to Mir in 1992 and 1996–7, respectively.
### Backup crew
While Soyuz TM-30 was in orbit, a second privately funded mission was being planned to continue the restoration efforts aboard Mir. The crew assigned to this mission, although never flown, was reported to have been the backup crew for TM-30, cosmonauts Salizhan Sharipov and Pavel Vinogradov.
## Background
Soyuz TM-30 was intended by MirCorp to be the first in a series of missions to refurbish the 14-year-old Mir space station for commercial use. Although the mission was scheduled to last approximately two months, commander Sergei Zalyotin said before the flight that if additional funds became available the mission could be extended until August, when another crew would replace them. The other possible scenario, which occurred in reality, was again to leave the station uninhabited, as had been done several months before the mission. Towards the end of Soyuz TM-30 plans were formed to send another privately funded mission to continue with MirCorp's maintenance efforts; cosmonauts Salizhan Sharipov and Pavel Vinogradov were tentatively assigned as the crew.
Actor Vladimir Steklov trained and was initially assigned for a 2000 flight on Soyuz TM-30 to film scenes for the movie Thiefs and Prostitutes. Spaceflight is the Prize on Mir. The plans were scrapped weeks before launch due to lack of funding, and space scenes were filmed in studio instead.
## Mission highlights
Soyuz TM-30 launched at 05:01:29 UT on April 4, 2000. Docking occurred on April 6 at 06:31:24 UT. Although the Soyuz docking system is automated under normal conditions, the final few meters of the approach to the station were executed in manual mode. The decision to switch to manual mode came after the cosmonauts noticed a small deviation in the spacecraft's approach to the targeted docking port. At about 09:32 UT on the day of docking, the crew prepared to open the hatches between the Soyuz spacecraft and the station. After entering the station the crew stabilized the atmosphere inside Mir and undertook routine maintenance work.
On April 25, an uncrewed Progress resupply mission, Progress M1-2, launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome to the station to deliver supplies to the crew. Progress M1-2 docked with Mir on April 27. On April 26, the Progress M1-1 spacecraft, which had been docked since February and was used by the Russian Federal Space Agency to boost the station to a higher orbit, undocked and de-orbited over the Pacific Ocean east of New Zealand.
The mission's only Extra-Vehicular Activity, or spacewalk, took place on May 12, between 10:44 and 15:36 UTC. The primary objectives of the spacewalk were to repair damage to Mir's exterior components and record panoramas of the station's hull in order for experts on Earth to analyze the effects of space on the station itself. The cosmonauts inspected a malfunctioning solar array on the Kvant-1 module of the station. They discovered that a burnt-through wire connecting the array with its steering system was preventing its proper rotation. The array was subsequently deemed a loss.
On June 15, 2000, the TM-30 spacecraft undocked from the station at about 21:24 UT. The de-orbit burn occurred at about 23:52 UT and landing followed at about 00:44 UT on June 16, about 45 kilometers (28 mi) southeast of Arkalyk in Kazakhstan.
## Milestones
Soyuz TM-30 was the first privately funded crewed space expedition but several other firsts were also achieved, including the first privately funded extra-vehicular activity, and the first privately funded uncrewed resupply mission to a space station, utilizing the Progress-M1 spacecraft. Soyuz TM-30 also managed to delay the de-orbit of Mir, which was originally scheduled to occur some time in 2000, but ultimately occurred in March 2001.
## See also
- List of Mir Expeditions
- MirCorp |
16,095,249 | History of poison | 1,156,506,229 | Aspect of history surrounding poison | [
"Environmental history",
"Poisons"
]
| The history of poison stretches from before 4500 BCE to the present day. Poisons have been used for many purposes across the span of human existence, most commonly as weapons, anti-venoms, and medicines. Poison has allowed much progress in branches, toxicology, and technology, among other sciences.
Poison was discovered in ancient times, and was used by ancient tribes and civilizations as a hunting tool to quicken and ensure the death of their prey or enemies. This use of poison grew more advanced, and many of these ancient peoples began forging weapons designed specifically for poison enhancement. Later in history, particularly at the time of the Roman Empire, one of the more prevalent uses was assassination. As early as 331 BCE, poisonings executed at the dinner table or in drinks were reported, and the practice became a common occurrence. The use of fatal substances was seen among every social class; the nobility would often use it to dispose of unwanted political or economic opponents.
In Medieval Europe, poison became a more popular form of killing, though cures surfaced for many of the more widely known poisons. This was stimulated by the increased availability of poisons; shops known as apothecaries, selling various medicinal wares, were open to the public, and from there, substances that were traditionally used for curative purposes were employed for more sinister ends. At approximately the same time, in the Middle East, Arabs developed a form of arsenic that is odorless and transparent, making the poison difficult to detect. This "poison epidemic" was also prevalent in parts of Asia at this time, as well.
Over the centuries, the variety of harmful uses of poisons continued to increase. The means for curing these poisons also advanced in parallel. In the modern world, intentional poisoning is less common than the Middle Ages. Rather, the more common concern is the risk of accidental poisoning from everyday substances and products.
Constructive uses for poisons have increased considerably in the modern world. Poisons are now used as pesticides, disinfectants, cleaning solutions, and preservatives. Nonetheless, poison continues to be used as a hunting tool in remote parts of developing countries.
## Origins of poison
Archaeological findings prove that while ancient mankind used conventional weapons such as axes and clubs, and later swords, they sought more subtle, destructive means of causing death—something that could be achieved through poison. Grooves for storing or holding poisons such as tubocurarine have been plainly found in their hunting weapons and tools, showing that early humans had discovered poisons of varying potency and applied them to their weapons. Some speculate that this use and existence of these strange and noxious substances was kept secret within the more important and higher-ranked members of a tribe or clan, and were seen as emblems of a greater power. This may have also given birth to the concept of the stereotypical "medicine man" or "witch doctor".
Once the use and danger of poison was realized, it became apparent that something had to be done. Mithridates VI, King of Pontus (an ancient Hellenistic state of northern Anatolia), from around 114–63 BC, lived in constant fear of being assassinated through poison. He became a hard-working pioneer in the search for a cure for poisons. In his position of power, he was able to test poisons on criminals facing execution, and then if there was a possible antidote. He was paranoid to the point that he administered daily amounts of poisons in an attempt to make himself immune to as many poisons as he could. Eventually, he discovered a formula that combined small portions of dozens of the best-known herbal remedies of the time, which he named Mithridatium. This was kept secret until his kingdom was invaded by Pompey the Great, who took it back to Rome. After being defeated by Pompey, Mithridates' antidote prescriptions and notes of medicinal plants were taken by the Romans and translated into Latin.
Pliny the Elder describes over 7000 different poisons. One he describes as "The blood of a duck found in a certain district of Pontus, which was supposed to live on poisonous food, and the blood of this duck was afterwards used in the preparation of the Mithridatum, because it fed on poisonous plants and suffered no harm."
### India
Indian surgeon Sushruta defined the stages of slow poisoning and the remedies of slow poisoning. He also mentions antidotes and the use of traditional substances to counter the effects of poisoning.
Poisoned weapons were used in ancient India, and war tactics in ancient India have references to poison. A verse in Sanskrit reads "Jalam visravayet sarmavamavisravyam ca dusayet," which translates to "Waters of wells were to be mixed with poison and thus polluted."
Chānakya (c. 350–283 BC), also known as Kautilya, was adviser and prime minister to the first Maurya Emperor Chandragupta (c. 340–293 BC). Kautilya suggested employing means such as seduction, secret use of weapons, and poison for political gain. He also urged detailed precautions against assassination—tasters for food and elaborate ways to detect poison. In addition, the death penalty for violations of royal decrees was frequently administered through the use of poison.
### Egypt
Unlike many civilizations, records of Egyptian knowledge and use of poisons can only be dated back to approximately 300 BC. However, it is believed that the earliest known Egyptian pharaoh, Menes, studied the properties of poisonous plants and venoms, according to early records.
The Egyptians are also thought to have come into knowledge about elements such as antimony, copper, crude arsenic, lead, opium, and mandrake (among others) which are mentioned in papyri. Egyptians are now thought to be the first to master distillation, and to manipulate the poison that can be retrieved from apricot kernels.
Cleopatra is said to have poisoned herself with an asp after hearing of Marc Antony's demise. Prior to her death, she was said to have sent many of her maidservants to act as guinea pigs to test different poisons, including belladonna, henbane, and the strychnine tree's seed.
After this, the alchemist Agathodaemon (around AD 300) spoke of a mineral that when mixed with natron produced a 'fiery poison'. He described this poison as 'disappearing in water', giving a clear solution. Emsley speculates that the 'fiery poison' was arsenic trioxide, the unidentified mineral having to have been either realgar or orpiment, due to the relation between the unidentified mineral and his other writings.
### Rome
In Roman times, poisoning carried out at the dinner table or common eating or drinking area was not unheard of, or even uncommon, and was happening as early as 331 BC. These poisonings would have been used for self-advantageous reasons in every class of the social order. The writer Livy describes the poisoning of members of the upper class and nobles of Rome, and Roman emperor Nero is known to have favored the use of poisons on his relatives, even hiring a personal poisoner. His preferred enema poison was said to be cyanide.
Nero's predecessor, Claudius, was allegedly poisoned with mushrooms or alternatively poison herbs. However, accounts of the way Claudius died vary greatly. Halotus, his taster, Gaius Stertinius Xenophon, his doctor, and the infamous poisoner Locusta have all been accused of possibly being the administrator of the fatal substance, but Agrippina, his final wife, is considered to be the most likely to have arranged his murder and may have even administered the poison herself. Some report that he died after prolonged suffering following a single dose at his evening meal, while some say that he recovered somewhat, only to be poisoned once more by a feather dipped in poison which was pushed down his throat under the pretense of helping him to vomit, or by poisoned gruel or an enema. Agrippina is considered to be the murderer, because she was ambitious for her son, Nero, and Claudius had become suspicious of her intrigues.
## Later imperial Asia
Despite the negative effects of poison, which were so evident in these times, cures were being found in poison, even at such a time where it was hated by the most of the general public. An example can be found in the works of Iranian born Persian physician, philosopher, and scholar Rhazes, writer of Secret of Secrets, which was a long list of chemical compounds, minerals and apparatus, the first man to distil alcohol and use it as an anti-septic, and the person who suggested mercury be used as a laxative. He made discoveries relating to a mercury chloride called corrosive sublimate. An ointment derived from this sublimate was used to cure what Rhazes described as 'the itch', which is now referred to as scabies. This proved an effective treatment because of mercury's poisonous nature and ability to penetrate the skin, allowing it to eliminate the disease and the itch.
### Nazi suicides by poison
Nazi war leader Hermann Göring used cyanide to kill himself the night before he was supposed to be hanged during the Nuremberg trials. Adolf Hitler had also taken a pill of cyanide but he bit down on the capsule and shot himself in the right temple shortly before the fall of Berlin along with his wife, Eva Braun.
## Present day
In the late 20th century, an increasing number of products used for everyday life proved to be poisonous. The risk of being poisoned nowadays lies more in the accidental factor, where poison be induced or taken by accident. Poisoning is the 4th most common cause of death within young people. Accidental ingestions are most common in children less than 5 years old.
However, hospital and emergency facilities are much enhanced compared to the first half of the 20th century and before, and antidotes are more available. Antidotes have been found for many poisons, and the antidotes for some of the most commonly known poisons are shown in the table above:
However, poison still exists as a murderous entity today, but it is not as popular form of conducting murder as it used to be in past times, probably because of the wider range of ways to kill people, better detection, and other factors that must be taken into consideration. One of the more recent deaths by poisoning was that of Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko in 2006 from lethal polonium-210 radiation poisoning.
### Other uses
Today, poison is used for a wider variety of purposes than it used to be. For example, poison can be used to rid an unwanted infestation by pests or to kill weeds. Such chemicals, known as pesticides, have been known to be used in some form since about 2500 BC. However, the use of pesticides has increased staggeringly from 1950, and presently approximately 2.5 million tons of industrial pesticides are used each year. Other poisons can also be used to preserve foods and building material.
### In culture
Today, in many developing peoples of countries such as certain parts of Africa, South America and Asia, the use of poison as an actual weapon of hunting and attack still endures.
In Africa, certain arrow poisons are made using floral ingredients, such as of that taken from the plant Acokanthera. This plant contains ouabain, which is a cardiac glycoside, oleander, and milkweeds. Poisoned arrows are also still used in the jungle areas of Assam, Burma and Malaysia. The ingredients for the creation of these poisons are mainly extracted from plants of the Antiaris, Strychnos and Strophanthus genera, and Antiaris toxicaria (a tree of the mulberry and breadfruit family), for example, is used in the Java island of Indonesia, as well as several of its surrounding islands. The juice or liquid extracts are smeared on the head of the arrow, and inflicts the target paralysis, convulsions and/or cardiac arrest, virtually on strike due to the speed in which the extracts can affect a victim.
As well as plant based poisons, there are others that are made that are based on animals. For example, the larva or pupae of a beetle genus of the Northern Kalahari Desert is used to create a slow-acting poison that can be quite useful when hunting. The beetle itself is applied to the arrow head, by squeezing the contents of the beetle right onto the head. Plant sap is then mixed and serves as an adhesive. However, instead of the plant sap, a powder made from the dead, eviscerated larva can be used.
## See also
- Visha Kanya
- Chinese alchemical elixir poisoning
- Forensic science
- List of chemical elements
- List of Extremely Hazardous Substances
- List of poisonings
- Poison
- Toxicity
## References and notes |
1,856,665 | M-113 (Michigan highway) | 1,167,310,764 | State highway in Grand Traverse County, Michigan, United States | [
"State highways in Michigan",
"Transportation in Grand Traverse County, Michigan"
]
| M-113 is a state trunkline highway in the US state of Michigan that runs in southern Grand Traverse County, connecting M-37 in Mayfield Township to US Highway 131 (US 131) near Walton Junction. Running through rural farmland and dense woodland, M-113 provides access to the village of Kingsley, as well as offering a route from US 131 to Traverse City. First designated in November 1927, the highway was extended in 1940 by adding the southernmost section near Walton Junction, which was originally part of US 131.
## Route description
M-113 starts west of Hannah at an intersection with M-37 south of Traverse City. The highway runs eastward through farm fields. In the community of Hannah, the highway passes the church and the cemetery before exiting. On the other side of the town, M-113 continues through more fields to Kingsley. The trunkline follows Main Street through the business district in the village. On the east side of town, M-113 runs through fields mixed with scattered groves of trees. The landscape transitions over to woodland just before a 90-degree turn south near Fife Lake. About south of the turn, M-113 intersects M-186 at the latter's western terminus. M-113 continues due south past Camp Pugsley Correctional Facility and turns southeasterly. The highway crosses a line of the Great Lakes Central Railroad, and then it terminates at US 131 north of the Manistee River and the Grand Traverse–Wexford county line.
M-113 is maintained by the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) like other state highways in Michigan. As a part of these maintenance responsibilities, the department tracks the volume of traffic that uses the roadways under its jurisdiction. These volumes are expressed using a metric called annual average daily traffic, which is a statistical calculation of the average daily number of vehicles on a segment of roadway. MDOT's surveys in 2009 showed that the highest traffic levels along M-113 were the 7,519 vehicles daily in the village of Kingsley; the lowest count was 4,161 vehicles per day south of the M-186 intersection. No section of M-113 has been listed on the National Highway System, a network of roads important to the country's economy, defense, and mobility.
## History
M-113 was first designated in November 1927 from M-42 (now M-37) west of Kingsley to a three-way junction with US 131 and M-131 near Fife Lake; at this time, US 131 ended west of Fife Lake and M-131 continued east to Fife Lake and north to Petoskey. M-42 was replaced by M-37 in 1940, and US 131 was relocated around the same time north from Walton Junction along a new alignment to Fife Lake. From Fife Lake northward, US 131 replaced M-131. The portion of M-131 running west of Fife Lake became M-186 and the remaining piece of US 131 between M-113 and Walton Junction was added to M-113. The routing has remained unchanged since.
## Major intersections
## See also |
13,986,506 | Poland in the Early Middle Ages | 1,158,303,959 | Overview about Poland in the Early Middle Ages | [
"Early medieval Poland"
]
| The most important phenomenon that took place within the lands of Poland in the Early Middle Ages, as well as other parts of Central Europe was the arrival and permanent settlement of the West Slavic or Lechitic peoples. The Slavic migrations to the area of contemporary Poland started in the second half of the 5th century AD, about a half century after these territories were vacated by Germanic tribes fleeing from the Huns. The first waves of the incoming Slavs settled the vicinity of the upper Vistula River and elsewhere in the lands of present southeastern Poland and southern Masovia. Coming from the east, from the upper and middle regions of the Dnieper River, the immigrants would have had come primarily from the western branch of the early Slavs known as Sclaveni, and since their arrival are classified as West Slavs and Lechites, who are the closest ancestors of Poles.
From there the new population dispersed north and west over the course of the 6th century. The Slavs lived from cultivation of crops and were generally farmers, but also engaged in hunting and gathering. The migrations took place when the destabilizing invasions of Eastern and Central Europe by waves of people and armies from the east, such as the Huns, Avars and Magyars, were occurring. This westward movement of Slavic people was facilitated in part by the previous emigration of Germanic peoples toward the safer areas of Western and Southern Europe. The immigrating Slavs formed various small tribal organizations beginning in the 8th century, some of which coalesced later into larger, state-like ones. Beginning in the 7th century, these tribal units built many fortified structures with earth and wood walls and embankments, called gords. Some of them were developed and inhabited, others had a very large empty area inside the walls.
By the 9th century, the West Slavs had settled the Baltic coast in Pomerania, which subsequently developed into a commercial and military power. Along the coastline, remnants of Scandinavian settlements and emporia were to be found. The most important of them was probably the trade settlement and seaport of Truso, located in Prussia. Prussia itself was relatively unaffected by Slavic migration and remained inhabited by Baltic Old Prussians. During the same time, the tribe of the Vistulans (Wiślanie), based in Kraków and the surrounding region, controlled a large area in the south, which they developed and fortified with many strongholds.
During the 10th century, the Lechitic Western Polans (Polanie, lit. "people of the open fields") turned out to be of decisive historic importance. Initially based in the central Polish lowlands around Giecz, Poznań and Gniezno, the Polans went through a period of accelerated building of fortified settlements and territorial expansion beginning in the first half of the 10th century. Under duke Mieszko I of the Piast dynasty, the expanded Polan territory was converted to Christianity in 966, which is generally regarded the birth of the Polish state. The contemporary names of the realm, "Mieszko's state" or "Gniezno state", were dropped soon afterwards in favour of "Poland", a rendering of the Polans' tribal name. The Piast dynasty would continue to rule Poland until the late 14th century.
## Origin of the Slavic peoples
### Slavic beginnings of Poland
The origins of the Slavic peoples, who arrived on Polish lands at the outset of the Middle Ages as representatives of the Prague culture, go back to the Kiev culture, which formed beginning early in the 3rd century AD and is genetically derived from the Post-Zarubintsy cultural horizon (Rakhny–Ljutez–Pochep material culture sphere) and itself was one of the later post-Zarubintsy culture groups. Such an ethnogenetic relationship is apparent between the large Kiev culture population and the early (6th–7th centuries) Slavic settlements in the Oder and Vistula basins, but lacking between these Slavic settlements and the older local cultures within the same region, that ceased to exist beginning in the 400–450 AD period.
### Zarubintsy culture
The Zarubintsy culture circle, in existence roughly from 200 BC to 150 AD, extended along the middle and upper Dnieper and its tributary the Pripyat River, but also left traces of settlements in parts of Polesie and the upper Bug River basin. The main distinguished local groups were the Polesie group, the Middle Dnieper group and the Upper Dnieper group. The Zarubintsy culture developed from the Milograd culture in the northern part of its range and from the local Scythian populations in the more southern part. The Polesie group's origin was also influenced by the Pomeranian and Jastorf cultures. The Zarubintsy culture and its beginnings were moderately affected by La Tène culture and the Black Sea area (trade with the Greek cities provided imported items) centers of civilization in the earlier stages, but not much by Roman influence later on, and accordingly its economic development was lagging behind that of other early Roman period cultures. Cremation of bodies was practiced, with the human remains and burial gifts including metal decorations, small in number and limited in variety, placed in pits.
### Kiev culture
Originating from the Post-Zarubintsy cultures and often considered the oldest Slavic culture, the Kiev culture functioned during the later Roman periods (end of 2nd through mid-5th century) north of the vast Chernyakhov culture territories, within the basins of the upper and middle Dnieper, Desna and Seym rivers. The archeological cultural features of the Kiev sites show this culture to be identical or highly compatible (representing the same cultural model) with that of the 6th-century Slavic societies, including the settlements on the lands of today's Poland. The Kiev culture is known mostly from settlement sites; the burial sites, involving pit graves, are few and poorly equipped. Not many metal objects have been found, despite the known native production of iron and processing of other metals, including enamel coating technology. Clay vessels were made without the potter's wheel. The Kiev culture represented an intermediate level of development, between that of the cultures of the Central European Barbaricum, and the forest zone societies of the eastern part of the continent. The Kiev culture consisted of four local formations: The Middle Dnieper group, the Desna group, the Upper Dnieper group and the Dnieper-Don group. The general model of the Kiev culture is like that of the early Slavic cultures that were to follow and must have originated mainly from the Kiev groups, but evolved probably over a larger territory, stretching west to the base of the Eastern Carpathian Mountains, and from a broader Post-Zarubintsy foundation. The Kiev culture and related groups expanded considerably after 375 AD, when the Ostrogothic state, and more broadly speaking the Chernyakhov culture, were destroyed by the Huns. This process was facilitated further and gained pace, involving at that time the Kiev's descendant cultures, when the Hun confederation itself broke down in the mid-5th century.
### Written sources
The eastern cradle of the Slavs is also directly confirmed by a written source. The anonymous author known as the Cosmographer of Ravenna (c. 700) names Scythia, a geographic region encompassing vast areas of eastern Europe, as the place "where the generations of the Sclaveni had their beginnings". Scythia, "stretching far and spreading wide" in the eastern and southern directions, had at the west end, as seen at the time of Jordanes' writing (first half to mid-6th century) or earlier, "the Germans and the river Vistula". Jordanes places the Slavs in Scythia as well.
### Alternative point of view
According to an alternative theory, popular in the earlier 20th century and still represented today, the medieval cultures in the area of modern Poland are not a result of massive immigration, but emerged from a cultural transition of earlier indigenous populations, who then would need to be regarded as early Slavs. This view has mostly been discarded, primarily due to a period of archaeological discontinuity, during which settlements were absent or rare, and because of cultural incompatibility of the late ancient and early medieval sites.
A 2011 article on the early Western Slavs states that the transitional period (of relative depopulation) is difficult to evaluate archeologically. Some believe that the Late Antique "Germanic" populations (in Poland late Przeworsk culture and others) abandoned East Central Europe and were replaced by the Slavs coming from the east, others see the "Germanic" groups as staying and becoming, or already being, Slavs. Current archeology, says the author, "is unable to give a satisfying answer and probably both aspects played a role". In terms of their origin, territorial and linguistic, "Germanic" groups should not be played off against "Slavs", as our current understanding of the terms may have limited relevance to the complex realities of the Late Antiquity and Early Middle Ages. Local languages in the region cannot be identified by archeological studies, and genetic evaluation of cremation burial remains has not been possible.
## Slavic differentiation and expansion; Prague culture
### Kolochin culture, Penkovka culture and Prague–Korchak culture
The final process of the differentiation of the cultures recognized as early Slavic, the Kolochin culture] (over the territory of the Kiev culture), the Penkovka culture and the Prague-Korchak culture, took place during the end of the 4th and in the 5th century CE. Beyond the Post-Zarubintsy horizon, the expanding early Slavs took over much of the territories of the Chernyakhov culture and the Dacian Carpathian Tumuli culture. As not all of the previous inhabitants from those cultures had left the area, they probably contributed some elements to the Slavic cultures.
The Prague culture developed over the western part of the Slavic expansion within the basins of the middle Dnieper River, Pripyat River and upper Dniester up to the Carpathian Mountains and in southeastern Poland, i.e., the upper and middle Vistula basin. This culture was responsible for most of the growth in 6th and 7th centuries, by which time it also encompassed the middle Danube and middle Elbe basins. The Prague culture very likely corresponds to the Sclaveni referred to by Jordanes, whose area he described as extending west to the Vistula sources. The Penkovka culture people inhabited the southeastern part, from Seversky Donets to the lower Danube (including the region where the Antes would be), and the Kolochin culture was located north of the more eastern area of the Penkovka culture (the upper Dnieper and Desna basins). The Korchak type designates the eastern part of the Prague-Korchak culture, which was somewhat less directly dependent on the mother Kiev culture than its two sister cultures because of its western expansion. The early 6th-century Slavic settlements covered an area three times the size of the Kiev culture region some hundred years earlier.
### Early settlements, economy and burials in Poland
In Poland, the earliest archeological sites considered Slavic include a limited number of 6th-century settlements and a few isolated burial sites. The material obtained there consists mostly of simple, manually formed ceramics, typical of the entire early Slavic area. It is on the basis of the different varieties of these basic clay pots and infrequent decorations that the three cultures are distinguished. The largest of the earliest Slavic (Prague culture) settlement sites in Poland that have been subjected to systematic research is located in Bachórz, Rzeszów County, and dates to the second half of 5th through 7th centuries. It consisted of 12 nearly square, partially dug-out houses, each covering the area of 6.2 to 19.8 (14.0 on the average) square meters. A stone furnace was usually placed in a corner, which is typical for Slavic homesteads of that period, but clay ovens and centrally located hearths are also found. 45 newer dwellings of a different type from the 7th/8th to 9th/10th centuries have also been discovered in the vicinity.
Poorly developed handicraft and limited resources for metal working are characteristic of the communities of all early Slavic cultures. There were no major iron production centers, but metal founding techniques were known; among the metal objects occasionally found are iron knives and hooks, as well as bronze decorative items (as can be found in 7th-century finds in Haćki, Bielsk Podlaski County, a site of one of the earliest fortified settlements). The inventories of the typical small open settlements also normally include various utensils made of stone, horn and clay (including weights used for weaving). The settlements were arranged as clusters of cabins along river or stream valleys, but above their flood levels, they were usually irregular and typically faced south. The wooden frame or pillar-supported square houses covered with a straw roof had each sides of 2.5 to 4.5 meters in length. Fertile lowlands were sought, but also forested areas with diversified plant and animal environment to provide additional sustenance. The settlements were self-sufficient; the early Slavs functioned without significant long-distance trade. Potter's wheels were used from the turn of the 7th century on. Some villages larger than a few homes have been discovered in the Kraków-Nowa Huta region from the 6th to 9th century, for example a complex of 11 settlements on the left bank of the Vistula in the direction of Igołomia. The original furnishings of Slavic huts are difficult to determine, because equipment was often made of perishable materials such as wood, leather or fabrics. Free- standing clay dome stoves for bread baking have been found on some locations. Another large 6th– to 9th-century settlement complex existed in the vicinity of Głogów in Silesia.
The Slavic people cremated their dead, typical for the inhabitants of their region for centuries. The burials were usually single, the graves grouped in small cemeteries, with the ashes placed in simple urns more often than in ground indentations. The number of burial sites found is small in relation to the known settlement density. The food production economy was based on millet and wheat cultivation, hunting, fishing, gathering and cattle breeding (swine, sheep and goats bred to a lesser extent).
### Geographic expansion in Poland and Central Europe
The earliest Slavic settlers from the east reached southeastern Poland in the second half of the 5th century, specifically the San River basin, then the upper Vistula regions, including the Kraków area and Nowy Sącz Valley. Single early sites are also known around Sandomierz and Lublin in Masovia and Upper Silesia. Somewhat younger settlement concentrations were discovered in Lower Silesia. In the 6th century, the above areas were settled. At the end of this century, or in the early 7th century, the Slavic newcomers reached Western Pomerania. According to the Byzantine historian Theophylact Simocatta, the Slavs captured in Constantinople in 592 named the Baltic Sea coastal area as the place from which they originated.
As of that time and in the following decades, Western Pomerania, plus some of Greater Poland, Lower Silesia and some areas west of the middle and lower Oder River made up the Sukow-Dziedzice culture group. Its origin is the subject of debate among archeologists. First settlements appear in the early 6th century and cannot be directly derived from any other Slavic archeological culture. They reveal certain similarities to the artifacts of the Dobrodzień group of the Przeworsk culture. According to scholars such as Siedow, Kurnatowska and Brzostowicz, it might be a direct continuation of the Przeworsk tradition. According to allochthonists, it represents a variant of the Prague culture and is considered its younger stage. The Sukow-Dziedzice group shows significant idiosyncrasies, such as no graves and (typical for the rest of the Slavic world) rectangular dwellings set partially below the ground level were found within its span.
This particular pattern of expansion into the lands of Poland and then Germany was a part of the great Slavic migration during the 5th-7th centuries from originating lands in the east to various countries of Central and Southeastern Europe. Another 6th-century route, more southern, took the Prague culture of the Slavs through Slovakia, Moravia and Bohemia. The Slavs also reached the eastern Alps and populated the Elbe and the Danube basins, from where they moved south to occupy the Balkans as far as Peloponnese.
### Ancient and early Medieval written accounts of the Slavs
Besides the Baltic Veneti (see Poland in Antiquity article), ancient and medieval authors speak of the East European, or Slavic Venethi. It can be inferred from Tacitus' description in Germania that his "Venethi" possibly lived around the middle Dnieper basin, which in his times would correspond to the Proto-Slavic Zarubintsy cultural sphere. Jordanes, to whom the Venethi meant Slavs, wrote of past fighting between the Ostrogoths and the Venethi that took place during the third quarter of the 4th century in today's Ukraine. At that time, the Venethi therefore would have been people of the Kiev culture. The Venethi, Jordanes reported, "now rage in war far and wide, in punishment for our sins", and were at that time made obedient to the Gothic king Hermanaric. Jordanes' 6th-century description of the "populous race of the Venethi" includes indications of their dwelling places in the regions near the northern ridge of the Carpathian Mountains and stretching from there "almost endlessly" east, while in the western direction reaching the sources of the Vistula. More specifically, he designates the area between the Vistula and the lower Danube as the country of the Sclaveni. "They have swamps and forests for their cities" (hi paludes silvasque pro civitatibus habent), he added sarcastically. The "bravest of these peoples", the Antes, settled the lands between the Dniester and the Dnieper rivers. The Venethi were the third Slavic branch of an unspecified location (most likely of the Kolochin culture), as well as the overall designation for the totality of the Slavic peoples, who "though off-shoots from one stock, have now three names".
Procopius in De Bello Gothico located the "countless Antes tribes" even further east, beyond the Dnieper. Together with the Sclaveni, they spoke the same language, of an "unheard of barbarity". According to Jordanes, the Heruli nation traveled in 512 across all of the Sclaveni peoples territories, and then west of there through a large expanse of unpopulated lands, as the Slavs were about to settle the western and northern parts of Poland in the decades to follow. All of the above is in good accordance with the findings of today's archeology.
Byzantine writers held the Slavs in low regard for the simple life they led and also for their supposedly limited combat abilities, but in fact they were already a threat to the Danubian boundaries of the Empire in the early 6th century, where they waged plundering expeditions. Procopius, the anonymous author of Strategicon, and Theophylact Simocatta wrote at some length on how to deal with the Slavs militarily, which suggests that they had become a formidable adversary. John of Ephesus actually goes as far as saying in the last quarter of the 6th century that the Slavs had learned to conduct war better than the Byzantine army. The Balkan Peninsula was indeed soon overrun by the Slavic invaders during the first half of the 7th century under Emperor Heraclius.
The above-mentioned authors provide various details on the character, living conditions, social structure and economic activities of the early Slavic people, some of which are confirmed by the archeological discoveries in Poland, since the Slavic communities were quite similar all over their range. Their uniform Old Slavic language remained in use until the 9th to 12th centuries, depending on the region. The Greek missionaries Saints Cyril and Methodius from Thessaloniki, where "everybody fluently spoke Slavic", were expected to be able to communicate in distant Moravia without any difficulty when sent there in 863 by the Byzantine ruler.
### Invasions of the Avars in Europe and their presence in Poland
In the 6th century, the Turkic-speaking nomadic Avars moved into the middle Danube area. Twice (in 562 and 566–567), the Avars undertook military expeditions against the Franks, and their routes went through the Polish lands. The Avar envoys bribed Slavic chiefs from the lands they did not control, including Pomerania, to secure their participation in Avar raids, but other than that, the exact nature of their relations with the Slavs in Poland is not known. The Avars had some presence or contacts in Poland also in the 7th and 8th centuries, when they left artifacts in the Kraków-Nowa Huta region and elsewhere, including a bronze belt decoration found in the Krakus Mound. This last item, from the turn of the 8th century, is used to date the mound itself.
## Tribal differentiation
### 8th-century settlements
With the major population shifts of the Slavic migrations completed, the 8th century brought a measure of stability to the Slavic people settled in Poland. About one million people actively utilized no more than 20–25% of the land; the rest was mainly forest. Normal settlements, with the exception of a few fortifications and cult venues, were limited to lowland areas below 350 meters above the sea level. Most villages built without artificial defensive structures were located within valley areas of natural bodies of water. The Slavs were very familiar with the water environment and used it as natural defense.
The living and economic activity structures were either distributed randomly or arranged in rows or around a central empty lot. The larger settlements could have had over a dozen homesteads and be occupied by 50 to 80 residents, but more typically there were just several homes with no more than 30 inhabitants. From the 7th century on, the previously common semi-subterranean dwellings were being replaced by buildings wholly above the surface, but still consisted of just one room. Pits were dug for storage and other uses. As the Germanic people before them, the Slavs left vacant regions between developed areas for separation from strangers and to avoid conflicts, especially along the limits of their tribal territories.
### Gord construction
The Polish tribes did build more imposing structures than the simple dwellings in their small communities: fortified settlements and other reinforced enclosures of the gord (Polish "gród") type. These were established on naturally suitable, defense-enhancing sites beginning in the late 6th or 7th century. Szeligi near Płock and Haćki are the early examples. A large-scale building effort took place in the 8th century. The gords were differently designed and of various sizes, from small to impressively massive. Ditches, walls, palisades and embankments were used to strengthen the perimeter, which often involved a complicated earthwork besides wood and stone construction. Gords of the tribal period were irregularly distributed across the country (there were fewer larger ones in Lesser Poland, but more smaller ones in central and northern Poland), and could cover an area from 0.1 to 25 hectares. They could have a simple or multi-segment architecture and be protected by fortifications of different types. Some were permanently occupied by a substantial number of people or by a chief and his cohort of armed men, while others were utilized as refuges to protect the local population in case of external danger. Beginning in the 9th century, the gords became the nuclei of future urban developments, attracting tradesmen of all kinds, especially in strategic locations. Gords erected in the 8th century have been researched extensively, for example the ones in Międzyświeć (Cieszyn County, Gołęszyce tribe) and Naszacowice (Nowy Sącz County). The last one was destroyed and rebuilt four times, with the final reconstruction completed after 989.
A monumental and technically complex border protection area gord of over 3 hectares in size was built around 770–780 in Trzcinica near Jasło on the site of an old Bronze Age era stronghold, probably the seat of a local ruler and his garrison. Thousands of relics were found there, including a silver treasure of 600 pieces. The gord was set afire several times and ultimately destroyed during the first half of the 11th century.
This larger scale building activity, from the mid-8th century on, was a manifestation of the emergence of tribal organisms, a new civilizational quality that represented rather efficient proto-political organizations and social structures on a new level. They were based on these fortifications, defensive objects, of which the mid-8th century and later Vistulan gords in Lesser Poland are a good example. The threat coming from the Avar state in Pannonia could have had provided the original motivation for the construction projects.
### Society organized into larger tribal units
From the 8th century on, the Slavs in Poland increasingly organized themselves in larger structures known as "great tribes," either through voluntary or forced association. The population was primarily involved in agricultural pursuits. Fields were cultivated as well as gardens within settlements. Plowing was done using oxen and wooden plows reinforced with iron. Forest burning was used to increase the arable area, but also to provide fertilizer, as the ashes lasted in that capacity for several seasons. Rotation of crops was practiced as well as the winter/spring crop system. After several seasons of exploitation, the land was being left idle to regain fertility. Wheat, millet and rye were most important crops; other cultivated plant species included oat, barley, pea, broad bean, lentil, flax and hemp, as well as apple, pear, plum, peach and cherry trees in fruit orchards. Beginning in the 8th century, swine gradually became economically more important than cattle; sheep, goats, horses, dogs, cats, chickens, geese and ducks were also kept. The agricultural practices of the Slavs are known from archeological research, which documents progressive increases over time in arable area and resulting deforestation, and from written reports provided by Ibrahim ibn Yaqub, a 10th-century Jewish traveler. Ibrahim described also other features of Slavic life, for example the use of steam baths. The existence of bath structures has been confirmed by archeology. An anonymous Arab writer from the turn of the 10th century mentions that the Slavic people made an alcoholic beverage out of honey and their celebrations were accompanied by music played on the lute, tambourines and wind instruments.
Gathering, hunting and fishing were still essential as sources of food and materials such as hide or fur. The forest was also exploited as a source of building materials such as wood. In addition, wild forest bees were kept there, and the forest could be used as a place of refuge. Until the 9th century, the population was separated from the main centers of civilization and self-sufficient with primitive, local community and household-based manufacturing. Specialized craftsmen existed only in the fields of iron extraction from ore and processing, and pottery; the few luxury items used were imports. From the 7th century on, modestly decorated ceramics were made with the potter's wheel. 7th– to 9th-century collections of objects have been found in Bonikowo and Bruszczewo, Kościan County (iron spurs, knives, clay containers with some ornamentation) and in the Kraków-Nowa Huta region (weapons and utensils in Pleszów and Mogiła), among other places. Slavic warriors were traditionally armed with spears, bows and wooden shields. Axes were used later, and still swords of the types popular throughout 7th– to 9th-century Europe were also used. Independent of distant powers, the Slavic tribes in Poland lived a relatively undisturbed life, but at the cost of some backwardness in civilization.
A qualitative change took place in the 9th century, when the Polish lands were crossed again by long-distance trade routes. Pomerania become a part of the Baltic trade zone, while Lesser Poland participated in trade centered in the Danubian countries. In the Upper Vistula basin, Oriental silver jewelry and Arab coins, often cut into pieces, "grzywna" iron coin equivalents (of the type used in Great Moravia) and even linen cloths served as currency.
The basic social unit was the nuclear family, consisting of parents and their children, which had to fit in a dwelling area of several to 25 square meters. The "big family," a patriarchal, multi-generational group of related families with the meaning of a kin or clan, was of declining importance during this period. A larger group was needed in the past (5th–7th centuries) for forest clearing and burning undertakings, when farming communities had to shift from location to location; in the 8th-century phase of agriculture, a family was sufficient to take care of their arable land. A concept of agricultural land ownership was gradually developing, at this point a family, not individual prerogative. Several or more clan territories were grouped into a neighborhood association, or "opole", which established a rudimentary self-government. Such a community was the owner of forested land, pastures, bodies of water and within it took place the first organization around common projects and the related development of political power. A big and resourceful opole could become, by extending its possessions, a proto-state entity vaguely referred to as a tribe. The tribe was the top level of this structure. It would contain several opoles and control a region of up to about 1500 square kilometers, where internal relationships were arbitrated and external defense organized.
A general assembly of all tribesmen took care of the most pressing of issues. Thietmar of Merseburg wrote in the early 11th century of the Veleti, a tribe of Polabian Slavs, with a report that their assembly kept deliberating till everybody agreed, but this "war democracy" was gradually being replaced by a government system in which the tribal elders and rulers had the upper hand. This development facilitated the coalescing of tribes into "great tribes," some of which under favorable conditions would later become tribal states. The communal and tribal democracy, with self-imposed contributions by the community members, survived in small entities and local territorial subunits the longest. On a larger scale, it was being replaced by the rule of able leaders and then dominant families, ultimately leading inevitably to hereditary transition of supreme power, mandatory taxation, service etc. When social and economic evolution reached this level, the concentration of power was facilitated and made possible to sustain by parallel development of a professional military force (called at this stage "drużyna") at the ruler's or chief's disposal.
### Burials and religion
Burial customs, at least in southern Poland, included raising kurgans. The urn with the ashes was placed on the mound or on a post thrust into the ground. In that position, few such urns survived, which may be the reason why Slavic burial sites in Poland are rare. All dead, regardless of social status, were cremated and afforded a burial, according to Arab testimonies (one from the end of the 9th century and another one from about 930). A Slavic funeral feast practice was also mentioned earlier by Theophylact Simocatta.
According to Procopius, the Slavs believed in one god, the creator of lightning and master of the entire universe, to whom all sacrificial animals (and sometimes people) were offered. The highest god was called Svarog throughout the Slavic area, but other gods were also worshiped in different regions at different times, often with local names. Natural objects such as rivers, groves or mountains were also celebrated, as well as nymphs, demons, ancestral and other spirits, who were all venerated and appeased by offering rituals, which also involved augury. Such beliefs and practices were later developed and individualized by the many Slavic tribes.
The Slavs erected sanctuaries, created statues and other sculptures, including the four-faced Svetovid, whose carvings symbolize various aspects of the Slavic cosmology model. One 9th-century specimen from the Zbruch River in modern Ukraine, found in 1848, is on display at the Archeological Museum in Kraków. Many of the sacred locations and objects were identified outside Poland, for example in northeastern Germany or Ukraine. In Poland, religious activity sites have been investigated in northwestern Pomerania, including Szczecin, where a three-headed deity once stood, and the Wolin island, where 9th– to 11th-century cult figurines were found. Archeologically confirmed cult places and figures have also been researched at several other locations.
## Early Slavic states and other 9th-century developments
### Samo's realm
The first Slavic state-like entity, the realm of King Samo, originally a Frankish trader, flourished close to Poland in Bohemia and Moravia, parts of Pannonia and more southern regions between the Oder and Elbe rivers during the period 623–658. Samo became a Slavic leader by helping the Slavs defend themselves successfully against Avar assailants. What Samo led was probably a loose alliance of tribes, and it fell apart after his death. Slavic Carantania, centered on Krnski Grad (now Karnburg in Austria), was more of a real state, developed possibly from one part of the disintegrating Samo's kingdom, but lasted under a native dynasty throughout the 8th century and became Christianized.
### Great Moravia and the establishment of a written Slavic language
Larger scale state-generating processes developed in Slavic areas in the 9th century. Great Moravia, the most prominent Slavic state of the era, became established in the early 9th century south of modern Poland. The original lands of Great Moravia included what is now Moravia and western Slovakia, plus parts of Bohemia, Pannonia and southern regions of Lesser Poland. The glory of the Great Moravian empire became fully apparent in light of archeological discoveries; lavishly equipped burials are especially spectacular. Such finds do not extend to the lands that now constitute southern Poland, however. The great territorial expansion of Great Moravia took place during the reign of Svatopluk I at the end of the 9th century. The Moravian state collapsed quite suddenly; in 906, weakened by an internal crisis and Magyar invasions, it ceased to exist entirely.
In 831, Mojmir I was baptized, and his Moravian state became a part of the Bavarian Passau diocese. Aiming to achieve ecclesiastical as well as political independence from East Frankish influence, his successor Rastislav asked the Byzantine emperor Michael III for missionaries. As a result, Cyril and Methodius arrived in Moravia in 863 and commenced missionary activities among the Slavic people there. To further their goals, the brothers developed a written Slavic liturgical language: Old Church Slavonic, which employed the Glagolitic alphabet created by them. They translated the Bible and other church texts into this language, thus establishing a foundation for the later Slavic Eastern Orthodox churches.
### The Czech state
The fall of Great Moravia made room for the expansion of the Czech or Bohemian state, which likewise incorporated some of the Polish lands. The founder of the Přemyslid dynasty, Prince Bořivoj, was baptized by Methodius in the Slavic rite during the later part of the 9th century and settled in Prague. His son and successor Spytihněv was baptized in Regensburg in the Latin Church, which marks the early stage of East Frankish/German influence in Bohemian affairs, which was destined to be decisive. Borivoj's grandson Prince Wenceslaus, the future Czech martyr and patron saint, was killed, probably in 935, by his brother Boleslaus. Boleslaus I solidified the power of the Prague princes and most likely dominated the Vistulan and Lendian tribes of Lesser Poland and at least parts of Silesia.
### 9th-century Polish lands
In the 9th century the Polish lands were still on the peripheries of medieval Europe as regards its major powers and events, but a measure of progress did take place in levels of civilization, as evidenced by the number of gords built, kurgans raised and movable equipment used. The tribal elites must have been influenced by the relative closeness of the Carolingian Empire; objects crafted there have occasionally been found. Poland was populated by many tribes of various sizes. The names of some of them, mostly from the western part of the country, are known from written sources, especially a Latin document written in the mid-9th century by the anonymous Bavarian Geographer. During this period, smaller tribal structures were disintegrating while larger ones were being established in their place.
Characteristic of the turn of the 10th century in most Polish tribal settlement areas was a particular intensification of gord building activity. The gords were the centers of social and political life. Tribal leaders and elders had their headquarters in their protected environment and some of the tribal general assemblies took place inside them. Religious cult locations were commonly located in the vicinity, while the gords themselves were frequently visited by traders and artisans.
### The Vistulan state
A major development of the 9th century period concerns the somewhat enigmatic Wiślanie, or Vistulans (Bavarian Geographer's Vuislane) tribe. The Vistulans of western Lesser Poland, mentioned in several contemporary written sources, were already a large tribal union in the first half of the 9th century. In the second half of the century, they were evolving into a super-tribal state until their efforts were terminated by more powerful neighbors from the south. Kraków, the main town of the Vistulans, with its Wawel gord, was located along a major "international" trade route. The main Vistulan-related archeological find is a late 9th-century treasure of iron-ax shaped grzywnas, well known as currency units in Great Moravia. They were discovered in 1979 in a wooden chest below the basement of a medieval house on Kanonicza Street in Kraków near the Vistula River and Wawel Hill. The total weight of the iron material is 3630 kilograms and the individual bars of various sizes (4212 of them) were bound in bundles, which suggests that the package was being readied for transportation. Other finds include the 8th-century Krakus, Wanda and other large burial mounds, and the remnants of several gords)
Vistulan gords, built from the mid-8th century on, were typically very large, often over 10 hectares in size. About 30 big ones are known. The 9th-century gords in Lesser Poland and in Silesia were likely built as a defense against Great Moravian military expansion. The largest one, in Stradów, Kazimierza Wielka County, had an area of 25 hectares and walls or embankments 18 meters high, but parts of this giant structure were probably built later. The gords were often located along the northern slope of the western Carpathian Mountains, on hills or hillsides. The buildings inside the walls were sparsely located or altogether absent, so for the most part, the role of the gords seems to have been something other than that of settlements or administrative centers.
Large mounds up to 50 meters in diameter are found not only in Kraków, but also in Przemyśl and Sandomierz. among other places (about 20 total). They were probably funeral locations of rulers or chiefs, with the actual burial site, on the top of the mound, long lost. Besides the mounds, the degree of gord development and the grzywna treasure point to Kraków as the main center of Vistulan power (instead of Wiślica, as also suspected in the past).
The most important written references to Vistulans come from The Life of Saint Methodius, also known as "The Pannonian Legend", most likely written by disciples of Methodius right after his death in 885. The fragment speaks of a very powerful pagan prince who resided in the Vistulan country, reviled the Christians and caused them great harm. He was warned by emissaries speaking on behalf of the missionary and advised to reform and voluntarily accept baptism in his own homeland. Otherwise, it was predicted, he would be forced to do so in a foreign land. According to the Pannonian Legend, that is exactly what eventually did happen. This passage is widely interpreted as an indication that the Vistulans were invaded and overrun by the army of Great Moravia and their pagan prince captured. This would have had to have happened during Methodius' second stay in Moravia, between 873 and 885, during the reign of Svatopluk I.
A further elaboration on this story is possibly found in a chronicle of Wincenty Kadłubek written some three centuries later. The chronicler, inadvertently or intentionally mixing different historic eras, talks of a past Polish war with the army of Alexander the Great. The countless enemy soldiers thrust their way into Poland, and the king himself, having previously subjugated the Pannonians, entered through Moravia as if it were a back door. He victoriously unfolded the wings of his forces and conquered the Kraków area lands and Silesia, in the process leveling Kraków's ancient city walls. The evidence of a dozen or more gords attacked and destroyed in southern Lesser Poland at the end of 9th century lends some archeological credence to this fanciful version of events.
East of the Vistulans, eastern Lesser Poland was the territory of the Lendian tribe (Lędzianie, the Bavarian Geographer's "Lendizi"). In the mid-10th century Constantine VII wrote their name as Lendzaneoi. The Lendians had to be a very substantial tribe, since the names for Poland in the Lithuanian and Hungarian languages and for the Poles in medieval Ruthenian all begin with the letter "L" and are derived from the name of this tribe. The Poles historically have also referred to themselves as "Lechici". After the fall of Great Moravia, the Magyars controlled at least part of the territory of the Lendians. They were conquered by Kievan Rus' during 930–940. At the end of the 10th century, the Lendian lands became divided; the western part was taken by Poland, the eastern portion retained by Kievan Rus'.
The Vistulans were probably also subjected to Magyar raids as an additional layer of embankments was often added to the gord fortifications in the early part of the 10th century. In the early or mid-10th century, the Vistulan entity, like Silesia, was incorporated by Boleslaus I of Bohemia into the Czech state. This association turned out to be beneficial in terms of economic development, because Kraków was an important station on the Prague—Kiev trade route. The first known Christian church structures were erected on Wawel Hill. Later in the 10th century, under uncertain circumstances, but in a peaceful way (the gord network suffered no damage on this occasion), the Vistulans became a part of the Piast Polish state.
### The Baltic coast
In terms of economic and general civilizational achievement, the most advanced region that corresponds to the modern boundaries of Poland in the 9th century was Pomerania. It was also characterized by the most extensive contacts with the external world, and accordingly, the greatest cultural richness and diversity. Pomerania was a favorite destination for traders and other entrepreneurs from distant lands, some of whom established local manufacturing and trade centers; those were usually accompanied by nearby gords inhabited by the local elite. Some of these complexes gave rise to early towns or urban centers such as Wolin, Pyrzyce or Szczecin. The Bavarian Geographer mentioned two tribes, the Velunzani ("Uelunzani") and Pyritzans ("Prissani") in the area, each with 70 towns. Despite the high level of economic advancement, no social structures indicative of statehood developed in Farther Pomeranian societies, except for the Wolin city-state.
The Wolin settlement was established on the island of the same name in the late 8th century. Located at the mouth of the Oder River, Wolin from the beginning was involved with long distance Baltic Sea trade. The settlement, thought to be identical with both Vineta and Jomsborg, was pagan, multiethnic, and readily kept accepting newcomers, especially craftsmen and other professionals, from all over the world. Being located on a major intercontinental sea route, it soon became a major European industrial and trade power. Writing in the 11th century, Adam of Bremen recognized Wolin as one of the largest European cities, inhabited by honest, good-natured and hospitable Slavic people, together with other nationalities, from Greeks to barbarians, including the Saxons, as long as they did not demonstrate their Christianity too openly.
Wolin was the major stronghold of the Volinian tribal territory, comprising the island and a broad stretch of the adjacent mainland, with its frontier guarded by a string of gords. The city's peak of prosperity occurred around and after year 900, when a new seaport was built (the municipal complex had now four of them) and the metropolitan area was secured by walls and embankments. The archeological findings there include a great variety of imported goods (even from the Far East) and locally manufactured products and raw materials; amber and precious metals figure prominently, as jewelry was one of the mainstay economic activities of the Wolinian elite.
Truso in Prussia was another Baltic seaport and trade emporium known from the reworking of Orosius' universal history by Alfred the Great. King Alfred included a description of a voyage undertaken around 890 by Wulfstan from the Danish port of Hedeby to Truso, which is located near the mouth of the Vistula. Wulfstan gave a rather detailed description of the location of Truso, within the land of the Aesti, yet close to the Slavic areas west of the Vistula. Truso's actual site was discovered in 1982 at Janów Pomorski, near Elbląg.
Established as a seaport by the Vikings and Danish traders at the end of the 8th century in the Prussian border area previously already explored by the Scandinavians, Truso lasted as a major city and commercial center until the early 11th century, when it was destroyed and replaced in that capacity by Gdańsk. The settlement covered an area of 20 hectares and consisted of a two-dock seaport, the craft-trade portion, and the peripheral residential development, all protected by a wood and earth bulwark separating it from the mainland. The port-trade and craftsmen zones were themselves separated by a fire control ditch with water flowing through it. There were several rows of houses, including long Viking hall structures, waterside warehouses, market areas and wooden beam covered streets. Numerous relics were found there, including weights used also as currency units, coins (from English to Arab) and workshops processing metal, jewelry or large quantities of amber. Remnants of long Viking boats were also found, the whole complex being a testimony to Viking preoccupation with commerce, the mainstay of their activities around the Baltic Sea region. The multi-ethnic Truso had extensive trade contacts not only with distant lands and Scandinavia, but also the Slavic areas located to the south and west of it, from where ceramics and other products were transported along the Vistula in river crafts. Ironically, Truso's sudden destruction by fire and subsequent disappearance was apparently a result of a Viking raid.
This connection to the Baltic trade zone led to an establishment of inner-Slavic long-distance trade routes. Lesser Poland participated in exchange centered in the Danubian countries. Oriental silver jewelry and Arab coins, often cut into pieces, "grzywna" iron coin equivalents (of the type used in Great Moravia) in the Upper Vistula basin and even linen cloths served as currency.
### Magyar intrusion
The Magyars were at first yet another wave of nomadic invaders. Of the Uralic languages family, coming from northwestern Siberia, they migrated south and west, occupying the Pannonian Basin from the end of the 9th century. From there, until the second half of the 10th century, when they were forced to settle, they raided and pillaged vast areas of Europe, including Poland. A saber and ornamental elements were found in a Hungarian warrior's grave from the first half of the 10th century in the Przemyśl area.
Geographically, the Magyar invasions interfered with the previously highly influential contacts between Central Europe and centers of Byzantine Christianity. It may have been the decisive factor that steered Poland toward the Western (Latin) branch of Christianity by the time of its adoption in 966.
## 10th-century developments in Greater Poland; Mieszko's state
### Tribal Greater Poland
The 10th century brought a notable development in the form of settlement stability on Polish lands. Short-lived prehistoric settlements gradually gave way to villages on fixed sites. The number of villages grew with time, but their sites rarely shifted. The population distribution patterns established from that century on are evident on today's landscape.
Sources from the 9th and 10th centuries make no mention of the Polan (Polanie) tribe. The closest thing would be the huge (400 gords) Glopeani tribe of the Bavarian Geographer, whose name seems to be derived from that of Lake Gopło, but archeological investigations cannot confirm any such scale of settlement activity in Lake Gopło area. What the research does indicate is the presence of several distinct tribes in 9th-century Greater Poland, one around the upper and middle Obra River basin, one in the lower Obra basin, and another one west of the Warta River. There was the Gniezno area tribe, whose settlements were concentrated around the regional cult center: the Lech Hill of today's Gniezno. Throughout the 9th century, the Greater Poland tribes did not constitute a uniform entity or whole in the cultural, or settlement pattern sense. The centrally located Gniezno Land was at that time rather isolated from external influences, such as from the highly developed Moravian-Czech or Baltic Sea centers. Such separation was probably a positive factor by facilitating the efforts of a lineage of leaders from an elder clan of a tribe there, known as the Piast House, which resulted in the early part of the 10th century in the establishment of an embryonic Polish state.
### Mieszko's state and its origins
What was later to be called the Gniezno state, also known as Mieszko's state, was first expanded at the expense of the subdued tribes in the era of Mieszko's father and grandfather. Writing around 965 or 966 Ibrahim ibn Yaqub described the country of Mieszko, "the king of the North", as the most wide-ranging of the Slavic lands. Mieszko, the ruler of the Slavs, was also mentioned as such at that time by Widukind of Corvey in his Res gestae saxonicae. In its mature form, this state included the West Slavic lands between the Oder and Bug rivers and between the Baltic Sea and the Carpathian Mountains, including the economically crucial mouth areas of the Vistula and Oder rivers, as well as Lesser Poland and Silesia.
The name of Poles (Polanians, Polyans, Polans) appears in writing for the first time around year 1000, just like the country's name Poland (Latinized as Polonia). "Polanie" was possibly the name given by later historians to the inhabitants of Greater Poland (a presumed tribe not mentioned in earlier sources). 10th-century inhabitants of Greater Poland would originate from tribes not known by name that were instrumental in bringing about the establishment of the Polish state; one such tribe had to constitute the immediate power base of Mieszko's predecessors, if not Mieszko himself.
### The account of Gallus Anonymus vs. archeology
In the early 12th century, the chronicler Gallus Anonymus wrote down or invented a legend about the Piast dynasty. Amid miraculous details, the story offers the names of the supposed ancestors of the royal family, beginning with a man named Chościsko, the father of the central figure Piast the Wheelwright, who was a humble farmer living in Gniezno and married to Rzepka. According to Gallus, the male heads of the Piast clan following after him were Siemowit, Lestek, Siemomysł and Mieszko I, the first "Piast" known with historic certainty. Gallus expressed his own misgivings concerning the trustworthiness of the royal story he passed on, but he did consider the sequence of the last three names of Mieszko's predecessors to be reliable.
The results of archeological studies of 9th- and 10th-century gords in Greater Poland are at odds with the timing of this story. There was no Gniezno settlement in the 9th century; there was a pagan cult site there beginning only at the turn of the 10th century. The Gniezno gord was built around year 940, possibly because the location, of great spiritual importance to the tribal community, would rally the local population around its building and defense.
### The early Piast state and its expansion
Under the old tribal system, the tribal assembly elected a chief in case of an external threat to lead the defense effort, and it was a temporarily granted authority. The Piast clan was able to replace this practice in the Gniezno area with a hereditary ruler, in line with trends in other locations at the time. This allowed the Piast clan to create a state that they could over generations.
The development of the Piast state can be traced to some degree by following the disappearance of the old tribal gords, many of them built in Greater Poland during the later part of the 9th century and soon thereafter, which were destroyed by the advancing Gniezno tribal population. The gords in Spławie, Września County and in Daleszyn, Gostyń County, for example, both built soon after 899, were attacked and taken over by the Piast state forces, the first one burned during the initial period of the armed expansion. The old gords were often rebuilt or replaced beginning in the first decades of the 10th century by new, large and massively reinforced Piast gords. Connected by water communication lines, the powerful gords of the mid-10th century served as the main concentrations of forces of the emerging state.
Parallel with the gord building activity of ca. 920-50, the Piasts undertook military expansion by crossing the Warta River and moving south and west within the Oder River basin. The entire network of tribal gords between the Obra and Barycz rivers, among other places, was eliminated. The conquered population was often resettled to central Greater Poland, which resulted in partial depopulation of previously well-developed regions. At the end of this stage of the Piast state formation new Piast gords were built in the (north) Noteć River area and other outlying areas of the annexed lands, for example in Santok and Śrem around 970. During the following decade the job of unifying the core of the early Piast state was finished—besides Greater Poland with Kujawy it included also much of central Poland. Masovia and parts of Pomerania found themselves increasingly under the Piast influence, while the southbound expansion was for the time being stalled, because large portions of Lesser Poland and Silesia were controlled by the Czech state.
The expanding Piast state developed a professional military force. According to Ibrahim ibn Yaqub, Mieszko collected taxes in the form of weights used for trading and spent those taxes as monthly pay for his warriors. He had three thousand heavily armored mounted soldiers alone, whose quality according to Ibrahim was very impressive. Mieszko provided for all their equipment and needs, even military pay for their children regardless of their gender, from the moment they were born. This force was supported by a much greater number of foot fighters. Numerous armaments were found in the Piast gords, many of them of foreign, e.g. Frankish or Scandinavian origin. Mercenaries from these regions, as well as German and Norman knights, constituted a significant element of Mieszko's elite fighting guard.
### Revenue generating measures and conquests
To sustain this military machine and meet other state expenses, large amounts of revenue were necessary. Greater Poland had some natural resources used for trade, such as fur, hide, honey and wax, but those surely did not provide enough income. According to Ibrahim ibn Yaqub, Prague in Bohemia, a city built of stone, was the main center for the exchange of trading commodities in this part of Europe. From Kraków, the Slavic traders brought tin, salt, amber and whatever other products they had, most importantly slaves; Muslim, Jewish, Hungarian and other traders were the buyers. The Life of St. Adalbert, written at the end of the 10th century by John Canaparius, records the fate of many Christian slaves sold in Prague as the main curse of the time. Dragging of shackled slaves is shown as a scene in the bronze 12th-century Gniezno Doors. It may well be that the territorial expansion financed itself by being the source of loot, of which the captured local people were the most valuable part. The scale of the human trade practice is arguable, however, because much of the population from the defeated tribes was resettled for agricultural work or in the near-gord settlements, where they could serve the victors in various capacities and thus contribute to the economic and demographic potential of the state. Considerable increase of population density was characteristic of the newly established states in eastern and Central Europe. The slave trade not insufficient to meet all revenue needs, the Piast state had to look for other options.
Mieszko thus strove to subdue Pomerania at the Baltic coast. The area was the site of wealthy trade emporia, frequently visited by traders, especially from the east, west and north. Mieszko had every reason to believe that great profits would have resulted from his ability to control the rich seaports situated on long distance trade routes such as Wolin, Szczecin and Kołobrzeg.
The Piast state reached the mouth of the Vistula first. Based on the investigations of the gords erected along the middle and lower Vistula, it appears that the lower Vistula waterway was under Piast control from about the mid-10th century. A powerful gord built in Gdańsk, under Mieszko at the latest, solidified Piast rule over Pomerelia. However, the mouth of the Oder River was firmly controlled by the Jomsvikings and the Volinians, who were allied with the Veleti. "The Veleti are fighting Mieszko", reported Ibrahim ibn Yaqub, "and their military might is great". Widukind wrote about events of 963 that involved the person of the Saxon count Wichmann the Younger, an adventurer exiled from his country. According to Widukind, "Wichmann went to the barbarians (probably the Veleti or the Wolinians) and leading them (...) defeated Mieszko twice, killed his brother, and acquired a great deal of spoils". Thietmar of Merseburg also reports that Mieszko with his people became subjects of the Holy Roman Emperor in 963, together with other Slavic entities such as the Lusatians who were forced into subjection by the powerful Margrave Gero of the Saxon Eastern March.
### Mieszko's relationship with Emperor Otto I
Series of military reverses and detrimental relationships, which involved the Czech Přemyslids allied with the Veleti besides rivals, compelled Mieszko to seek the support of the German Emperor Otto I. After the contacts were made, Widukind described Mieszko as "a friend of the emperor". A pact was negotiated and finalized no later than 965. The price Mieszko had to pay for the imperial protection was acceptance of the status of the emperor's vassal. He paid him tribute from the lands up to the Warta River and very likely also made a promise to accept Christianity.
### Mieszko's acceptance of Christianity
In response to immediate practical concerns, the Christian Church was installed in Poland in its Western Latin Church, an act that brought Mieszko's country into sphere of ancient Mediterranean culture. Of the issues requiring urgent attention, the preeminent one was the increasing pressure of the eastbound expansion of the German state (between the Elbe and the Oder rivers) and its plans to control the parallel expansion of the Church through the archdiocese in Magdeburg, the establishment of which was finalized in 968.
The so-called Baptism of Poland and the attendant processes did not take place through Mieszko's German connections. At that time, Mieszko was in the process of fixing an uneasy relationship with the Bohemian state of Boleslaus I. The difficulties were caused mainly by Czech cooperation with the Veleti. Already in 964, the two parties arrived at an agreement on that and other issues. In 965, Mieszko married Boleslaus' daughter Doubravka. Mieszko's chosen Christian princess, a woman possibly in her twenties,[^1] was a devout Christian and Mieszko's own conversion had to be a part of the deal. This act in fact followed in 966 and initiated the Christianization of Greater Poland, a region that up to that point had not been exposed to Christian influence, unlike Lesser Poland and Silesia. In 968, an independent missionary bishopric, reporting directly to the pope, was established, with Jordan installed as the first bishop.
The scope of the Christianization mission in its early phase was quite limited geographically, and the few relics that have survived come from Gniezno Land. Stone churches and baptisteries were discovered within the Ostrów Lednicki and Poznań gords, and a chapel in Gniezno. Poznań was also the site of the first cathedral, the bishopric seat of Jordan and Bishop Unger, who followed him.
### The early expansion of the Piasts, Great Moravian and Norman contributions
Newer research points out some other intriguing possibilities regarding the early origins of the Polish state in Greater Poland. There are indications that the processes that led to the establishment of the Piast state began during the period ca. 890-910. During these years, a tremendous civilizational advancement took place in central Greater Poland, as the unearthed products of all kinds that have been discovered are better made and more elaborate. The timing coincides with the breakdown of the Great Moravian state caused by the Magyar invasions. Before and after its fall in 905-07, many Great Moravian people, fearing for their lives, had to escape. According to the notes made by Constantine VII, they found refuge in neighboring countries. Decorations found in Sołacz graves in Poznań have their counterparts in burial sites around Nitra in Slovakia. In the Nitra area, there was also in medieval times a well-known clan named Poznan. The above indicates that the Poznań town was established by Nitran refugees, and more generally, the immigrants from Great Moravia contributed to the sudden awakening of the otherwise remote and isolated Piast lands.
The early expansion of the Gniezno Land tribe very likely began under Mieszko's grandfather Lestek, the probable real founder of the Piast state. Widukind's chronicle speaks of Mieszko ruling a Slavic nation called "Licicaviki", which was what Widukind made out of "Lestkowicy": the people of Lestko, or Lestek. Lestek was also reflected in the sagas of the Normans, who may have played a role in Poland's origins (an accumulation of treasures from the period 930-1000 is attributed to them). Siemomysł and then Mieszko continued after Lestek, whose tradition was alive within the Piast court when Bolesław III Wrymouth named one of his sons after him and Gallus Anonymous wrote his chronicle. The term "Lechici", popular later as a synonym for "Poles", may also have been inspired by Mieszko's grandfather.
### Early capitals, large scale gord construction
There is some disagreement as to the early seat of the ruling clan. Modern archeology has shown that the gord in Gniezno did not even exist before about 940. This fact eliminates the possibility of Gniezno's early central role, which is what had long been believed, based on the account given by Gallus Anonymus. The relics found in Giecz (including a great concentration of silver treasures), where the original gord was built some 80 years earlier, point to that location. Other likely early capitals include the old gords of Grzybowo, Kalisz or Poznań. Poznań, which is older than Gniezno, was probably the original site of Mieszko's court in the earlier years of his reign. The first cathedral church, a monumental structure, was erected there. The events of 974–78, when Mieszko, like his brother-in-law Boleslaus II of Bohemia, supported Henry II, Duke of Bavaria, in his rebellion against Otto II, created a threat of the emperor's retribution. The situation probably motivated Mieszko to move the government to Gniezno, which was safer due to its more eastern location. The emperor's response turned out to be ineffective, but this geographical advantage continued in the years to come. The growing importance of Gniezno was reflected in the addition around 980 of a new southern part to the original two segments of the gord. In the existing summary of the Dagome iudex document written in 991-92 before Mieszko's death, Mieszko's state is referred to as Civitas Gnesnensis'', or the Gniezno State.
The enormous effort of the estimated population of 100 to 150 thousand residents of the Gniezno region who were involved in building or modernizing Gniezno and several other main Piast gords was made in response to a perceived deadly threat, not just to help them pursue regional conquests. After 935, when the Gniezno people were probably already led by Mieszko's father Siemomysł, the Czechs conquered Silesia and soon moved also against Germany. The fear of desecration of their tribal cult center by the advancing Czechs could have mobilized the community. A Polabian Slav uprising was suppressed around 940 by Germany under Otto I, and the eastbound moving Saxons must have added to the sense of danger at that time (unless the Piast state was already allied with Otto, helping restrain the Polabians). When the situation stabilized, the Piast state consolidated and the huge gords turned out to be handy for facilitating the Piast's own expansion, led at this stage by Siemomysł.
### Alliance with Germany and conquest of Pomerania
Fighting the Veleti from the beginning of Mieszko's rule led to an alliance of his state with Germany. The alliance was natural at this point, because the German state was expanding eastbound as the Polish state was expanding westbound, with the Veleti common target in between. A victory was achieved in September of 967, when Wichmann, this time leading forces of the Volinians, was killed, and Mieszko, helped by additional mounted units provided by his father-in-law Boleslaus, had his revenge. Mieszko's victory was recognized by the Emperor Otto I as the turning point in the struggle to contain the Polabian Slavs, which had distracted him from pursuing his Italian policies. This new status allowed Mieszko to pursue his efforts to obtain for his country an independent bishopric. The Poles thus had their own bishopric before the Czechs, whose tradition of Christianity was much older. The victory of 967, as well as the successful fighting with Margrave Hodo that followed in the Battle of Cedynia of 972, allowed Mieszko to conquer further parts of Pomerania. Wolin however remained autonomous and pagan. Kołobrzeg, where a strong gord was built around 985, was probably the actual center of Piast power in Pomerania. Before, a Scandinavian colony in Bardy-Świelubie near Kołobrzeg functioned as the center of this area. The western part of Mieszko controlled Pomerania (the region referred to by Polish historians as Western Pomerania, roughly within the current Polish borders, as opposed to Gdańsk Pomerania or Pomerelia), which became independent of Poland during the Pomeranian uprising of 1005, when Poland was ruled by Mieszko's son Bolesław.
### Completion of Poland's territorial expansion under Mieszko
Around 980, in the west, Lubusz Land also came under Mieszko's control and another important gord was built in Włocławek much further east. Masovia was still more loosely associated with the Piast state, while the Sandomierz region was for a while their southern outpost.
The construction of powerful Piast gords in western Silesia region along the Oder River (Głogów, Wrocław and Opole) took place by 985 at the latest. The alliance with the Czechs was by that time over; Queen Doubravka, a member of the Czech royal family, died in 977. Mieszko, allied with Germany, then fought the Přemyslids and took over part of Silesia and then also eastern Lesser Poland (the Lendian lands). In 989, Kraków with the rest of Lesser Poland was taken over. That region, autonomous under the Czech rule, also enjoyed a special status within the Piast state. In 990, eastern Silesia was added, which completed the Piast takeover of southern Poland. By the end of Mieszko's life, his state included the West Slavic lands in geographic proximity and connected by natural features to the Piast territorial nucleus of Greater Poland. Those lands have sometimes been regarded by historians as "Lechitic", or ethnically Polish, even though in the 10th century, all the western Slavic tribes, including the Czechs, were quite similar linguistically.
Silver treasures, common in the Scandinavian countries, are found also in Slavic areas including Poland, especially northern Poland. Silver objects, coins and decorations, often cut into pieces, are believed to have served as currency units, brought in by Jewish and Arab traders, but locally more as accumulations of wealth and symbols of prestige. The process of hiding or depositing them, besides protecting them from danger, is believed by the researchers to represent a cult ritual.
A treasure located in Góra Strękowa, Białystok County, hidden after 901, includes dirhem coins minted between 764 and 901 and Slavic decorations made in southern Ruthenia that show Byzantine influence. This find is a manifestation of a 10th-century trade route running all the way from Central Asia through Byzantium, Kiev, the Dnieper and Pripyat rivers basins and Masovia to the Baltic Sea shores. Such treasures most likely belonged to members of the emerging elites.
## See also
- Prehistory and protohistory of Poland
- Stone-Age Poland
- Bronze- and Iron-Age Poland
- Poland in Antiquity
- History of Poland during the Piast dynasty
[^1]: Jerzy Strzelczyk – Bolesław Chrobry (Bolesław I the Brave), p. 15, Poznań 2003 |
64,752,668 | Lady Red Couture | 1,166,531,318 | American drag performer | [
"1977 births",
"2020 deaths",
"20th-century African-American women singers",
"21st-century African-American women singers",
"African-American drag queens",
"African-American television talk show hosts",
"American LGBT singers",
"American women television personalities",
"LGBT African Americans",
"LGBT people from Utah",
"Salt Lake Community College alumni",
"Transgender drag performers",
"Transgender women musicians",
"Weber State University alumni"
]
| Kareemia Baines (May 30, 1977 – July 25, 2020), known professionally as Lady Red Couture, was an American drag queen and singer best known as the co-host of Hey Qween! with Jonny McGovern. Born in Park City, Utah, she relocated to Los Angeles, where she became a fixture of the local drag scene. She released an album, \#Stuntqueen, in 2018, and she was featured in a number of other drag queens' singles and music videos throughout the 2010s. She also starred in Judge Lady Red, another web series produced by McGovern. Baines died on July 25, 2020, after a flare-up of cyclic vomiting syndrome, a chronic condition that affected her throughout her life.
## Early life
Baines was born in Park City, Utah, on May 30, 1977, to Kathleen Barnes. According to Baines's obituary in The New York Times, her father "left the family when she was young and was not a part of her life". She had a younger sister named Krystle Butler. Their mother was a nondenominational Christian minister, and Baines had a strained relationship with her. Ultimately, her mother kicked her out of their home for being transgender.
Baines attended George Washington Preparatory High School in Los Angeles. She was active in extracurricular activities including theatre and marching band, where she played trombone and tuba. As part of the band, she performed in the Rose Parade. After high school, she earned an associate's degree in culinary arts from Salt Lake Community College in Salt Lake County, Utah. In 2001, she graduated from Weber State University. After college, Baines was briefly employed as a chef for Amtrak. When she returned to Los Angeles, she took up work as a "security diva" at Gym Sportsbar and as a "budtender" at a MedMen cannabis shop.
## Career
Lady Red Couture began her drag career in 1995, regularly performing at venues like Hamburger Mary's. She was 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) in height and stood as tall as 7 ft 2 in (2.18 m) when wearing heels. As a vocalist, she was noted for her wide range and commanding stage presence, which, together with her stature, earned her the nickname "the largest live-singing drag queen". Also known as Mother Couture, she was widely regarded as a staple of the Los Angeles queer nightlife community.
Couture rose to international attention as the co-host of Hey Qween! with Jonny McGovern, a drag-focused talk show that features interviews with RuPaul's Drag Race contestants. She worked at Hey Qween! for eight seasons, from 2014 until her death. She also had a minor role in the 2011 film Leave It on the Floor; starred in Judge Lady Red, a 2015 web series produced by McGovern; and appeared in "Dickmatized", one of McGovern's music videos.
In 2016, Couture toured with the Drag Queens of Comedy. Two years later, in 2018, she released an album called \#Stuntqueen in collaboration with Adam Joseph, who also featured her on his EP The Rent. Lady Red Couture also produced a number of live shows, including an adaptation of The Vixen's "Black Girl Magic" in 2019. In June 2020, Harper's Bazaar featured her in its photo series "Striking Portraits of America's Most Legendary Drag Queens". She was known for helping aspiring drag queens learn to sew, do makeup, and perform.
## Personal life
Baines was a transgender woman. She and McGovern became close friends during the first season of Hey Qween!, and he invited her to move in with him after discovering she was living in a transient hotel.
## Death and legacy
On July 19, 2020, Baines was hospitalized in Los Angeles due to cyclic vomiting syndrome, a lifelong chronic condition. She was placed on a breathing tube in intensive care. On July 24, McGovern posted on social media that she appeared to be improving and would be moved out of intensive care. However, the following day, Baines died from complications of the illness. McGovern announced her death in an Instagram post. He had been raising money for Baines's medical expenses via GoFundMe and Venmo, and he subsequently redirected the funds to her family and funeral costs. An illegitimate GoFundMe page was also set up by an unknown party, but it was swiftly deactivated after McGovern discovered and publicly condemned it. A number of queer celebrities—including Isis King, Justin Tranter, and "virtually the entire cast of RuPaul's Drag Race"—expressed shock and sadness at her death, and they shared tributes to her life and work. In a report on her death, Billboard called Baines "a pillar of the drag and trans community".
In November 2020, McGovern released an EP titled Flowers (Songs to Lady Red), a tribute to Couture produced in collaboration with Adam Joseph. The same month, Hey Qween! aired an episode called "The Lady Red Memorial Special", in which performers including Honey Davenport, Jackie Beat, Sherry Vine, The Vixen, Latrice Royale, and Peppermint shared memories of Couture.
## Discography
### Studio albums
### EPs
### Singles
#### As lead artist
#### As featured artist
## Filmography
### Feature films
### Internet series
### Music videos |
17,218,703 | Geoff Smith (footballer, born 1928) | 1,164,073,060 | English footballer | [
"1928 births",
"2013 deaths",
"Bradford City A.F.C. players",
"English Football League players",
"English men's footballers",
"Keighley Central F.C. players",
"Men's association football goalkeepers",
"Nelson F.C. players",
"People from Cottingley, Bradford",
"Rossendale United F.C. players"
]
| Geoffrey "Geoff" Smith (14 March 1928 – 19 October 2013) was an English professional footballer who played 253 league games for Bradford City as a goalkeeper, including 200 consecutive appearances. When he retired, he held club records for the number of clean sheets in a season and total clean sheets.
Smith was born in Cottingley, Bradford, West Riding of Yorkshire, moved to nearby Keighley with his family before serving in Malaya in the British Army at the end of his teens. His first trial at Bradford City was unsuccessful but after playing amateur football for Lancashire Combination League sides Nelson and Rossendale United, he was signed by Bradford's new manager Ivor Powell in 1952. He was at Bradford City for seven seasons and played in every league game between the final match of the 1953–54 season and October 1958. He eventually retired in 1959. After his football career, Smith and his wife ran two different off-licences for the remainder of their working life.
## Early life
Smith was born in Cottingley on the outskirts of Bradford, West Riding of Yorkshire, on 14 March 1928. He had a brother Jack and during their childhood, the Smith family moved to Keighley, where Smith first played football for St Anne's Church. At the age of 18, Smith was called up to the army. He served in an infantry unit in Malaya for two years before he returned to Keighley.
## Football career
### Early career
Smith resumed his football career back at home with Keighley Central Club. A goalkeeper, he was still playing for Keighley Central in 1948 when he was offered a trial with his local Football League side Bradford City, who were at the time in the Third Division North. His trial was unsuccessful and he was released. Instead, Smith joined Lancashire Combination League side Nelson. He was still living in Keighley, and travelled to Nelson by bus with his brother Jack, who had previously played for Leeds United but had been released when Major Frank Buckley took over as manager and instead also joined Nelson. Smith played for Nelson for three years at a time when the club were competing at the top of the Lancashire Combination and sought re-election back into the Football League. However, Smith initially gave up the game when Nelson could no longer afford to pay him. He was not long out of the game before he signed Rossendale United, a member of the Lancashire Combination's Second Division. Smith said the journey by bus was a difficult one so he bought a motorbike. However, like Nelson, Rossendale could not afford to pay him, and after another two years, Smith gave up the game once again.
### Bradford City
In December 1952, on the advice of Smith's friend Roy Brook, who was in Bradford's second team, new Bradford City manager Ivor Powell invited Smith back to City for another trial and he played for the reserves against Gainsborough Trinity and Notts County. This time, Smith's trial was successful and Bradford City – still a Third Division North side – signed him on amateur forms. Smith had played only seven games for the reserves in the Midland League and was still unpaid when he was given his first-team debut against Scunthorpe United on 17 January 1953 coming into the side for Brendan McManus, whom Smith said was "having a rough time". It was not a good start for Smith, with City losing 4–0, but he followed this with a clean sheet in his second game against Stockport County and kept his place in the side for the remainder of the season, playing 19 games, before he signed part-time professional terms in July 1953. He had previously worked part-time as a lorry driver, earning £4 10s (£4.50) working 48 hours per week as a lorry driver, but the club did not want him driving around the country and offered him £10 per week plus a £4 win bonus. To supplement his playing contract, the club gave Smith a job looking after their Valley Parade ground.
During the mid-season break, McManus left City to join Frickley Athletic. Instead, Powell signed Jimmy Gooch from Preston North End as his replacement. Gooch, aged 32, was more experienced than Smith and so took over as first-choice goalkeeper at the start of the 1953–54 season playing the first 20 games. Smith was called up to the first-team in November for a 1–1 draw with Hartlepools United. He remained in the side and played all but two games for the rest of the season, coming back into the team for the final league game of the season against Gateshead as City finished fifth. He kept 11 clean sheets, which included equalling a club best five in consecutive matches as City won a record nine straight games, during which they conceded just one goal.
Gooch left City after just one season to join Watford leaving Smith to take over the "number one" shirt. For the next four seasons, Smith, who became a full-time professional, played every single first-team game for City which eventually led to him making 200 consecutive league appearances – it was a run that coincided with one of 246 league and FA Cup games by full back George Mulholland. However, for three seasons, City could not match the fifth place gained in 1953–54 and they remained a Third Division North side. In 1957–58, under Powell's replacement as manager Peter Jackson, City finished in third place but missed out on the title by nine points to Scunthorpe United. During the season, Smith set a new club record of 18 clean sheets, one which was later equalled by Steve Smith and Eric McManus.
The following season, Smith's run of consecutive games came to an end against Reading in October 1958, with Jim McCusker coming into the side to replace him for two games. Smith's number of consecutive appearances is third on the club's list behind Mulholland's 231 games and Charlie Bicknell. He played 26 further games in the 1958–59 season, in which the club finished 11th in the newly formed Third Division. The season proved to be Smith's final season for City as he decided to retire aged 31. His last game was a 2–1 defeat, once again versus Reading, on 28 February 1959. When the season finished, Smith had played a total of 270 games for the club, 253 of which came in the league, keeping a club record 70 clean sheets. His record stood until it was broken by Paul Tomlinson in the 1990s. When Smith retired, the club granted him and Mulholland each a sum of money rather than the proceeds of a benefit match.
## Personal life
Smith met his wife Margaret at a ceilidh at St Anne's Social Club, in Keighley, in 1944, when they were both teenagers. They married after Smith returned from his two years in the army on 26 August 1950 at Holy Trinity Church, in Keighley. Together, they had two daughters. Smith had been a motor mechanic before his football career, and after he retired from playing, he and his wife ran an off-licence store in Cross Roads for 25 years and a newsagents in Keighley for another five years. Smith played bowls and golf in his retirement, playing for Skipton Vets in the former sport.
Smith died on 19 October 2013.
## Career statistics |
10,862,214 | Ottoman ironclad Feth-i Bülend | 1,149,463,451 | Ironclad warship of the Ottoman Navy | [
"1869 ships",
"Feth-i Bülend-class ironclads",
"Maritime incidents in 1912",
"Naval ships of the Ottoman Empire in the Balkan Wars",
"Ships built in Leamouth",
"Shipwrecks in the Aegean Sea"
]
| Feth-i Bülend (Ottoman Turkish: "Great Victory") was an Ottoman ironclad warship built in the late 1860s, the lead ship of her class. The Ottoman Navy ordered her from the British Thames Iron Works, and she was laid down in 1868, launched in 1869, and commissioned in 1870. She was armed with four 229 mm (9 in) guns, was powered by a single-screw compound steam engine with a top speed of 13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph).
Feth-i Bülend saw action during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878, where she battled the Russian steamer Vesta in an inconclusive engagement. The Ottoman fleet was laid up for most of the next twenty years, and Feth-i Bülend saw no activity during this period. Modernized in 1890, she was nevertheless still not in condition for active service at the outbreak of the Greco-Turkish War in 1897. She was therefore heavily rebuilt in Germany between 1903 and 1907. At the start of the First Balkan War in 1912, the ship was stationed in Salonica; the ship was disarmed so the guns could be used to strengthen the port's fortifications. On the night of 31 October, a Greek torpedo boat slipped into the harbor and sank Feth-i Bülend, killing seven of her crew.
## Design
Feth-i Bülend was 72.01 m (236 ft 3 in) long between perpendiculars, with a beam of 11.99 m (39 ft 4 in) and a draft of 5.51 m (18 ft 1 in). The hull was constructed with iron, and displaced 2,762 metric tons (2,718 long tons) normally and 1,601 t (1,576 long tons) BOM. She had a crew of 16 officers and 153 enlisted men.
The ship was powered by a single horizontal compound engine which drove one screw propeller. Steam was provided by six coal-fired box boilers that were trunked into a single funnel amidships. The engine was rated at 3,250 indicated horsepower (2,420 kW) and produced a top speed of 13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph), though by 1877 she was only capable of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph). Decades of poor maintenance had reduced the ship's speed to 8 knots (15 km/h; 9.2 mph) by 1892. Feth-i Bülend carried 600 t (590 long tons; 660 short tons) of coal. A supplementary sailing rig was also fitted.
The ship was armed with a battery of four 222 mm (8.7 in) muzzle-loading Armstrong guns mounted in a central, armored casemate, two guns per side. The guns were positioned so as to allow any two to fire directly ahead, astern, or to either broadside. The casemate had heavy armor protection, with the gun battery protected by 222 mm of iron plating. The upper section of the casemate had thinner armor, at 150 mm (5.9 in) thick. The hull had a complete armored belt at the waterline, which extended .6 m (2 ft) above the line and 1.2 m (4 ft) below. The above-water portion was 222 mm thick, while the submerged part was 150 mm thick.
## Service history
### Construction and the Russo-Turkish War
Feth-i Bülend, meaning "Great Victory", was ordered in 1867 from the Thames Iron Works, Blackwall Yard in London and was laid down in May 1868. She was launched in 1869 and began sea trials in 1870, being commissioned into the Ottoman Navy later that year. Upon completion, Feth-i Bülend and the other ironclads then being built in Britain and France were sent to Crete to assist in stabilizing the island in the aftermath of the Cretan Revolt of 1866–1869. During this period, the Ottoman fleet, under Hobart Pasha, remained largely inactive, with training confined to reading translated British instruction manuals. Early in the ship's career, the Ottoman ironclad fleet was activated every summer for short cruises from the Golden Horn to the Bosporus to ensure their propulsion systems were in operable condition.
Feth-i Bülend saw extensive service in the Black Sea during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878, based primarily at Batumi. She took part in the bombardment of Russian positions and capture of the Black Sea port of Sokhumi on 14–16 May 1877. On 23 July, she engaged the Russian armed steamer Vesta in an inconclusive action. Poor visibility from smoke and escaping steam forced the ships to disengage, both with slight damage and few casualties. On the 31st, Feth-i Bülend, her sister ship Mukaddeme-i Hayir, the steam frigate Mubir-i Sürur, and several other ships departed Sochum for Trabzon to bring ground troops to Varna to defend against an expected Russian attack across the Danube. The Ottoman fleet then returned to Batumi, where it remained largely inactive. During a patrol on 25 August, Feth-i Bülend encountered the Russian yacht Livadia, but the Russian vessel fled before Feth-i Bülend could close to effective range.
### Inactivity in the 1880s and 1890s
Following the Ottoman defeat in 1878, the ship was laid up in Constantinople. The annual summer cruises to the Bosporus ended. By the mid-1880s, the Ottoman ironclad fleet was in poor condition, and Feth-i Bülend was unable to go to sea. Many of the ships' engines were unusable, having seized up from rust, and their hulls were badly fouled. The British naval attache to the Ottoman Empire at the time estimated that the Imperial Arsenal would take six months to get just five of the ironclads ready to go to sea. Throughout this period, the ship's crew was limited to about one-third the normal figure. During a period of tension with Greece in 1886, the fleet was brought to full crews and the ships were prepared to go to sea, but none actually left the Golden Horn, and they were quickly laid up again. By that time, most of the ships were capable of little more than 4 to 6 knots (7.4 to 11.1 km/h; 4.6 to 6.9 mph).
The fleet remained inactive at the Golden Horn for twenty years, though in October 1889, Feth-i Bülend left the Golden Horn to escort the German Emperor, Kaiser Wilhelm II, during a state visit to the Ottoman Empire. She accompanied Wilhelm as he cruised though the Dardanelles and the Sea of Marmara to Constantinople. Feth-i Bülend was refitted at the Imperial Arsenal in 1890. During this refit, several small guns were installed, including a pair of 87 mm (3.4 in) Krupp guns, two 63 mm (2.5 in) guns, two 37 mm (1.5 in) guns, and one 25.4 mm (1 in) Nordenfelt gun. In 1892, Feth-i Bülend and the ironclad Asar-i Tevfik were ordered to reinforce the Cretan Squadron during a period of unrest on the island, but neither vessel was capable of going to sea, owing to leaky boiler tubes. At the start of the Greco-Turkish War in February 1897, the Ottomans inspected the fleet and found that almost all of the vessels, including Feth-i Bülend, to be completely unfit for combat against the Greek Navy.
### Reconstruction and loss
Following the end of the war, the government decided to begin a naval reconstruction program. The first stage was to rebuild the older armored warships, including Feth-i Bülend. The Ottomans contacted several foreign shipyards; initially, Krupp's Germaniawerft received the contract to rebuild Feth-i Bülend on 11 August 1900, but by December 1902, the Ottomans had reached an agreement with Armstrong-Ansaldo in Genoa to rebuild the vessel. The work was conducted between 1903 and 1907. The ship was reboilered with a pair of water-tube boilers manufactured by the Imperial Arsenal, which improved speed slightly to 9 kn (17 km/h; 10 mph). Her armament was completely replaced with new, quick-firing guns manufactured by Krupp. Four 15 cm SK L/40 guns were mounted in the casemate, and six 75 mm (3 in) guns and six 57 mm (2.2 in) guns were installed on the upper deck.
At the outbreak of the Italo-Turkish War of 1911–1912, Feth-i Bülend was assigned to the Reserve Division, and she saw no action during the conflict. Instead, she was disarmed and most of her weapons—including all four 15 cm guns, and four each of the 75 mm and 57 mm guns—were used to bolster the defenses of Salonica's harbor. The guns were manned by 90 of the ship's crew. The ship itself was converted to a barracks ship. At the time of the outbreak of the First Balkan War on 18 October 1912, the ship's commander was Captain (Binbaşi) Aziz Mahmut Bey, who also functioned as the naval garrison commander. On the night of 31 October, the Greek torpedo boat No. 11 passed by the shore batteries and searchlights and through the mine barrages at 22:20. She launched three torpedoes at 23:30 against Feth-i Bülend. One torpedo missed, hitting the quay, but the two others hit the ship, causing her to capsize and sink. Seven of its crew, including the ship's imam, were killed in the sinking, while the Greek vessel exited the harbor by the same route without further incident. |
66,560,101 | Jane Ingham | 1,171,812,139 | English botanist and scientific translator (1897–1982) | [
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| Rose Marie "Jane" Ingham (née TupperCarey /ˌtˈʌpə ˈkɛəri/ ; 15 August 1897 – 10 September 1982) was an English botanist and scientific translator. She was appointed research assistant to Joseph Hubert Priestley in the Botany Department at the University of Leeds, and together, they were the first to separate cell walls from the root tip of broad beans. They analysed these cell walls and concluded that they contained protein. She carried out experiments on the cork layer of trees to study how cells function under a change of orientation and found profound differences in cell division and elongation in the epidermal layer of plants.
At Leeds, Ingham was appointed sub-warden of Weetwood Hall, and honorary secretary of the British-Italian League. In 1930, she joined the Imperial Bureau of Plant and Crop Genetics at the School of Agriculture in Cambridge, England, as a scientific officer and translator. The bureau was responsible for publishing a series of abstract journals on various aspects of crop breeding and genetics. In 1932, she married Albert Ingham, then a fellow and director of studies at King's College, Cambridge. Ingham spent the war years in Princeton, New Jersey, with her two sons, not wishing to return to England after travelling to the US just before the outbreak of World War II. In the last years of her life, she and her husband travelled extensively, and in 1982, she died at Cambridge.
## Early life
Ingham was born on (1897-08-15)15 August 1897, at Cromer House, Cromer Terrace, Leeds, and baptised an Anglican in the Church of England at Donhead St Andrew, Wiltshire, on 14 September 1897. She was the youngest daughter of Helen Mary TupperCarey, née Chapman, and Albert Darell. They had married at Donhead St Andrew on 16 May 1890. Helen Mary was the daughter of Reverend Horace Edward Chapman, a former rector of Donhead St Andrew, and Adelaide Maria, née Fletcher.
Ingham's father was the son of the Reverend Tupper Carey and Helen Jane, née Sandeman. He was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, and trained at Cuddesdon Theological College. He was curate of Leeds before being appointed rector of St Margaret's Church, Lowestoft. In 1910, he was appointed canon residentiary of York, and later, became vicar of Huddersfield. From 1938, he was Chaplain to the King and at Monte Carlo. Despite his given name being Albert Darell, he was known as "Tupper" to his friends and was described by John Gilbert Lockhart in Cosmo Gordon Lang's biography as follows:
> He could get at once on the easiest terms with every sort of person, from the 'drunks' of Leeds and Lowestoft to the millionaires of Monte Carlo ... Mercurial, overflowing with high spirits, irrepressible, he was everybody's friend and had a smile and a word for every passer-by in the streets of his parish.
Ingham had four siblings. Her eldest sister, Jacqueline Marjorie, married the Reverend Edgar James Mitchell, and after their marriage, they undertook missionary work in the Far East. Ingham's elder sister, Edith, known as "Betty" to her friends and family, married the author Michael Sadleir. Sadleir was the only son of Sir Michael Ernest Sadler, a former vice-chancellor of the University of Leeds. Her elder brother, Humphrey Darell, was a tea planter in British East Africa before the outbreak of World War I. He was commissioned a lieutenant in the King's African Rifles, but was severely wounded in the right thigh during the East African campaign. He married Marjorie Gertrude Drakes, née Bredin, the widow of Charles Henry Drakes. In later life, he worked for the Colonial Service in Nigeria and was appointed a Companion of the Imperial Service Order in the Queen's 1959 Birthday Honours. Her younger brother, Peter Charles Sandeman, was a captain in the Royal Navy. He married Anne Ethel Violet Montagu Dundas, the eldest daughter of Robert Neville Dundas and Cecil Mary, née Lancaster.
## Education
Ingham was educated at Claire House School, an all girl school in North Parade, Lowestoft, which specialised in the teaching of French. At the age of ten, she gained a prize in preliminary French examinations that were organised by the National Society of French Professors in England. She competed against candidates from the "best girls' schools in England", the written tests consisting of translation and composition (prose and poetry), essay, and questions on 17th to 19th century French literature. In the same year, she performed as Philaminte in the school's production of three scenes from Molière's Les Femmes Savantes.
Ingham showed an early interest in botany. In her youth, she would collect wildflowers to display at local parish shows. Her grandmother, Helen Jane Carey, was a keen amateur botanist and specimen collector, a popular and fashionable pastime in Victorian England. In 1916, Ingham entered the University of Leeds to study botany and, within three years, was a research student in the botany department at Leeds, studying water absorption at the growing point of plant roots. In 1919, Ingham studied general zoology at the Citadel Hill Laboratory of the Marine Biological Association, Plymouth. Annie Redman King, her friend from Weetwood Hall in Leeds, was a Ray Lankester investigator at the laboratory.
## Career
In January 1922, Ingham was appointed a research assistant in the botany department, where Joseph Hubert Priestley was Dean of the Faculty of Science. She and Priestley were the first to isolate cell walls from meristematic tissues in Vicia faba (broad beans). They analysed the walls for protein, cellulose, and pectin, and concluded that the walls contained protein. They also studied when cellulose is first produced by plants, the differences in shoot and root development, and the role of the cork cambium. These plant physiology studies were followed by two New Phytologist papers. She later provided unpublished results from these experiments on broad bean embryos to the British botanist William Pearsall. Described as a "brilliant scholar", she was awarded a MSc degree on 28 June 1928, for her research work and thesis titled '.
In February 1930, Ingham joined the Imperial Bureau of Plant and Crop Genetics, at the Plant Breeding Institute, Cambridge, as a translator and scientific officer. Sir Rowland Biffen was the first director of the Cambridge bureau, and her supervisor, Penrhyn Stanley Hudson, was deputy director. She was fluent in French, Italian, German and Swedish, and as a whole, the bureau had been capable of dealing with Spanish, Dutch, and Russian. Abstracts were written on various aspects of plant breeding and genetics, with some of the foreign language papers requiring more complete translations. These abstracts were published in a quarterly journal called Plant Breeding Abstracts. In 1931, she attended the eighth conference of the Association of Special Libraries and Information Bureaux (ASLIB) at Oxford, where progress on ASLIB's newly-formed panel of expert translators was discussed. After her marriage, she worked from home translating most of the German documents, and in 1939, was put in charge of the bureau after Hudson fell ill.
## Personal life
Around 1922, Ingham sat for a portrait by William Roberts, the "English Cubist" artist. The finished painting was titled "Portrait of Miss Jane TupperCarey" and was shown for the first time in November 1923 at New Chenil Galleries, Chelsea. By 1926, she had been appointed sub-warden at Weetwood Hall, the then university hall of residence for women students. In the same year, she was appointed the first honorary secretary of the Leeds branch of the British-Italian League. The League's aims were to found a chair in Italian at the University of Leeds and foster relations between the two countries.
In the late 1920s, Ingham joined the Leeds University Amateurs, the university's amateur dramatics society, acting in several well-received roles, such as Sybil Bumont in The Watched Pot. In December 1928, she took part in a fashion show of dresses through the ages at the Albion Hall, Leeds, in aid of St Faith's Homes. She wore a high-waisted, skin-tight coat of red cloth edged with fur, a long blue skirt trimmed with six rows of black velvet, and a feather toque. Her appearance was greeted with "shrieks of laughter" from the audience.
She married Albert Ingham on 6 July 1932 at St Edward's Church, Cambridge, in a private ceremony attended only by her parents, sister Edith, brother-in-law Michael Sadleir, who gave her away, and Redman King. They had met after he had been appointed reader in mathematical analysis at the University of Leeds in 1926. Their engagement announcement in May 1932 had come as surprise to their circle of friends in Leeds, as there had been no indication that they were romantically involved. However, they had been quietly engaged with plans to announce it after lectures ended.
In July 1939, Albert was awarded a Leverhulme Research Fellowship to study analytic number theory at the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) in Princeton, New Jersey. At that point, they had two sons, Michael Frank and Stephen Darell, and the entire family sailed from Liverpool to New York on 1 September 1939. However, just two days into their voyage, Britain declared war on Germany. They were hesitant to bring their family back due to reports from Europe containing speculation of imminent total war. Consequently, they made the decision to keep the family in Princeton, except for Albert, who had returned to England by 1942. Alan Pars, godfather to their son Michael, later recommended Albert for an Admiralty post in America knowing that Ingham and the children were still there.
## Later life and death
The Inghams owned a punt, called Pete, moored in the River Cam, and it was used regularly during the summer for trips and picnics. They also went on many trips abroad, including India, and walking holidays in the French Alps. It was on such a holiday that Albert died of a heart attack on a high path near Haute-Savoie, south-eastern France. After his death, she resisted offers for her husband's mathematical notes and papers, instead keeping the papers in a cupboard at the house.
> [She] was very wiry and fit ... [I have] an abiding memory of how fast and vigorously my grandmother would walk. She was always frustrated with my brother and I as we 'dawdled' fifty yards behind her. We just could not keep up with her furious pace.
>
> <div class="templatequotecite">
>
> — <cite>Dr Mark Ingham describing Jane Ingham, in ' (2005), p. 46</cite>
>
> </div>
Jane Ingham died at Cambridge on 10 September 1982, and was cremated at the Cambridge City Crematorium, Huntingdon Road, Dry Drayton, on 20 September 1982. Alan Pars, her friend and her husband's former colleague at Cambridge, sent a wreath.
## Legacy
### Discovery of protein in plant cell walls
Ingham and Priestley were the first to isolate cell walls from the middle lamella of the radicle and plumule meristems of Vicia faba. They analysed the cell walls for protein, cellulose, and pectin. They noted that the cellulose walls of the radicle failed to react with iodine and sulphuric acid, or with of zinc. They showed that the cellulose in the wall of the radicle is masked by other substances, particularly proteins and fatty acids. In the plumule, cellulose is associated with greater quantities of pectin, but less protein and fatty acid, particularly when the adult parenchyma is grown in light.
They concluded that the meristematic cells had walls containing a proteinpectin complex, that is, these walls "... commencing as interfaces in a protein-containing medium may be regarded as composed at first mainly of protein." Florence Mary Wood, a British postdoctoral researcher in biochemistry at Birkbeck College, questioned their results and concluded that less than 0.001% of protein was found in the cell walls of the plants examined. Later researchers found protein in the cells but were unable to rule out the possibility of cytoplasmic contamination. It is now known that the middle lamella consists of a pectic polysaccharide-rich material. However, the material properties and molecular organisation of the middle lamella are still not fully understood.
### Differences in cell division and elongation in the epidermal layer of plants
Ingham found that in the arch of the hypocotyl from sunflower seeds, Helianthus annuus, there are considerably more cells on the outside than on the inside. Counting from the beginning to the end of the arch, the result was "3,299 cells on the upper side as against 1,531 on the lower." This result means that the convex side of the arch leads the concave side, not only in terms of cell extension, but also in cell division behaviour, such that a different division rate would cause the growth difference. Consequently, the concave and convex sides show profound physiological differences. The observation that in the hypocotyl the cells on the convex side are considerably larger than those on the inside could be explained by the uneven transverse transport of the growth hormone auxin. Auxin has a strengthening effect on the elongation growth of the cells. In the case of nutation phenomena, it is possible that curvature only occurs in a narrowly limited section of the shoot.
Harald Kaldewey, professor of botany at Saarland University in Saarbrücken, Germany, measured the differences in the length of the sub-epidermal cells on the outer and inner periphery of the arch in the nutation curvature of the pedicels of snake's head fritillary, Fritillaria meleagris. The result was expected if the curvature is based exclusively on differences in elongation growth. A difference in width between the sub-epidermal cells of the outer and inner periphery of the arch of curvature was not found. Sir Edward James Salisbury, the English botanist and ecologist, found good agreement between the ratio of the epidermal cell lengths and the arch lengths of the nutation curvature of the epicotyl in seedlings of different woody plants. The findings of Ingham, Salisbury, and Kaldewey, do not necessarily contradict each other as the epidermis and sub-epidermal layer may well behave differently than cortical layers in terms of division and extension growth.
### Importance of cell orientation in cork
In Ingham's last study in the botany department at the University of Leeds, she ring-barked Laburnum and sycamore (Acer pseudoplatanus) trees, but left zigzag bridges of tissue with horizontal portions linking the bark above and below the cut. At first, the lack of pressure within these bridges resulted in the formation of callus-like tissue, and the cambial initials, by repeated division, came to resemble ray cells. At a later stage, some of this mass of (roughly spherical) cells became elongated horizontally in the direction of the bridge tissue. Xylem and phloem formed in the horizontal portion of the bridge with its tracheary elements extended in a horizontal direction. It has been postulated that calluses are formed because the cambium cells cannot function correctly under a change of orientation. For example, the altered direction of sap flow might affect the direction of cambial cell growth. Pressure, nutrient movements, and cambial auxin transport have also been suggested as causes.
## Publications
## See also |
59,108,575 | Herbert Vivian | 1,158,268,780 | English journalist and writer (1865–1940) | [
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| Herbert Vivian (3 April 1865 – 18 April 1940) was an English journalist, author and newspaper owner, who befriended Lord Randolph Churchill, Charles Russell, Leopold Maxse and others in the 1880s. He campaigned for Irish Home Rule and was private secretary to Wilfrid Blunt, poet and writer, who stood in the 1888 Deptford by-election. Vivian's writings caused a rift between Oscar Wilde and James NcNeil Whistler. In the 1890s, Vivian was a leader of the Neo-Jacobite Revival, a monarchist movement keen to restore a Stuart to the British throne and replace the parliamentary system. Before the First World War he was friends with Winston Churchill and was the first journalist to interview him. Vivian lost as Liberal candidate for Deptford in 1906. As an extreme monarchist throughout his life, he became in the 1920s a supporter of fascism. His several books included the novel The Green Bay Tree with William Henry Wilkins. He was a noted Serbophile; his writings on the Balkans remain influential.
## Early life and education
Herbert Vivian was born on 3 April 1865 in Chichester, the only son of the Reverend Francis Henry and Margaret Vivian. He was baptised by his father on 11 May 1865 at the town's Church of St Peter the Great. He had a sister, Margaret Cordelia Vivian. His grandfather John Vivian was the Liberal MP for Truro, and owned Pencalenick House in St Clement, Cornwall; Herbert recalled shooting his first rabbit there as a child. He always glossed over his grandfather's political role, for example, writing: "None of my immediate relatives have ever troubled their heads in politics..." in his newspaper The Whirlwind.
Herbert studied at Harrow School from 1879 until 1883. When he was 14, he was introduced to an old friend of his father's, Thomas Hughes, the author of Tom Brown's School Days. The meeting had a strong impact on the young Vivian, who wrote about it later in his memoirs. In 1881, his grandfather introduced him to Thomas Bayley Potter, the Member of Parliament for Rochdale. Potter was impressed by Vivian and often took him into Parliament during his holidays. There Vivian met many of the MPs and was particularly impressed by Charles Warton, the MP for Bridport. Potter also introduced him to Lord Randolph Churchill, who inspired Vivian to take up Tory democracy. Vivian exchanged letters with Lord Randolph during his school days and continued to correspond with him for many years afterwards. Vivian later became friends with his son, Winston Churchill.
Vivian studied at Trinity College, Cambridge, graduating in 1886 with a degree in history and subsequently being promoted to a Master of Arts. In his student years, Vivian and his friend Edward Goulding were the President and Vice-President respectively of the University Carlton Club and invited Lord Randolph to become its President. Never shy of using his connections, Vivian dropped Churchill's name to arrange a meeting in Vevey with Nubar Pasha, the first Prime Minister of Egypt. After spending several hours discussing politics with Pasha, he returned to London and reported his conversation to Churchill. Churchill introduced Vivian to Charles Russell, who later became Baron Russell of Killowen and the Lord Chief Justice of England, and the two became friends. Around 1882, Vivian attended a lecture given by Oscar Wilde at which James NcNeil Whistler was also present and which Vivian would later write about .
At Cambridge, Vivian struck up friendships with students who went on to be prominent politicians and businessmen. Austen Chamberlain was involved in Cambridge Union politics when Vivian arrived and the two bonded over a shared interest in Radicalism. He was a close friend of Leopold Maxse — later editor of the National Review. Another friend was Ernest Debenham, who went on to lead the family business Debenhams to great commercial success. Vivian recalled Debenham overdosing on hashish during experiments in Buddhism at Cambridge.
## Private secretary to Wilfrid Blunt
Vivian and Chamberlain organised speaking events at the Union. In 1886, they invited the English anti-imperialist writer and poet Wilfrid Scawen Blunt to speak on the subject of Irish Home Rule, and Vivian and Blunt became friends. Later that year, Vivian visited Blunt at his home, Crabbet Park, and took a position as his private secretary. Vivian spent most weekends at Crabbet during his final year of studies, and continued to work for Blunt after he graduated. While so employed, he met influential politicians, as Blunt prepared to stand for Parliament, among them the Anglo-French historian Hilaire Belloc. Blunt was a cousin of Lord Alfred Douglas and a friend of Oscar Wilde.
In 1887 Blunt became more vociferously in favour of Irish Home Rule. In November, Lord Randolph wrote to Vivian advising him to distance himself from Blunt, advice Vivian did not take. At the time, Blunt was also developing interest in the Jacobite cause of restoring the House of Stuart to the British throne, which Vivian was to become a passion in his life.
In late 1887, Vivian left the Conservative Party and joined the Home Rule Union between the Liberal Party and the Irish Parliamentary Party. At the end of the year, he toured Ireland with the leading Irish politician Michael Davitt and Bradford Central MP George Shaw-Lefevre. Shortly after Vivian returned from Ireland he met the leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party Charles Stewart Parnell and then the MP for East Mayo, John Dillon. In October 1887, Blunt gave a speech at a meeting in Woodford, County Galway protesting against mass evictions of tenant families. The meeting had been banned by Arthur Balfour, the Chief Secretary for Ireland and Blunt was arrested, tried and imprisoned. While Blunt served his sentence in Dublin, Vivian worked closely with William John Evelyn to promote Blunt in the February 1888 Deptford by-election, caused by Evelyn's resignation as the Conservative MP. Blunt lost by 275 votes. Despite this, Blunt and Vivian were approached in March 1888 by a committee from Parnell's Irish National League, asking Blunt to stand as their candidate for Deptford at the next general election, but by the time the election was called in 1892, Blunt's enthusiasms had moved on.
For a while, Vivian contributed to Evelyn's Abinger Monthly Record, a magazine he later described as "[in] part... really scurrilous attacks on the Vicar". The Vicar was Rev. T. P. Hill, incumbent of Abinger, who had fallen out with Evelyn. The Record was also noted for a campaign against compulsory vaccinations and support of Irish Home Rule.
## Oscar Wilde
In the late 1880s, Vivian was a friend of Oscar Wilde; they dined together on several occasions. At one such dinner, Vivian claimed he witnessed a famous exchange between Wilde and James NcNeill Whistler. Whistler said a bon mot that Wilde found particularly witty, Wilde exclaimed that he wished that he had said it, and Whistler retorted, "You will, Oscar, you will".
In 1889, Vivian included this anecdote in an article, "The Reminiscences of a Short Life", which appeared in The Sun and implied that Wilde had a habit of passing off other people's witticisms as his own, especially Whistler's. Wilde saw Vivian's article as a scurrilous betrayal and it directly caused the break in friendship between Wilde and Whistler. "The Reminiscences" also caused acrimony between Wilde and Vivian, Wilde accusing him of "the inaccuracy of an eavesdropper with the method of a blackmailer" and banishing him from his circle. After the incident, Vivian and Whistler became friends, exchanging letters for many years.
## Newspaper publishing and the Neo-Jacobite Revival
The late 1880s and 1890s brought a Neo-Jacobite Revival in Britain. In 1886, Bertram Ashburnham founded the Order of the White Rose, which embraced causes such as Irish, Cornish, Scottish and Welsh independence, Spanish and Italian legitimism, and particularly Jacobitism. Its members included Frederick Lee, Henry Jenner, Whistler, Robert Edward Francillon, Charles Augustus Howell, Stuart Richard Erskine and Vivian. It published a paper, The Royalist, from 1890 to 1903.
Vivian first met Erskine when they were at a journalism school together. In 1890, the two founded a weekly newspaper The Whirlwind, A Lively and Eccentric Newspaper with Vivian as editor, noted for including illustrations by artists, including Whistler and Walter Sickert. Sickert was also its art critic, and wrote a weekly column. It carried articles on Oscar Wilde at the height of his fame and notoriety. The paper espoused an individualist, Jacobite political view, championed by Erskine and Vivian. One notable Sickert illustration for The Whirlwind was a portrait of Charles Bradlaugh. Bradlaugh also wrote an article on "practical individualism" for the paper.
The Whirlwind was scourged by Victor Yarros for its anti-Semitic stance, mainly espoused by Vivian in his editorials. In the 23 August 1890 edition, he wrote, "The Jews are a race rather than a religious body, and, like the Chinese, are often obnoxious to their neighbours. By their financial craft they have acquired a dangerously extensive power, not merely over individuals, but even over the policy of states.... The proper way to deal with Jews is a rigorous boycott... What should be aimed at is a return of the whole Jewish race, as speedily as may be, to Palestine... The countries of their adoption would assuredly have no difficulty in sparing them".
Vivian used his editorship to promote also an individualist philosophy for women, though he was against Women's suffrage. Other causes included the menace of London's tramways and repeated attacks on the journalist and explorer Henry Morton Stanley and other figures of the age. He also published a series of autobiographical articles, Reminiscences of a Short Life, which later formed the basis of his 1923 memoirs, Myself Not Least, being the personal reminiscences of "X." The paper went on hiatus in early 1891, when Vivian stood for election, and did not restart publication.
The Order of the White Rose split in 1891. It had been a primarily nostalgic, artistic organisation, but Vivian and Erskine wanted a more militant political agenda. With Melville Henry Massue, styling himself the Marquis of Ruvigny, they founded a rival Legitimist Jacobite League of Great Britain and Ireland, sometimes using the name White Rose League. Its Central Executive Committee contained Walter Clifford Mellor, Vivian, George G. Fraser, Massue, Baron Valdez of Valdez, Alfred John Rodway, and R. W. Fraser, with Erskine as President. Pittock called the League a "publicist for Jacobitism on a scale unwitnessed since the Eighteenth Century".
The League organised protests often centred on statues of Jacobite heroes. In late 1892, they applied for government permission to lay wreaths at the statue of Charles I at Charing Cross on the anniversary of his execution. This was denied by Prime Minister Gladstone and enforced by George Shaw-Lefevre, Vivian's one-time travelling companion and now First Commissioner of Works. The League tried to lay the wreaths anyway on 30 January 1893. Police were sent to stop this, but after a confrontation, Vivian and other members were allowed to complete their moved, so gaining significant press coverage. The political reporter for the Lancashire Evening Post wrote, "Mr. Herbert Vivian has been successful at last in placing a wreath upon the Statue of Charles the First.... We trust all parties will feel the better for the operation — especially the bronze statue". An article in the Western Morning News said, "A bold and daring man is Mr. Herbert Vivian, Jacobite and journalist.... He announces to all and sundry that, law or no law, he will... attempt to lay a wreath on the statue. I have not heard whether special precautions have yet been taken to cope with this new force of disorder though, perhaps... one constable may be set apart to overawe Mr. Herbert Vivian".
In June 1893 came a split between Ruvigny and Vivian, with Vivian seeking to continue the League with support from Viscount Dupplin, Mellor and others. Vivian left the Jacobite League in August 1893, but continued to promote a strongly Jacobite political philosophy.
In 1892 and 1893, Vivian worked as a journalist for William Ernest Henley at the National Observer. In 1894, he published The Green Bay Tree with a college friend, the anti-immigrant writer William Henry Wilkins. He also contributed to Wilkin's monthly periodical The Albemarle, which was co-edited by a mutual Cambridge friend, Hubert Crackanthorpe. He spent the winter of 1894/1895 in France, where he discussed Jacobite and Carlist politics with the poet François Coppée and contemporary literature with the novelist Émile Zola.
Vivian continued his political journalism after The Whirlwind closed. In 1895, he was editor of The White Cockade, a newspaper whose main purpose was to put forward the Jacobite argument. It received poor reviews and no success. Vivian was described in the Bristol Mercury as a "volatile young gentleman [who] enjoys a European reputation in the spheres of politics and literature."
By 1897, Vivian was the President of the Legitimist Club, another Neo-Jacobite organisation. In 1898, Vivian published letters he had exchanged with the Office of Works demanding that the Club be allowed to lay a wreath at the Statue of James II, Trafalgar Square on 16 September, the anniversary of James' death. Vivian's wreath-laying, tactics and use of the press to publicise his cause, remained the same. Vivian remained president of the Club until at least 1904.
## Writing career
After his departure from the Jacobite League in 1893, Vivian became travel correspondent of Arthur Pearson's paper Pearson's Weekly. In February 1896, he launched and edited a new weekly called Give and Take, which was noted for offering its readers coupons for "a selected set of tradesmen".
In 1898, Vivian returned to being a travel journalist, first for the Morning Post (1898–1899) and then for Pearson's newly-founded Daily Express (1899–1900). In 1901 and 1902, he produced a magazine called The Rambler with Richard Le Gallienne, intended as a revival of Samuel Johnson's periodical of the same name. After the turn of the 20th century, Vivian wrote several novels, some anonymously or using pseudonyms, which met mixed reviews. The Master Sinner was seen by The Publisher's Circular as "unpleasant but clever", and in The Literary World as having a "style... jerky and overladen with adjectives", but still "a readable book".
Of Vivian's several travel books, the best-known was Servia: The Poor Man's Paradise (1897), which was widely quoted in newspapers, including The New York Times, the Morning Post and Pearson's Weekly.
In 1901, Vivian wrote with his wife Olive a book on European religious rituals, described in the Sheffield Independent as "well written, curious and readable, and marred only by a singularly fatuous surrender to any form of superstition however grovelling". In 1902, Vivian interviewed the French novelist Joris-Karl Huysmans.
In 1903, Vivian returned to the subject of Serbia in "The Servian Character" for the English Illustrated Magazine. He followed this with a second work, The Servian Tragedy: With Some Impressions of Macedonia (1904), detailing the coup d'état against the Serbian royal family. This was reviewed in the Sheffield Daily Telegraph: "The author has a thorough personal knowledge of the country, was received in audience by the late King and Queen, and is personally acquainted with all the statesmen. The Belgrade catastrophe is minutely described from full particulars obtained first hand." It was reviewed less positively in the London Daily News: "Mr. Herbert Vivian's new book... presents many interesting chapters on the events leading up to the recent tragedy, but can hardly be looked upon as an authoritative history. The matter is thin, the author does not quote his authorities; and he is too evidently willing to accept hearsay in place of evidence."
Vivian, as a friend of Winston Churchill, met him several times in the 1900s, seeking political gossip and advice. In 1905 Vivian published the first interview given by Churchill, published in The Pall Mall Magazine, which received attention in the press. Vivian also interviewed David Lloyd George, the President of the Board of Trade, for The Pall Mall Magazine and wrote for The Fortnightly Review.
In 1904, Vivian made a political speech containing pointed remarks about George Bernard Shaw. Shaw and Vivian exchanged letters on the matter, which Vivian then published, to Shaw's chagrin:
> The publication of my letter to Mr. Vivian was a piece of humourous cruelty in which I had no part. I honestly gave Mr. Vivian the best advice I could in his own interest in a letter obviously not intended for publication; and if he had acted quietly upon it, instead of sending it off to the papers... he might still have a chance at a seat in the next Parliament.... I shall not pretend to be sorry that I have helped Mr. Bowerman, the accredited Labour candidate, to disable an opponent who, if he had played his cards skilfully, might have proved very dangerous... Yours, G. Bernard Shaw
Vivian continued his keen interest in the Balkan states. In 1907, he joined a plot to put Prince Arthur of Connaught on the throne of Serbia. A year later, the Montenegrin government considered appointing him as its Honorary Consul in London, and Vivian wrote to his friend Winston Churchill, asking for an exequatur for his appointment.
In 1908, Vivian proposed a gambling "system" for roulette published in The Evening Standard. His system relied on the gambler's fallacy and it was debunked by Sir Hiram Maxim in the Literary Digest in October 1908.
Vivian continued to publish books in the First World War, notably a 1917 volume, Italy at War, which despite its title was largely a travelogue. He tried to join the Ministry of Information and met both Lord Beaverbrook and John Buchan as part of his efforts, but his services were rejected, although Buchan admitted to Jacobite sympathies during their meeting. Vivian instead returned to the Daily Express as travel correspondent for 1918.
In the 1920s Vivian worked as a travel stringer for newspapers that included The Pall Mall Magazine and The Yorkshire Post. In 1927, he wrote Secret Societies Old and New, which received mixed reviews, The Spectator calling it "well-written and extremely readable", but Albert Mackey noting, "The author does not possess sufficient knowledge for his task."
In 1932, Vivian returned to European political history and legitimism with The Life of the Emperor Charles of Austria, the first biography of Charles published in English. It was positively received in the Belfast News Letter. He continued to write on the Balkans, with an article in The English Review in 1933 on racial tensions in Yugoslavia.
Vivian's writings were noted in his lifetime and after; he is listed in the 1926 edition of Who's Who in Literature, and the 1967 New Century Handbook of English Literature.
## Political candidate
In 1889, Vivian sought to stand in the Dover by-election. He withdrew and later alleged that the Irish journalist and candidate for Galway Borough, T. P. O'Connor, had stepped in to prevent his candidacy.
In April 1891, Vivian announced he was standing in the East Bradford constituency for the Jacobite "Individualist Party", of which he was sole member. By May 1891, Vivian was claiming to be the Labour candidate for the seat, though this was denied by the Bradford Trade and Labour Council. During the campaign he was named as co-respondent in a divorce case which was gleefully reported by the local press. He duly lost the 1892 election to William Sproston Caine.
In 1895, he stood for the North Huntingdonshire constituency on an explicitly Jacobite platform. The seat was comfortably held by A.E. Fellowes.
Undeterred by failures, Vivian again sought election in the 20th century. He was interested in the Deptford constituency, where he had helped Wilfrid Blunt's campaign 15 years earlier. He began to campaign there at the end of 1903 and spoke at a free trade meeting in December, reading letters of support he had received from Winston Churchill and John Dickson-Poynder, MP for Chippenham. Churchill joined the Liberal party in 1904 and Vivian followed him. He was selected as a Liberal candidate to fight the 1906 election, and Churchill spoke in his support at two meetings. Vivian met serious opposition to his candidacy, and received only 726 votes, losing heavily to the Labour Party's C. W. Bowerman.
In 1908, Vivian looked into standing as a candidate in the Stirling Burghs constituency after the death of the former Prime Minister Henry Campbell-Bannerman, who had held the seat for the Liberals. Vivian again espoused legitimist views in support of restoring the House of Stuart. In the end he did not stand and the seat was won by Arthur Ponsonby.
## Fascist sympathies
In 1920, Vivian met Benito Mussolini and Gabriele D'Annunzio in Italy and became an admirer of fascism, notably Italian Fascism. In 1926, he wrote of his visits to Mussolini's Italy:
> I find most useful, instead of a passport, is a copy of the first Fascist newspaper, for which I wrote an article in 1920... These fascist syndicates everywhere are not unlike the Soviets, and Fascism is very like Bolshevism in many ways. Except that one means well, and the other not. Fascism is certainly succeeding... All the public services go like clockwork, trains arrive to the tick.
In May 1929, Vivian and Hugh George de Willmott Newman founded the Royalist International, a group with a stated aim of opposing the spread of Bolshevism and restoring the Italian monarchy, but with a clear pro-fascist agenda. Vivian was General Secretary and editor of the league's publication, the Royalist International Herald. Newman, 24 at the time, went on to be ordained a bishop in the Independent Catholic church and an archbishop in the Catholicate of the West, and was involved in Aleister Crowley's Ordo Templi Orientis. In 1933, Vivian wrote:
> Monarchy...[is] a more satisfactory form of government than the insidious poisons of a plutocracy [and] the distorted democracy of Parliaments... the world's galloping consumption will not be arrested until... Kings forget their ancient animosities to unite in a Royalist International uncontaminated and unhampered by the lying, cowardly, malignant Spirit of the Age.
In 1936 came Vivian's Fascist Italy, in which he expressed admiration for the Italian fascist regime. It received a scathing review in the Nottingham Journal: "A facile writer of travel guides... Herbert Vivian must be read as an amusement of a rather grim sort than as an education.... This is a book which need not be taken too seriously, but which may be worth reading with no more attention than is given to works which claim, as this one does not, to be mainly fiction." The Dundee Evening Telegraph review noted Vivian "writes with rapturous enthusiasm. Mussolini is to him a "saviour", who "restored order and glory and pride, cured his country in her calenture, create an imperial future with traditions of ancient Rome"... Inasmuch as it is a mouthpiece for crude propaganda, Mr. Vivian's book is regrettable."
## Political views
Vivian's political views varied over his life, embracing at times one-nation Toryism, free-trade liberalism and open fascism. Indeed, he often seemed more interested in the mechanisms of power and power of persuasive political speech than in consistent policies or positions.
During a failed campaign for the 1891 Bradford East by-election he wrote:
> I preach fanatically the gospel of individualism according to John Stuart Mill and Herbert Spencer. The first principle of this gospel is that everyone must be allowed to do whatever he pleases so long as his doing so does not interfere with the liberty of others to do the same. I am a staunch free trader, desiring the abolition of that curse of civilisation, the custom house. I protest against all monopolies, whether exercised by un-wieldy State departments, or by grasping individuals, and I support the claims of all nationalities to the management of their own affairs.
Some of his beliefs were consistent: he held racist views from early days:
> We have already proclaimed ourselves to be hand in glove with a remote island of yellow dwarfs; this policy will doubtless be extended...for every fetish-worshipping savage, for every murderous nigger, for every naked monster who can offer us assistance in our general conspiracy to obtain universal empire.
He was noted for "extreme monarchist views" throughout his life, and became antagonistic to democracy. His 1933 Kings in Waiting – in which he wrote "Democracy, liberty, and prosperity had been the mirages that had attracted the nations to their shambles" – was noted for its passionate pro-Monarchist and anti-Democratic stance.
He was a prominent British Serbophile and an early proponent of a Greater Serbia that encompassed most of the territory of Macedonia.
## Modern perceptions
Vivian's books and articles on Serbia remain widely quoted in modern histories of the region. Slobodan Markovich, writing in 2000, describes Servia: A Poor Man's Paradise''' as "a rather sympathetic account of the Serbian King Alexander and the Serbian Army.... Although biased, the book has an abundance of facts and confirms the extent to which British knowledge on Serbia had accumulated in previous decades." Markovich says that Vivian "among Britons who took part in the creation of the image of Serbia and the Balkans" was the "one person [who] should be given a special attention." He also put Vivian and anthropologist Edith Durham "among [the] prominent actors of the 'balkanisation' of the Near East", who greatly influenced the British perception of the Balkans after the First World War."
In 2013, Servia: The Poor Man's Paradise was described by Radmila Pejic as "a major contribution to British travel writing about Serbia with its in-depth analysis and rather objective portrayal of the country's political system, religious practices and economic situation."
Although Vivian's Neo-Jacobite views are now largely forgotten, his 1893 wreath-laying earned him the epithet "political maverick" from Smith, who summed up the impact of the event: "The affair enjoyed publicity out of all proportion to the latter-day significance of the Jacobite cause, which had long been effectively extinct, but as one man's crusade against an aspect of state bureaucracy, it acquired contemporary meaning."
Miller and Morelon call him a "monarchist British historian" and ascribe his interest in Emperor Charles of Austria to an uncritical admiration of kings.
## Personal life
In 1892 at the age of 27, Vivian was named as co-respondent in a divorce case. In 1891, he had met Henry Simpson and his wife Maud Mary Simpson in Venice and become a frequent visitor to their home. Henry was an artist and a friend of Whistler. The Simpsons travelled on to Paris, where Mrs Simpson confessed that Vivian had proposed to her. The Simpsons then returned to London and Mrs Simpson left her husband and demanded a divorce, as she and Vivian were living together in Bognor Regis under the assumed names of Mr and Mrs Selwyn. The Simpsons' divorce came in December 1892, one of only 354 granted in England and Wales that year. On 22 June 1893, Vivian married Maud. She pursued her ambition to become an actress and in 1895 she travelled to Holland, where she abandoned Vivian for a Mr Sundt of the Norwegian Legation in Amsterdam. The marriage ended in divorce in 1896.
On 30 September 1897, Vivian married Olive Walton, daughter of Frederick Walton the inventor of linoleum. Herbert and Olive were well known on the London social scene in the years just after the First World War and appear in Anthony Powell's memoir Infants of the Spring'' throwing a lavish luncheon in honour of Aleister Crowley. Powell notes that their "marriage did not last long, but was still going at this period." Olive kept up a lively correspondence with Powell's father for many years after the divorce.
Vivian was made a Knight of the Royal Serbian Order of Takovo in 1902 and a Commander of the Royal Montenegrin Order of Danilo in 1910.
Vivian died on 18 April 1940 at Gunwalloe in Cornwall, 17 miles (27 km) from his grandfather's house in St Clement.
## Works
- (published under a pseudonym)
The following books are commonly attributed to Vivian, but at least one source gives Wilfrid Keppel Honnywill as the author.
- (published anonymously)
- (published anonymously) |
57,201,756 | State communications in the Neo-Assyrian Empire | 1,130,889,977 | null | [
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"Communications by country",
"Neo-Assyrian Empire",
"Postal history"
]
| The state communications in the Neo-Assyrian Empire allowed the Assyrian king and his officials to send and receive messages across the empire quickly and reliably. Messages were sent using a relay system (Assyrian: kalliu) which was revolutionary for the early first millennium BCE. Messages were carried by military riders who travelled on mules. At intervals the riders stopped at purpose-built stations, and the messages were passed to other riders with fresh mounts. The stations were positioned at regular intervals along the imperial highway system. Because messages could be transmitted without delay and without waiting for riders to rest, the system provided unprecedented communication speed, which was not surpassed in the Middle East until the introduction of the telegraph.
The efficiency of the system contributed to the Neo-Assyrian Empire's dominance in the Middle East and to maintaining cohesion throughout the empire. These Assyrian innovations were adopted by later empires, including the Achaemenid Empire which inherited and expanded the Assyrian communication network.
## History
The Neo-Assyrian Empire was an Iron Age empire centered in Mesopotamia. The reign of Adad-nirari II (r. 911–891 BCE) was considered the start of the empire. He and his successors – up to the late seventh century BCE – expanded the empire to dominate most of the modern Middle East, from Egypt in the west to the Persian Gulf in the east. As the empire grew, it introduced various administrative and infrastructural innovations, which became templates for later empires, including the Roman and Persian empires.
The state communication system was developed to solve the challenges of governing a large empire. It probably originated during the reign of Shalmaneser III (r. 858–824 BCE), when Assyria was already the largest power in the Middle East. In order to rule and maintain cohesion within the empire, the king, his court officials and his governors in the provinces needed a fast and reliable system to communicate.
## Components
### Mule
The long-distance state messengers were mounted exclusively on mules. Assyria was the first civilization to use mules for this purpose. Mules are hybrids of a donkey father and a horse mother. They combine the strength of a horse and the ruggedness of a donkey. Their infertility and need of extensive training meant that they were expensive, but their strength, hardiness and low maintenance made them ideal for long-distance travel in the conditions and climates of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. Mules were also good at swimming streams – a common obstacle throughout Mesopotamia. Riders in the Assyrian communication system typically travelled with two mules, so that they did not become stranded if one became lame, and to alternate mounts in order to keep them fresh.
### Relay riders
Official messages could either be sent by letter carried by a series of relay riders or by a trusted envoy. The relay system (kalliu) was an Assyrian innovation and allowed for a much faster communication speed. Rather than relying on a trusted envoy to travel the entire distance, in the relay system each individual rider covered only a segment of the route. The segment ended at a station, where the rider passed the letter to a new rider with a fresh pair of mules. Because animals and riders were changed at each stop without waiting for the previous ones to rest, messages were delivered much faster. The riders and their mules were provided by the Assyrian military.
Despite the speed of the relay system, trusted envoys were also used when communication speed was not vital, and were preferred for very sensitive messages or those which required on-the-spot responses. Sometimes both methods were used simultaneously, such as in the case of a surviving letter from then-crown prince Sennacherib to his father Sargon II.
### Road network
The Neo-Assyrian Empire built a highway system connecting all parts of the empire. These roads, called hūl šarri (or harran šarri in the Babylonian dialect, "the king's road"), might have grown out of the military roads used for campaigning. They were continuously expanded, with the largest expansion occurring between the reigns of Shalmaneser III (r. 858–824 BCE) and Tiglathpileser III r. 745–727 BCE.
### Stations
To support the communication system, governors of the empire maintained a series of stations in their provinces at regular intervals along the king's road. In Assyrian they were called bēt mardēti ("house of a route's stage"). At these stations riders passed their letters to new riders with fresh mules. They were either located within established settlements, such as the one in Nippur, or in remote locations, where they constituted isolated settlements on their own. The distances between stations were around 35 to 40 kilometers (22 to 25 miles). The stations provided short-term shelter and supplies for riders, envoys and their animals.
These stations were comparable to the later caravanserais built throughout the Muslim world for commercial travelers, in the sense that they were purpose-built to provide shelter for long-distance travellers. However, unlike the caravanserais, the Assyrian road stations were for the exclusive use of authorized state messages and not open to private travelers. No surviving road stations have been identified or excavated and historians only know their descriptions from Assyrian texts.
### Authorization and authentication
Use of the imperial postal system was restricted to messages from a set of high state officials. Professor of ancient near-eastern history Karen Radner estimated that it was available to a group of about 150 officials who were called the "Great Ones" of Assyria. They all held a copy of the Assyrian royal seal which they stamped on messages to identify their authority. The seal depicted the Assyrian king in combat with a rampant lion and was recognized throughout the empire. Only letters carrying this seal could be sent using the state system.
## Speed
Radner estimated that a message from the western border province of Quwê (near modern-day Adana, Turkey) to the Assyrian heartland – 700 kilometres (430 mi) as the crow files and requiring the crossing the Euphrates, the Tigris and many tributaries, none of which had bridges – took less than five days to arrive. This communication speed was unprecedented and was not surpassed in the Middle East until the introduction of the telegraph to the region during the Ottoman era in 1865.
## Significance
The rapid long-distance communications between the imperial court and the provinces was important for the empire's cohesion and was one of the factors supporting the domination of the Neo-Assyrian Empire in the Middle East. Mario Liverani says that Assyria was an "empire of communications", and Karen Radner opines that the imperial communication system "may well constitute Assyria's most important contribution to the art of government" and became "a standard tool in the administration of empires".
The system introduced by the Assyrians were adopted by later empires. The existing Assyrian network was considerably expanded by the Persian Empire. The system was also the basis of the nineteenth century Pony Express in the United States. The use of relays of anonymous messengers – instead of a trusted envoy who must travel the entire distance – was a practice that the Assyrians introduced and remains the basis of today's postal systems. |
5,477,146 | 86th Street station (IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line) | 1,172,887,050 | New York City Subway station in Manhattan | [
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"Broadway (Manhattan)",
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| The 86th Street station is a local station on the IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line of the New York City Subway. Located at the intersection of West 86th Street and Broadway on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, it is served by the 1 train at all times and the 2 train during late nights.
The 86th Street station was constructed for the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) as part of the city's first subway line, which was approved in 1900. Construction of the line segment that includes the 86th Street station began on August 22 of the same year. The station opened on October 27, 1904, as one of the original 28 stations of the New York City Subway. The station's platforms have been lengthened since opening.
The 86th Street station contains two side platforms and four tracks; express trains use the inner two tracks to bypass the station. The station was built with tile and mosaic decorations, although the platform extensions contain a cinder block design. The platforms contain exits to 86th Street and Broadway and are not connected to each other within fare control.
## History
### Construction and opening
Planning for a subway line in New York City dates to 1864. However, development of what would become the city's first subway line did not start until 1894, when the New York State Legislature passed the Rapid Transit Act. The subway plans were drawn up by a team of engineers led by William Barclay Parsons, the Rapid Transit Commission's chief engineer. It called for a subway line from New York City Hall in lower Manhattan to the Upper West Side, where two branches would lead north into the Bronx. A plan was formally adopted in 1897, and all legal conflicts concerning the route alignment were resolved near the end of 1899.
The Rapid Transit Construction Company, organized by John B. McDonald and funded by August Belmont Jr., signed the initial Contract 1 with the Rapid Transit Commission in February 1900, under which it would construct the subway and maintain a 50-year operating lease from the opening of the line. In 1901, the firm of Heins & LaFarge was hired to design the underground stations. Belmont incorporated the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) in April 1902 to operate the subway.
The 86th Street station was constructed as part of the IRT's West Side Line (now the Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line) from 82nd Street to 104th Street, for which work had begun on August 22, 1900. Work for that section had been awarded to William Bradley. By late 1903, the subway was nearly complete, but the IRT Powerhouse and the system's electrical substations were still under construction, delaying the system's opening. The 86th Street station opened on October 27, 1904, as one of the original 28 stations of the New York City Subway from City Hall to 145th Street on the West Side Branch.
### Service changes and station renovations
After the first subway line was completed in 1908, the station was served by local trains along both the West Side (now the Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line to Van Cortlandt Park–242nd Street) and East Side (now the Lenox Avenue Line). West Side local trains had their southern terminus at City Hall during rush hours and South Ferry at other times, and had their northern terminus at 242nd Street. East Side local trains ran from City Hall to Lenox Avenue (145th Street).
To address overcrowding, in 1909, the New York Public Service Commission proposed lengthening the platforms at stations along the original IRT subway. As part of a modification to the IRT's construction contracts made on January 18, 1910, the company was to lengthen station platforms to accommodate ten-car express and six-car local trains. In addition to \$1.5 million (equivalent to \$ million in ) spent on platform lengthening, \$500,000 (equivalent to \$ million in ) was spent on building additional entrances and exits. It was anticipated that these improvements would increase capacity by 25 percent. Platforms at local stations, such as the 86th Street station, were lengthened by between 20 and 30 feet (6.1 and 9.1 m). Both platforms were extended to the north and south. Six-car local trains began operating in October 1910. The Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line opened south of Times Square–42nd Street in 1918, and the original line was divided into an "H"-shaped system. The original subway north of Times Square thus became part of the Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line, and all local trains were sent to South Ferry.
In December 1922, the Transit Commission approved a \$3 million project to lengthen platforms at 14 local stations along the original IRT line, including 86th Street and five other stations on the Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line. Platform lengths at these stations would be increased from 225 to 436 feet (69 to 133 m). The commission postponed the platform-lengthening project in September 1923, at which point the cost had risen to \$5.6 million. In 1927, an additional staircase was constructed from the uptown platform to the northeastern corner of 86th Street and Broadway by Patteli & Wilson for \$25,300. In 1932, the entrance at the southeastern corner of 86th Street and Broadway was relocated from the easterly curb of Broadway to the southern building line of 86th Street. The new entrance did not have a kiosk.
The city government took over the IRT's operations on June 12, 1940. The IRT routes were given numbered designations in 1948 with the introduction of "R-type" rolling stock, which contained rollsigns with numbered designations for each service. The Broadway route to 242nd Street became known as the 1 and the Lenox Avenue route as the 3.
The original IRT stations north of Times Square could barely fit local trains of five or six cars depending on the configuration of the trains. Stations on the line from 50th Street to 96th Street, including this station but excluding the 91st Street station, had their platforms extended in the 1950s to accommodate ten-car trains as part of a \$100 million rebuilding program. The contract to extend the platforms at 79th Street and 86th Street was awarded to Delma Engineering Corporation for \$1,867,705 in 1957 (). The platform extensions at the local stations were completed by early 1958. As part of the contract to extend the platform at this station, additional entrances were constructed.
Once the project was completed, all 1 trains became local and all 2 and 3 trains became express, and eight-car local trains began operation. Increased and lengthened service was implemented during peak hours on the 1 train on February 6, 1959. Due to the lengthening of the platforms at 86th Street and 96th Street, the intermediate 91st Street station was closed on February 2, 1959, because it was too close to the other two stations.
In 1985, art and mosaics were installed in the station for \$200,000 (). The cost was covered by Haines, and was done as part of the construction of The Bromely at 85th Street and Broadway. The following year, the entrance to the southwestern corner of 87th Street and Broadway was relocated into a building, The Boulevard at 246 West 87th Street. The \$1,270,000 cost of the project () was borne by the developer, Eichner. The entrance was constructed to supplant public infrastructure improvements required by the New York City Housing Quality Program for the construction of The Boulevard, which in turn allowed the developer to increase the height of the development.
In April 1988, the New York City Transit Authority unveiled plans to speed up service on the Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line through the implementation of a skip-stop service: the 9 train. When skip-stop service started in 1989, it was only implemented north of 137th Street–City College on weekdays, and 86th Street was served by both the 1 and the 9. Skip-stop service ended on May 27, 2005, as a result of a decrease in the number of riders who benefited.
## Station layout
Like other local stations, 86th Street has four tracks and two side platforms. The station is served by the 1 at all times and by the 2 during late nights; the center express tracks are used by the 2 train during daytime hours and the 3 train at all times. The station is between 96th Street to the north and 79th Street to the south. The platforms were originally 200 feet (61 m) long, like at other local stations on the original IRT, but as a result of the 1958–1959 platform extension, became 520 feet (160 m) long.
### Design
As with other stations built as part of the original IRT, the station was constructed using a cut-and-cover method. The tunnel is covered by a "U"-shaped trough that contains utility pipes and wires. The bottom of this trough contains a foundation of concrete no less than 4 inches (100 mm) thick. Each platform consists of 3-inch-thick (7.6 cm) concrete slabs, beneath which are drainage basins. The original platforms contain circular, cast-iron Doric-style columns spaced every 15 feet (4.6 m), while the platform extensions contain I-beam columns. Additional columns between the tracks, spaced every 5 feet (1.5 m), support the jack-arched concrete station roofs. There is a 1-inch (25 mm) gap between the trough wall and the platform walls, which are made of 4-inch (100 mm)-thick brick covered over by a tiled finish.
This station retains original mosaic and terracotta wall reliefs, consisting of purple characters surrounded by yellow and blue tiles. The tiled pilasters on the side walls are interrupted by tiled rectangles, as well as motifs of little squares and semicircles. The decorations also include cornucopia designs with the number "86". There are also a few "Men" and "Women" relief signs for now-defunct restrooms. The mosaic tiles at all original IRT stations were manufactured by the American Encaustic Tile Company, which subcontracted the installations at each station. The decorative work was performed by tile contractor Alfred Boote Company and faience contractor Rookwood Pottery Company. The ceilings of the original platforms and fare control areas contain plaster molding. At the northern part of the station, where the platforms have been extended, the walls have cream-colored tiles with a pink trim line and black "86th ST" written on them at regular intervals.
The 86th Street station has artwork installed in 1989 entitled Westside Views by Nitza Tufiño. The artists are students of Manhattan Community Board 7 and the Grosvernor House. Scenes include the 72nd Street station, medians on Broadway, New York City Fire Department, children at play, Ida Straus memorial in Straus Park, boats at the 79th Street Boat Basin, Buddhist vendors on Church Street, and a New York City Bus. The station also has a poem entitled West Side Views by student Pedro Pieti. Westside Views is one of two works Tufiño made for MTA Arts & Design; the other, Neo-Boriken – a solo effort – can be found at 103rd Street on the IRT Lexington Avenue Line.
### Exits
All fare control areas are on platform level and there are no crossovers or crossunders. The centers of the northbound and southbound platforms each have a fare control area with a turnstile bank and token booth, although the northbound token booth is closed to the public. The northbound platform's fare control area contains stairs to the northeast and southeast corners of West 86th Street and Broadway, while the southbound platform's fare control area here contains stairs to the southwest and southeast corners of the same intersection.
The southbound platform has another fare control near the north end. A bank of three turnstiles lead to a token booth that is only staffed during rush hours. A staircase goes up to an alcove inside 246 West 87th Street, on the southwest corner of West 87th Street and Broadway. |
68,447,956 | The Suicide of Rachel Foster | 1,173,587,898 | 2020 video game | [
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| The Suicide of Rachel Foster is a 2020 adventure video game developed by One-O-One Games and published by Daedalic Entertainment. The story follows Nicole Wilson in Lewis and Clark County, Montana, during December 1993 on a visit to her family's Timberline Hotel. Having left ten years prior with her mother following the revelation that her father Leonard was having an affair with the teenaged Rachel Foster, Nicole plans on quickly inspecting the Timberline and selling it. Forced to stay there due to a heavy snowstorm starting after her arrival, her only contact with the outside world is a Federal Emergency Management Agency agent named Irving. With his help, Nicole decides to investigate the affair between Leonard and Rachel, as well as her mysterious suicide.
The Suicide of Rachel Foster took around two years to develop. The studio aimed to create a horror game that emphasized suspense and fear instead of traditional monsters. The game's narrative and gameplay were developed simultaneously to ensure that one would complement the other. The game was created as a walking simulator to allow real-life topics to be explored, given the genre's emphasis on narrative. The Overlook Hotel from the 1980 film The Shining, well as various real-life hotels were used as inspiration for the Timberline's architecture. The developers sought professional advice for the game's depiction of topics such as child sexual abuse and suicide, to portray them with sensitivity.
The game was released in February 2020 for Windows, and in September 2020 for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One; it was ported to the Nintendo Switch in October 2021. It received mixed reviews from critics. Its setting and sound design were praised for creating the appropriate atmosphere, with Nicole and Irving's relationship and voice actors also being commended. Conversely, the game's plot and mystery, as well as some gameplay aspects, received a more mixed reception, and critics were polarized by the depictions of child sexual abuse and suicide, Leonard and Rachel's relationship, and the game's ending. The Suicide of Rachel Foster was nominated for various awards, winning Game of the Year at the 2021 DStars.
## Gameplay
The Suicide of Rachel Foster is a mystery–thriller adventure game played from a first-person perspective. Players take control of Nicole as she explores the Timberline Hotel. Nicole's only means of communication is a radiotelephone she can use to talk to Irving. Players can choose from a dialogue tree how they reply during conversations with him.
## Plot
In December 1993, Nicole Wilson reads a letter from her dead mother Claire. Nicole's father, Leonard McGrath, was the owner of the Timberline Hotel, a mountain hotel in Lewis and Clark County, Montana, situated in the Helena National Forest. In 1983, Leonard groomed and molested Nicole's 16-year-old classmate Rachel Foster. Once their relationship was discovered, Rachel seemingly killed herself nine weeks into her pregnancy, and Claire left town with Nicole. In the letter, Claire instructs Nicole to inspect the hotel and sell it.
Arriving at the Timberline, Nicole gets a call from Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) agent Irving Crawford, who states he will assist Nicole during her stay. He warns her against leaving due to a heavy snowstorm, which started following her arrival. Nicole's attempts to do so anyway, but is unable to do so, angering her. Irving appears aware of the history involving Leonard and Rachel, although Nicole would prefer not to discuss it. As Nicole's lawyer Mr. Jenkins cannot come due to the snowstorm, Irving instructs her to inspect the Timberline's second floor.
After questioning his knowledge about her family and the hotel, Irving reveals that he was often sent by FEMA to provide supplies to the Timberline. A phone rings—even though the hotel's phone lines are down—and Nicole answers. Its voice warns her to not sell the hotel, as Rachel "is still there". The following day, while looking for the hotel's generator, Nicole finds a recently opened lipstick and tells Irving about her theory that Rachel might still be alive, collecting various clues.
Two days later, Irving shows Nicole a tape taken by ghost hunters after Rachel's death. Entering the room where the tape was recorded, she finds it barricaded. After unlocking it, Nicole finds a microphone allowing her to hear faint sounds. In the tape, one of the hunters hears a woman's voice with the microphone and they flee upon noticing a strange light, with the door shutting behind them.
During Christmas Eve, Nicole wakes up inside a church, which connects to the Timberline through an underground passage. Revisiting the church, she remembers a rhyme Leonard taught her to find a secret storeroom inside the passage. There, she finds a room modeled after Rachel's bedroom and the key to her music box, believing someone—possibly Rachel—was living there. Opening the music box, Nicole remembers the events of December 27, 1983, when Rachel supposedly killed herself; Nicole was playing at a hockey game, which her mother had driven her to.
A day later, Nicole investigates a storeroom filled with mannequins, three of which depict a pregnant woman being killed by someone holding a hockey stick, which Nicole realizes belongs to her. Calling Irving, he acts suspiciously and tells her to continue her search. Going to the second floor, Nicole finds a previously locked door leading to the west wing open. There she finds Irving's room, including the equipment he used to talk to her. Irving reveals he was behind the hotel's strange occurrences and used Nicole to uncover what had happened to Rachel. Irving is Rachel's younger brother and in their abusive household, only his sister brought him joy. Rachel had dyslexia and often suffered from bullying; something Irving wished to protect her from. According to him, Leonard was the sole person who "saw [Rachel]".
Going to the attic, Nicole finds a recording Leonard left for her, asking her to find out what happened to Rachel, and the keys to her mother's car. Opening its truck, she finds a blood-stained blanket, and while washing it, uncovers a repressed memory of the night Rachel died. Claire murdered Rachel with Nicole's hockey stick, drove Nicole to her game, and while she was playing, framed Rachel's suicide. Having learned the truth, Irving thanks Rachel and goes out into the cold to die, before the signal is lost, with Nicole begging him to not leave her alone. Later, Nicole is inside her car, planning to take her life via carbon monoxide poisoning. Receiving a call from her lawyer and informing him she will not sell the hotel, she starts the engine and hallucinates talking to her parents. If Nicole turns the engine off, she promises her parents to bring the Timberline back to its feet.
## Development and release
The Suicide of Rachel Foster was revealed during Gamescom 2018. The game was developed by the Italian studio One-O-One Games using Unreal Engine 4 and published by Daedalic Entertainment. The game was directed by Daniele Azara and its music was composed by Federico Landini. According to art director Graziano Pimpolari, the game took around two years to finish production. The crew and voice actors worked remotely on the game. The Windows version of the game was released on February 19, 2020. The console versions were initially set to release the same year on August 26, but they were postponed and released on September 9. The game was made available on the Nintendo Switch on October 31, 2021.
### Setting
Lead programmer Lorenzo Bellincampi stated that the game was not a horror game and described it as being geared toward "nostalgia and mystery rather than fear or terror". The studio intended to create a psychological horror game evoking "unease and fear" without having to resort to traditional monsters or tropes. The horror was intended to be internal, with players being scared by their own expectations and imagination. From the beginning of the game's development, the studio wanted the narrative and gameplay to complement one another, rather than finishing the story first and then choosing an appropriate gameplay style. The game was made a walking simulator due to the genre's high emphasis on narrative, allowing for the exploration of real-life topics. The game has over 100,000 words of dialogue.
According to Graziano Pimpolari, it was fundamental that the game's environment felt real. Montana was chosen both because it allowed the developers to place the Timberline Hotel in an isolated area, and the region's religious and legal background. The hotel was designed to cause fear and feelings of isolation in the player, being set in an enclosed space to increase the claustrophobia. The Timberline Hotel was designed to look authentic for its time. The team implemented architectural and proportional studies to create the hotel, so players could identify with it and be interested in exploring it. The team researched various real-life hotels to create the hotel's floor plan. The hotel's design drew heavily from the Overlook Hotel, featured in Stanley Kubrick's The Shining (1980).
### Story and themes
Azara stated the developers were challenged with portraying and discussing topics such as child sexual abuse, grief, and suicide without becoming overly morbid and depressing. To achieve this and portray these topics with sensitivity, they sought advice from partners and professionals. Regarding Rachel and Leonard's ephebophilic relationship, One-O-One stated they were interested in exploring the moral implications of such a situation. Since Rachel and Leonard never properly appear in the story, the developers stated that having their relationship explored through Nicole and how she was affected by the tragedies surrounding it was "central to the horror experience".
Rachel and Leonard's relationship was presented from various perspectives to encourage players to think critically about such a relationship and the repercussions it can have. The team wanted players to reflect on the game's topics after playing it, especially as they believed discussions of these topics can lead to healing. Leonard and Irving seemingly condone the former's relationship with Rachel; the developers included this ideology to showcase how people's emotions can blind them and cause them to justify immoral acts.
One-O-One stated that the "controversial decision" to have Nicole potentially die by suicide at the end, and putting her fate in the player's hands, was something they felt was in line with the game's themes and viewed as an "intriguing game mechanic". According to Azara, the game's ending caused many cast members to cry.
## Reception
### Critical response
According to review aggregator Metacritic, all versions of The Suicide of Rachel Foster received "mixed or average reviews".
#### Setting and gameplay
The game's setting—the Timberline Hotel—was complimented, as did the sound design for helping create an appropriate atmosphere. Jens Bremicker of ProSieben Games complimented the hotel's design, as did Jerome Joffard of Jeuxvideo.com. Rachel Watts of PC Gamer called the environment "engaging" and capable of creating tension, while Eurogamer's Edwin Evans-Thirlwell described the hotel as "creepy" and its design "predatory". Peter Morics of Screen Rant commended the hotel's atmosphere, while praising the game's sound design for keeping the players "on [their] toes". Bremicker praised the sound design for creating an appropriate atmosphere, with Péter Nagy of IGN Hungary also commending it for creating a sense of loneliness.
Despite the Timberline's positive reception, there was criticism of the lack of engagement with the setting and its puzzles. Joffard critiqued the linearity of the game's plot, as it did not allow for a proper exploration of the entire hotel. Alice Bell of Rock Paper Shotgun, while appreciating the hotel's design, denounced its scope and the fact that the puzzle items were rarely required to be used, making them redundant. Bremicker criticized the lack of puzzles in the game, while Evans-Thirlwell found the few existing puzzles overly simplistic.
#### Plot and characters
The game's plot and ending received mixed responses from critics, with many finding the ending inconsistent with the rest of the game. The Washington Post's Christopher Byrd described the game's overall mystery as "obvious" and lacking in scares. Joffard denounced the narrative for not being engaging enough, causing the player to become a spectator. as well as the game's ending and twists, finding them inconsistent with the rest of the game's story. Bell said the game's ending caused the story to "go 'off the rails'", while Nagy found its twists to be ineffective. Though Evans-Thirlwell enjoyed the game's first half, its second half and ending were criticized and described as "melodramatic". Watts stated that while the game initially showed promise—appearing as a ghost story—it eventually became a "melodramatic soap opera". Though Bremicker was critical of the plot for taking too long to truly begin, the ending and its twists were praised. Morics praised the game's plot and described it as "thrilling". While he found the ending "emotionally satisfying", its "logical concerns" were also acknowledged.
The characters Nicole and Irving were commended, as were their relationship and voice acting. Evans-Thirlwell praised both characters, as well as their voice actors' performances, while Bell complimented the voice actors for making the characters interesting. While Nagy found Nicole and Irving to be unoriginal, he applauded their consistent personalities and voice acting, as well as the depiction of their relationship. Watts enjoyed their relationship, likening it to Henry and Delilah from Firewatch (2016), while Morics commended the dialogue between them. Bremicker called Nicole as a strong protagonist, showcased through the game's writing of her conversations with Irving, and the layout of her room. Joffard applauded the voice actors for bringing the characters to life, although they criticized scenes in which Irving calls Nicole without being prompted by the player.
#### Themes
The game's depiction of ephebophilia and suicide, especially the relationship between Leonard and Rachel, proved polarizing. Bell criticized the portrayal of Leonard and Rachel's relationship, as did Watts, who argued that the game portrays the relationship in a romantic light. Furthermore, Watts found fault with Rachel's lack of agency in the story, and criticized the lack of sensitivity afforded to ephebophilia and suicide, finding the game to sensationalize them instead. Similarly, NME's Vikki Blake did not believe the developers succeeded in causing the game's audience to consider the game's topics, denouncing the portrayal of Leonard and Rachel's relationship since it makes the players sympathize with them. Evans-Thirlwell argued that the portrayal of the game's controversial topics does not create a further understanding of them. While he noted the game does not condemn Leonard's relationship with Rachel, he acknowledged that how the characters reflect on the relationship is not indicative of the developers' opinion.
The game's handling of suicide, especially regarding Nicole's suicide attempt at the end, was also polarizing. Blake disliked the game's ending and the decision to potentially have Nicole commit suicide, arguing that it contrasted her earlier characterization, and criticized it for making players complicit in someone's suicide attempt.
### Accolades
The Suicide of Rachel Foster was nominated for the Best Italian Game at the Italian Video Game Awards in 2020, and at the TGM Awards 2020 in the categories Dynamic Adventure and Tell Me a Story. At the 2021 DStars, the game won Game of the Year. |
36,348,230 | Amber Merritt | 1,171,547,777 | 21st-century Australian wheelchair basketball player | [
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"Wheelchair basketball players at the 2012 Summer Paralympics",
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| Amber Merritt (born 17 February 1993) is a 4.5-point wheelchair basketball player who plays forward. She represented Australia at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, where she won a silver medal and at the 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo.
Born in England, Merritt moved to Australia when she was ten years old. She was originally a swimmer, but was recruited into basketball by the Paralympic Hall of Fame coach Frank Ponta in 2007. She started playing top-level club wheelchair basketball in Australia for the Perth Western Stars in the Women's National Wheelchair Basketball League (WNWBL) in 2008. In 2013, she captained the team, and it to its first WNWBL championship. She was the league's top scorer, and the Most Valuable Player 4 pointer in its All Star Five, in 2011, 2012 and 2013.
Merritt made her debut with the Australia women's national wheelchair basketball team, known as the Gliders, in 2009. She has played for the Gliders in a number of international series including the 2010 U23 World Championship, 2011 U25 World Championship, 2011, 2012 and 2013 Osaka Cups, the 2012 BT Paralympic World Cup, and 2012 Gliders and Rollers World Challenge in Sydney.
## Personal life
Nicknamed Bambi, Merritt was born on 17 February 1993 in Portsmouth, England, with a club foot. She moved to Perth in Western Australia when she was ten after her parents decided they wanted to see what else the world had to offer, and graduated from high school there in 2010. As of 2013, she lives in Wanneroo, Western Australia.
## Wheelchair basketball
Merritt is a 4.5-point wheelchair basketball who plays forward. She started playing in 2007. She was originally a swimmer, but was recruited into basketball by the Paralympic Hall of Fame coach Frank Ponta.
In financial year 2012/13, the Australian Sports Commission gave Merritt a A\$20,000 grant as part of their Direct Athlete Support (DAS) program. She received \$17,000 in 2011/12 and 2010/11 and \$5,571.42 in 2009/10.
Wearing jersey number 14, Merritt started playing top-level club wheelchair basketball in Australia for the Perth Western Stars in the Women's National Wheelchair Basketball League in 2008. In the second round of that season, the Western Stars defeated the Hills Hornets 52–44. Playing for the Stars, she scored 10 points in her team's victory.
In the 2012 season during the first game loss, Merritt scored eight points, had five rebounds, and two assists. In the league's third game and her team's second game, a loss to the Dandenong Rangers, she scored 26 points, and had 14 rebounds. In her team's third game victory against the Sydney Uni Flames, she scored 18 points, while having 10 rebounds. In the Western Stars' 56–36 semi-final victory against the Sydney Uni Flames, she played an important role. The Western Stars played in the league's third place match, where she led it in scoring with 34 points as they defeated Sydney 63–54. She finished the season as the WNWBL Season Top Scorer,
Merritt was the Western Stars' captain for the 2013 season, and led the team to its first WNWBL championship, defeating the Sachs Goldcamp Bears in the final 43–40 despite being 11 points down at three-quarter time. She was the league's top scorer, and the Most Valuable Player 4 pointer in its All Star Five, as she had previously been in 2011 and 2012.
Merritt made her debut with the Australia women's national wheelchair basketball team, known as the Gliders, in 2009, playing in several different competitions that year including the Japan Friendly Series, Four Nations in Canada and the Under 23 World Championship where her team finished fourth. As the youngest member of the Australian team at the 2010 World Championships, she finished fourth. She competed in the 2011 Asia Oceania Regional Championships, scoring ten points for her team as the third leading scorer in the final game of a competition where her did not lose a single match. That year, she also represented Australia at the 2011 Under 25 World Championships, where she wore shirt number 7 and was a key blocker for her team. Merritt played in the 2011 Osaka Cup, and the 2012 BT Paralympic World Cup. She competed at the 2012 Gliders and Rollers World Challenge in Sydney, scoring the winning points in the first place match against the Germany women's national wheelchair basketball team, and was named the women's MVP for the competition, having averaged 17.8 points per game.
Merritt was selected to represent Australia at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in wheelchair basketball. The London Games were her first. In the group stage, the Australia women's national wheelchair basketball team at the 2012 Summer Paralympics posted wins against Brazil, Great Britain, and the Netherlands, but lost to the Canada. This was enough to advance the Gliders to the quarter-finals, where they beat Mexico. The Gliders then defeated the United States by a point to set up a final clash with Germany. The Gliders lost 44–58, and earned a silver medal.
Since the London games, Merritt has participated in the 2013 Osaka Cup, where the Gliders successfully defended the title they had won in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2012. She represented Australia at the 2018 Wheelchair Basketball World Championship in Hamburg, where the team came ninth, and the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, the Gliders again finished ninth after winning the 9th-10th classification match. She was a member of the Australian team that won the silver medal in the 3x3 Women's tournament at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, and the Gliders team at the 2022 Wheelchair Basketball World Championships in Dubai.
## Statistics |
1,344,544 | Get Happy!! (Elvis Costello album) | 1,166,644,237 | null | [
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| Get Happy!! is the fourth studio album by English singer-songwriter Elvis Costello, and his third with the Attractions—keyboardist Steve Nieve, bassist Bruce Thomas and drummer Pete Thomas (no relation). It was released on 15 February 1980 through F-Beat Records in the United Kingdom and Columbia Records in the United States. Produced by Nick Lowe and engineered by Roger Béchirian, the sessions began in London but moved to the Netherlands after Costello found the material derivative of his previous album Armed Forces (1979). The sessions were problematic but amassed a large number of songs; the final album contains 20 tracks across a single LP.
A departure from Costello's prior works, Get Happy!! is influenced by R&B, ska and soul music of the 1960s. Two cover songs, Sam & Dave's "I Can't Stand Up for Falling Down" and the Merseybeats' "I Stand Accused", are included. In contrast to the upbeat music, the mostly downbeat lyrics cover recurring themes such as doomed romances. Initial album sleeves reversed the side labels, which was corrected for later reissues. The cover art reflects the soul influence and was designed to resemble a 1960s Stax record, with initial copies boasting a pre-worn sleeve.
Initially delayed due to a dispute with Warner Bros. and Costello's former label Radar, Get Happy!! charted at number two in the UK and number 11 in the US, but sold less than Armed Forces. It was supported by a UK tour and three singles, of which "I Can't Stand Up for Falling Down" reached the UK top five. The album received positive reviews from music critics. Many focused on the quantity of tracks, which they felt varied in quality, although others gave high praise to the record and Costello himself. It is retrospectively viewed as one of his best works. Appearing on lists of the best albums of the 1980s, it has been reissued multiple times with bonus tracks.
## Background
Elvis Costello and the Attractions—bassist Bruce Thomas, drummer Pete Thomas (no relation) and keyboardist Steve Nieve—supported his third studio album Armed Forces on the Armed Funk tour in America, which lasted from February to April 1979. The tour was plagued with issues, including drug and alcohol problems, aggressive behaviour from Costello and his manager Jake Riviera to the press, and poor performances that led to critical and audience backlash. In March, Costello engaged in a drunken exchange with Stephen Stills, where he insulted various American musical artists, including James Brown and Ray Charles, using racial slurs. Although Costello quickly apologised in a press conference, details of the exchange was leaked to the public and he received additional backlash; he received death threats and Armed Forces was pulled from radio stations. By the tour's end, Costello's reputation in America was nearly destroyed. Bruce Thomas later admitted: "We never really recovered from that tour. Every time Elvis is doing something well, he kind of sabotages it." His reputation in the United Kingdom remained largely unaffected, mostly due to newspapers failing to pick up the story. Author Mick St. Michael compares it to the worldwide response from John Lennon's 1966 more popular than Jesus comment.
Costello first acknowledged the incident in an interview with Rolling Stone in 1982, feeling that it "outweighs my entire career", but later reflected in his 2015 memoir Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink: "So what if my career was rolled back off the launching pad? Life eventually became a lot more interesting due to this failure to get into some undeserved and potentially fatal orbit." Although he remained with Columbia Records, he did not tour America again until 1981 in support of Trust. Following the disastrous tour, he decided to reevaluate himself and his career. He ended his relationship with Bebe Buell and reconciled with his wife Mary. Apart from the occasional demo and promotional gig, he and the Attractions took some time off from each other over the summer of 1979; the former produced the Specials' debut album in June while the latter recorded an album released in September as Mad About the Wrong Boy. During his time working with the Specials, Costello taped demos at Archipelago, a small eight-track studio in Pimlico, London, and played all instruments himself, yielding versions of "Black and White World", "Riot Act", "Five Gears in Reverse", "Love for Tender", "King Horse", "New Amsterdam" and "Men Called Uncle". According to his biographer Graeme Thomson, Costello had grown to hate the sound of Armed Forces and aimed to take a different direction for his next album.
## Recording
Costello and the Attractions regrouped at London's Eden Studios in September and October 1979 to rehearse the new tracks but, having written and performed the material during the Armed Funk Tour in a style similar to Armed Forces, Costello was displeased with the results, finding them derivative and too "new wave". Bruce Thomas recalled: "We sounded like the Jags. Bad Elvis and the Attractions impersonators, basically, who played everything fast and in eights." Thomson states that the band's classic sound was now outdated and the initial attempt at "B Movie" sounded like "a desperate attempt" at rewriting "Oliver's Army" (1979). Wanting a new direction, Costello immersed himself in soul music he enjoyed as a teenager and purchased several soul records at London's Camden Town, such as Motown Chartbusters Vol. 3 and Atlantic Records' This Is Soul, which he gave to the band as inspiration. They then went back and re-arranged many of the songs using an R&B sound. The band also grew tired of Eden and relocated to Wisseloord Studios in Hilversum, Netherlands. Returning as producer and engineer were Nick Lowe and Roger Béchirian, respectively.
Recording took place throughout October 1979. Despite the change in scenery, the sessions were enveloped with problems. The band drank frequently, while Béchirian recalled it being a "cocaine haze". Having played the majority of tracks live before going into the studio on previous albums, the new songs were being rearranged frequently and boasted little time to pause. For the Attractions, Nieve suffered an emotional meltdown while Bruce and Pete Thomas were unhappy with their bass and drum sounds, respectively. Béchirian later stated: "It wasn't pleasant at all. You could see the seams coming apart at that point." In addition, Lowe found issues with the studio, even having Costello record his vocals in the booth designed for string instruments: "[It] was extremely Euro. It was like trying to make a record as the Eurovision song contest was going on all around you."
The band amassed a large amount of songs during the sessions, with 20 filling the original album; almost all are under two-and-a-half minutes in length. According to Costello, the vinyl cutting and pressing process had to be precise to fit all of them on the two sides of the LP. Two cover versions made the final tracklist: the Sam & Dave B-side "I Can't Stand Up for Falling Down" and the Merseybeats' "I Stand Accused". Although covers had appeared in Costello's live sets and as B-sides, Get Happy!! marked the first appearance of a non-original on one of his UK studio albums. The Archipelago recording of "New Amsterdam" was kept for the final album, as Costello felt it could not be improved upon. Outtakes that appeared as B-sides included "Girls Talk", a second version of "Clowntime Is Over" and a cover of Betty Everett's "Getting Mighty Crowded".
## Music and lyrics
Musically, Get Happy!! represents a departure from Costello's previous records, taking influences from the R&B and soul sound of the 1960s, as well as ska. Michael Gallucci of Ultimate Classic Rock described it as "a throwback to '60s R&B music played with new wave bite". In his book Let Them All Talk, biographer Brian Hinton states that with Get Happy!!, the artist invested in "soul sources with an introspection and bitterness previously alien to the genre". Costello said that not all the tracks took direct influence from R&B and soul: "Human Touch" was influenced by his recent work producing the Specials; "Men Called Uncle" and "Beaten to the Punch" were influenced by the 1960s Liverpool sound that drew the same styles as the Merseybeats' "I Stand Accused". Some commentators saw the songs on Get Happy!! as a response to the events of the Armed Funk tour, although in the 2003 reissue liner notes for the album, Costello said "Riot Act" was the only track on the album to refer to the incident, further commenting:
> It might have been tempting to claim that I had some noble motive in basing this record on the music that I had admired and learned from prior to my brush with infamy. But if I was trying to pay respects and make such amends, I doubt if pride would have allowed me to express that thought after I had made my rather contrived explanation ... I simply went back to work and relied on instinct, curiosity, and enduring musical passions.
The album's title is taken from the song of the same name, written by Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler. Biographer Tony Clayton-Lea finds it an ironic comment on the LP's "steeped in discontent" lyrical content. The upbeat songs provide a stark contrast to the downbeat lyrics, particularly on "King Horse". Reviewing the album on release, critic Robert Hilburn of the Los Angeles Times found the song titles hint at the "jarring encounters" described throughout, naming "Beaten to the Punch", "Temptation", "Possession", "Clowntime Is Over" and "High Fidelity". Biographer David Gouldstone splits the songs into public ones – songs concerned with public issues ("Opportunity", "Clowntime Is Over", "5ive Gears in Reverse" and "Temptation") and personal ones – tracks detailing personal conflicts (all other tracks). He notes that almost all the songs have narrators, with "King Horse" highlighting that they all have human failings. A theme of doomed romance, inspired by the artist's former relationship with Buell, appears in "Beaten to the Punch", "Riot Act", "Men Called Uncle", "New Amsterdam" and "B Movie". Additionally, The Ringer's Elizabeth Nelson retrospectively found that Costello intended "Temptation", "Opportunity" and "Possession" to be "a kind of Burroughs-like, cut-up trilogy", dissecting them as "a tortured romance in three acts" or "a plan for military domination".
The original album sleeve labels for Get Happy!! were reversed; side one began with "I Can't Stand Up for Falling Down" and ended with "Riot Act", while side two started with "Love for Tender" and ended with "High Fidelity", which was corrected for later reissues. Author James E. Perone argues that the swapping is significant, as the album makes "more rhetorical sense" with "Love for Tender" as the opener and "Riot Act" as the closer.
### Side one
Opening track "Love for Tender" is an upbeat R&B track that demonstrates the soul influence with a James Jamerson-style bass and Motown-era handclaps and percussion. The rushed song uses thematic punning to reference both affection and monetary advances. A reworking of the Armed Forces outtake "Clean Money", Costello stated that he used the same "You Can't Hurry Love" riff that the Jam used for "Town Called Malice", a 1982 UK number one. Nelson found the opening lines ("You won't take my love for tender?") set a precedent for the entire album, in which "one clever but fractious phrase after another unspools as though autogenerated from a demented mail-order catalog". "Opportunity" is the first of several cryptic songs on the album. The partly autobiographical number contains references to being watched or under surveillance, which the narrator is powerless to do anything about except wait for opportunities to come. Gouldstone gives an interpretation of the song as "a dissident aside on the values and organisation of post-war Britain".
"The Imposter" is the narrator's attack on a man who has won the affection over a woman he is also in love with; to the narrator, he is an 'imposter' and is surprised no one else sees it. The tracks employs a punk-ska groove. "Secondary Modern" utilises a slower soul groove with downbeat lyrics. Like other tracks, the narrator pleas for a woman to accept him. Interpreting the phrase "secondary modern"–former schools for children that failed grammar school–Gouldstone finds that the phrase might have appealed to Costello due to its "secondary importance" in modern times, which is the final fate of most of his songs' characters.
Like "The Imposter", "King Horse" is aimed at tough guys who harass waitresses and stewardesses. Gouldstone comments that "to call someone 'king horse' is in effect to accuse them of being driven by ruthless selfishness, of trampling over other people to reach their desires". Musically, the song uses the guitar figure from the Four Tops' "Reach Out I'll Be There" (1966). AllMusic's Rick Anderson argued that it anticipated the sound Costello would explore on Trust the following year. "Possession" was written in Holland during a five-minute taxi ride heading back to the studio from a local café. Reassuring a recurring theme of finance and business throughout Get Happy!!, the song concerns a failed relationship and implies that money be provided rather than love itself. In "Men Called Uncle", the narrator shows distaste for a woman and her older man, whom she calls "uncle". Like other tracks, he displays indifference towards her but deep down desires her love and affection. Perone finds the music similar to the pop styles of the 1960s British Invasion.
The lyrics of "Clowntime Is Over" are vague, but Gouldstone argues that it concerns "some kind of lament". He continues that words and phrases such as "blackmail", "ransom", "somebody's watching" and "a voice in the shadows" offer sinister undertones that indicate an unexpected evil is growing upon us. Reviewer Dave McCullough opined that the song has that "familiar feeling of aggressive assurity, relayed in a sudden jerk at the end of every verse". Musically, Nelson compares the song to "circus music from the Weimar Republic" that is set against a "mechanized march" she likens to Kraftwerk and David Bowie's Berlin period. Unlike the rest of the album, "New Amsterdam" is a folk-like acoustic number, having been recorded entirely by Costello himself as a demo. A waltz, the nostalgic lyrics are about arriving in the New World and describe life there as being "almost like suicide". Hinton finds that it is the only song that comes from a non-persona. "High Fidelity" marks a return to the soul influences, with a sound echoing the Supremes; its opening line also quotes a song title by them. The lyrics are addressed to an ex-partner who now has found a new lover and contain Costello's signature wordplay to reference radios and record players.
### Side two
Opening side two is the cover of "I Can't Stand Up for Falling Down", a soul track that describes a hurtful love affair. Gouldstone argues that its presence adds "authentic sixties atmosphere" to the LP. The title of "Black and White World" recalls the early days of cinema and the simpler days of childhood. Like "New Amsterdam", the theme of the song is nostalgia, reflecting on days of innocence gone by, and also combines ideals of time, the media and battles between the sexes set against, in Gouldstone's words, "powerful and gripping music". "5ive Gears in Reverse" implies that society is digressing rather than progressing, with the chorus concerning hopelessness and futility. Driven by a guitar riff and a bassline, it is sung "lustfully" rather than "lustily". Hinton finds the track also acts as a "raison d'etre" for the album, or "backwards into the future".
Both "B Movie" and "Motel Matches" contain wordplay that references Costello's life while on the road for three years, similar to the lyrics on Armed Forces. Described by McCullough as "a quivering skeleton of a song", the former is addressed to a woman, seemingly putting her down and casually references violence towards her. The latter, while not as brutal, describes an unsatisfactory affair taking place in a motel room; Hinton states that "emotion overtakes cleverness". Returning to ska rhythms is the ambivalent "Human Touch", in which the narrator is digusted by his partner and the world, begins drinking heavily and physically assaulting her, yet he longs for the "human touch" from her. Gouldstone finds that the music mimics the disintegration of his mind. Hinton likens the track to This Year's Model's "Lip Service" (1978) or, in theory, Costello's take on the Beatles' "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" (1968). Hinton also draws Beatles comparisons for "Beaten to the Punch", which contains the same bassline as "Taxman" (1966). The energetic rock song "Beaten to the Punch" is an attack on a man and his "juvenile macho attitudes".
Costello based "Temptation" on Booker T. & the M.G.'s' "Time Is Tight" (1969), a song which concerns alcoholism and defenselessness. Similar to other tracks on the album, "Temptation" is addressed to a man and is presumed by Gouldstone to concern the troubles of living in a competitive and bureaucratic society. Regarding the cover of "I Stand Accused", the author argues that it could pass as one of Costello's originals due to the performances and use of thematic punning. The final track, "Riot Act", reflects on a past relationship with "abject desolation" rather than disdain. Costello gives a tender vocal performance that displays emotion and builds into a near-scream by the end. Hinton calls it the "first genuinely relaxed song on the whole LP". With an arrangement AllMusic's Stewart Mason considered "almost bombastic", Hinton compares the music to the English band Procol Harum.
## Packaging and artwork
According to Hinton, the cover artwork for Get Happy!! was designed to resemble a Stax record from the 1960s. Designed by Barney Bubbles, and featuring a clash of changing colours, the geometric sleeve contains three identical images of Costello photographed from above, with his hands in the pockets of a buttoned-up coat and his face appearing "almost deformed". The UK release featured a pre-worn sleeve: the front came with a fake coffee mug stain while the back featured a large circle, giving the effect that the vinyl itself was worn through the packaging; the effect was omitted from other editions. Original copies also lacked a lyric sheet.
## Release and promotion
Originally intended for release in early January 1980, Get Happy!! was delayed due to legal issues. In December 1979, Radar Records founder Andrew Lauder and Riviera left the label and formed a new independent label, F-Beat Records. Any UK signee to Radar's was also signed to the label's parent company, Warner Bros, and Warner disliked both Costello and Lowe leaving without recompense. The dispute eventually went to court. Costello attempted to release the first chosen single, "I Can't Stand Up for Falling Down", on the Specials' label 2 Tone Records, but Warner blocked its release due to the ongoing legal proceedings. Once resolved, the song, backed by "Girls Talk", was rush-released as the first single on 8 February and reached number four on the UK Singles Chart. Get Happy!! followed it in the UK a week later on 15 February 1980, over a year after its predecessor, released with the catalogue number XXLP 1. In the US, it was issued through Columbia the week of 25 February.
Throughout March 1980, Costello and the Attractions toured the UK for the first time in almost a year, playing in smaller venues in lesser-known cities compared to previous live outings. Drawing on material from his four albums up to that point—primarily Get Happy!! and This Year's Model—and covering various soul tunes to reflect Costello's renewed appreciation, the shows were greeted positively. Supporting act Clive Langer praised the Attractions: "I was amazed by them live. The power. They would just come out of the dressing room and attack." Due to his alcohol and drug abuse, Costello himself suffered several moments of instability during the shows, including forgetting lyrics, freezing in place and poor vocals. "High Fidelity" was issued on 12" vinyl as the second single from Get Happy!! three days later and reached the UK top 30. The band were back on the road throughout Europe in mid-April, although a car accident resulted in Nieve being temporarily replaced by the Rumour's guitarist Martin Belmont. For these shows, the setlists were revised and featured almost no tracks from Get Happy!!, save for recent single "High Fidelity". In June, "New Amsterdam" was released as an EP of the same name with bonus tracks Costello had recorded alone, including "Just a Memory", "Ghost Train" and "Dr. Luther's Assistant". "New Amsterdam" was also issued a single, backed by "Dr. Luther's Assistant", the same month.
Aided by rising expectations and coverage on soul stations, Get Happy!! reached number two on the UK Albums Chart and number 11 on the US Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart, although it sold less copies than Armed Forces and was viewed as a commercial disappointment. According to Thomson, reasons for its lesser performance possibly included the incident with Stills, Costello's decision not to tour in America due to the incident, lack of promotion from Columbia and radio stations disliking the change in musical direction and less pop-friendly tunes compared to Armed Forces. The promotional campaign included over 100,000 free posters, over 500 record store window displays, magazine adverts and radio and television ads, which proved fraught for financially struggling F-Beat Records. Lauder later admitted: "We had overpressed on the album based on the sales of Armed Forces, which was a platinum album. We had a situation where we were shipping out lots of records and they were all coming back. Having paid for all the advertising and all the publicity, financially it was a tough one to make."
## Critical reception
While not receiving the acclaim of its three predecessors, Get Happy!! received generally positive reviews from music critics on release. Many commented on the amount of tracks present on the LP, finding they varied in quality. Hilburn said that "by including 20 tunes in the LP, [Costello] demonstrated his disregard for critics and businessmen". Conversely, Ira Robbins of Trouser Press argued that with a condensed track listing, Get Happy!! would have been "incredible", but as it stands, "bad items detract from good ones". Robert Christgau of The Village Voice acknowledged the presence of "lotsa duds", but observed some memorable "tropes and hooks". Several critics also complained of "uneven" material that lacked a consistent theme and criticised the production as generally weaker than Armed Forces. Rolling Stone's Tom Carson felt that "if the new album is hard to get into, it's also difficult to ignore", concluding that Costello has "succeeded in making his obsessions belong to us. For better or worse, we'll all ride them out together to the end".
Other critics offered high praise towards Get Happy!!, with Creem's Jeff Nesin proclaiming: "If you care about rock 'n' roll you must have this album." In The New York Times, Robert Palmer deemed Get Happy!! Costello's most satisfying work up that point, commenting on the "stylistic range, emotional depth, melodic richness and verbal invention" inside strong songwriting. Joel Selvin of the San Francisco Chronicle also placed it among the artist's best work, highlighting the "distinctive" songwriting and Lowe's production, which he felt created a "sense of being both precise and off-hand". Sounds magazine's Dave McCullough was highly positive, writing that the album "soars to a pinnacle of Costello's combined creative force, by the end leaving the listener quite breathless." Paul Ramble was also positive in NME, drawing positive comparisons to Armed Forces and announcing: "It's a record you didn't expect. It looks like fun and it is. Maybe it's only a temporary lapse, but Elvis has gotten off the treadmill and gotten happy. Get it."
Other reviewers praised Costello himself as an artist. Billboard magazine found the artist "hasn't lost any of his stunt or verve on this snappy LP", which they predicted would be "a sure bet for AOR radio". Cash Box agreed, deducing: "What can you say about the new wave kingpin except that he gets better with age." The reviewer argued that the amount of tracks on the LP "should make any record buyer happy with the quality and quantity of the material", a sentiment echoed by Hilburn, who deemed Get Happy!! "a vibrant work by someone who both understands rock 'n' roll's history and aggressively seeks to shape its future" the Los Angeles Times. Hilburn felt it was not as "powerfully framed" as Armed Forces, but "still bristle[d] with the independence that has characterized the British rocker's brief but provocative career."
Get Happy!! placed at number two on lists of the best albums of 1980 by NME (behind Joy Division's Closer) and Trouser Press (behind the Clash's London Calling), while the album placed seventh on The Village Voice's annual Pazz & Jop music critics' poll, beating out such better selling releases as Michael Jackson's Off the Wall, Stevie Wonder's Hotter than July and Pete Townshend's Empty Glass.
## Legacy
Get Happy!! was a turning point in Costello's career, being the first step away from the angry persona that he had embodied up to that point. He began adding more of himself into the material, including "a bit more tenderness, a bit more regret, because you make mistakes in your life and you have to sing about those as well as the things you're very confident or cocky about." Throughout mid-1980, Costello began writing new songs and revising older, unused ones that reflected this new form of thinking, debuting a few during live performances during the summer. His next album, Trust, was envisioned by the artist as combining the "melodic lushness" of Armed Forces and the "rhythmic drive" of Get Happy!! Gouldstone comments that the album marked the beginning of Costello's "most fruitful period" that yielded the "trilogy of magnificent albums": Get Happy!!, Trust and Imperial Bedroom (1982). Gallucci summarised:
> [Get Happy!!] remains a pivotal work in [Costello's] long career, an assured first step toward even more grandiose experiments to come – from jazz, classical and baroque pop to hip-hop, New Orleans groove and Americana. It's also a great album, an extension of his first three classic LPs that also happens to consciously move away from them and into brave new territory.
### Retrospective appraisal
Retrospective reviews have been very positive, and Get Happy!! has since been considered one of Costello's best works. Writing in The New Rolling Stone Album Guide, critic Rob Sheffield dubbed it a "tour de force", a sentiment echoed by senior AllMusic editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine, who hailed Get Happy!! as more than a "genre exercise". Finding the inconsistent quality of its tracks part of its overall charm, he ended that the album "bursts with energy and invention, standing as a testament to how Costello, the pop encyclopedia, can reinvent the past in his own image". Chris Jones of BBC Music declared it Costello's finest album and "the greatest coherent statement he ever created" in 2008.
In 2015, Gallucci wrote that the album contains some of the artist's best songs from the period. He continued that despite being dismissed as a novelty during discussions of Costello's works from the 1980s, Get Happy!! "may be his most jubilant LP ever", with all 20 tracks packing "more muscle, hooks, heart and, yes, soul than many of his more acclaimed records that followed." Discussing the album for its 40th anniversary, Nelson described the LP as "a bracing time capsule of a singer-songwriter at the height of his powers and coming apart under pressure", drawing comparisons to the Beatles' "White Album" (1968). She further labelled it "a landmark in maximalist efficiency" that anticipated works by the Minutemen, They Might Be Giants and Aesop Rock, ultimately appraising it as a successful comeback record: "a dizzying display of desperation and talent that remains a fascinating, frantic flare from a sinking ship."
Some commentators highlighted the performances of the Attractions. Deeming Get Happy!! an album of chemistry rather than "individual cameos", Thomson states that the record showed the backing band at "their rawest and roughest", with "little sophistication" from Armed Forces. Nelson agreed, finding their performances stand out with individual styles that become "almost automated", thereby "embroidering Costello's frenzied impulses into supple, insinuating grooves that can seem at times almost oblivious to the man raving over them". Perone notes that Pete Thomas's bass drum is higher in the mix, giving the tracks a "four-on-the-floor style" that differentiates Get Happy!! from other albums Costello made with the Attractions. Writing for Spin magazine, Al Shipley referred to it as "an incredible burst of energy" in which "the Attractions' manic performances and some of Costello's most deranged wordplay give the album a frenetic charge even beyond their other early albums."
Get Happy!! has made appearances on several lists of the best albums of the 1980s, including in 1989 by Rolling Stone at number 11, in 2002 by Pitchfork at number 26, and in 2012 by Slant Magazine at number 68. Additionally, Rolling Stone placed it at number 65 on its list of the best albums of the past 20 years in 1987. It was also placed at number 298 in the third edition of English writer Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000).
## Reissues
Get Happy!! was first released on CD through Columbia and Demon Records in January 1986. Its first extended reissue through Demon in the UK and Rykodisc in the US on CD came in April 1994. This reissue presented sides one and two in order of the record itself rather than the LP labels and came with a slew of bonus tracks. Rhino Records reissued the album in 2003 as a two-disc set; disc one contained the original 20-track album and disc two contained additional bonus tracks on top of the Rykodisc ones, one of which was a live version of "High Fidelity" that Costello states was his way of performing in the style of Bowie's 1976 album Station to Station. The album was remastered and reissued by UM<sup>e</sup> on 6 November 2015, who spread the content across two LPs.
## Track listing
All songs written by Elvis Costello, except where noted.
Side one
1. "Love for Tender" – 1:57
2. "Opportunity" – 3:13
3. "The Imposter" – 1:58
4. "Secondary Modern" – 1:58
5. "King Horse" – 3:01
6. "Possession" – 2:03
7. "Men Called Uncle" – 2:17
8. "Clowntime Is Over" – 2:59
9. "New Amsterdam" – 2:12
10. "High Fidelity" – 2:28
Side two
1. "I Can't Stand Up for Falling Down" (Homer Banks, Allen Jones) – 2:06
2. "Black and White World" – 1:56
3. "5ive Gears in Reverse" – 2:38
4. "B Movie" – 2:04
5. "Motel Matches" – 2:30
6. "Human Touch" – 2:30
7. "Beaten to the Punch" – 1:49
8. "Temptation" – 2:33
9. "I Stand Accused" (Tony Colton, Ray Smith) – 2:21
10. "Riot Act" – 3:35
1994 bonus tracks
1. "Girls Talk" – 1:54
2. "Clowntime Is Over No.2" – 3:47
3. "Getting Mighty Crowded" – 2:18
4. "So Young" – 3:26
5. "Just A Memory" – 2:19
6. "Hoover Factory" – 1:47
7. "Ghost Train" – 3:06
8. "Dr. Luther's Assistant" – 3:30
9. "Black & White World (Demo Version)" – 1:53
10. "Riot Act (Demo Version)" – 2:50
11. "Love For Tender (Demo Version)" – 1:39
## Personnel
According to the 1994 reissue liner notes:
- Elvis Costello – vocals, guitar, organ on "Possession", all instruments on "New Amsterdam"
- Steve Nieve – piano, organ
- Bruce Thomas – bass, harmonica on "I Stand Accused"
- Pete Thomas – drums
Technical
- Nick Lowe – producer
- Roger Béchirian – engineer
- Barney Bubbles as VAT 245 4945 42 – artwork
- Keith Morris as VAT 239 7568 14 – photography
## Charts
### Weekly charts
### Certifications |
62,666,947 | Abel Azcona | 1,167,756,450 | Spanish artist | [
"1988 births",
"20th-century Spanish artists",
"21st-century Spanish writers",
"Artists from Madrid",
"Body art",
"Conceptual artists",
"Feminist artists",
"Living people",
"Male feminists",
"Signalism",
"Spanish contemporary artists",
"Spanish feminists",
"Spanish installation artists",
"Spanish performance artists",
"Spanish video artists"
]
| Abel Azcona (born 1 April 1988) is a Spanish artist, specializing in performance art. His work includes installations, sculptures, and video art. He is known as the "enfant terrible" of Spanish contemporary art. His first works dealt with personal identity, violence and the limits of pain; his later works are of a more critical, political and social nature.
Azcona's works have been exhibited at the Venetian Arsenal, the Contemporary Art Center in Málaga, the Bogotá Museum of Modern Art, the Houston Art League, the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art in New York and the Círculo de Bellas Artes in Madrid. His work has also been exhibited at the Asian Art Biennale in Dhaka and Taipei, the Lyon Biennale, the Miami International Performance Festival and the Bangladesh Live Art Biennale. The Bogotá Museum of Contemporary Art dedicated a retrospective exhibition to him in 2014.
## Early life
Abel Azcona was born on 1 April 1988, as the result of an unwanted pregnancy, in the Montesa Clinic in Madrid, an institution that was run by a religious community. It was geared towards people at risk of social exclusion and homelessness. His father's identity is unknown, and his mother, a drug user and prostitute called Victoria Luján Gutiérrez, abandoned him at the clinic a few days after his birth. The nuns gave the newborn baby to a man who knew his mother and who insisted he was the father, even though he met her when she was already pregnant and was her partner only sporadically. Azcona was then raised in the city of Pamplona with this man, who continuously went in and out of prison, and his family, which was unstructured and linked to drug trafficking and delinquency.
The first four years of Azcona's life were characterised by mistreatment, abuse and abandonment, caused by different members within his family environment, and the fact he passed through various residences, which caused several concerns about custody from public institutions of social protection. Due to this precarious situation, his birth was not registered until the age of four, in 1992, when Social Welfare intervened.
> The child is in a situation of complete abandonment, with visible signs of abuse, neglect and malnutrition, and testimonies by neighbours [...] confirm that the child occasionally finds himself alone for weeks in the house, which does not fulfill minimum habitability conditions.
A young Catholic woman from Navarre was introduced to a newborn Azcona when she met the man who brought newborn Azcona from the Montesa clinic in Madrid to Pamplona in prison, where she volunteered; he still falsely presented himself as Azcona's biological father. She coordinated a Catholic group in the Saint Vincent of Paúl parish and was a volunteer with Caritas Internationalis. This meeting in the penitentiary center led to the baptism of Azcona when he was uncommonly old, in a parish located in front of the prison, requested by the woman, who became his godmother. She was the eldest daughter of a conservative Navarrese family (with three daughters); the family started taking Azcona in when he was four years old – typically over short periods of time and weekends – after the man came out of prison and they realised how poor Azcona's situation was. They informally cared for him until the age of six, when they requested to foster him on a more permanent basis. When he was six, the situation with the man's family got worse and custody was withdrawn. An adoption request began to be processed, and he was officially adopted by the eldest daughter at the age of seven. The family also intervened to allow him to be accepted into the Catholic schools the daughters had attended. However, he had problems adapting to the family and to the school, which manifested in instances of theft and violence at the school until he was expelled at the age of thirteen.
## Name
Throughout his life, Abel Azcona has been officially known by various names: Abel Luján Gutiérrez, Abel David Lebrijo González, Abel David Azcona Marcos, David Azcona Marcos, and Abel David Azcona Ema. Azcona's biological mother chose the name Abel and, when registering him at the Montesa Clinic as her own, he was first named Abel Luján Gutiérrez, using both her surnames. The child was not registered in the Civil Registry until he was four years of age and, as he had been abandoned by his mother, her partner took care of the child and registered him as Abel David Lebrijo González, using his surnames; these are the first surnames that appear legally. From then on, in different records and documents, such as at school, the second surname is shown as Raposo, that of the man's new partner. At the age of seven he was adopted and became known as Abel David Azcona Ema, taking on the surnames of his adoptive mother. The adoptive family refused to use the name Abel, since it implied a connection to the biological mother, so they called him David. At fifteen years of age, Azcona was adopted by the husband of his adoptive mother, becoming Abel David Marcos Azcona (taking his surname); after a family process to invert the surnames was approved, 'Azcona' returned as the first surname, and he legally became Abel David Azcona Marcos. At the age of twenty he decided to remove the name David, as he no longer had a relationship with his adoptive family, and started using Abel again, as a tribute to his biological mother and as a response to the restrictions he felt with the other name.
## Early works
Azcona's first performances were created in the streets of Pamplona in 2005 when he was a student in the Pamplona School of Art. They all had a critical spirit and were an objective of denunciation. During these early years, Azcona turned his traumatic experiences into artistic works. In 2011 and 2012 his artworks started gaining greater relevance, but in 2012 he was admitted to two psychiatric clinics, one in Barcelona and the other in Pamplona, where he stayed for some time as he had deep mental issues and had made a serious suicide attempt. When he came out of the centres, he made a performance demonstration, totally naked and sitting on a chair, to interrupt traffic on one of the main streets of Pamplona. Since this, he has carried out some works in the streets periodically, all of them with the same critical spirit and intent to denounce, with themes such as abandonment, violence, identity and sexuality. He has been detained on various occasions for these.
Azcona's adoption was characterised by complicated situations and a lack of attachment to the family, until he abandoned it definitively when he was eighteen. He then returned to Madrid, living in poverty on the streets for almost two years. During this time he occasionally committed crime and practised prostitution, but also carried out artistic works in the streets of Madrid.
> "Es evidente que acabar en las calles de Madrid, ciudad donde mi madre me abandonó, navegando en un entorno sometido a la prostitución y la drogodependencia, los dos únicos aspectos que había conocido de ella, no fue resultado de la casualidad. Por primera vez, sentí que volvía de forma regresiva a ser quien había sido: el niño nacido de una mujer avasallada por la heroína y el abuso del hombre y el mercado, habitando y errando por las calles de la ciudad que accidentalmente le dio la vida."
>
> It is obvious that ending in the streets of Madrid, city where my mother abandoned me, navigating through an environment of prostitution and drug abuse, the only two aspects that I had known of her, was not the result of chance. For the first time, I felt like I went back to who I used to be: the kid born from a woman dominated by heroin and the abuse of men and the market, inhabiting and roaming the streets of the city in which she accidentally gave birth to me.
## Artistic works
### Empathy and Prostitution
Empathy and Prostitution is a conceptual and performative work of critical and biographical content. It was created and first performed in the Santa Fe Gallery, Bogotá, in February 2013. The work had a second performance at the Factoría de Arte y Desarrollo, an artistic space in Madrid, in November 2013, and there was a third performance at the Houston International Performance Biennial, in February 2014. Azcona was inspired by his biological mother, a prostitute, and sought to empathise with her and with the moment of his own conception. Azcona offered himself naked to the galleries' visitors on a bed with white sheets, so that they could exchange intimacy or have sexual relations with him. Photographs, drawings and documentation of the work were part of the Art Is Hope charity exhibitions in Paris and Pride in New York. The depictions of the performance piece have been exhibited in museums such as the Palais de Tokyo and the Perrotin Gallery, and also displayed at the Piasa auction house in Paris. The New York exhibition and auction at Paddle8 promoted sexual diversity and featured artists such as Haring, Bourgeois, Goldin, Mapplethorpe, Warhol, and Azcona himself. In 2017 there were also exhibitions in museums such as the Tulla Center in the Albanian capital Tirana. The Juan Gallery in Madrid, which specializes in performance art, included this work in a retrospective exhibition, The Extinction of Desire, which focused on works with sexual themes.
### Someone Else
Someone Else is a conceptual and performative work of critical and biographical content. Following on with the same concepts as Empathy and Prostitution, the inaugural 2014 Queer New York Arts Festival was opened with a work by Azcona entitled Someone Else. In this, physical or even sexual contact with the artist was required to enter the venue of the event, which was held at Grace Exhibition Space and the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art in New York City. This work was chosen by critic Hrag Vartanian as one of the top ten of the year in New York City.
### The War
The War is a conceptual and performative work of critical and biographical content. In 2016, Azcona activated his last sex-themed piece in this series, La Guerra (The War), which premiered at the Intramurs Festival in Valencia, Spain, which was again inspired by prostitution, criticism and sexuality. On this occasion, Azcona offered his naked body, anesthetized by the use of narcotics, so that the visitors could use it freely.
### The Streets
The Streets (La Calle; "the sexual exchange") is a conceptual and performative work of critical and biographical content. At the end of 2014 and the early part of 2015, Azcona performed the work as a process where he prostitutes himself on the streets. In it, he explored a change towards becoming the figure of his mother, taking hormones and engaging in prostitution. It began in the Santa Fe neighborhood of Bogotá, with the process continuing in the cities of Madrid and Mexico City. The performance emerged, as with the rest of his sex-themed works, as an exercise in empathy with his own biological mother. It was also a social critique, where the artist explored the limits of his body by repeating patterns of sexual abuse, things which occurred in his own childhood and in the life of his mother.
### The Shame
Developed along the West Bank Wall in 2018, in The Shame Azcona installed original fragments of the Berlin Wall along the Israeli wall in the West Bank, which forms part of the barrier built throughout Israel to separate the Palestinian lands. Azcona made a metaphorical critique by merging both walls in the work. The actual installation, as if it were a piece of land art, currently remains along the wall, and has been exhibited in different countries through photographic and video art. The work has been criticized and denounced by Israel.
### The Death of The Artist
The Death of the Artist was both a continuation of his earlier works and closure of the series, being performed in 2018 in the lobby of the Círculo de Bellas Artes in Madrid. His previous works had caused Azcona to receive threats, as well as be the subject of persecution and acts of violence. Azcona formally invited by letter the organisations, groups, and entities that had threatened his life to the installation, where a loaded gun was offered and Azcona stood exposed on a raised platform. In addition, the Círculo de Bellas Artes presented a complete reading of a manifesto titled The artist's presumption as a radical and disobedient subject, both in life and in death.
### Amen or The Pederasty
Although named Amen by Azcona himself, the work is more commonly known as The Pederasty (“La pederastia” in Spanish). Over a period of several months in 2015, Azcona attended Eucharists in churches and parishes that were linked to his own childhood. Azcona kept the consecrated hosts given to the attendees of the communion from the churches, gathering 242 hosts; this was the number of cases of pederasty reported in the north of Spain during the previous decade. With the hosts, he made a work in which the word Pederastia (Pederasty in English) could be read. The work was first exhibited in Madrid in the summer of 2015.
At the end of 2015, a section of the work was selected to be part of a retrospective exhibition of Azcona's works inside the city of Pamplona's Monument to the Fallen of the Spanish Civil War. The work was located on the altar of the old monument, which was formerly the cathedral of Pamplona; at the time of the show, it had already been desacralized. The day after the inauguration of the exhibition, multiple demonstrations and demands for its closure occurred. On multiple occasions, the Catholic Church called the work a great offense to Christian belief. Azcona documented all the situations of confrontation and included them in other exhibitions of the work. He also endured more than five years of judicial proceedings for various complaints about the work at different courts and judicial entities. The work has been exhibited in museums in Berga, Mallorca, Murcia, Madrid and Lleida. The latest exhibition in Lleida was presented in Tatxo Benet's collection, which included works by Azcona, Ai Weiwei, Francisco de Goya, Robert Mapplethorpe and Andres Serrano.
### Spain Asks for Forgiveness
Spain Asks for Forgiveness is a conceptual and performative work of critical and anti-colonial. Created and started in Bogotá in November 2018 through a conference and a live performance by Azcona at the museum of contemporary art of Bogotá. In November 2018, through a conference and live performance by artist Abel Azcona in the Bogotá Contemporary Art Museum the work Spain Asks for Forgiveness (España os Pide Perdón in Spanish) began, a piece of critical and anticolonialist content. In the first action Azcona read a text of ninety two hours for more than four hours. In the reading the cite Spain Asks for Forgiveness was repeated continuously. Two months later, Azcona was invited to present his work in Mexico City in the Mexico City Museum, where he installed a sailcloth with the same sentence on it. Just a few days later the president of Mexico Andrés Manuel López Obrador during a press conference demanded publicly an apology from Spain. Since then until mid 2020, the work has been shown in diverse ways and has achieved to become a collective movement. In May 2020 the Bogotá Contemporary Art Museum painted its facade with the installation's motto España os pide perdón for two months in the centre of the city of Bogotá. Other cities such as La Habana, Cuba; Lima, Perú; Caracas, Venezuela; Ciudad de Panamá, Panamá; Tegucigalpa, Honduras or Quito, Ecuador have been protagonists of the piece through paintings, sailcloths, posters or demonstrationa and collective acts continuing the work as a collective protest.
### The Shadow
The Shadow is a conceptual work consisting of performance art, an installation, and photography, as a denunciation of dozens of child abuse cases. In the piece Azcona denounces child abuse by presenting the survivors as the protagonists. In the work, Azcona presented more than two hundred actual cases of pedophilia in museums and galleries in various cities in Spain. At each show, Azcona gave a live performance, from a wooden swing, of the experiences of the survivors.
### Eating a Koran
Eating a Koran was first presented in October 2012 in the exhibition space of the College of Performing Arts of the University of the Arts in Berlin. Azcona began a series of works of a performative nature, which each criticise religious entities. In the works, Azcona used representative icons of various religions, such as the Koran, the Bible, the Torah and other objects of a sacred character. In the most controversial of them, Azcona performed for nine hours ingesting the pages of a copy of the Koran. This work provoked the most repercussions of any of the series, and the artist was threatened for the piece. The work was performed again in the Krudttønden, Copenhagen. From there, Azcona founded an art collection together with other artists such as Lars Vilks and Bjørn Nørgaard, who had been persecuted and threatened for their creations. With the collective of himself, Vilks, Nørgaard, the writer Salman Rushdie and the cartoonist Charb (who was killed in the Charlie Hebdo shooting), Azcona carried out performances and conferences about freedom of speech in the Krudttønden between 2013 and 2015. In 2015 the Krudttønden building was attacked by terrorists during one of the conferences. Subsequently, the work Eating a Koran was bought by a Danish collector and donated to the Krudttønden for the permanent exhibition.
### The Fathers
The Fathers was first performed in 2016 in Madrid with the final performance, also in Madrid, in 2017; it was in an exhibition format. The piece included dozens of female former prostitutes who gave a physical description of their last client. On the other side of a 10-metre (33 ft) long table, composite artists listened to them and drew images of the clients. The performance generated dozens of portraits which, at the closing of the work in 2017, were exhibited with the premise that any of them could be Azcona's father. The biographical work creates a critical discourse with prostitution and its inheritance, and in the case of Azcona himself, of an unknown father, having been conceived during an act of prostitution.
> Abel Azcona, the son of a prostituted woman who is looking for his whoremonger father, because it perfectly summarizes everything that the patriarchy has built on their subordination and for our autonomy. Abel represents the aching son of an unknown father. All of us are those men who walk on their backs. To those who do not see their faces until the end. Those parents who sign unwritten covenants and who leave their semen springs across the planet. Those who rent vaginas, wombs, and maids. It is urgent to face those who prefer to remain installed in comfort. Only in this way will it be possible to turn our face towards the camera, without fear of being recognized in a robot portrait of a whoremonger father. Without fear of the mirror returning the image of a monster.
### Political Disorder
For Political Disorder, Azcona joined many different institutions and political parties. The work was made up of dozens of original documents of affiliation to dozens of political parties in Spain, membership cards or documentation of fees and payments. The piece, in which Azcona joins all the Spanish political parties, is a critique of the system that prioritizes economic interest over true ideology. Azcona joined Falange Española, Vox, the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party and the Popular Party. He also became a member of entities with a political connotation such as the extreme right-wing organization Hazte Oír, the Francisco Franco National Foundation, the Spanish Nazi organization Hogar Social and the "Christian Lawyers". The multi-year project concluded at the Andrés-Missirlian Space Museum in Romainmôtier, Switzerland in 2017. In this exhibition, Azcona included the expulsion letters of each of the political parties and organizations.
### Buried
Buried was created in 2015 through a public and participatory performance, or happening, on the esplanade of the Monument to the Fallen in Pamplona. Azcona invited dozens of relatives of Republicans who were shot, persecuted or disappeared during the Spanish Civil War. Descendants of victims make up the installation in a row in front of the monument, all symbolically buried with soil from the garden of one of the participants, where his relatives had been shot. In 2016, the city of Pamplona invited Azcona to show his work inside the Monument and the project was recreated there, after it had been converted into an exhibition hall, under the title Unearthed: A retrospective view on the political and subversive work of the artist Abel Azcona. The exhibition brought together the Buried project and fragments of all of Azcona's works.
> There are symbols that cannot be covered. The Monument to the Fallen of Pamplona is a clear example. Fighting this symbol with another is what Navarrese artist Abel Azcona has proposed, known for his performance, sometimes controversial and often linked to the body. In this case, Azcona does not propose this new art exhibition as a war between symbols, but as an invitation to arouse feelings and, also, as a claim. For him, it is about inciting memory, individual and collective (and, therefore, historical).
### Desafectos
In 2016, Azcona coordinated a new performative action, or happening, with relatives of those who were shot in the Pozos de Caudé. Under the name of Desafectos, Azcona formed a wall with the relatives as a complaint, next to the wells outside the city of Teruel, where more than a thousand people had been shot and thrown into the wells over the course of three days during the Civil War.
### The Nine Confinements or The Deprivation of Liberty
The Nine Confinements, also known as The Deprivation of Liberty, was a sequence of performances carried out between 2013 and 2016. All of the series had a theme of deprivation of liberty. The first in the series was performed by Azcona in 2013 and named Confinement in Search of Identity. The artist was to remain for 60 days in a space built inside an art gallery of Madrid, with scarce food resources and in total darkness. The performance was stopped after 42 days for health reasons, with Azcona being subsequently hospitalised. Azcona created these works as a reflection and also a discursive interruption of his own mental illness; themes of mental illness are often present in Azcona's work. Another of the confinements lasted nine days in the Lyon Biennale. Azcona remained inside a garbage container strategically located in the center of the Biennale as a criticism of the artist's own gestation and the market of contemporary art itself. One of the last projects of the series was Black Hole. Performed in 2015, Azcona again remained locked in a small space without light and with poor food in the same art gallery in Madrid. On this occasion, different unknown guests shared the confinement with the artist. Azcona was unaware of the guests' origins and could not see them. Visitors of the art gallery were told of the experience by those entering and leaving the confinement with the artist. All projects were curated and documented from the point of view of the deprivation of liberty including deprivation of food, water, electricity, and contact with the outside.
## Style
Azcona's works push his body to the limit and are usually related to social issues. Azcona states that within his works he pursues an end beyond the purely aesthetic. His intent with his works is to question the viewer and force them to react, making his own body the representation of critical and political subjects. The themes of most of his performances are autobiographical and focused on issues such as abandonment, violence, abuse, child abuse, mental illness, deprivation of liberty, prostitution, and life and death. A characteristic of Azcona's work is that he conceives his pieces as process art, which implies that they are of a long duration. Many of his works are created starting with what he calls "a detoner" and, from that first performance, new movements and protests arise, which make the piece discursive.
> The body in the art work of Abel Azcona is the stage of re / presentation, place of the event where memory grief, affection and identification, appear in the complex relationship between perceptor-performance-receiver. A place for the question opens up: What to do after the damage? Where is the perpetrator? What responsibility does the watcher hold? Azcona's performances are the place of possibility -even- of the unspeakable, spacing for memory, grief and the question of violence.
## Controversies
Azcona has been involved in several controversies and legal proceedings. In his first actions in the streets of Pamplona in 2005, Azcona was arrested several times. Later, during his self-confinement in the work Dark Room, public opinion was against the harshness of his self-imposed deprivation of liberty and food, generating controversy. The work was stopped after 42 days and the artist admitted to a psychiatric clinic. Similarly, people spoke in favour of ending the work where Azcona stayed continually in a garbage container during the Lyon Biennale.
The works of Azcona with explicit sexuality, such as Empathy and Prostitution and Las Horas, were criticized when shown in cities such as Houston and Mexico City, cities where, at the time of the exposition, anti-sodomy or sexual diversity laws existed. In 2012, he was threatened and persecuted for his work Eating a Koran, in which he ingested a copy of the Koran at University of the Arts in Berlin. During the years 2014 and 2015 he was arrested and his exhibitions in the United States were canceled. In 2014, the first Utero performance in Houston was criticized in the media for "exceeding the limits of integrity and endangering his own life". During a Miami exhibition in 2015, twelve children walked into a performance inside the art gallery with guns in their hands, which was a critique of the laws and the permissibility of weapons in the United States. The exhibition was canceled and Azcona had to return to Europe. A few months later he performed a new work in Chicago, where he denounced the political and ideological nature of Donald Trump. The artistic action was described as "heroic" by the American newspaper Huffington Post. In 2015, he was denounced by the Carlist Traditionalist Union for performing the work Buried inside the Monument to the Fallen of Pamplona. The work demanded memory and reparation for the victims of the Republican side. Its exhibition inside the Monument, built in order to exalt Franco, Mola and Sanjurjo, was considered offensive by the far-right conservatives.
Azcona's work denounces child abuse, and has been persecuted and criticised for being critical of the Church in works such as The Shadow and Amen or The Pederasty. Amen was sued three times before the Superior Court of Justice of Navarre for three crimes and alleged desecration and blasphemy. The first lawsuit was brought by the Archbishopric of Pamplona and Tudela, who are representatives of the Catholic Church in the north of Spain; the second lawsuit was brought by the Delegation of the Government in Navarre, controlled by the Popular Party at the time; and the third was by the Asociación Española de Abogados Cristianos (Spanish Association of Christian Lawyers), who also made criminal complaints against Azcona. The lawsuits were all won by Azcona, but the group took the complaint to the Supreme Court. Whilst awaiting the case being heard by the Supreme Court, the Association of Christian Lawyers (acting alone) started a protest against Spain in the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg for not condemning Azcona, and, according to them, for protecting him. Each time the work was shown, the complaint was re-formulated, so Azcona was cited in the Court of Justice of Palma de Mallorca and in the High Court of Justice of Catalonia in Barcelona. After five years of judicial proceedings for works critical of the Catholic Church and, more specifically, criticism relating to pedophilia, Azcona announced his intent to be "disobedient" in relation to the charges, and the complainants added obstruction of justice to their complaints.
When the High Court of Justice of Catalonia issued a judicial arrest warrant in 2019 after Azcona failed to appear before the court for the third time, Azcona went into exile and settled in Lisbon, Portugal. This has not prevented him from opening new exhibitions in the Spain and publishing critical works. He defends his artistic ideology and his political ideas, which are supported by certain sectors of the Spanish left-wing. Conversely, his works are seen as desecration and sacrilege by the most conservative sector of Spanish and Latin American society.
In 2016, Azcona was denounced for exalting terrorism. In his exhibition Still Life, Azcona recreated, in the form of sculptures, performance and hyper-realistic installations, current and historical situations of violence in diverse themes such as historical memory, terrorism and conflict. Two years later, in 2018, he was denounced by the Francisco Franco National Foundation for exposing a signed detonation report for the Monument of the Valley of the Fallen. He was also criticized by Israel for the piece The Shame, where the artist installed fragments of the Berlin Wall along the West Bank Wall. The same year he represented Spain at the Asia Art Biennale in Dhaka: his installation featured wooden chairs with distressed children from the streets of Dhaka, and the performance was interrupted by protests from the organisation and its attendees.
## Filmography
- The Stoning (2011). Directed by Abel Azcona. Video art piece generated from the performance The Stoning, documentation of the art work developed in the historic center of Pamplona.
- Empathy and Prostitution (2013). Directed by Abel Azcona. Video art piece generated from the Empathy and Prostitution performance, developed in Houston by Abel Azcona.
- Antibasque (2014). Directed by Karlos Alastruey. Documentary about the Basque conflict designed following Abel Azcona's performance in Basque lands.
- The Miracle (2015). Directed by Abel Azcona. Video art piece generated from the performance The Miracle, documentation of the art work developed in different Mediterranean Beaches.
- Abel Azcona: Born In Darkness (2016). Directed by Karlos Alastruey. Documentary about life and artwork of Abel Azcona.
- A day in the life of Abel Azcona (2016). Documentary about one day in the life of the artist Abel Azcona.
- Still Life (2017). Directed by Abel Azcona. Video art piece generated from the Still Life Art Project, developed in Roca Umbert Museum by Abel Azcona.
- The Fathers (2017). Directed by Abel Azcona. Video Art Piece generated from the artwork The Fathers, documentation of the performance art developed in an art gallery in Madrid.
- In Harm's Way (2017). Directed by Abel Azcona. Video art piece directed by Abel Azcona for music video of the singer Amanda Palmer on the drama of the refugees in the Mediterranean Sea.
- The Shame (2018). Directed by Abel Azcona. Videoart piece generated from The Shame performance, generated along the West Bank Wall.
- You will be a man (2018). Directed by Isabel de Ocampo. Documentary about new masculinities and the search for origins of Abel Azcona.
- Abel Azcona: Creadorxs (2018). Directed by Neurads for El País. Documentary chapter about life and artwork of Abel Azcona. |
35,989,167 | Citi Bike | 1,173,878,383 | Bike sharing system in the New York City area | [
"2013 establishments in New York City",
"Bicycle sharing companies",
"Bicycle sharing in the United States",
"Citigroup",
"Community bicycle programs",
"Cycling in New Jersey",
"Cycling in New York City",
"Lyft"
]
| Citi Bike is a privately owned public bicycle sharing system serving the New York City boroughs of the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens, as well as Jersey City and Hoboken, New Jersey. Named after lead sponsor Citigroup, it was operated by Motivate (formerly Alta Bicycle Share), with former Metropolitan Transportation Authority CEO Jay Walder as chief executive until September 30, 2018, when the company was acquired by Lyft. The system's bikes and stations use technology from Lyft.
First proposed in 2008 by the New York City Department of Transportation, Citi Bike's scheduled 2011 opening was delayed by Hurricane Sandy and technological problems. It officially opened in May 2013 with 332 stations and 6,000 bikes. By October 2017 annual expansions brought the totals to 706 stations and 12,000 bikes, making the service the largest bike sharing program in the United States. Further expansions for Citi Bike are planned to extend its service area across the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens, and increase the number of bikes to 40,000.
In October 2017 the system reached a total of 50 million rides and in July 2020 the system reached 100 million rides. As of July 2019, there are 169,000 annual subscribers. Monthly average ridership numbers increased above 100,000 for the first time in June 2021. The all-time record for ridership in a single month occurred in August 2023, when the system had 4.07 million rides.
## Development and delays
In an effort to reduce emissions, road wear, collisions, and road and transit congestion and to improve public health, the New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT) researched alternative forms of transportation, publishing a strategic plan in 2008. According to NYCDOT statistics, 56% of all automobile trips within the city are under 3 miles (4.8 km) (with 22% under 1 mile (1.6 km) and 10% under 0.5 miles (0.80 km)), well within distances readily served by bicycle. To encourage residents to use bicycles more, the city committed to expanding bike lane miles, bike racks, and bike-parking shelters. In the 2009 bicycle share feasibility report, the New York City Department of City Planning (DCP) recommended building out the system in three phases in the four most populous boroughs, but no timeline was made public. The city, which had already been encouraging cycling as transportation, decided to establish a bicycle share program of the kind that had seen success in other cities. In 2011, it selected Alta Bicycle Share to operate the bike share in New York City. Citi Bike was created as a public–private partnership operated by NYC Bike Share LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Alta.
The system, which was first supposed to start in fall 2011, got pushed back to summer 2012 due to uncertainties about where to place the rental stations. The city had originally intended to place Citi Bike stalls mostly on sidewalks and public plazas, but there were some locations where stalls would take up parking spaces. The 2012 implementation date was only for Phase 1 of Citi Bike, with more phases to come later. Software problems delayed the planned start until March 2013. These problems were also reported by Alta programs in Chicago and in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The problems reportedly occurred because the Public Bike System Company, a Canadian affiliate of Alta, was involved in a dispute with software supplier 8D Technologies. Then, Hurricane Sandy damaged 1,000 bicycles and 60 stations in storage at Brooklyn Navy Yard. As planning progressed, some residents expressed dismay at the lack of docking stations in their neighborhoods while others fought against stations on their blocks.
## Deployment
Citi Bike finally began operations on May 27, 2013, with 332 stations. The stations were located in Manhattan south of 59th Street and in Brooklyn north of Atlantic Avenue and west of Nostrand Avenue. Officials said the system opened with 6,000 bikes. At the time of implementation, it was the largest bikesharing program in the United States. When launched, the system was slated to expand to 10,000 bicycles and 600 stations in Manhattan south of 79th Street, plus stations in several Brooklyn neighborhoods, including Greenpoint, Crown Heights, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Park Slope and Carroll Gardens as well as parts of Queens. At first, the timeline for the expansion was not made publicly available, but it was later announced that the expansion would be complete by the end of 2016. There has been increasing interest in further expansion across New York City; for example, in June 2013 a Brooklyn politician opened a petition drive to accelerate deployment in Greenpoint. In contrast, the May 2013 installation deliberately bypassed South Williamsburg.
Throughout the first year, there were more than 100,000 registered members who rode over 14,700,000 miles (23,700,000 km), including 70,000 members in the first three months alone. On August 6, 2013, riders took 42,010 trips, the largest single-day total for any North American bike-sharing system. In Citi Bike's first few months, some kiosks docked too many bikes while others did not have enough, so the company started using a fleet of box trucks to carry bikes between different kiosks every day. The kiosks also had some software problems in their early months. Problems included stations that did not accept payment information; kiosks where passersby could take bikes without paying because the bikes were not locked securely; and bike docks that did not work at all, forcing riders to travel to other stations.
The deployment of a clean energy public transit system such as Citi Bike coincides with the sixth IPCC report on mitigation's call for an increase of modes of public transportation such as biking and walking. According to the report, "Case studies suggest that active mobility could reduce emissions from urban transport by 2%- 10% depending on the setting".
## Popularity
Citi Bike's massive, unexpected popularity caused problems within a year. In January 2014, the designer of Citi Bike's bicycles and docking stations filed for bankruptcy protection. Officials with Montreal, Quebec-based Public Bike System Company (also known as Bixi) said they were \$46 million in debt, partly because the operators of Citi Bike and Chicago's Divvy bikeshare had withheld a combined \$5 million in payments because of software glitches in the docking stations. Alta officials, who operate Citi Bike, Divvy, and Capital Bikeshare in Washington, D.C., said they anticipated no interruptions of service, though they did want \$20 million to expand the system to 10,000 bikes and 600 stations. However, due to Citi Bike's various problems, expansions to the Upper East and Upper West Sides were delayed for at least a year. Its general manager resigned in March. The new mayor, Bill de Blasio, stated that he wanted to expand Citi Bike's reach, but that he could not make city funds available for such an expansion at that time.
Citi Bike workers joined Transport Workers Union of America Local 100 in July 2015. The company had about 200 employees joining the union at the time. On September 17, in the face of overwhelming support for unionization, Citi Bike agreed to recognize TWU Local 100's representation of Citi Bike's labor force.
## Expansion
### Reorganization
On October 28, 2014, Alta Bicycle Share and NYCDOT announced a plan to improve and expand the Citi Bike program. Bikeshare Holdings LLC, a new entity formed by the partners at real estate developer Related Companies and gym chain Equinox Fitness, acquired Alta Bicycle Share—renamed Motivate—and named Jay Walder as the new chief executive. (Motivate, and by extension Citi Bike, was acquired by Lyft in 2018.) The increase of funding included \$5 million from Bikeshare Holdings; \$70.5 million from a 10-year extension of the Citigroup sponsorship; and \$15 million from the Goldman Sachs Urban Investment Group. As part of the restructuring deal, Walder moved the company headquarters from Portland, Oregon, to New York City. The Citi Bike system would continue to be operated by NYC Bicycle Share, a subsidiary of Alta Bicycle Share. By 2017, Citi Bike would expand its operations by 6,000 bikes and add 375 new docking stations. This agreement also calls for improvements to the system's operations, including upgrades to its software and technology. The company was also appointing a vice president for technology.
Following two years of software errors in the bike share system, Motivate shut down the Citi Bike system over the last weekend of March 2015 to replace the existing system software with that of 8D Technologies. The new mobile platform was developed by the Polish software house Netguru. Since then, the Citi Bike system has continued to expand its installations using the 8D Technologies as its software and station equipment supplier. Through that summer, Motivate also refurbished all of the system's 6,000 bikes, as well as fixed the bicycle stations' kiosks and improved the bike docks at these stations.
### Expansion to Jersey City and Queens
In early 2015, as part of its expansion, NYCDOT and Motivate increased the price of annual memberships from \$95 to \$149 plus taxes, although annual rates for New York City Housing Authority residents and members of some Community Development Credit Unions will remain at \$60 per year. That year, the company installed 91 new stations in Queens and Brooklyn, with 12 of these stations in Long Island City and the other 79 in Greenpoint, Williamsburg, and Bedford-Stuyvesant. Citi Bike also added 48 new stations on the Upper East and Upper West Sides, up to 86th Street. The system expanded across the Hudson River to Jersey City, New Jersey, on September 21, 2015, with 35 stations and 350 bikes. However, some Jersey City residents objected to the implementation of Citi Bike there, complaining of lost parking spots for cars. In July 2016, the Jersey City Citi Bike system was expanded for the first time, with another 15 stations and an additional 150 bikes.
In August 2016, the company started installing 139 new stations in Manhattan up to 110th Street and in Brooklyn between Red Hook and Prospect Park. The stations in the new installation were closer together than in previous phases because the previous phases had not fulfilled National Association of City Transportation Officials' recommended bike share-station density of 28 per square mile (11/km<sup>2</sup>). Some residents of Park Slope were outspoken in opposition to the loss of car parking. One month later, on September 13, 2016, the system saw 64,672 trips, the highest recorded in one day at the time.
After the December 2016 announcement of a further expansion to Harlem and Astoria, some city politicians proposed expanding the system further to the Bronx and Staten Island. By the end of 2017, Citi Bike planned to double its bike fleet to 12,000, with the possibility that some of the expansion could be publicly funded. On May 18, 2017, Motivate presented a proposal to expand the system in all five boroughs, including adding new stations to the Bronx and Staten Island, without any public funding. To make up for the lost tax funding, Motivate asked the city to waive fees charged for placing stalls inside former parking spots, as well as redesigning the payment hierarchy and possibly adding more ad space on pay stations. The 140 new stalls and 2,000 new bikes in Harlem, Crown Heights, Prospect Heights, Long Island City, and Astoria were installed in September 2017. The system saw its 50 millionth rider in early October 2017, as the new stalls were being activated. The new docking stations in Brooklyn led to an imbalance in the number of bikes in certain neighborhoods, since there were more bikes being docked in lower-elevation areas such as Downtown Brooklyn, while fewer riders docked bikes in high-elevation neighborhoods such as Prospect Heights and Crown Heights.
### Dockless and phase 3 expansion
In 2018, officials proposed dockless bike sharing for the Citi Bike network, which would allow bikes to be rented without being tethered to docks. This was proposed after several bike sharing companies announced their intent to operate in New York City. In early August of that year, the dockless bike-sharing company Spin had started a dockless operation in the Rockaways, but had been told to cease and desist operations by the NYCDOT, which had licensed Citi Bike as the only official bike-share operator in New York City. Spin, intending to compete with Citi Bike with lower per-half-hour pricing—struggled the rest of the month to get a permit. By the end of August, Citi Bike started designing a dockless prototype that could lock its own wheels based on whether the customer had paid. As part of a pilot program, Citi Bike also started testing 200 pedal-assisted electric bicycles, which soon became popular among customers. Additional e-bikes were planned to be added in advance of the 14th Street Tunnel shutdown, which would partially suspend service on the in Manhattan and under the East River to Brooklyn from 2019 to 2020.
Lyft, which had acquired Motivate in July 2018, announced a further expansion of Citi Bike service in November 2018. The , five-year expansion would double the bike-share system's service area to 35 square miles (91 km<sup>2</sup>). In addition, the number of bicycles would more than triple, from 12,000 to 40,000. This would make Citi Bike among the largest bike-share systems in the world. The Gothamist website, citing a Lyft employee, stated that electric bikes would make up the "vast majority" of the new bikes. In February 2019, it was announced that the Citi Bike system would have 4,000 electric bikes by that June, up from 200. Because of the popularity of the electric bikes, a \$2 fee would be added to each electric bike trip starting April 27. However, on April 14, the company announced that all their electric bikes would be removed from service due to accidents while braking.
In July 2019, Citi Bike announced a timeline for its phase 3 expansion, which would double its service area. At the time, new bike-share stalls were being installed in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn; Bushwick, Brooklyn; and Ridgewood, Queens, along the route of the BMT Canarsie Line, which serves the . By 2020, stalls would be installed in the remainder of Upper Manhattan (namely Hamilton Heights, Washington Heights, and Inwood) and in the South Bronx. Before 2023, new stalls would also be installed in southwest, southeast, and eastern Brooklyn, including Brownsville, East Flatbush, Kensington, Prospect Lefferts Gardens, Sunset Park, and the remaining portions of Bedford–Stuyvesant and Crown Heights. Stalls would also be installed in northwestern Queens, namely Sunnyside, Maspeth, Elmhurst, Jackson Heights, and Corona. That September 5, Citi Bike reached 91,529 trips, the highest-ever single-day ridership.
In May 2020, the system expanded into the Bronx and further north into Manhattan. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, Citi Bike recorded its 100 millionth ride that year, as the pandemic resulted in an increase in bicycle usage. During August 2020, the governments of Jersey City and Hoboken, New Jersey, finalized an agreement with Lyft to operate Citi Bike stations in both cities for at least five years. The changes included upgrades to 51 existing Citi Bike stations in Jersey City and the addition of 46 additional stations in both cities during 2020 and 2021. In total, there would be nearly 1,000 Citi Bikes and 95 stations in New Jersey as part of the agreement. Hoboken had previously been served by a bike share system named JerseyBike, which was incompatible with Citi Bike, The Jersey City Municipal Council and the Hoboken City Council both approved their respective portions of the expansion in early 2021. Monthly average ridership numbers were above 100,000 for the first time in June 2021. On September 11, 2021, Citi Bike set a single day ridership record of 135,005 rides.
Further expansions were planned between 2021 and 2024, bringing half of city residents within a five-minute walk of a Citi Bike stall, although no stalls were to be installed in Staten Island. A expansion to Maspeth and Ridgewood in Queens was announced in early 2022, followed by an expansion to Ditmas Park, Brooklyn, at the end of that year. Many residents of Maspeth and Ridgewood opposed the proposed expansion of Citi Bike into their neighborhoods, resulting in delays in the installation of Citi Bike stations in these neighborhoods. Citi Bike officials announced in mid-2023 that the service would be extended by the end of that year to Jackson Heights, Queens, and to the northwestern Bronx.
## Company
Citi Bike is not funded by any public funds or taxpayer dollars. Citigroup spent million to be its lead sponsor for six years, and in return was allowed to put its name on the bikes; in 2014, Citigroup injected an additional US\$70.5 million and extended its sponsorship through 2024. However, the bikeshare is owned by NYC Bike Share LLC, a subsidiary of Alta Bicycle Share, Inc. Jay Walder was the CEO of Bikeshare Holdings, which includes Alta Bicycle Share, and in turn, NYC Bike Share LLC and Citi Bike, until 2018 when the company was acquired by Lyft. In February 2017, Motivate and 8D Technologies merged, with Citi Bike ultimately being operated under the purview of the combined companies. As of May 2017, Citi Bike is the largest bike-sharing system in the United States, a distinction it first held when it opened in 2013. Citi Bike also had 130,000 members by July 2017, up from 100,000 members in 2016.
Citi Bike had 5.8 million annual trips in 2013, increasing to 8 million trips in 2014; 10 million in 2015; 14.1 million in 2016; 16.4 million in 2017; and 17.6 million in 2018. As of 2018 the bike share averaged 48,315 daily trips, up 8% from 2017. When Citi Bike recorded 70,286 trips on July 26, 2017, it was called "the highest single-day ridership of any [bike share] system in the Western world outside of Paris." The majority of Citi Bike riders were male as of 2015, with women making a quarter of the trips and a third of membership.
On average, Citi Bike trips wholly within Midtown Manhattan are at least 2 miles per hour (3.2 km/h) faster, 2–3 minutes shorter, and \$6 cheaper than a taxi between the same two points, with most taxi trips in that area being less than 1 mile (1.6 km) long. For trips between 1 and 1.5 miles (1.6 and 2.4 km) long, average Citi Bike trips are at least 5 minutes faster and \$11.75 cheaper as opposed to the comparable taxi trip. A software developer at Genius extrapolated that from July 2016 to June 2017, forty percent of all taxi trips taken within neighborhoods served by Citi Bike were slower than the same trip via bike. Over half of all Citi Bike trips occur during rush hours as of 2016. However, in 2015, there were at least 10 times as many taxi trips as Citi Bike trips in Midtown during rush hour. The NYCDOT publishes a list of Citi Bike usage statistics on its website.
In Citi Bike's first three years of operations, no one died while riding a Citi Bike. This was partly attributed to the bikes' design, as well as the higher concentration of cyclists on New York City roads before and since Citi Bike's launch. The first death involving a Citi Bike occurred four years after the service's launch, in June 2017, when a cyclist in Chelsea was struck by a bus.
## Bikes
The bicycles are utility bicycles; they have a unisex step-through frame with an upright seating position. They weigh about 45 pounds (20 kg) each. Their one-piece aluminum frame and handlebars conceal cables and fasteners in an effort to protect them from vandalism and bad weather; the handlebars are located above the seat, allowing riders to sit upright and thereby maintain balance. They are equipped with Shimano Nexus three-speed, grip-shifter-operated internally-geared hubs, full mudguards/fenders and chain guard. The heavy-duty tires are puncture-resistant and filled with nitrogen to maintain proper inflation pressure longer. The tires are also wider, leading to increased stability. Twin LED rear lights of a pre-2015 design are integrated into the frame; the frame's bright-blue color increases the bikes' visibility. The bikes are built in Saguenay, Quebec, by Cycles Devinci. Citi Bikes are slower than most utility bicycles, averaging only 8.3 miles per hour (13.4 km/h) as opposed to regular bicycles' average speed of 11 to 12 miles per hour (18 to 19 km/h), which increases safety due to a lowered risk of a high-speed collision. The bikes are assembled in Detroit.
In 2015, Ben Serotta helped redesign the bicycle to include a new seat, a simpler gear shifting mechanism, fewer and brighter lights, and a European-style center kickstand. All of Citi Bike's bicycles were to be renovated to include this new design. In 2016, a thousand of the newly redesigned Citi Bikes were taken out of service due to a part in the front wheel degrading faster than expected. In 2017, CitiBike began adding NuVinci gear hubs that offer continuous-gear shifting. In early 2017, as part of a pilot program with a firm named Blaze, 250 bikes received anterior laser lights that project a teal silhouette on the ground to warn drivers and pedestrians in their path.
Citi Bike moves thousands of bikes each day from places where they accumulate to places where they are scarce, sometimes using vans to accomplish this task. Citi Bike members can move bikes from station to station to earn incentives, including cash. These members, called "Bike Angels," can earn rewards such as gift cards and renewed membership for moving these bikes. Since the "Bike Angels" program started in May 2016, almost 2,000 members have participated.
If a user does not re-dock their bike within a certain time limit—45 minutes for members or 30 minutes for non-members—they will be charged an extra fee. Annual members are charged \$2.50 for every 15 minutes of further use, day pass users are charged \$4 for every 15 minutes of further use, and single ride users are charged \$3 for every 30 minutes of additional use. If a bike is not returned at all within 24 hours, a maximum "late fee" of \$1,200 can be charged, though the fine may be reduced based on financial circumstances. In the event that a Citi Bike is lost or stolen, the member who last used it must file a theft report with the New York City Police Department within 24 hours, and they would be charged the maximum late fee. Late fees netted \$5.2 million for Citi Bike from January to November 2015, comprising more than 15% of its revenue. In 2014, there were 300 reports of stolen Citi Bikes, which jumped to 476 reports in the first half of 2015 alone. Stolen bikes have been found in the Brooklyn neighborhoods of East New York, Crown Heights, and Brownsville, as well as upper Manhattan. However, at least one man has ridden a Citi Bike as far as California. Citi Bike Boyz, a popular instagram account, has become famous for posting daredevil stunts performed on a Citi Bike.
## Payment
As of March 2023, yearly passes cost \$205, or \$17 per month with an annual commitment. A reduced-fare pass costs \$60, or \$5 per month with an annual commitment, and is available only to NYCHA residents who are 16 or older, members of selected credit unions, or recipients of SNAP benefits. The original price of a Citi Bike annual membership was \$95 but jumped to \$149 in 2014. Purchasers using a Citibank card receive a 10% discount when purchasing annual memberships through the Citi Bike website. Annual pass members receive a key and can make trips of up to 45 minutes without added charge, after which they pay \$2.50 for each additional 15 minutes.
Initial prices for daily and weekday passes sold at Citi Bike docking stations were \$9.95 for a daily pass and \$25 for a weekly pass. As of March 2023, Citi Bike only offers a single day pass, costing \$19. Trips using these passes are limited to 30 minutes before the rider is charged an additional fee of \$4 per 15 minutes. The 8.875% New York State sales tax is added to the cost of all passes. As of 2023, day pass users pay an additional \$0.26 per minute if they upgrade to an electric bike. The Lyft Pink All Access subscription, which costs \$199 per year, launched in August 2021 and also allows passholders to make unlimited Citi Bike trips.
For riders who do not buy passes, a single ride costs \$4.49 for 30 minutes, plus an additional charge if the bike is not docked within 30 minutes. Trips on electric bikes cost an additional \$2, or 50 cents for reduced-fare members.
All payments are by credit card; Wageworks and Transitchek prepaid commuter cards are not accepted, as bike sharing programs do not qualify as eligible commuting expenses under US tax law.
## Criticism
When Citi Bike first launched, at least one bike shop owner said that he was forced to close down his business in 2014 due to the popularity of Citi Bike. Dorothy Rabinowitz of The Wall Street Journal said, a few days after the system opened, that under the "autocratic" mayoralty of Michael Bloomberg, "we now look at a city whose best neighborhoods are absolutely begrimed by these blazing blue Citibank bikes." Some people disliked the bright blue color and branding of the bicycles, while others pointed out that the stations blocked fire hydrants on the street. The concrete wheel stops at the end of each kiosk also posed a hazard, acting as a sudden, sharp speed bump. Another complaint was that bike stations take up car parking space for each eight bikes, a sentiment repeated in future dock installations.
Later expansions faced the opposite dilemma of having too few stations: one Streetsblog writer noted that the stations in the expansions were spaced farther apart than the stations in the original service area, which would make the Citi Bike stations in these areas harder to access. In September 2017, a reporter for Time Out magazine wrote that the system did not serve the outer boroughs adequately, with stations only located in wealthier areas of Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens that were closer to the Manhattan central business districts.
## See also
- Cycling in New York City
- Cycling in Jersey City
- List of bicycle sharing systems |
18,955,999 | Desert | 1,172,379,701 | Area of land where little precipitation occurs | [
"Deserts",
"Ecosystems",
"Geomorphology"
]
| A desert is a barren area of landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions are hostile for plant and animal life. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About one-third of the land surface of the Earth is arid or semi-arid. This includes much of the polar regions, where little precipitation occurs, and which are sometimes called polar deserts or "cold deserts". Deserts can be classified by the amount of precipitation that falls, by the temperature that prevails, by the causes of desertification or by their geographical location.
Deserts are formed by weathering processes as large variations in temperature between day and night put strains on the rocks, which consequently break in pieces. Although rain seldom occurs in deserts, there are occasional downpours that can result in flash floods. Rain falling on hot rocks can cause them to shatter, and the resulting fragments and rubble strewn over the desert floor are further eroded by the wind. This picks up particles of sand and dust, which can remain airborne for extended periods – sometimes causing the formation of sand storms or dust storms. Wind-blown sand grains striking any solid object in their path can abrade the surface. Rocks are smoothed down, and the wind sorts sand into uniform deposits. The grains end up as level sheets of sand or are piled high in billowing sand dunes. Other deserts are flat, stony plains where all the fine material has been blown away and the surface consists of a mosaic of smooth stones, often forming desert pavements, and little further erosion takes place. Other desert features include rock outcrops, exposed bedrock and clays once deposited by flowing water. Temporary lakes may form and salt pans may be left when waters evaporate. There may be underground sources of water, in the form of springs and seepages from aquifers. Where these are found, oases can occur.
Plants and animals living in the desert need special adaptations to survive in the harsh environment. Plants tend to be tough and wiry with small or no leaves, water-resistant cuticles, and often spines to deter herbivory. Some annual plants germinate, bloom and die in the course of a few weeks after rainfall, while other long-lived plants survive for years and have deep root systems able to tap underground moisture. Animals need to keep cool and find enough food and water to survive. Many are nocturnal, and stay in the shade or underground during the heat of the day. They tend to be efficient at conserving water, extracting most of their needs from their food and concentrating their urine. Some animals remain in a state of dormancy for long periods, ready to become active again during the rare rainfall. They then reproduce rapidly while conditions are favorable before returning to dormancy.
People have struggled to live in deserts and the surrounding semi-arid lands for millennia. Nomads have moved their flocks and herds to wherever grazing is available, and oases have provided opportunities for a more settled way of life. The cultivation of semi-arid regions encourages erosion of soil and is one of the causes of increased desertification. Desert farming is possible with the aid of irrigation, and the Imperial Valley in California provides an example of how previously barren land can be made productive by the import of water from an outside source. Many trade routes have been forged across deserts, especially across the Sahara, and traditionally were used by caravans of camels carrying salt, gold, ivory and other goods. Large numbers of slaves were also taken northwards across the Sahara. Some mineral extraction also takes place in deserts, and the uninterrupted sunlight gives potential for the capture of large quantities of solar energy.
## Etymology
English desert and its Romance cognates (including Italian and Portuguese deserto, French désert and Spanish desierto) all come from the ecclesiastical Latin dēsertum (originally "an abandoned place"), a participle of dēserere, "to abandon". The correlation between aridity and sparse population is complex and dynamic, varying by culture, era, and technologies; thus the use of the word desert can cause confusion. In English before the 20th century, desert was often used in the sense of "unpopulated area", without specific reference to aridity; but today the word is most often used in its climate-science sense (an area of low precipitation). Phrases such as "desert island" and "Great American Desert", or Shakespeare's "deserts of Bohemia" (The Winter's Tale) in previous centuries did not necessarily imply sand or aridity; their focus was the sparse population.
## Major deserts
Deserts take up about one third of Earth's land surface. Bottomlands may be salt-covered flats. Eolian processes are major factors in shaping desert landscapes. Polar deserts (also seen as "cold deserts") have similar features, except the main form of precipitation is snow rather than rain. Antarctica is the world's largest cold desert (composed of about 98% thick continental ice sheet and 2% barren rock). Some of the barren rock is to be found in the so-called Dry Valleys of Antarctica that almost never get snow, which can have ice-encrusted saline lakes that suggest evaporation far greater than the rare snowfall due to the strong katabatic winds that even evaporate ice.
Deserts, both hot and cold, play a part in moderating Earth's temperature. This is because they reflect more of the incoming light and their albedo is higher than that of forests or the sea.
## Defining characteristics
A desert is a region of land that is very dry because it receives low amounts of precipitation (usually in the form of rain, but it may be snow, mist or fog), often has little coverage by plants, and in which streams dry up unless they are supplied by water from outside the area. Deserts generally receive less than 250 mm (10 in) of precipitation each year. The potential evapotranspiration may be large but (in the absence of available water) the actual evapotranspiration may be close to zero. Semi-deserts are regions which receive between 250 and 500 mm (10 and 20 in) and when clad in grass, these are known as steppes.
### Water
One of the driest places on Earth is the Atacama Desert. It is virtually devoid of life because it is blocked from receiving precipitation by the Andes mountains to the east and the Chilean Coast Range to the west. The cold Humboldt Current and the anticyclone of the Pacific are essential to keep the dry climate of the Atacama. The average precipitation in the Chilean region of Antofagasta is just 1 mm (0.039 in) per year. Some weather stations in the Atacama have never received rain. Evidence suggests that the Atacama may not have had any significant rainfall from 1570 to 1971. It is so arid that mountains that reach as high as 6,885 m (22,589 ft) are completely free of glaciers and, in the southern part from 25°S to 27°S, may have been glacier-free throughout the Quaternary, though permafrost extends down to an altitude of 4,400 m (14,400 ft) and is continuous above 5,600 m (18,400 ft). Nevertheless, there is some plant life in the Atacama, in the form of specialist plants that obtain moisture from dew and the fogs that blow in from the Pacific.
When rain falls in deserts, as it occasionally does, it is often with great violence. The desert surface is evidence of this with dry stream channels known as arroyos or wadis meandering across its surface. These can experience flash floods, becoming raging torrents with surprising rapidity after a storm that may be many kilometers away. Most deserts are in basins with no drainage to the sea but some are crossed by exotic rivers sourced in mountain ranges or other high rainfall areas beyond their borders. The River Nile, the Colorado River and the Yellow River do this, losing much of their water through evaporation as they pass through the desert and raising groundwater levels nearby. There may also be underground sources of water in deserts in the form of springs, aquifers, underground rivers or lakes. Where these lie close to the surface, wells can be dug and oases may form where plant and animal life can flourish. The Nubian Sandstone Aquifer System under the Sahara Desert is the largest known accumulation of fossil water. The Great Man-Made River is a scheme launched by Libya's Muammar Gadaffi to tap this aquifer and supply water to coastal cities. Kharga Oasis in Egypt is 150 km (93 mi) long and is the largest oasis in the Libyan Desert. A lake occupied this depression in ancient times and thick deposits of sandy-clay resulted. Wells are dug to extract water from the porous sandstone that lies underneath. Seepages may occur in the walls of canyons and pools may survive in deep shade near the dried up watercourse below.
Lakes may form in basins where there is sufficient precipitation or meltwater from glaciers above. They are usually shallow and saline, and wind blowing over their surface can cause stress, moving the water over nearby low-lying areas. When the lakes dry up, they leave a crust or hardpan behind. This area of deposited clay, silt or sand is known as a playa. The deserts of North America have more than one hundred playas, many of them relics of Lake Bonneville which covered parts of Utah, Nevada and Idaho during the last ice age when the climate was colder and wetter. These include the Great Salt Lake, Utah Lake, Sevier Lake and many dry lake beds. The smooth flat surfaces of playas have been used for attempted vehicle speed records at Black Rock Desert and Bonneville Speedway and the United States Air Force uses Rogers Dry Lake in the Mojave Desert as runways for aircraft and the Space Shuttle.
### Classification
Deserts have been defined and classified in a number of ways, generally combining total precipitation, number of days on which this falls, temperature, and humidity, and sometimes additional factors. For example, Phoenix, Arizona, receives less than 250 mm (9.8 in) of precipitation per year, and is immediately recognized as being located in a desert because of its aridity-adapted plants. The North Slope of Alaska's Brooks Range also receives less than 250 mm (9.8 in) of precipitation per year and is often classified as a cold desert. Other regions of the world have cold deserts, including areas of the Himalayas and other high-altitude areas in other parts of the world. Polar deserts cover much of the ice-free areas of the Arctic and Antarctic. A non-technical definition is that deserts are those parts of Earth's surface that have insufficient vegetation cover to support a human population.
Potential evapotranspiration supplements the measurement of precipitation in providing a scientific measurement-based definition of a desert. The water budget of an area can be calculated using the formula P − PE ± S, wherein P is precipitation, PE is potential evapotranspiration rates and S is the amount of surface storage of water. Evapotranspiration is the combination of water loss through atmospheric evaporation and through the life processes of plants. Potential evapotranspiration, then, is the amount of water that could evaporate in any given region. As an example, Tucson, Arizona receives about 300 mm (12 in) of rain per year, however about 2,500 mm (98 in) of water could evaporate over the course of a year. In other words, about eight times more water could evaporate from the region than actually falls as rain. Rates of evapotranspiration in cold regions such as Alaska are much lower because of the lack of heat to aid in the evaporation process.
Deserts are sometimes classified as "hot" or "cold", "semiarid" or "coastal". The characteristics of hot deserts include high temperatures in summer; greater evaporation than precipitation, usually exacerbated by high temperatures, strong winds and lack of cloud cover; considerable variation in the occurrence of precipitation, its intensity and distribution; and low humidity. Winter temperatures vary considerably between different deserts and are often related to the location of the desert on the continental landmass and the latitude. Daily variations in temperature can be as great as 22 °C (40 °F) or more, with heat loss by radiation at night being increased by the clear skies.
Cold deserts, sometimes known as temperate deserts, occur at higher latitudes than hot deserts, and the aridity is caused by the dryness of the air. Some cold deserts are far from the ocean and others are separated by mountain ranges from the sea, and in both cases, there is insufficient moisture in the air to cause much precipitation. The largest of these deserts are found in Central Asia. Others occur on the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains, the eastern side of the southern Andes and in southern Australia. Polar deserts are a particular class of cold desert. The air is very cold and carries little moisture so little precipitation occurs and what does fall, usually snow, is carried along in the often strong wind and may form blizzards, drifts and dunes similar to those caused by dust and sand in other desert regions. In Antarctica, for example, the annual precipitation is about 50 mm (2 in) on the central plateau and some ten times that amount on some major peninsulas.
Based on precipitation alone, hyperarid deserts receive less than 25 mm (1 in) of rainfall a year; they have no annual seasonal cycle of precipitation and experience twelve-month periods with no rainfall at all. Arid deserts receive between 25 and 200 mm (1 and 8 in) in a year and semiarid deserts between 200 and 500 mm (8 and 20 in). However, such factors as the temperature, humidity, rate of evaporation and evapotranspiration, and the moisture storage capacity of the ground have a marked effect on the degree of aridity and the plant and animal life that can be sustained. Rain falling in the cold season may be more effective at promoting plant growth, and defining the boundaries of deserts and the semiarid regions that surround them on the grounds of precipitation alone is problematic.
A semi-arid desert or a steppe is a version of the arid desert with much more rainfall, vegetation and higher humidity. These regions feature a semi-arid climate and are less extreme than regular deserts. Like arid deserts, temperatures can vary greatly in semi deserts. They share some characteristics of a true desert and are usually located at the edge of deserts and continental dry areas. They usually receive precipitation from 250 to 500 mm (9.8 to 19.7 in) but this can vary due to evapotranspiration and soil nutrition. Semi deserts can be found in the Tabernas Desert (and some of the Spanish Plateau), The Sahel, The Eurasian Steppe, most of Central Asia, the Western US, most of Northern Mexico, portions of South America (especially in Argentina) and the Australian Outback. They usually feature BSh (hot steppe) or BSk (temperate steppe) in the Köppen climate classification.
Coastal deserts are mostly found on the western edges of continental land masses in regions where cold currents approach the land or cold water upwellings rise from the ocean depths. The cool winds crossing this water pick up little moisture and the coastal regions have low temperatures and very low rainfall, the main precipitation being in the form of fog and dew. The range of temperatures on a daily and annual scale is relatively low, being 11 °C (20 °F) and 5 °C (9 °F) respectively in the Atacama Desert. Deserts of this type are often long and narrow and bounded to the east by mountain ranges. They occur in Namibia, Chile, southern California and Baja California. Other coastal deserts influenced by cold currents are found in Western Australia, the Arabian Peninsula and Horn of Africa, and the western fringes of the Sahara.
In 1961, Peveril Meigs divided desert regions on Earth into three categories according to the amount of precipitation they received. In this now widely accepted system, extremely arid lands have at least twelve consecutive months without precipitation, arid lands have less than 250 mm (9.8 in) of annual precipitation, and semiarid lands have a mean annual precipitation of between 250 and 500 mm (9.8 and 19.7 in). Both extremely arid and arid lands are considered to be deserts while semiarid lands are generally referred to as steppes when they are grasslands.
Deserts are also classified, according to their geographical location and dominant weather pattern, as trade wind, mid-latitude, rain shadow, coastal, monsoon, or polar deserts. Trade wind deserts occur either side of the horse latitudes at 30° to 35° North and South. These belts are associated with the subtropical anticyclone and the large-scale descent of dry air moving from high-altitudes toward the poles. The Sahara Desert is of this type. Mid-latitude deserts occur between 30° and 50° North and South. They are mostly in areas remote from the sea where most of the moisture has already precipitated from the prevailing winds. They include the Tengger and Sonoran Deserts. Monsoon deserts are similar. They occur in regions where large temperature differences occur between sea and land. Moist warm air rises over the land, deposits its water content and circulates back to sea. Further inland, areas receive very little precipitation. The Thar Desert near the India/Pakistan border is of this type.
In some parts of the world, deserts are created by a rain shadow effect. Orographic lift occurs as air masses rise to pass over high ground. In the process they cool and lose much of their moisture by precipitation on the windward slope of the mountain range. When they descend on the leeward side, they warm and their capacity to hold moisture increases so an area with relatively little precipitation occurs. The Taklamakan Desert is an example, lying in the rain shadow of the Himalayas and receiving less than 38 mm (1.5 in) precipitation annually. Other areas are arid by virtue of being a very long way from the nearest available sources of moisture.
Montane deserts are arid places with a very high altitude; the most prominent example is found north of the Himalayas, in the Kunlun Mountains and the Tibetan Plateau. Many locations within this category have elevations exceeding 3,000 m (9,800 ft) and the thermal regime can be hemiboreal. These places owe their profound aridity (the average annual precipitation is often less than 40 mm or 1.5 in) to being very far from the nearest available sources of moisture and are often in the lee of mountain ranges. Montane deserts are normally cold, or may be scorchingly hot by day and very cold by night as is true of the northeastern slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro.
Polar deserts such as McMurdo Dry Valleys remain ice-free because of the dry katabatic winds that flow downhill from the surrounding mountains. Former desert areas presently in non-arid environments, such as the Sandhills in Nebraska, are known as paleodeserts. In the Köppen climate classification system, deserts are classed as BWh (hot desert) or BWk (temperate desert). In the Thornthwaite climate classification system, deserts would be classified as arid megathermal climates.
### Polar desert
Polar deserts are a type of cold desert. While they do not lack water, having a persistent cover of snow and ice, this is merely due to marginal evaporation rates and low precipitation.
The McMurdo dry valleys of Antarctica, which lack water (whether rain, ice, or snow) much like a non-polar desert and even have such desert features as hypersaline lakes and intermittent streams that resemble (except for being frozen at their surfaces) hot or cold deserts for extreme aridity and lack of precipitation of any kind. Extreme winds and not seasonal heat desiccate these nearly-lifeless terrains.
### Biological desert
The concept of "biological desert" redefines the concept of desert, without the characteristic of aridity, not lacking water, but instead lacking life. Such places can be so-called "ocean deserts", which are mostly at the centers of gyres, but also hypoxic or anoxic waters such as dead zones.
## Morphology
### Weathering processes
Deserts usually have a large diurnal and seasonal temperature range, with high daytime temperatures falling sharply at night. The diurnal range may be as much as 20 to 30 °C (36 to 54 °F) and the rock surface experiences even greater temperature differentials. During the day the sky is usually clear and most of the sun's radiation reaches the ground, but as soon as the sun sets, the desert cools quickly by radiating heat into space. In hot deserts, the temperature during daytime can exceed 45 °C (113 °F) in summer and plunge below freezing point at night during winter.
Such large temperature variations have a destructive effect on the exposed rocky surfaces. The repeated fluctuations put a strain on exposed rock and the flanks of mountains crack and shatter. Fragmented strata slide down into the valleys where they continue to break into pieces due to the relentless sun by day and chill by night. Successive strata are exposed to further weathering. The relief of the internal pressure that has built up in rocks that have been underground for aeons can cause them to shatter. Exfoliation also occurs when the outer surfaces of rocks split off in flat flakes. This is believed to be caused by the stresses put on the rock by repeated thermal expansions and contractions which induces fracturing parallel to the original surface. Chemical weathering processes probably play a more important role in deserts than was previously thought. The necessary moisture may be present in the form of dew or mist. Ground water may be drawn to the surface by evaporation and the formation of salt crystals may dislodge rock particles as sand or disintegrate rocks by exfoliation. Shallow caves are sometimes formed at the base of cliffs by this means.
As the desert mountains decay, large areas of shattered rock and rubble occur. The process continues and the end products are either dust or sand. Dust is formed from solidified clay or volcanic deposits whereas sand results from the fragmentation of harder granites, limestone and sandstone. There is a certain critical size (about 0.5 mm) below which further temperature-induced weathering of rocks does not occur and this provides a minimum size for sand grains.
As the mountains are eroded, more and more sand is created. At high wind speeds, sand grains are picked up off the surface and blown along, a process known as saltation. The whirling airborne grains act as a sand blasting mechanism which grinds away solid objects in its path as the kinetic energy of the wind is transferred to the ground. The sand eventually ends up deposited in level areas known as sand-fields or sand-seas, or piled up in dunes.
### Features
Many people think of deserts as consisting of extensive areas of billowing sand dunes because that is the way they are often depicted on TV and in films, but deserts do not always look like this. Across the world, around 20% of desert is sand, varying from only 2% in North America to 30% in Australia and over 45% in Central Asia. Where sand does occur, it is usually in large quantities in the form of sand sheets or extensive areas of dunes.
A sand sheet is a near-level, firm expanse of partially consolidated particles in a layer that varies from a few centimeters to a few meters thick. The structure of the sheet consists of thin horizontal layers of coarse silt and very fine to medium grain sand, separated by layers of coarse sand and pea-gravel which are a single grain thick. These larger particles anchor the other particles in place and may also be packed together on the surface so as to form a miniature desert pavement. Small ripples form on the sand sheet when the wind exceeds 24 km/h (15 mph). They form perpendicular to the wind direction and gradually move across the surface as the wind continues to blow. The distance between their crests corresponds to the average length of jumps made by particles during saltation. The ripples are ephemeral and a change in wind direction causes them to reorganise.
Sand dunes are accumulations of windblown sand piled up in mounds or ridges. They form downwind of copious sources of dry, loose sand and occur when topographic and climatic conditions cause airborne particles to settle. As the wind blows, saltation and creep take place on the windward side of the dune and individual grains of sand move uphill. When they reach the crest, they cascade down the far side. The upwind slope typically has a gradient of 10° to 20° while the lee slope is around 32°, the angle at which loose dry sand will slip. As this wind-induced movement of sand grains takes place, the dune moves slowly across the surface of the ground. Dunes are sometimes solitary, but they are more often grouped together in dune fields. When these are extensive, they are known as sand seas or ergs.
The shape of the dune depends on the characteristics of the prevailing wind. Barchan dunes are produced by strong winds blowing across a level surface and are crescent-shaped with the concave side away from the wind. When there are two directions from which winds regularly blow, a series of long, linear dunes known as seif dunes may form. These also occur parallel to a strong wind that blows in one general direction. Transverse dunes run at a right angle to the prevailing wind direction. Star dunes are formed by variable winds, and have several ridges and slip faces radiating from a central point. They tend to grow vertically; they can reach a height of 500 m (1,600 ft), making them the tallest type of dune. Rounded mounds of sand without a slip face are the rare dome dunes, found on the upwind edges of sand seas.
In deserts where large amounts of limestone mountains surround a closed basin, such as at White Sands National Park in south-central New Mexico, occasional storm runoff transports dissolved limestone and gypsum into a low-lying pan within the basin where the water evaporates, depositing the gypsum and forming crystals known as selenite. The crystals left behind by this process are eroded by the wind and deposited as vast white dune fields that resemble snow-covered landscapes. These types of dune are rare, and only form in closed arid basins that retain the highly soluble gypsum that would otherwise be washed into the sea.
A large part of the surface area of the world's deserts consists of flat, stone-covered plains dominated by wind erosion. In "eolian deflation", the wind continually removes fine-grained material, which becomes wind-blown sand. This exposes coarser-grained material, mainly pebbles with some larger stones or cobbles, leaving a desert pavement, an area of land overlaid by closely packed smooth stones forming a tessellated mosaic. Different theories exist as to how exactly the pavement is formed. It may be that after the sand and dust is blown away by the wind the stones jiggle themselves into place; alternatively, stones previously below ground may in some way work themselves to the surface. Very little further erosion takes place after the formation of a pavement, and the ground becomes stable. Evaporation brings moisture to the surface by capillary action and calcium salts may be precipitated, binding particles together to form a desert conglomerate. In time, bacteria that live on the surface of the stones accumulate a film of minerals and clay particles, forming a shiny brown coating known as desert varnish.
Other non-sandy deserts consist of exposed outcrops of bedrock, dry soils or aridisols, and a variety of landforms affected by flowing water, such as alluvial fans, sinks or playas, temporary or permanent lakes, and oases. A hamada is a type of desert landscape consisting of a high rocky plateau where the sand has been removed by aeolian processes. Other landforms include plains largely covered by gravels and angular boulders, from which the finer particles have been stripped by the wind. These are called "reg" in the western Sahara, "serir" in the eastern Sahara, "gibber plains" in Australia and "saï" in central Asia. The Tassili Plateau in Algeria is a jumble of eroded sandstone outcrops, canyons, blocks, pinnacles, fissures, slabs and ravines. In some places the wind has carved holes or arches, and in others, it has created mushroom-like pillars narrower at the base than the top. On the Colorado Plateau, it is water that has been the prevailing eroding force. Here, rivers, such as the Colorado, have cut their way over the millennia through the high desert floor, creating canyons that are over a mile (6,000 feet or 1,800 meters) deep in places, exposing strata that are over two billion years old.
### Dust storms and sandstorms
Sand and dust storms are natural events that occur in arid regions where the land is not protected by a covering of vegetation. Dust storms usually start in desert margins rather than the deserts themselves where the finer materials have already been blown away. As a steady wind begins to blow, fine particles lying on the exposed ground begin to vibrate. At greater wind speeds, some particles are lifted into the air stream. When they land, they strike other particles which may be jerked into the air in their turn, starting a chain reaction. Once ejected, these particles move in one of three possible ways, depending on their size, shape and density; suspension, saltation or creep. Suspension is only possible for particles less than 0.1 mm (0.0039 in) in diameter. In a dust storm, these fine particles are lifted up and wafted aloft to heights of up to 6 km (3.7 mi). They reduce visibility and can remain in the atmosphere for days on end, conveyed by the trade winds for distances of up to 6,000 km (3,700 mi). Denser clouds of dust can be formed in stronger winds, moving across the land with a billowing leading edge. The sunlight can be obliterated and it may become as dark as night at ground level. In a study of a dust storm in China in 2001, it was estimated that 6.5 million tons of dust were involved, covering an area of 134,000,000 km<sup>2</sup> (52,000,000 sq mi). The mean particle size was 1.44 μm. A much smaller scale, short-lived phenomenon can occur in calm conditions when hot air near the ground rises quickly through a small pocket of cooler, low-pressure air above forming a whirling column of particles, a dust devil.
Sandstorms occur with much less frequency than dust storms. They are often preceded by severe dust storms and occur when the wind velocity increases to a point where it can lift heavier particles. These grains of sand, up to about 0.5 mm (0.020 in) in diameter are jerked into the air but soon fall back to earth, ejecting other particles in the process. Their weight prevents them from being airborne for long and most only travel a distance of a few meters (yards). The sand streams along above the surface of the ground like a fluid, often rising to heights of about 30 cm (12 in). In a really severe steady blow, 2 m (6 ft 7 in) is about as high as the sand stream can rise as the largest sand grains do not become airborne at all. They are transported by creep, being rolled along the desert floor or performing short jumps.
During a sandstorm, the wind-blown sand particles become electrically charged. Such electric fields, which range in size up to 80 kV/m, can produce sparks and cause interference with telecommunications equipment. They are also unpleasant for humans and can cause headaches and nausea. The electric fields are caused by the collision between airborne particles and by the impacts of saltating sand grains landing on the ground. The mechanism is little understood but the particles usually have a negative charge when their diameter is under 250 μm and a positive one when they are over 500 μm.
## Ecology and biogeography
Deserts and semi-deserts are home to ecosystems with low or very low biomass and primary productivity in arid or semi-arid climates. They are mostly found in subtropical high-pressure belts and major continental rain shadows. Primary productivity depends on low densities of small photoautotrophs that sustain a sparse trophic network. Plant growth is limited by rainfall, temperature extremes and desiccating winds. Deserts have strong temporal variability in the availability of resources due to the total amount of annual rainfall and the size of individual rainfall events. Resources are often ephemeral or episodic, and this triggers sporadic animal movements and 'pulse and reserve' or 'boom-bust' ecosystem dynamics. Erosion and sedimentation are high due to the sparse vegetation cover and the activities of large mammals and people. Plants and animals in deserts are mostly adapted to extreme and prolonged water deficits, but their reproductive phenology often responds to short episodes of surplus. Competitive interactions are weak.
### Flora
Plants face severe challenges in arid environments. Problems they need to solve include how to obtain enough water, how to avoid being eaten and how to reproduce. Photosynthesis is the key to plant growth. It can only take place during the day as energy from the sun is required, but during the day, many deserts become very hot. Opening stomata to allow in the carbon dioxide necessary for the process causes evapotranspiration, and conservation of water is a top priority for desert vegetation. Some plants have resolved this problem by adopting crassulacean acid metabolism, allowing them to open their stomata during the night to allow CO<sub>2</sub> to enter, and close them during the day, or by using C4 carbon fixation.
Many desert plants have reduced the size of their leaves or abandoned them altogether. Cacti are desert specialists, and in most species, the leaves have been dispensed with and the chlorophyll displaced into the trunks, the cellular structure of which has been modified to allow them to store water. When rain falls, the water is rapidly absorbed by the shallow roots and retained to allow them to survive until the next downpour, which may be months or years away. The giant saguaro cacti of the Sonoran Desert form "forests", providing shade for other plants and nesting places for desert birds. Saguaro grows slowly but may live for up to two hundred years. The surface of the trunk is folded like a concertina, allowing it to expand, and a large specimen can hold eight tons of water after a good downpour.
Cacti are present in both North and South America with a post-Gondwana origin. Other xerophytic plants have developed similar strategies by a process known as convergent evolution. They limit water loss by reducing the size and number of stomata, by having waxy coatings and hairy or tiny leaves. Some are deciduous, shedding their leaves in the driest season, and others curl their leaves up to reduce transpiration. Others store water in succulent leaves or stems or in fleshy tubers. Desert plants maximize water uptake by having shallow roots that spread widely, or by developing long taproots that reach down to deep rock strata for ground water. The saltbush in Australia has succulent leaves and secretes salt crystals, enabling it to live in saline areas. In common with cacti, many have developed spines to ward off browsing animals.
Some desert plants produce seed which lies dormant in the soil until sparked into growth by rainfall. With annuals, such plants grow with great rapidity and may flower and set seed within weeks, aiming to complete their development before the last vestige of water dries up. For perennial plants, reproduction is more likely to be successful if the seed germinates in a shaded position, but not so close to the parent plant as to be in competition with it. Some seed will not germinate until it has been blown about on the desert floor to scarify the seed coat. The seed of the mesquite tree, which grows in deserts in the Americas, is hard and fails to sprout even when planted carefully. When it has passed through the gut of a pronghorn it germinates readily, and the little pile of moist dung provides an excellent start to life well away from the parent tree. The stems and leaves of some plants lower the surface velocity of sand-carrying winds and protect the ground from erosion. Even small fungi and microscopic plant organisms found on the soil surface (so-called cryptobiotic soil) can be a vital link in preventing erosion and providing support for other living organisms. Cold deserts often have high concentrations of salt in the soil. Grasses and low shrubs are the dominant vegetation here and the ground may be covered with lichens. Most shrubs have spiny leaves and shed them in the coldest part of the year.
### Fauna
Animals adapted to live in deserts are called xerocoles. There is no evidence that body temperature of mammals and birds is adaptive to the different climates, either of great heat or cold. In fact, with a very few exceptions, their basal metabolic rate is determined by body size, irrespective of the climate in which they live. Many desert animals (and plants) show especially clear evolutionary adaptations for water conservation or heat tolerance and so are often studied in comparative physiology, ecophysiology, and evolutionary physiology. One well-studied example is the specializations of mammalian kidneys shown by desert-inhabiting species. Many examples of convergent evolution have been identified in desert organisms, including between cacti and Euphorbia, kangaroo rats and jerboas, Phrynosoma and Moloch lizards.
Deserts present a very challenging environment for animals. Not only do they require food and water but they also need to keep their body temperature at a tolerable level. In many ways, birds are the ablest to do this of the higher animals. They can move to areas of greater food availability as the desert blooms after local rainfall and can fly to faraway waterholes. In hot deserts, gliding birds can remove themselves from the over-heated desert floor by using thermals to soar in the cooler air at great heights. In order to conserve energy, other desert birds run rather than fly. The cream-colored courser flits gracefully across the ground on its long legs, stopping periodically to snatch up insects. Like other desert birds, it is well-camouflaged by its coloring and can merge into the landscape when stationary. The sandgrouse is an expert at this and nests on the open desert floor dozens of kilometers (miles) away from the waterhole it needs to visit daily. Some small diurnal birds are found in very restricted localities where their plumage matches the color of the underlying surface. The desert lark takes frequent dust baths which ensures that it matches its environment.
Water and carbon dioxide are metabolic end products of oxidation of fats, proteins, and carbohydrates. Oxidising a gram of carbohydrate produces 0.60 grams of water; a gram of protein produces 0.41 grams of water; and a gram of fat produces 1.07 grams of water, making it possible for xerocoles to live with little or no access to drinking water. The kangaroo rat for example makes use of this water of metabolism and conserves water both by having a low basal metabolic rate and by remaining underground during the heat of the day, reducing loss of water through its skin and respiratory system when at rest. Herbivorous mammals obtain moisture from the plants they eat. Species such as the addax antelope, dik-dik, Grant's gazelle and oryx are so efficient at doing this that they apparently never need to drink. The camel is a superb example of a mammal adapted to desert life. It minimizes its water loss by producing concentrated urine and dry dung, and is able to lose 40% of its body weight through water loss without dying of dehydration. Carnivores can obtain much of their water needs from the body fluids of their prey. Many other hot desert animals are nocturnal, seeking out shade during the day or dwelling underground in burrows. At depths of more than 50 cm (20 in), these remain at between 30 and 32 °C (86 and 90 °F) regardless of the external temperature. Jerboas, desert rats, kangaroo rats and other small rodents emerge from their burrows at night and so do the foxes, coyotes, jackals and snakes that prey on them. Kangaroos keep cool by increasing their respiration rate, panting, sweating and moistening the skin of their forelegs with saliva. Mammals living in cold deserts have developed greater insulation through warmer body fur and insulating layers of fat beneath the skin. The arctic weasel has a metabolic rate that is two or three times as high as would be expected for an animal of its size. Birds have avoided the problem of losing heat through their feet by not attempting to maintain them at the same temperature as the rest of their bodies, a form of adaptive insulation. The emperor penguin has dense plumage, a downy under layer, an air insulation layer next to the skin and various thermoregulatory strategies to maintain its body temperature in one of the harshest environments on Earth.
Being ectotherms, reptiles are unable to live in cold deserts but are well-suited to hot ones. In the heat of the day in the Sahara, the temperature can rise to 50 °C (122 °F). Reptiles cannot survive at this temperature and lizards will be prostrated by heat at 45 °C (113 °F). They have few adaptations to desert life and are unable to cool themselves by sweating so they shelter during the heat of the day. In the first part of the night, as the ground radiates the heat absorbed during the day, they emerge and search for prey. Lizards and snakes are the most numerous in arid regions and certain snakes have developed a novel method of locomotion that enables them to move sidewards and navigate high sand-dunes. These include the horned viper of Africa and the sidewinder of North America, evolutionarily distinct but with similar behavioural patterns because of convergent evolution. Many desert reptiles are ambush predators and often bury themselves in the sand, waiting for prey to come within range.
Amphibians might seem unlikely desert-dwellers, because of their need to keep their skins moist and their dependence on water for reproductive purposes. In fact, the few species that are found in this habitat have made some remarkable adaptations. Most of them are fossorial, spending the hot dry months aestivating in deep burrows. While there they shed their skins a number of times and retain the remnants around them as a waterproof cocoon to retain moisture. In the Sonoran Desert, Couch's spadefoot toad spends most of the year dormant in its burrow. Heavy rain is the trigger for emergence and the first male to find a suitable pool calls to attract others. Eggs are laid and the tadpoles grow rapidly as they must reach metamorphosis before the water evaporates. As the desert dries out, the adult toads rebury themselves. The juveniles stay on the surface for a while, feeding and growing, but soon dig themselves burrows. Few make it to adulthood. The water holding frog in Australia has a similar life cycle and may aestivate for as long as five years if no rain falls. The Desert rain frog of Namibia is nocturnal and survives because of the damp sea fogs that roll in from the Atlantic.
Invertebrates, particularly arthropods, have successfully made their homes in the desert. Flies, beetles, ants, termites, locusts, millipedes, scorpions and spiders have hard cuticles which are impervious to water and many of them lay their eggs underground and their young develop away from the temperature extremes at the surface. The Saharan silver ant (Cataglyphis bombycina) uses a heat shock protein in a novel way and forages in the open during brief forays in the heat of the day. The long-legged darkling beetle in Namibia stands on its front legs and raises its carapace to catch the morning mist as condensate, funnelling the water into its mouth. Some arthropods make use of the ephemeral pools that form after rain and complete their life cycle in a matter of days. The desert shrimp does this, appearing "miraculously" in new-formed puddles as the dormant eggs hatch. Others, such as brine shrimps, fairy shrimps and tadpole shrimps, are cryptobiotic and can lose up to 92% of their bodyweight, rehydrating as soon as it rains and their temporary pools reappear.
## Human relations
Humans have long made use of deserts as places to live, and more recently have started to exploit them for minerals and energy capture. Deserts play a significant role in human culture with an extensive literature.
### History
People have been living in deserts for millennia. Many, such as the Bushmen in the Kalahari, the Aborigines in Australia and various tribes of North American Indians, were originally hunter-gatherers. They developed skills in the manufacture and use of weapons, animal tracking, finding water, foraging for edible plants and using the things they found in their natural environment to supply their everyday needs. Their self-sufficient skills and knowledge were passed down through the generations by word of mouth. Other cultures developed a nomadic way of life as herders of sheep, goats, cattle, camels, yaks, llamas or reindeer. They travelled over large areas with their herds, moving to new pastures as seasonal and erratic rainfall encouraged new plant growth. They took with them their tents made of cloth or skins draped over poles and their diet included milk, blood and sometimes meat.
The desert nomads were also traders. The Sahara is a very large expanse of land stretching from the Atlantic rim to Egypt. Trade routes were developed linking the Sahel in the south with the fertile Mediterranean region to the north and large numbers of camels were used to carry valuable goods across the desert interior. The Tuareg were traders and the transported goods traditionally included slaves, ivory and gold going northwards and salt going southwards. Berbers with knowledge of the region were employed to guide the caravans between the various oases and wells. Several million slaves may have been taken northwards across the Sahara between the 8th and 18th centuries. Traditional means of overland transport declined with the advent of motor vehicles, shipping and air freight, but caravans still travel along routes between Agadez and Bilma and between Timbuktu and Taoudenni carrying salt from the interior to desert-edge communities.
Round the rims of deserts, where more precipitation occurred and conditions were more suitable, some groups took to cultivating crops. This may have happened when drought caused the death of herd animals, forcing herdsmen to turn to cultivation. With few inputs, they were at the mercy of the weather and may have lived at bare subsistence level. The land they cultivated reduced the area available to nomadic herders, causing disputes over land. The semi-arid fringes of the desert have fragile soils which are at risk of erosion when exposed, as happened in the American Dust Bowl in the 1930s. The grasses that held the soil in place were ploughed under, and a series of dry years caused crop failures, while enormous dust storms blew the topsoil away. Half a million Americans were forced to leave their land in this catastrophe.
Similar damage is being done today to the semi-arid areas that rim deserts and about twelve million hectares of land are being turned to desert each year. Desertification is caused by such factors as drought, climatic shifts, tillage for agriculture, overgrazing and deforestation. Vegetation plays a major role in determining the composition of the soil. In many environments, the rate of erosion and run off increases dramatically with reduced vegetation cover.
### Natural resource extraction
Deserts contain substantial mineral resources, sometimes over their entire surface, giving them their characteristic colors. For example, the red of many sand deserts comes from laterite minerals. Geological processes in a desert climate can concentrate minerals into valuable deposits. Leaching by ground water can extract ore minerals and redeposit them, according to the water table, in concentrated form. Similarly, evaporation tends to concentrate minerals in desert lakes, creating dry lake beds or playas rich in minerals. Evaporation can concentrate minerals as a variety of evaporite deposits, including gypsum, sodium nitrate, sodium chloride and borates. Evaporites are found in the USA's Great Basin Desert, historically exploited by the "20-mule teams" pulling carts of borax from Death Valley to the nearest railway. A desert especially rich in mineral salts is the Atacama Desert, Chile, where sodium nitrate has been mined for explosives and fertilizer since around 1850. Other desert minerals are copper from Chile, Peru, and Iran, and iron and uranium in Australia. Many other metals, salts and commercially valuable types of rock such as pumice are extracted from deserts around the world.
Oil and gas form on the bottom of shallow seas when micro-organisms decompose under anoxic conditions and later become covered with sediment. Many deserts were at one time the sites of shallow seas and others have had underlying hydrocarbon deposits transported to them by the movement of tectonic plates. Some major oilfields such as Ghawar are found under the sands of Saudi Arabia. Geologists believe that other oil deposits were formed by aeolian processes in ancient deserts as may be the case with some of the major American oil fields.
### Farming
Traditional desert farming systems have long been established in North Africa, irrigation being the key to success in an area where water stress is a limiting factor to growth. Techniques that can be used include drip irrigation, the use of organic residues or animal manures as fertilisers and other traditional agricultural management practices. Once fertility has been built up, further crop production preserves the soil from destruction by wind and other forms of erosion. It has been found that plant growth-promoting bacteria play a role in increasing the resistance of plants to stress conditions and these rhizobacterial suspensions could be inoculated into the soil in the vicinity of the plants. A study of these microbes found that desert farming hampers desertification by establishing islands of fertility allowing farmers to achieve increased yields despite the adverse environmental conditions. A field trial in the Sonoran Desert which exposed the roots of different species of tree to rhizobacteria and the nitrogen fixing bacterium Azospirillum brasilense with the aim of restoring degraded lands was only partially successful.
The Judean Desert was farmed in the 7th century BC during the Iron Age to supply food for desert forts. Native Americans in the south western United States became agriculturalists around 600 AD when seeds and technologies became available from Mexico. They used terracing techniques and grew gardens beside seeps, in moist areas at the foot of dunes, near streams providing flood irrigation and in areas irrigated by extensive specially built canals. The Hohokam tribe constructed over 500 miles (800 km) of large canals and maintained them for centuries, an impressive feat of engineering. They grew maize, beans, squash and peppers.
A modern example of desert farming is the Imperial Valley in California, which has high temperatures and average rainfall of just 3 in (76 mm) per year. The economy is heavily based on agriculture and the land is irrigated through a network of canals and pipelines sourced entirely from the Colorado River via the All-American Canal. The soil is deep and fertile, being part of the river's flood plains, and what would otherwise have been desert has been transformed into one of the most productive farming regions in California. Other water from the river is piped to urban communities but all this has been at the expense of the river, which below the extraction sites no longer has any above-ground flow during most of the year. Another problem of growing crops in this way is the build-up of salinity in the soil caused by the evaporation of river water. The greening of the desert remains an aspiration and was at one time viewed as a future means for increasing food production for the world's growing population. This prospect has proved false as it disregarded the environmental damage caused elsewhere by the diversion of water for desert project irrigation.
### Solar energy capture
Deserts are increasingly seen as sources for solar energy, partly due to low amounts of cloud cover. Many solar power plants have been built in the Mojave Desert such as the Solar Energy Generating Systems and Ivanpah Solar Power Facility. Large swaths of this desert are covered in mirrors.
The potential for generating solar energy from the Sahara Desert is huge, the highest found on the globe. Professor David Faiman of Ben-Gurion University has stated that the technology now exists to supply all of the world's electricity needs from 10% of the Sahara Desert. Desertec Industrial Initiative was a consortium seeking \$560 billion to invest in North African solar and wind installations over the next forty years to supply electricity to Europe via cable lines running under the Mediterranean Sea. European interest in the Sahara Desert stems from its two aspects: the almost continual daytime sunshine and plenty of unused land. The Sahara receives more sunshine per acre than any part of Europe. The Sahara Desert also has the empty space totalling hundreds of square miles required to house fields of mirrors for solar plants.
The Negev Desert, Israel, and the surrounding area, including the Arava Valley, receive plenty of sunshine and are generally not arable. This has resulted in the construction of many solar plants. David Faiman has proposed that "giant" solar plants in the Negev could supply all of Israel's needs for electricity.
### Warfare
The Arabs were probably the first organized force to conduct successful battles in the desert. By knowing back routes and the locations of oases and by utilizing camels, Muslim Arab forces were able to successfully overcome both Roman and Persian forces in the period 600 to 700 AD during the expansion of the Islamic caliphate.
Many centuries later, both world wars saw fighting in the desert. In the First World War, the Ottoman Turks were engaged with the British regular army in a campaign that spanned the Arabian peninsula. The Turks were defeated by the British, who had the backing of irregular Arab forces that were seeking to revolt against the Turks in the Hejaz, made famous in T.E. Lawrence's book Seven Pillars of Wisdom.
In the Second World War, the Western Desert Campaign began in Italian Libya. Warfare in the desert offered great scope for tacticians to use the large open spaces without the distractions of casualties among civilian populations. Tanks and armoured vehicles were able to travel large distances unimpeded and land mines were laid in large numbers. However, the size and harshness of the terrain meant that all supplies needed to be brought in from great distances. The victors in a battle would advance and their supply chain would necessarily become longer, while the defeated army could retreat, regroup and resupply. For these reasons, the front line moved back and forth through hundreds of kilometers as each side lost and regained momentum. Its most easterly point was at El Alamein in Egypt, where the Allies decisively defeated the Axis forces in 1942.
### In culture
The desert is generally thought of as a barren and empty landscape. It has been portrayed by writers, film-makers, philosophers, artists and critics as a place of extremes, a metaphor for anything from death, war or religion to the primitive past or the desolate future.
There is an extensive literature on the subject of deserts. An early historical account is that of Marco Polo (c. 1254–1324), who travelled through Central Asia to China, crossing a number of deserts in his twenty four year trek. Some accounts give vivid descriptions of desert conditions, though often accounts of journeys across deserts are interwoven with reflection, as is the case in Charles Montagu Doughty's major work, Travels in Arabia Deserta (1888). Antoine de Saint-Exupéry described both his flying and the desert in Wind, Sand and Stars and Gertrude Bell travelled extensively in the Arabian desert in the early part of the 20th century, becoming an expert on the subject, writing books and advising the British government on dealing with the Arabs. Another woman explorer was Freya Stark, who travelled alone in the Middle East, visiting Turkey, Arabia, Yemen, Syria, Persia and Afghanistan, writing over twenty books on her experiences. The German naturalist Uwe George spent several years living in deserts, recording his experiences and research in his book, In the Deserts of this Earth.
The American poet Robert Frost expressed his bleak thoughts in his poem, Desert Places, which ends with the stanza "They cannot scare me with their empty spaces / Between stars – on stars where no human race is. / I have it in me so much nearer home / To scare myself with my own desert places."
## Deserts on other planets
Mars is the only other planet in the Solar System besides Earth on which deserts have been identified. Despite its low surface atmospheric pressure (only 1/100 of that of Earth), the patterns of atmospheric circulation on Mars have formed a sea of circumpolar sand more than 5 million km<sup>2</sup> (1.9 million sq mi) in the area, larger than most deserts on Earth. The Martian deserts principally consist of dunes in the form of half-moons in flat areas near the permanent polar ice caps in the north of the planet. The smaller dune fields occupy the bottom of many of the craters situated in the Martian polar regions. Examination of the surface of rocks by laser beamed from the Mars Exploration Rover have shown a surface film that resembles the desert varnish found on Earth although it might just be surface dust. The surface of Titan, a moon of Saturn, also has a desert-like surface with dune seas.
## See also
- Aridification
- Arid Lands Information Network
- Desert greening
- Desertification
- Deserts of Australia
- International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas
- List of deserts
- List of deserts by area
- List of North American deserts
- Sediment precipitation
- Semi-arid climate |
29,162,496 | Indestructible (Robyn song) | 1,159,188,597 | null | [
"2010 singles",
"2010 songs",
"2010s ballads",
"Robyn songs",
"Songs written by Klas Åhlund",
"Songs written by Robyn",
"Synth-pop ballads"
]
| "Indestructible" is a song by Swedish recording artist Robyn, taken from her seventh studio album Body Talk (2010). The song was written by Robyn and Klas Åhlund, and produced by Åhlund. It was released as the lead single from Body Talk on 1 November 2010 in Sweden and one day later in the United States. The song was previously heard, in an acoustic form, as the final track on Body Talk Pt. 2, released in September 2010. The song was one of the first to be recorded for the Body Talk series, but Robyn saved it for later to give it a chance of becoming a single.
According to Robyn, "Indestructible" describes how meeting new people and falling in love can be scary and fun at the same time. The song is a synthpop ballad with string sounds, pulsing bass and an electronic arrangement. The song was met with generally positive reviews from critics, who praised its production and Robyn's songwriting. It reached number four on the Sverigetopplistan chart, becoming Robyn's ninth top ten hit in her native country. It charted moderately elsewhere, reaching number thirteen in Denmark and number twenty-one on the UK Dance Chart.
The accompanying music video was directed by Max Vitali and Nils Ljunggren. It shows scenes of couples having sex, and cutscenes of Robyn wearing a special designed dress featuring tubes with colored liquid. Robyn wanted to make the video to show the truth about sex. The dress was designed by Lucy McRae, who specializes in "body architecture". An advanced machine was built to control the flow of the liquid and a kilometre of tubes were used. The video received positive reviews from critics, who called it honest and intriguing. Robyn performed the song at the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize Concert.
## Background
"Indestructible" was written by Robyn and Klas Åhlund with production done by the latter. The song was recorded at a studio named Apmamman, in Stockholm, Sweden. The strings in the song were arranged by Carl Bagge, and played by various cello and violin players. The song alongside "Hang with Me" were among the first songs to be recorded for the Body Talk series, and Robyn said that she saved them for a later release because "[she] knew they would be singles, or could be singles, and [she] wanted them to get that chance." Robyn described the song to The Macomb Daily as "a love song ... about what you can do in a club". In an interview with MTV News, she elaborated on the song's theme and message, saying, "I think 'Indestructible' is a song that talks about what happens when you meet new people and fall in love, and how that can be scary and fun at the same time."
An acoustic version of the song was featured on Body Talk Pt. 2, released in September 2010. The uptempo version was announced as the first single from Body Talk on 12 October 2010, and the single artwork was released on the same date. The song premiered online on 14 October 2010, via Robyn's SoundCloud account. The single was initially planned to be released on 17 November 2010 in Sweden, but it was changed to 1 November 2010. It was released in the United States on 2 November 2010. A CD single was released in Germany on 18 February 2011.
## Composition
"Indestructible" is an uptempo ballad that uses string sections and a pulsating beat. The song makes use of a synthpop style, and incorporates elements Europop. It carries a 4/4 beat that is driven by an "endlessly looped" arpeggio. The song utilizes ascending keyboard bubbles, disco claps, drum machines and whistles as backing. The string sounds from the acoustic version of the song are accompanied by four-to-the-floor beats and an electronic arrangement, as well as "relentless" bass and pulsing synthesized chords. Molly Lambert of Pitchfork noted the "human quality" of Robyn's voice on the track, writing that it is "cloaked in waves of arpeggiated synth".
The lyrics speak of a love connection, where the protagonist makes bad decisions; "I never was smart with love, I let the bad ones in and the good ones go". In the chorus, Robyn sings "I'm gonna love you like I've never been hurt before/I'm gonna love you like I'm indestructible." Fraser McAlpine of BBC Music noted that Robyn sings "tough and knowing" and "pessimistically optimistic" lines, but manages to make it sound romantic for the listener. Emma Gaedekke of Billboard commented on the lyrical content, saying, "Robyn's heartfelt vocal turn prevents the backing music from overwhelming her story of a love connection found at the tail-end of heartbreak."
## Critical reception
The song was met with critical acclaim. Nick Levine of Digital Spy gave the song a positive review, awarding it five out of five stars. Levine praised the synths and strings present on the track, as well as Åhlund's production. He commented that the lyrics made the song "not just touching, but utterly, utterly life-affirming". Fraser McAlpine of BBC Music and compared it to "heartbreak songs" by ABBA, but noted its modern synthpop as opposed to 1970s disco. McAlpine noted that the song about dancing and being "terrified/upset" at the same time, and wrote that Robyn has created a "devastating happysad feeling". McAlpine awarded the song five out five stars, and gave it "special points" for its "faux-classical synth solo" in the middle. Emma Gaedeke of Billboard highlighted the songwriting and praised it for being emotionally honest, without "generic pop cheesiness". Molly Lambert of Pitchfork wrote a positive review of the song, saying that the drum machines on the track contrast well with the qualities of her voice. Lambert wrote, "“Indestructible” encapsulates the kind of freedom Robyn sings about; freedom from reductionist categories, unfair expectations, and life's daily indignities."
Paul Davey of Drowned in Sound wrote that the song "sits comfortably alongside" previous singles "Hang with Me" and "Dancing on My Own". Davey referred "Indestructible" to as "an example of a pop-innovator at the top of her game". Jonathan Keefe of Slant Magazine praised the song's production and named it one of Robyn's best singles. Keefe also named it the standout among the new songs on Body Talk. Christian Hoard of Rolling Stone gave it three and a half out of five stars, and wrote that "[Robyn] sings an uncommonly elegant Europop melody". Evan Sawdey of PopMatters compared the song negatively to the acoustic version, believing it was a bad choice to "swap out strings for synths". He wrote, "Robyn's voice gets lost amidst the laser lights, and its impact just isn't as strong". Sawdey, however, considered it "great [for] the dance floor".
## Chart performance
On the issue dated 17 September 2010 of the Sverigetopplistan chart, the acoustic version of "Indestructible" debuted and peaked at number fifty-four due to strong digital downloads. The original version of the song debuted at number nine on the issue dated 12 November 2010, becoming Robyn's ninth top ten hit in the country. Three weeks later, it peaked at number four. It was the thirtieth best-selling song of 2010 in Sweden. In Denmark, the song debuted at number thirty-eight on the chart issue dated 12 November 2010, but fell off the chart next week. On 3 December 2010, it re-entered at number twenty-four and peaked at number thirteen on 21 January 2011. After thirteen non-consecutive weeks, the song fell off the chart dated 4 March 2011. On 20 October 2011 the song was certified gold by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) for sales of 15,000 digital units in Denmark.
"Indestructible" managed to chart at number 171 on the UK Singles Chart, on the issue dated 18 December 2010. It debuted at number thirty on the UK Dance Chart, and reached its peak of number twenty-one on its second week on the chart. In Belgium, the song peaked at number twenty-three on the Flanders Ultratop 50 chart, and number twenty-nine on the Wallonia Ultratip airplay chart. In Germany, the song debuted at number fifty-six, immediately becoming Robyn's highest-charting single in the country since "With Every Heartbeat" in 2007.
## Music video
The music video for "Indestructible" was directed by Max Vitali and Nils Ljunggren. Vitali had previously worked with Robyn on the music videos for "Hang with Me" and "Dancing on My Own". For the video, Australian artist Lucy McRae, who makes "body architecture", designed a special "tube dress" for Robyn to wear. McRae also designed the outfits Robyn wore on the Body Talk album covers. The dress for the video was made up of plastic pipes that were periodically filled with colored fluids and wrapped around Robyn's body. Robyn recalled that the machine that kept the liquid flowing was "very complicated". It was powered by drills and required "a whole lot of complex machinery to function". The machine was built by McRae, who had to do it quickly because of the video's budget. McRae said, "Me and the dream team had never done anything like this before, the whole project was happening for the first time. The machine was super loud." The shooting stopped four times due to leaks, and the team had to mop and re-set the technology. The shooting took twenty hours, and by 3 a.m. McRae said that Robyn was wrapped "in a kilometre of tubing draped over her head and body". She praised Robyn's stamina throughout the shoot, saying that "there were chaotic moments that could have been potentially disastrous and the entire time Robyn was working with us, smiling, moving when the tubes were stuck and just super happy we were making it happen."
Due to the complex technology used to for the video, Robyn believed "It looked like 'MacGyver' on the set." She said that the video "[is] very much about [...] giving almost a physical experience of what it feels like to be on a dance floor or fall in love, whether it's blood or endorphins or other body fluids." She wanted to make a video about sex, but said that "in a way that wasn't so clichéd. [...] And [the video] is made to give you a picture of what sex really is, which I think is something that's very hard to do, because sex is everywhere all the time, but very rarely is it made out to be something real." The video begins with a reversed scene of a young couple having sex. In cutscenes, Robyn appears with a tube dress with clear liquid flowing through it. When the young woman begins to switch her sex partners, the liquid in the tubes wrapped around Robyn begins to alter colors and flow more quickly. The video ends with Robyn standing alone with black liquid in the tubes.
The music video premiered via Robyn's official Myspace account on 28 October 2010. The video received positive reviews from critics. James Montgomery of MTV News called it "a clothing-optional video that's raising eyebrows (and temperatures) worldwide. Though [...] there's nothing really all that shocking about the clip ... except maybe for its honesty." Megan Vick of Billboard was positive on the video, saying that, "We can't be entirely sure what Robyn was trying to say with this treatment, but we do know that this video is hot – and intriguing." Robbie Daw of music website Idolator compared it to a scene from The X-Files. He concluded by saying that "This is hardcore, indeed." Amber Katz of MTV Buzzworthy said that Robyn looks "cherubic and futuristic [in the video], as if she belongs on the set of “Caprica”." Katz compared Robyn's outfit to Rebecca Horn's "Overflowing Blood Machine". DJ Ron Slomowicz of About.com called the video "creepy and confusing" and said, "Overall, it is a scintillating if not entirely clear video."
## Live performances
On 3 November 2010, Robyn performed the song alongside several other songs on the Myspace Secret Shows in London. On 1 December 2010, she made an appearance on The 5:19 Show on BBC to perform the song. "Indestructible" was performed on 11 December 2010 at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert. The performance opened with the Swedish folk song "Jag vet en dejlig rosa" and her previous single "Dancing on My Own". Robyn was accompanied by two drummers and two keyboardist on stage, and string players later joined for "Indestructible". The stage was designed with vertical light columns that altered colors in time with the music. Two days later, she performed the song at the Svenska Hjältar awards ceremony in Sweden, broadcast on TV4. The song was mixed with the acoustic version for this performance. She also performed the song during the Body Talk Tour.
## Formats and track listings
- Digital download
1. "Indestructible" – 3:40
- Digital EP
1. "Indestructible" (with Laidback Luke) – 6:10
2. "Indestructible" (Max Sanna and Steve Pitron Club Remix) – 7:16
3. "Indestructible" (A-Trak Remix) – 7:07
4. "Indestructible" (Laserkraft 3D Remix) – 6:18
5. "Indestructible" (The Krays Remix) – 5:29
- Germany CD single
1. "Indestructible" (Radio Edit) – 3:22
2. "Indestructible" (Laserkraft 3D Remix) – 6:18
- Germany digital EP
1. "Indestructible" (Radio Edit) – 3:22
2. "Indestructible" – 3:42
3. "Indestructible" (Laserkraft 3D Remix) – 6:19
4. "Indestructible" (with Laidback Luke) – 6:10
5. "Indestructible" (A-Trak Remix) – 7:06
6. "Indestructible" (Acoustic Version) – 4:14
7. "Indestructible" (Music Video) – 3:27
- Sweden digital download
1. "Indestructible" (Radio Edit) – 3:22
2. "Indestructible" – 3:41
- Black Madonna Remix
1. "Indestructible" (The Black Madonna Remix) - 8:27
## Credits and personnel
- Robyn and Klas Åhlund – music, lyrics, production, instruments and programming
- Niklas Flyckt – mixing
- Carl Bagge – string arranging
- Marianne Herresthal and Pelle Hansen – cello
- Claudia Bonfiglioli, Erik Arvinder, Patrik Swedrup and Simona Bonfiglioli – violin
Source
## Charts and certifications
### Weekly charts
### Year-end charts
### Certifications
## Release history |
7,727,441 | Cyprus at the 1998 Winter Olympics | 1,054,574,037 | null | [
"1998 in Cypriot sport",
"Cyprus at the Winter Olympics by year",
"Nations at the 1998 Winter Olympics"
]
| Cyprus sent a delegation to compete at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan from 7–22 February 1998. This was Cyprus' sixth appearance at a Winter Olympics. Their delegation to Nagano consisted of a single alpine skier, Andreas Vasili. In the men's slalom competition on the penultimate day of the games, he failed to finish his first run and was eliminated.
## Background
The Cyprus Olympic Committee was first recognized by the International Olympic Committee in 1978, and the nation has participated in every Summer Olympics and Winter Olympic Games since their debut in 1980. The Nagano Olympics were therefore their sixth appearance at a Winter Olympics. Cyprus has won only one medal in Olympic competition, in sailing at the 2012 Summer Olympics. The 1998 Winter Olympics were held from 7–22 February 1998; a total of 2,176 athletes represented 72 National Olympic Committees. The Cypriot delegation to Nagano consisted of one alpine skier, Andreas Vasili. He was the flag bearer for the opening ceremony.
## Alpine skiing
Andreas Vasili was 26 years old at the time of the Nagano Olympics, and was making his second Olympic appearance, having previously represented Cyprus at the 1992 Winter Olympics. On 21 February, he was one of 66 competitors in the men's slalom, a two-run race where the total of an athlete's times determined their final position. Vasili failed to finish the first run, and was eliminated from the competition. The gold medal was won later in the day by Hans Petter Buraas and the silver by Ole Kristian Furuseth, both of Norway; bronze was won by Thomas Sykora of Austria. |
1,025,150 | Saw (2004 film) | 1,173,029,375 | American film by James Wan | [
"2000s American films",
"2000s English-language films",
"2000s serial killer films",
"2004 directorial debut films",
"2004 films",
"2004 horror films",
"2004 independent films",
"2004 psychological thriller films",
"American independent films",
"American psychological horror films",
"American serial killer films",
"Crime horror films",
"Film controversies in the United States",
"Films directed by James Wan",
"Films scored by Charlie Clouser",
"Films shot in Los Angeles",
"Films with screenplays by James Wan",
"Films with screenplays by Leigh Whannell",
"Lionsgate films",
"Obscenity controversies in film",
"Rating controversies in film",
"Saw (franchise) films",
"Torture in films"
]
| Saw is a 2004 American horror film directed by James Wan, in his feature directorial debut, and written by Leigh Whannell from a story by Wan and Whannell. It is the first installment in the Saw film series, and stars Whannell alongside Cary Elwes, Danny Glover, Monica Potter, Michael Emerson, and Ken Leung.
The film tells a nonlinear narrative, revolving around the mystery of the Jigsaw Killer, who tests his victims' will to live by putting them through deadly "games" where they must inflict great physical pain upon themselves to survive. The frame story follows Jigsaw's latest victims (Whannell and Elwes), who awaken in a large, dilapidated bathroom, with one being ordered to kill the other to save his own family.
The screenplay was written by Whannell, who co-created the story with Wan in their respective screenwriting debuts. The film was originally written in 2001, but after failed attempts to get the script produced in Wan and Whannell's home country of Australia, they were urged to travel to Los Angeles. In order to help attract producers they shot a low-budget short film of the same name from a scene out of the script. This proved successful in 2003 as producers from Evolution Entertainment were immediately attached and also formed a horror genre production label, Twisted Pictures. The film was given a small production budget and was shot in 18 days.
Saw was first screened on January 19, 2004, at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival, before being released in North America on October 29, 2004, by Lionsgate. The film received generally mixed reviews from critics but grossed \$103.9 million worldwide to become one of the most profitable horror films since Scream (1996). It was theatrically re-released, to select theaters, on October 31, 2014, for its tenth anniversary. The first sequel, titled Saw II, was released in 2005, and a direct sequel, Saw X is scheduled to be released in September 2023.
## Plot
A photographer named Adam awakens in a dilapidated bathtub, with his ankle chained to a pipe. Across the room is oncologist Dr. Lawrence Gordon, also chained. Between them is the corpse of an apparent suicide victim holding a revolver and a microcassette recorder. Both men find a tape in their pockets, and Adam retrieves the recorder. Adam's tape urges him to survive, while Gordon's orders him to kill Adam by 6 o'clock, or his wife Alison and daughter Diana will be killed. Adam finds a bag containing two hacksaws inside the toilet. Both men try to saw through their chains, but Adam's saw breaks. Gordon realizes that the saws are intended for their feet, and identifies their captor as the Jigsaw Killer, a serial killer testing his victims' will to survive through lethal traps referred to as "games," whom Gordon knows about because he was once a suspect.
Five months prior, Gordon, while discussing the terminal brain cancer of patient John Kramer, was interrogated by Detectives David Tapp and Steven Sing, who found his penlight at the scene of one of Jigsaw's games. Gordon's alibi cleared him, but he agreed to view the testimony of heroin addict Amanda Young, the only known survivor of one of Jigsaw's traps, who had been forced to kill and disembowel a man to obtain a key to free herself. Tapp and Sing later found Jigsaw's warehouse using the videotape from Amanda's game. There, they apprehended Jigsaw and saved a man from a trap, but Jigsaw injured Tapp and escaped. Sing pursued Jigsaw down a hallway, but in doing so accidentally triggered a shotgun trap which killed him.
In the present, Alison and Diana are held captive at their apartment as their captor watches Adam and Gordon through a hidden camera. The house is simultaneously watched by Tapp who, after being discharged from the police following Sing's death, has become obsessed with the Jigsaw case, and remains convinced that Gordon is the killer. Meanwhile, Gordon finds a box containing two cigarettes, a lighter, and a one-way cellphone. He recounts his abduction in a parking garage by a pig-masked figure. Adam recalls his own abduction when he returned home to find a puppet in his darkroom, where he stored photos of Gordon.
Alison, held at gunpoint, calls her husband and warns him not to believe Adam. Adam admits to Gordon that he was paid by Tapp to spy on him, and reveals his knowledge of Gordon's affair with one of his medical students whom he had visited the night he was abducted; Gordon deduces that the affair is the reason why he is being tested. Adam finds a photo of Alison and Diana's captor whom Gordon identifies as Zep Hindle, a hospital orderly.
At 6 o'clock, Zep, seeing that Gordon has still not killed Adam, moves to murder Alison and Diana, but Alison frees herself and fights him. The struggle attracts Tapp's attention, and he saves Alison and Diana before chasing Zep to the sewers, where he is shot in the chest after a brief fight. Gordon, only aware of the gunshots and screaming, is shocked and loses reach of the cell phone. In desperation, he saws off his foot and shoots Adam with the corpse's revolver. Zep enters the bathroom to kill Gordon but Adam, having survived the gunshot, bludgeons him to death with a toilet tank lid. Gordon crawls out of the bathroom to find help while Adam searches Zep's body for a key. He finds another tape, which reveals that Zep was just another victim of Jigsaw, following rules to obtain an antidote for a slow-acting poison in his body.
The corpse in the room rises; it turns out to be John Kramer, who is the real Jigsaw Killer. John tells Adam that the key to his chain was in the bathtub; it went down the drain when Adam had first awoken and drained the water. Adam attempts to shoot John with Zep's gun, but John electrically shocks him through his chain. As he exits the bathroom, John says "Game over" before sealing the door, leaving Adam to die.
## Cast
## Production
### Development and writing
After finishing film school, Australian director James Wan and Australian writer Leigh Whannell wanted to write and fund a film. The inspiration that they needed came after watching the low-budget independent film The Blair Witch Project. Another film that inspired them to finance the film themselves was Darren Aronofsky's Pi. The two thought the cheapest script to shoot would involve two actors in one room. Whannell said, "So I actually think the restrictions we had on our bank accounts at the time, the fact that we wanted to keep the film contained, helped us come up with the ideas in the film." One idea was to have the entire film set with two actors stuck in an elevator and being shot in the point of view of security cameras.
Wan pitched the idea to Whannell of two men chained to opposite sides of a bathroom with a dead body in the middle of the floor and they are trying to figure out why and how they are there. By the end of the film, they realize the person lying on the floor is not dead and he is the reason they are locked in the room. Whannell initially did not give Wan the reaction he was looking for. He said, "I'll never forget that day. I remember hanging up the phone and started just going over it in my head, and without any sort of long period of pondering, I opened my diary that I had at the time and wrote the word 'Saw'." Before instantaneously writing the word "Saw" in a blood-red, dripping font, the two had not come up with a title. "It was one of those moments that made me aware that some things just really are meant to be. Some things are just waiting there to be discovered", Whannell said.
The character of Jigsaw did not come until months later, when Whannell was working at a job he was unhappy with and began having migraines. Convinced it was a brain tumor, he went to a neurologist to have an MRI; and, while sitting nervously in the waiting room, he thought: What if you were given the news that you had a tumor and you were going to die soon? How would you react to that? He imagined the character Jigsaw having been given one or two years to live and combined that with the idea of Jigsaw putting others in a literal version of the situation but only giving them a few minutes to choose their fate. Wan did not intend to make a "torture porn" film, and the script only had one short segment of torture. He said the film "played out like a mystery thriller". It was not until the sequels that the plot focused more on torture scenes.
### Funding and short film
Whannell and Wan initially had \$30,000 to spend on the film, but as the script developed it was clear that more funds would be needed. The script was optioned by a producer in Sydney for a year but the deal eventually fell through. After other failed attempts to get the script produced in Australia from 2001 to 2002, literary agent Ken Greenblat read the script and suggested they travel to Los Angeles, where their chances of finding an interested studio were greater. Wan and Whannell initially refused, due to lack of traveling funds but the pair's agent, Stacey Testro, convinced them to go. In order to help studios take interest in the script, Whannell provided A\$5,000 (US\$5,000) to make a seven-minute short film based on the script's jaw trap scene, which they thought would prove most effective. Whannell played David, the man wearing the reverse bear trap. Working at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Whannell and Wan knew cameramen who were willing to provide technical assistance for the short.
Wan shot the short with a 16mm camera in over two days and transferred the footage to DVDs to ship along with the script. Whannell wanted to play the lead character in the feature film. The short helped show that Wan and Whannell were a "director-actor team" rather than just wanting to sell the script. Wan said, "Leigh and I just loved the project so much and we wanted a career in filmmaking so we stuck to our guns and said, 'Look, guys, if you want this project, we're coming on board — Leigh has to act in it and I have to direct it."
In early 2003, while in Los Angeles and before they met with producer Gregg Hoffman, Hoffman's friend pulled him into his office and showed him the short. Hoffman said, "About two or three minutes into it, my jaw hit the floor." He quickly showed the short and script to his partners Mark Burg and Oren Koules of Evolution Entertainment. They later formed Twisted Pictures as a horror genre production label. The producers read the screenplay that night and two days later offered Wan and Whannell creative control and 25% of the net profits. Even though Wan and Whannell received "better offers" from studios like DreamWorks and Gold Circle Films, they were not willing to chance Wan's directing and Whannell acting in the lead role. In order to finance the film, Hoffman, Burg, and Koules put up a second mortgage on their Highland Avenue headquarters. Saw was given a production budget of between \$1 million and \$1.2 million.
### Casting
Cary Elwes was sent the short film on DVD and immediately became interested in playing Dr. Lawrence Gordon in the film. He read the script in one sitting and was drawn in by the "uniqueness and originality" of the story. Koules was Elwes' manager at the time. To prepare for his role as an oncologist, he met with a doctor at UCLA's Department of Neurosurgery. In August 2005, Elwes filed a lawsuit against his management firm and producers of Saw, Evolution Entertainment, alleging "breach of contract and unjust enrichment". Elwes said that he was promised that he would receive a minimum of one percent of the producers' net profits from the film and did not. Elwes claims he only received \$53,275 and a salary of \$2,587.20. The case was later settled out of court and Elwes reprised his role five years later in Saw 3D.
Shawnee Smith, who is not a horror fan, initially refused the role of Amanda Young, describing the script as "horrific". However, after watching the short, she agreed to the role, which was the part that Whannell portrayed in the short. Wan offhandly suggested Smith when his casting director asked who he wanted to play Amanda, as he had had a crush on Smith since his teenage years, and was surprised when his casting director secured her on the role. Danny Glover was cast as Detective David Tapp, who is in pursuit of the Jigsaw Killer. Glover stated in an interview, "Something about that detective character at that particular point attracted me to it".
On taking the role of Jigsaw, Tobin Bell said, "I did Saw because I thought it was a fascinating location for a film to be made. These guys locked in a room, to me, was fresh. I did not anticipate the ending when I read the script, so I was quite caught by surprise and it was clear to me that if the filmmakers shot the scene well, the audience would be caught by surprise as well. The film was worth doing for that moment alone". Bell also stated that he wanted to take the opportunity to work with Glover, whom he had never worked with. Wan primarily cast Bell because of his voice. Mike Butters was originally offered the role of Jigsaw, but declined as he felt that that role did not have enough exciting scenes. Butters, a friend of one of the producers whom he used to play hockey with, ended up cast as Paul Leahy, the Jigsaw victim who perishes in a razor wire maze trap.
### Filming and post-production
With a shooting budget of \$700,000, Saw began principal photography on September 22, 2003 at Lacy Street Production Facility in Los Angeles for 18 days. The bathroom was the only set that had to be built. There were no chairs on the set. Other sets like the police station were shot in locations where other productions had built similar sets. The bathtub scene was filmed the first day of filming, and it was then that Whannell realized that they didn't have money left in the budget to hire a stuntman to shoot the scene, forcing him to perform the scene himself. It took six days to shoot all the scenes in the bathroom, and these were filmed chronologically to avoid continuity jumps and help the actors stay in character. To film the scenes of the two protagonists, Wan made sure most of Dr. Gordon's shots were very steady and controlled while Adam's shots were shaky and handheld to match the characters' personalities. Instead of using a camera dolly or a tripod, cinematographer David A. Armstrong shot the entire film with the camera over his shoulder.
There was no time for Elwes and Whannell to rehearse their scenes together to not conflict with the schedules of Danny Glover and Michael Emerson, who were only available for a certain number of days. Glover completed his scenes in two days. According to Elwes, his dialogue averaged 12 to 16 pages a day, which he considered a great challenge. Due to the tight shooting schedule, Wan could not afford to shoot more than a couple of takes per actor. "It was a really tough struggle for me. Every day, it was me fighting to get the shots I did not get. I had high aspirations, but there's only so much you can do. I wanted to make it in a very Hitchcockian style of filmmaking, but that style of filmmaking takes time to set up and so on", Wan said about the very short shooting schedule. He said the style instead ended up being "more gritty and rough around the edges due to the lack of time and money that we had to shoot the movie with" and it ultimately became the aesthetic of the film.
\$400 were spent on reshoots Wan and Whannell did on their own. For the reshoots, Whannell served as a stand-in to Smith and Ken Leung in the scenes of Amanda searching for her key and of Steven Sing entering into Jigsaw's lair. In post-production, Wan found he did not have enough shots or takes to work with as he was basically shooting rehearsals. Having a lot of missing gaps in the final product, he and editor Kevin Greutert created shots to mend together during editing, such as making a shot look like a surveillance camera feed and using still photographs. "We did a lot of things to fill in gaps throughout the film. Whatever we cut to newspaper clippings and stuff like that, or we cut to surveillance cameras, or we cut to still photography within the film, which now people say, 'Wow, that's such a cool experimental style of filmmaking', we really did that out of necessity to fill in gaps we did not get during the filming", he explained.
## Release
Lionsgate picked up Saw's worldwide distribution rights at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival days before the film premiered on January 19, 2004. There it played to a packed theater for three midnight showings to a positive reaction. It was the closing film at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 18, 2004. Lionsgate initially planned to release the film direct-to-video, but due to the positive reaction at Sundance, they chose to release it theatrically by Halloween. It was released on October 1, 2004 in the United Kingdom, October 29, 2004 in the United States and December 2, 2004 in Australia. The film was originally rated NC-17 (No children under 17 permitted) by the Motion Picture Association of America for strong graphic violence, though after being re-edited, it was released with an R rating.
Lionsgate held a blood drive for the Red Cross called "Give Til It Hurts" and collected 4,249 pints of blood.
### Soundtrack
Saw's soundtrack was mainly composed by Charlie Clouser, and took six weeks to complete. Other songs were performed by Front Line Assembly, Fear Factory, Enemy, Pitbull Daycare and Psychopomps. Megadeth's song "Die Dead Enough" was originally set to be featured in the film but was not used for undisclosed reasons.
The soundtrack was released on October 5, 2004 by Koch Records. Johnny Loftus of AllMusic gave it three out of five stars. He said that Clouser "really nails it with his creaky, clammy score" and that he "understands that Saw's horror only works with a heady amount of camp, and he draws from industrial music in the same way". He particularly liked, "Cigarette"; "Hello, Adam"; and "F\*\*k This S\*!t", commenting that they "blend chilling sounds with harsh percussion and deep-wound keyboard stabs".
### Home media
The theatrical version of the film was released on VHS and DVD on February 15, 2005 in the United States and Canada. After its first week, it made \$9.4 million in DVD rentals and \$1.7 million in VHS rentals, making it the top rental of the week. For the second week it remained as the number one DVD rental with \$6.8 million, for a \$16.27 million two-week total. It dropped to third place in VHS rentals with \$1.09 million, for a \$2.83 million two-week total. The film went on to sell more than \$70 million worth of video and DVDs. A two-disc "Uncut Edition" was released on October 18, 2005 to tie in with the release of Saw II. The short film, also entitled Saw, was included on the DVD.
The film was later released on Blu-ray on June 27, 2006. On May 11, 2021, Saw was released on Ultra HD Blu-ray with a new 2160p transfer and a new 58 minute making-of documentary.
## Reception
### Box office
Saw opened at number three on Halloween weekend 2004 in 2,315 theaters and grossed \$18.2 million, behind Ray (\$20 million) and The Grudge (\$21.8 million). According to Lionsgate's exit poll, 60% of the mostly male audience was under 25 years of age. Saw had also become Lionsgate's second best opening, after Fahrenheit 9/11's \$23.9 million (2004). On its second weekend, an additional 152 theaters were added, bringing the theater count to 2,467. It dropped to number four, making \$11 million, a 39% drop from the opening weekend.
Saw opened in the United Kingdom to \$2.2 million in 301 theaters, grossing a \$12.3 million total in seven weeks. In Australia, it opened in 161 theaters with \$1.2 million and totaled out to \$3.1 million in six weeks. In Italy, the film opened on January 14, 2005 in 267 theaters to \$1.7 million and grossed \$6.4 million in six weeks. Saw opened to \$1.5 million 187 theaters in France on March 16, 2005 and made \$3.1 million by the end of its four-week run. Saw came to gross \$55.1 million in the United States and Canada and \$47.9 million in other markets for a worldwide total of \$103 million. At the time, it became the most profitable horror film after Scream (1996).
#### Tenth anniversary theatrical re-release
On October 31, 2014, for the film's tenth anniversary, Saw was re-released to select theaters for one week. The release earned \$650,051 in its opening weekend, and is the third lowest-grossing wide opening, fourth after the Toy Story re-release in 2020. At the end of its run, the release had grossed \$815,324, bringing the film's overall domestic gross to \$56,000,369.
### Critical response
` Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C+" on an A+ to F scale.`
Dennis Harvey of Variety gave the film a negative review after its Sundance premiere. He called it a "crude concoction sewn together from the severed parts of prior horror/serial killer pics". He called the screenplay "convoluted", criticizing the use of "flashbacks within flashbacks" and red herrings. He described the film as being "too hyperbolic to be genuinely disturbing". Carla Meyer of the San Francisco Chronicle gave the film a positive review, saying the film "combined B-movie acting with a twisted mind-set and visual tricks designed to camouflage cheap effects" and that it was "terrifying at some moments and insinuatingly creepy at many others." She called the killing scenes "amazingly evocative for such a low-budget movie".
Empire's Kim Newman gave the film four out of five stars. He said Saw is styled like early David Fincher films and "boasts an intricate structure — complex flashbacks-within-flashbacks explain how the characters have come to this crisis — and a satisfying mystery to go with its ghastly claustrophobia." He ended his review saying, "As good an all-out, non-camp horror movie as we've had lately." Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a B minus, calling it "derivative and messy and too nonsensical for its own good." He described Jigsaw's intent as "to show you the serial killer lurking inside yourself". Gleiberman criticized Elwes' performance by saying, "[Elwes] ought to be featured in a seminar on the perils of overacting. He compared the plot to Seven saying, "In a blatant imitation of Seven, Saw features a lunatic sadist whose ghoulish crimes are meant, in each case, to mirror the sins of his victims. The twist here is that the psycho doesn't do the killing."" Daniel M. Kimmel of the Telegram & Gazette called it "one of the most loathsome films this critic has seen in more than 20 years on the job".
The New York Times's Stephen Holden gave a mixed review, saying the film "does a better-than-average job of conveying the panic and helplessness of men terrorized by a sadist in a degrading environment, but it is still not especially scary. What sets its demon apart from run-of-the-mill movie serial killers is his impulse to humiliate and torture his victims and justify it with some twisted morality." He said the film is "seriously undermined by the half-baked, formulaic detective story in which the horror is framed." Carina Chocano of the Los Angeles Times also gave the film a mixed review, saying, "Saw is so full of twists it ends up getting snarled. For all of his flashy engineering and inventive torture scenarios, the Jigsaw Killer comes across as an amateur. Hannibal Lecter would have him for lunch." She said the film "carelessly underscores its own shaky narrative at every turn with its mid-budget hokiness". She also noted that Elwes and Whannell had trouble keeping an American accent. Another mixed review came from Roger Ebert, who gave the film 2 out of 4 stars and lamented the gimmicks and plot contrivances but nonetheless described Saw as "well made and acted, and does what it does about as well as it could be expected to".
Richard J. Leskosky of Champaign-Urbana's The News-Gazette said "Saw wants to be taken as another Seven. Though it features perverse gross-out scenes and a villain with a superficially pedantic motive behind his crimes (his victims, if they survive, have learned to appreciate life more), it lacks the finesse and polish of the David Fincher film." When asked if the 1995 thriller film Seven was an inspiration to Saw, Whannell said "For me as the writer, definitely. I mean, Seven is just a very well constructed film, and if you're writing a thriller, it can't hurt to study it. In terms of the story though, James and I never really felt Seven was that close to our film. I guess if you stand back, you have two detectives chasing a psychopath, who uses vile methods to teach people lessons, and those points echo Seven. What we always liked about Saw, though, was that the story is told from the point of view of two of the psychopath's victims, instead of the police chasing after him, as you so often see."
Horror review website, Bloody Disgusting, ranked the film tenth in its list of the Top 20 Horror Films of the decade, with the article calling Saw "perhaps the most influential horror film of the decade". The Daily Telegraph listed the film number 14 on their Top 100 list that defined the 2000s. The film was nominated for best horror film at the 31st Saturn Awards. |
41,657,074 | Revolutionary activity of Vladimir Lenin | 1,146,407,904 | null | [
"Revolutionary movements",
"Russian Revolution",
"Vladimir Lenin"
]
| The Russian communist revolutionary and politician Vladimir Lenin began his active revolutionary activity in 1892, and continued till assuming power in the Russian Revolution of 1917. Following on from his early life, during which he had become devoted to the cause of revolution against the Tsarist regime in the Russian Empire and converted to Marxism, Lenin moved to St. Petersburg. There he joined a revolutionary cell, and became a vocal advocate for Marxism within the revolutionary socialist movement. Entering a relationship with fellow Marxist Nadezhda Krupskaya, he toured Western Europe to build ties with other Russian revolutionary emigres and learn more about the international Marxist movement. Upon returning to Russia, he was arrested for sedition in 1895 and exiled to Shushenskoye in the Minusinsky District of eastern Siberia for three years. There, he devoted his time to translating and writing revolutionary texts, marrying Krupskaya in July 1898.
His exile over, in 1900 he moved to Western Europe, where he joined the editorial board of Iskra, the publication of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP). Iskra'''s base was moved from Munich to London and then to Geneva, each time accompanied by Lenin. At the party's second congress, held in London in 1903, a major schism erupted between Lenin and his supporters (the Bolsheviks) and Julius Martov and his supporters (the Mensheviks); Lenin emphasised a strongly centralised party controlled largely by the leadership, whereas Martov accepted a wider party with more independence of thought. Lenin returned to Russia briefly during the Revolution of 1905, but fled again when the Tsarist authorities defeated the revolutionary forces and cracked down on dissent.
Living in Paris and then Krakow, he focused on internal conflict within the Marxist movement, opposing the ideas of the Mensheviks and Alexander Bogdanov; he penned Materialism and Empirio-criticism to counter his critics. During the First World War, he relocated to Switzerland, where he argued that socialists should work toward converting that "imperialist war" into a continent-wide "civil war" in which the proletariat could overthrow the bourgeoisie. He summarised his thought in the book Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism and also re-interpreted Marxism on the basis of reading Hegelian philosophy. When the February Revolution of 1917 led to the abdication of the Tsar and the development of the Russian Provisional Government, Lenin returned to St. Petersburg, now called Petrograd. There, he urged the Bolsheviks to oppose the new government, and support proletariat revolution.
## Saint Petersburg and foreign visits: 1893–95
In autumn 1893, Vladimir moved to Saint Petersburg, taking up residence in a Sergievsky Street flat in the Liteiny district, before moving to 7 Kazachy Alley, near the Haymarket. Employed as a lawyer's assistant, he joined a revolutionary cell run by S.I. Radchenko, whose members were primarily students from the city's Technological Institute. Like Vladimir, they were Marxists, and called themselves the "Social Democrats" after the Marxist Social Democratic Party of Germany. Impressed by his extensive knowledge, they welcomed him and he soon became a senior member of the group. Championing Marxist thought among the revolutionary socialist movement, in January 1894 he publicly debated with Marxist Theorist Vasily Vorontsov at a clandestine meeting, attracting the attention of police spies. Intent on building Marxism in Russia, Vladimir contacted Petr Berngardovich Struve, a wealthy sympathizer whom he hoped could aid in the publication of literature, encouraged the foundation of revolutionary cells in Russia's industrial centres, and befriended Russian Jewish Marxist Julius Martov.
Vladimir entered into a relationship with fellow Marxist and schoolteacher Nadezhda "Nadya" Krupskaya, who introduced him to socialist proletariat. By autumn 1894, Vladimir was leading a workers' circle who met for two hours on a Sunday; known by the pseudonym Nikolai Petrovich, they affectionately referred to him as starik (old man). He was meticulous in covering his tracks, knowing that police spies were trying to infiltrate the revolutionary movement. He wrote his first political tract, What the "Friends of the People" Are and How They Fight the Social-Democrats; based largely on his experiences in Samara, around 200 copies were illegally printed.
Although Lenin was influenced by agrarian-socialist Pëtr Tkachëvi, he and the Social-Democrats clashed with the Socialist–Revolutionary Party (SR), who were inspired by the defunct People's Freedom Party. Advocating a Narodnik agrarian-socialist platform, the SR emphasised the revolutionary role of the peasant, who in 1881 numbered 75 million, in contrast to the 1 million urban proletariat in Russia. In contrast, the Marxists believed that the peasant class' primary motivation was to own their land, and that they were capitalists; instead, they saw the proletariat as the revolutionary force to advance socialism.
He hoped that connections could be cemented between his Social-Democrats and the Emancipation of Labour group; an organisation founded in Geneva, Switzerland by Georgi Plekhanov and other Russian Marxist emigres in 1883. Vladimir and E.I. Sponti were selected to travel to Switzerland to meet with Plekhanov, who was generally supportive but criticised the Social-Democrats for ignoring the bourgeoisie's role in the anti-Tsarist revolution. Traveling to Zurich, Vladimir befriended Pavel Axelrod, another member of Emancipation of Labour. Proceeding to Paris, France, Vladimir met Paul Lafargue and researched the Paris Commune of 1871, which he saw as an early prototype for a proletarian government. Financed by his mother, he stayed in a Swiss health spa before traveling to Berlin, Germany, where he studied for six weeks at the Staatsbibliothek and met Wilhelm Liebknecht. Returning to Russia with a stash of illegal revolutionary literature, he traveled to various cities, aware that he was being monitored by the police, and distributed literature to striking workers in Saint Petersburg. Involved in producing a news sheet, The Workers' Cause, he was among 40 activists arrested on the night before the first issue's publication and charged with sedition.
## Siberian exile: 1895–1900
Imprisoned at the House of Preliminary Detention in Shpalernaya Street, Vladimir was refused legal representation, so denied all charges. His family helped him, but he was refused bail, remaining imprisoned for a year before sentencing. Fellow revolutionaries smuggled messages to him, while he devised a code for playing chess with the neighbouring inmate. Spending much time writing, he focused on the revolutionary potential of the working-class; believing that the rise of industrial capitalism had led large numbers of peasants to move to the cities, he argued that they became proletariat and gained class consciousness, which would lead them to violently overthrow the aristocracy and bourgeoisie. By July 1896 he had finished Draft and Explanation of A Programme for the Social Democratic Party and had commenced work on his book The Development of Capitalism in Russia.
Vladimir was sentenced without trial to 3 years exile in eastern Siberia. Given a few days in Saint Petersburg in February 1897 to put his affairs in order, he met with fellow revolutionaries; the Social-Democrats had been renamed the League of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class, and with many of its leading intelligentsia imprisoned, workers had taken over many senior positions, a move that caused rifts but which gained Vladimir's cautious support. In 1896–97, strikes hit Saint Petersburg, aided by the Marxists; believing his predictions to be coming true, Vladimir was unhappy at having to abandon the movement. The Russian government made use of a large network of prison camps and areas of exile on the verges of its empire to deal with dissidents and criminals; by 1897 there were 300,000 Russian citizens in this system, and Vladimir was now one of them. Permitted to make his own way there, the journey took 11 weeks, for much of which he was accompanied by his mother and sisters. Considered a minor threat, Vladimir was exiled to Shushenskoye in the Minusinsky District, a settlement that Vladimir described as "not a bad place". Renting a room in a peasant's hut, he remained under police surveillance, but corresponded with other subversives, many of whom visited him, and also went on trips to hunt duck and snipe and to swim in the Yenisei River.
In May 1898, Nadya joined him in exile, having been arrested in August 1896 for organizing a strike. Although initially posted to Ufa, she convinced the authorities to move her to Shushenskoye, claiming that she and Vladimir were engaged; they married in a church on 10 July 1898. Settling into a family life with Nadya's mother Elizaveta Vasilyevna, the couple translated Sidney and Beatrice Webb's The History of Trade Unionism (1894) into Russian, a job obtained for them by Struve. Keen to keep abreast of the developments in German Marxism – where there had been an ideological split, with revisionists like Eduard Bernstein advocating a peaceful, electoral path to socialism – Vladimir remained devoted to violent revolution, attacking revisionist arguments in A Protest by Russian Social-Democrats. He was also critical of the "Economists", members of the Social-Democratic movement who campaigned for economic reforms to improve workers' conditions rather than fighting for socio-political revolution. Vladimir also finished The Development of Capitalism in Russia (1899), his longest book to date, which offered a well-researched and polemical attack on the Social-Revolutionaries and promoting a Marxist analysis of Russian economic development. Published under the pseudonym of "Vladimir Ilin", it would be described by biographer Robert Service as "a tour de force", but received predominantly poor reviews upon publication.
## Munich, London and Geneva: 1900–05
His exile over, Vladimir was banned from Saint Petersburg, instead settling in Pskov, a small town two hours' train ride from the capital, in February 1900. His wife, who had not served the entirety of her sentence, remained in exile in Ufa, where she fell ill. Intent on founding a newspaper, Vladimir and Struve raised money for the publication of Iskra (The Spark), a new organ of the Russian Marxist movement, now calling itself the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP). After visiting his wife, on 29 July 1900, Vladimir left Russia for Western Europe. In Switzerland and Germany, he met with Axelrod, Plekhanov and Potresov, and lectured on the Russian situation. On 24 August 1900, a conference of Russian Marxists was held in the Swiss town of Corsier to discuss Iskra, but both Vladimir and Potresov were shocked at Plekhanov's controlling nature and antisemitism. It was agreed that the paper would be produced in Munich, where Vladimir moved in September 1900. The first issue was printed on Christmas Eve, and contained an article written by Vladimir decrying European intervention in the Boxer Rebellion. A second RSDLP publication, Zarya, appeared in March 1901, and would run for four issues, but Iskra was far more successful, being smuggled into Russia illegally, becoming the most successful Russian underground publication for 50 years. It contained contributions from such figures as the Polish Rosa Luxemburg, the Czech-German Karl Kautsky, and a young Ukrainian Marxist, Leon Trotsky, who became a regular contributor from the autumn of 1902.
Vladimir adopted the nom de guerre of "Lenin" in December 1901, possibly taking the River Lena as a basis, thereby imitating the manner in which Plekhanov had adopted the pseudonym of "Volgin" after the River Volga. In 1902, he published a political pamphlet entitled What Is to Be Done? – named after Chernychevsky's novel – under this pseudonym. His most influential publication to date, it dealt with Lenin's thoughts on the need for a vanguard party to lead the working-class to revolution; it expressed criticism of those in the party who wanted to follow along in the wave of the revolution. When his wife finished her sentence, she joined him in Munich; she became his personal secretary, aiding the production of Iskra. Together, they continued their political agitation, with Lenin writing further articles for Iskra and drafting the program for the RSDLP, attacking ideological dissenters and external critics, particularly the SR. Despite remaining an orthodox Marxist, he had begun to accept the Social Revolutionary Party's views on the revolutionary power of the Russian peasantry, penning a pamphlet in 1903 entitled To the Village Poor.
Realising that they were being monitored by the Bavarian police, Lenin and the newspaper's other editors agreed to relocate Iskra to London, Britain, with Lenin and his wife arriving in the city in April 1902, there renting a flat in St. Pancras. Although despising English cuisine, Lenin liked London, spending much time in the Reading Room of the British Museum. He lived in close proximity to the other editors, but disliked their communal mode of living, instead becoming good friends with Trotsky, who had arrived in the city. While in London, Lenin fell ill with erysipelas and was unable to take such a leading role on the Iskra editorial board; in his absence the board approved a measure that he disagreed with, that of moving back to Switzerland. Before relocating, Lenin holidayed in Brittany, France with his mother and sister.
In March 1902, the Organisational Committee for Congress had been set up, devoted to planning the 2nd RSDLP Congress, which was to be held in Brussels, Belgium in July. However, as the date neared, it was clear that Belgian police were monitoring it, and so the venue was changed to the Brotherhood Church in London. At the conference, a schism emerged between Lenin's supporters and those of Martov. In putting together a draft party platform, Martov argued that party members should be able to express themselves independently of the party leadership; Lenin disagreed, emphasising the need for a strong leadership with complete control. The matter was put to a vote, and Martov won by 28 to 22 votes. Arguments continued, and many of those who had supported Martov's position walked out in protest. This left Lenin's supporters in the majority, and Lenin termed them the "majoritarians" (bol'sheviki in Russian; thus Bolsheviks), and in response, Martov termed his followers the minoritarians (men'sheviki in Russian; thus Mensheviks). The Congress resulted in the adoption of a fixed party programme and rule, but had also resulted in a major schism.
With Lenin now based in Geneva, the arguments between Bolsheviks and Mensheviks continued after the conference. The Bolsheviks accused their rivals of being opportunists and reformists who lacked any discipline, while the Mensheviks accused Lenin of being a despot and autocrat, comparing him to Maximilien de Robespierre. When Plekhanov sided with Martov, Lenin flew into a rage and resigned from both the Iskra editorial board and the Party Council. In May 1904, he published One Step Forward, Two Steps Back, a booklet claiming that Martov's supporters had tricked him into this. The stress added to an illness, which at the time was probably diagnosed as neurasthenia, and to relive this, he went on a climbing holiday in the countryside in June. Some party members attempted to reunite the feuding factions, but this failed, and by the spring, all eight members of the Central Committee were Bolsheviks. In December, they founded a Bolshevik newspaper, Vperëd (Forward).
## Revolution and aftermath: 1905–14
In January 1905, the massacre of protesters that came to be known as Bloody Sunday took place in St. Petersburg, sparking the civil unrest known as the Revolution of 1905. In response to these events, Lenin urged Bolsheviks in the Empire to take a greater role in the unrest, encouraging violent insurrection against the Tsarist establishment, including police and the Black Hundreds. He also insisted that the Bolsheviks split completely with the Mensheviks, although many Bolsheviks, among them close colleagues like Gusev and Zemlyachka, disagreed with him. Thus, both groups were invited to the 3rd RSDLP Congress, held in London in April 1905; nevertheless, few Mensheviks attended, and Lenin used the Congress to reassert his dominance within the party. He also oversaw the formation of a new Bolshevik newspaper, Proletari (The Worker).
Lenin presented many of his ideas in the pamphlet Two Tactics of Social Democracy in the Democratic Revolution, published in August 1905. Here, he predicted that the liberal bourgeoisie would be sated by a constitutional monarchy and thus betray the revolution; instead he argued that the proletariat would have to build an alliance with the peasantry to overthrow the Tsarist regime and establish a republic which he called the "provisional revolutionary democratic dictatorship of the proletariat and the peasantry". He began to use a number of slogans – "armed insurrection", "mass terror", and "the expropriation of gentry land" – which were influenced by both the Russian agrarian-socialists and the Jacobins of the French Revolution. This shocked the Mensheviks, who believed that Lenin had departed from orthodox Marxism. From Geneva, Lenin continued to monitor the revolutionary situation in Russia, and met with the exiled Father Georgy Gapon, who had led the protest that was crushed in Bloody Sunday.
Lenin had not wanted to return to the Russian Empire, fearing arrest. He changed his opinion when Tsar Nicholas II accepted a series of liberal reforms in his October Manifesto, with Lenin believing that these would protect him from the Okhrana. Thus, Lenin and his wife returned to Russia in cognito via Sweden and Finland, moving between different safe houses in St. Petersburg, from which he monitored events and wrote up many of his ideas on the progress of the revolution. He was invited to join the editorial board of Novaya Zhizn (New Life), a radical legal newspaper run by Maxim Gorky's wife M.F. Andreyeva, and used this as a vehicle to discuss issues facing the RSDLP. He encouraged the party to seek out a much wider membership, and also advocated the continual escalation of violent confrontation, believing both to be necessary for the revolution to succeed. However, after the armed Moscow Uprising failed, Lenin began to urge the party to stand in elections for the Duma, believing that this would raise the party's public profile. At a Bolshevik Congress in Tampere, Finland, Lenin first met young Bolshevik Joseph Stalin. He also changed his mind on the issue of the Mensheviks, and began calling for reconciliation between the party's two factions. Members of both groups met at the 4th Party Congress in Stockholm, Sweden in April 1906 where the Mensheviks condemned Lenin for supporting bank robberies and encouraging violence. The Congress resulted in the election of a new Central Committee comprising 7 Mensheviks and 3 Bolsheviks.
A Bolshevik Centre was set up in Kuokkala, Grand Duchy of Finland, which was then a semi-autonomous part of the Empire, before the 5th RSDLP Congress was held in London in May 1907, where the Bolsheviks regained dominance within the party. However, as the Tsarist government disbanded the Second Duma and the Okhrana cracked down on revolutionaries, Lenin decided to flee Finland for Sweden, undertaking much of the journey by foot. From there, he made it to Switzerland. Alexander Bogdanov and other prominent Bolsheviks decided to relocate the Bolshevik Centre to Paris, France; although Lenin disagreed, he moved to the city in December 1908. Lenin disliked Paris, lambasting it as "a foul hole", and sued a motorist who knocked him off his bike while there.
Here, Lenin revived his polemics against the Mensheviks, who objected to his advocacy of violent expropriations and thefts such as the 1907 Tiflis bank robbery, which the Bolsheviks were using to fund their activities. Lenin also became heavily critical of Bogdanov and his supporters; Bogdanov believed that a socialist-oriented culture had to be developed among Russia's proletariat for them to become a successful revolutionary vehicle, whereas Lenin favoured a vanguard of socialist intelligentsia who could lead the working-classes in revolution. Furthermore, Bogdanov – influenced by Ernest Mach – believed that all concepts of the world were relative, whereas Lenin stuck to the orthodox Marxist view that there was an objective reality to the world, independent of human observation. Although Bogdanov and Lenin went on a holiday together to Gorky's villa in Capri, Italy, in April 1908, on returning to Paris, Lenin encouraged a split within the Bolshevik faction between his and Bogdanov's followers, accusing the latter of deviating from Marxism.
He lived briefly in London in May 1908, where he used the British Museum library to write Materialism and Empirio-criticism, an attack on Bogdanov's relativist perspective, which he lambasted as a "bourgeois-reactionary falsehood". Increasing numbers of Bolsheviks, including close Lenin supporters Alexei Rykov and Lev Kamenev, were becoming angry with Lenin's factionalism. The Okhrana recognised Lenin's factionalist attitude and deemed it damaging to the RSDLP, thereby sending a spy, Roman Malinovsky, to become a vocal supporter and ally of Lenin within the party. It is possible that Lenin was aware of Malinowsky's allegiance, and used him to feed false information to the Okhrana, and many Bolsheviks had expressed their suspicions that he was a spy to Lenin. However, he informed Gorky many years later that "I never saw through that scoundrel Malinowsky."
In August 1910 Lenin attended the 8th Congress of the Second International in Copenhagen, where he represented the RSDLP on the International Bureau, before going to Stockholm, where he holidayed with his mother; the last time that he would see her alive. Lenin moved with his wife and sisters to Bombon in Seine-et-Marne, although 5 weeks later moved back to Paris, settling in the Rue Marie-Rose. In France, Lenin became friends with the French Bolshevik Inessa Armand; they remained close from 1910 through to 1912, and some biographers believe that they had an extra-marital affair, although this remains unproven. He also set up a RSDLP school at Longjumeau where he lectured Russian recruits on a variety of topics in May 1911. Meanwhile, at a Paris meeting in June 1911 the RSDLP Central Committee decided to draw the focus of operations from Paris and back to Russia; they ordered the closure of the Bolshevik Centre and its newspaper, Proletari. Seeking to rebuild his influence in the party, Lenin arranged for a party conference to be held in Prague in January 1912, aided by his supporter Sergo Ordzhonikidze. 16 of the 18 attendants were Bolsheviks, but they heavily criticised Lenin for his factionalism, and lost much personal authority.
Desiring to be closer to Russia as the emigrant community were becoming decreasingly influential, Lenin moved to Krakow in the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, a culturally Polish part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He liked the city, and used the library at Jagellonian University to conduct his ongoing research. From here, he was able to stay in close contact with the RSDLP operating in the Russian Empire, with members often visiting him, and he convinced the Bolshevik members of the Duma to split from their alliance with Menshevik members. In January 1913, Stalin – whom Lenin referred to as the "wonderful Georgian" – came to visit, with the pair discussing the future of non-Russian ethnic groups in the Empire. Due to the ailing health of both Lenin and his wife, they moved to the rural area of Biały Dunajec. Nadya required surgery on her goiter, with Lenin taking her to Bern, Switzerland, to have it undertaken by the expensive specialist Theodor Kocher.
## First World War: 1914–17
Lenin was back in Galicia when the First World War broke out, an international situation that he had paid little attention to. The war pitted the Russian Empire against the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and due to his Russian citizenship, Lenin was deemed a spy by the Austro-Hungarian authorities. In August, they arrested him and imprisoned him in Nowy Targ, although they released him once his anti-tsarist credentials were explained. To escape the violence of the eastern front, Lenin and his wife moved to neutral Switzerland, settling in Bern, although in February 1916 they moved to Zurich, which was cheaper. Lenin was angry that the German Social-Democratic Party had supported the German war effort, thereby contravening the Stuttgart resolution of the Second International that all socialist parties would oppose the international conflict. As a result, Lenin saw the Second International as defunct. In particular, he denounced German Marxist Karl Kautsky for supporting the German Social-Democratic Party.
Lenin was heavily involved in the socialist response to the conflict, attending the leftist anti-war Zimmerwald Conference in September 1915, and a second Kiental conference in April 1916, although neither were well attended. Lenin urged socialists across the continent to convert the "imperialist war" into a continent-wide "civil war" with the proletariat against the bourgeoisie and aristocracy. To achieve this, he encouraged the fraternisation of troops on opposing sides of the conflict, revolutionary strikes, the development of new revolutionary socialist organisations, and the criticism of nationalism. He also lambasted the Russian army and praised German advances against Russia, believing that it would weaken the Tsarist authorities. He justified this by asserting that Tsarism was "1000 times worse than [German] Kaiserism", and that the Tsarist authority was so reactionary that its removal was necessary for the proletariat revolution to succeed.
Influenced by the events of the First World War, Lenin wrote the book Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism. He argued that imperialism was a product of monopoly capitalism, as capitalists sought to increase their profits by extending into new territories where wages were lower and raw materials cheaper. He also criticised Kautsky's view that the imperialist powers would unite to form a peaceful, "ultra-imperialism", denouncing this view as "ultra-nonsense". Instead, Lenin believed that competition and conflict would increase and that war between the imperialist powers would continue until they were overthrown by proletarian revolution and socialism was established. Initial attempts to publish the work were stalled, and it would not see publication until September 1917.
Using Bern public library, Lenin devoted much time to reading the works of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Ludwig Feuerbach, and Aristotle, all of whom had been key influences on Marx's thought. In doing so he came to reject his earlier interpretations of Marxism; whereas he had once believed that policies could be developed on the basis of predetermined scientific principles, he now believed that the only test of whether a practice was right or not was through practice. Although still perceiving himself as an orthodox Marxist, he began to divert from some of Marx's predictions regarding societal development; whereas Marx had believed that a "bourgeoisie-democratic revolution" of the middle-classes had to take place before a "socialist revolution" of the proletariat, Lenin believed that in Russia, the proletariat could overthrow the Tsarist regime without the intermediate revolution. In Switzerland, Lenin revived the Bolshevik magazine Social-Democrat with Grigory Zinoviev in November 1914. Contact with the Bolsheviks in Russia was sparse due to the war, while the Okhrana had intensified their suppression of Bolsheviks in the Empire. In July 1916, Lenin's mother died, although he was unable to attend her funeral in St. Petersburg due to the war. Her death deeply affected him, and he became depressed, fearing that he would not live long enough to witness the socialist revolution to which he had devoted his life.
## The February Revolution and the July Days: 1917
In February 1917, the February Revolution broke out in Petrograd as industrial workers went on strike over food shortages and deteriorating factory conditions. The unrest spread to other parts of Russia, and fearing that he would be violently overthrown, Tsar Nicholas II abdicated. The State Duma took over control of the country, establishing a Provisional Government. When Lenin learned of this from his base in Switzerland, he celebrated with other dissidents, and immediately sent advice to the Bolsheviks in Russia. He decided to return to Russia to take charge of the Bolsheviks there, but found that most passages into the country were blocked due to the ongoing First World War, which the Provisional Government had decided to continue with. He organised a plan with other dissidents to negotiate a passage for them through Germany, with whom Russia was then at war. Recognising that these dissidents could cause problems for their Russian enemies, the German government agreed to permit 32 Russian citizens to travel in a train carriage through their territory, among them Lenin and his wife. The group then traveled by sealed train from Zurich to Singen, and then via Frankfurt and Berlin to Sassnitz, followed by a ferry to Trelleborg in Sweden. They took a train to Malmö, where they were welcomed by the mayor, and then on to Haparanda on the Swedish-Finnish border. From there, they went by sleigh to Tornio in Russian-controlled Finland, and then by train to Helsinki, before taking the final train to Petrograd.
On arriving at Petrograd's Finland Station, Lenin was greeted by a crowd of Bolsheviks. There, he gave a speech condemning the Provisional Government, whom he believed to be bourgeoise and too similar to the former Tsarist administration, and again called for a Europe-wide proletariat revolution. Staying with his sister in the city, Anna Ilinichna, the following day he visited the graves of his deceased mother and sister Olga at Volkovo Cemetery. Over the following days he spoke at Bolshevik meetings; at a meeting in the Tauride Palace he lambasted those who wanted reconciliation with the Mensheviks and revealed his April Theses, an outline of his plans for the Bolsheviks which he had written on the journey from Switzerland. He also attended meetings of Marxists from different political factions, there arguing with the Mensheviks over various policies, particularly their support for the Provisional Government. In turn, they accused him of trying to plunge Russia into civil war. The Mensheviks and Social Revolutionaries who dominated the Petrograd Soviet believed that Russia was insufficiently developed to transition to socialism, and thus supported the Provisional Government; Lenin disagreed, deeming them traitors to the socialist cause. Considering the government to be as equally imperialist as the Tsarist regime, he advocated immediate peace with Germany, rule by soviets, the nationalisation of industry and banks, and the state expropriation of land, all with the intention of pushing toward a socialist society. Over the coming months he campaigned for these policies, attending the meetings of the Bolshevik Central Committee, prolifically writing for Pravda, and giving public speeches in Petrograd aimed at converting workers, soldiers, sailors, and peasants to his cause.
Sensing that there was growing frustration among Bolshevik supporters, who were agitating for armed insurrection, Lenin suggested an armed political demonstration in Petrograd to test the government's response. However, Lenin's health had deteriorated as he experienced headaches and insomnia and possibly began to experience the miniature heart attacks which would later afflict him. Nadezhda helped care for him, but was in poor health herself. He left Petrograd for the Finnish village of Neivola, where he visited his friend Vladimir Bonch-Bruevich to recuperate. The Bolsheviks' armed demonstration – the July Days – took place while Lenin was away, but upon learning that it had turned violent and clashed with government forces he returned to Petrograd. He met with the Bolshevik Central Committee at Kseshinskaya Mansion, and from the mansion's balcony called for calm to the assembled supporting crowds. Responding to the violence, the government accused Lenin of high treason and ordered his arrest alongside that of other prominent Bolsheviks, ultimately making 400 arrests and raiding both the mansion and the offices of Pravda. They also made public their knowledge that Lenin had been permitted passage through Germany and thus press claimed him to be a German agent provocateur. While many others were arrested, Lenin escaped and hid in a series of Petrograd safe houses.
Fearing that he would be killed, Lenin and fellow senior Bolshevik Grigory Zinoviev then escaped Petrograd in disguise, relocating to a house in Razliv owned by Bolshevik metalworker Nikolai Yemelyanov. Concerned about being discovered, they soon left the house for a rural thatchet hut, where they were plagued by mosquitos and torrential rain. It was here that Lenin began work on the book that became The State and Revolution, an exposition on how he believed the socialist state would develop following the proletarian revolution, and how from that point on the state would gradually wither away leaving a pure communist society. The book also represented an attack on other Marxist and far left groups which did not share his embrace of violence as the primary means of achieving proletarian revolution, an attitude that he blamed on the influence of Kautsky. At this point he also dramatic altered his approach to the soviets, declaring them to be counter-revolutionary for their support of the Provisional Government, which he now lambasted as a "military dictatorship". He began arguing for a Bolshevik-led armed insurrection to topple the government, although at a clandestine meeting of the party's central committee this idea was rejected. Lenin then headed by train and by foot to Finland, arriving at Helsinki on 10 August, where he hid away in safe houses belonging to Bolshevik sympathisers. Due to this geographical isolation, Lenin was unable to attend the party's sixth congress, held in secret during July and August.
## The October Revolution: 1917
In late August 1917, while Lenin was in hiding in Finland, General Lavr Kornilov, the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army, sent troops from the Eastern front to Petrograd in what appeared to be a military coup attempt against the Provisional Government. Premier Alexander Kerensky panicked and turned to the Petrograd Soviet – including its Bolshevik members – for help, allowing the revolutionaries to organise workers as Red Guards to defend Petrograd. The coup petered out before it reached Petrograd thanks to the industrial action of the Petrograd workers and the soldiers' increasing unwillingness to obey their officers, however the events' primary beneficiaries had been the Bolsheviks, whose return to the open political arena it permitted. Fearing a counter-revolution from right-wing forces hostile to socialism, the Mensheviks and Social-Revolutionaries who then dominated the Petrograd Soviet had been instrumental in pressurising the government to normalise relations with the Bolsheviks. However, both the Mensheviks and Social-Revolutionaries had lost much popular support because of their affiliation with the Provisional Government and its unpopular continuation of the war, with the Bolsheviks capitalising on this, and soon the pro-Bolshevik Marxist Trotsky was elected leader of the Petrograd Soviet. In September, the Bolsheviks gained a majority in the workers' sections of both the Moscow and Petrograd Soviets.
Recognising that the situation was safer for him, Lenin returned to Petrograd via Vyborg. There, Lenin attended a meeting of the Bolshevik Central Committee on 10 October, where he again argued his case that the party should lead an armed insurrection of their supporters to topple the Provisional Government. This time, he was successful in his argument, and the motion was ratified with ten votes against two. Those critical of the plan, Zinoviev and Kamenev, expressed the view that Russian workers would not support a violent coup against the existing regime and that there was no clear evidence for Lenin's assertion that all of Europe was on the verge of proletarian revolution. The party began plans to organise the offensive, holding a final meeting at the Smolny Institute on 24 October. This was the base of the Military Revolutionary Committee (MRC), an armed militia that had been established by the Petrograd Soviet with the Provisional Government's support during the Kornilov Affair; the MRC consisted largely of those loyal to the Bolsheviks.
In October, the MRC were given the order to seize control of Petrograd's key transport, communication, printing and utilities hubs, doing so without bloodshed. While the insurrection was taking place, Lenin gave a speech to the Petrograd Soviet announcing that the Provisional Government had been overthrown. However, at this point the government had yet to surrender, instead being under siege from armed Bolsheviks within the Winter Palace; when a Bolshevik ship, the Aurora'', sailed along the palace and opened fire on it the government eventually surrendered, with the ministers being imprisoned. The Bolsheviks declared the formation of a new government, the Council of People's Commissars or "Sovnarkom"; although Lenin had initially turned down the leading position of Chairman, suggesting Trotsky for the job, the other Bolsheviks refused to accept this and ultimately Lenin relented. Lenin and other Bolsheviks then attended the Second Congress of Soviets, held over 26 and 27 October and dominated by Bolshevik-controlled urban soviets rather than their rural counterparts. There they announced the creation of the new government, but were condemned by Menshevik attendees, who lambasted the Bolshevik coup as illegitimate and warned that it could lead to civil war. In these early days of the new regime, Lenin avoided talking in explicitly Marxist and socialist phraseology, fearing that in doing so he might alienate much of Russia's population, and instead he focused on talking about the establishment of a new form of government in which the country was controlled by the workers. At this point, Lenin and many other Bolsheviks were expecting proletarian revolution to sweep across Europe, either in the coming days or, at most, in the coming months. |
11,185 | Feminism | 1,173,737,819 | Equity agendas | [
"1830s neologisms",
"Feminism",
"Feminist terminology",
"Social theories"
]
| Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that societies prioritize the male point of view and that women are treated unjustly in these societies. Efforts to change this include fighting against gender stereotypes and improving educational, professional, and interpersonal opportunities and outcomes for women.
Originating in late 18th-century Europe, feminist movements have campaigned and continue to campaign for women's rights, including the right to vote, run for public office, work, earn equal pay, own property, receive education, enter contracts, have equal rights within marriage, and maternity leave. Feminists have also worked to ensure access to contraception, legal abortions, and social integration and to protect women and girls from sexual assault, sexual harassment, and domestic violence. Changes in female dress standards and acceptable physical activities for females have also been part of feminist movements.
Many scholars consider feminist campaigns to be a main force behind major historical societal changes for women's rights, particularly in the West, where they are near-universally credited with achieving women's suffrage, gender-neutral language, reproductive rights for women (including access to contraceptives and abortion), and the right to enter into contracts and own property. Although feminist advocacy is, and has been, mainly focused on women's rights, some feminists argue for the inclusion of men's liberation within its aims, because they believe that men are also harmed by traditional gender roles. Feminist theory, which emerged from feminist movements, aims to understand the nature of gender inequality by examining women's social roles and lived experiences; feminist theorists have developed theories in a variety of disciplines in order to respond to issues concerning gender.
Numerous feminist movements and ideologies have developed over the years, representing different viewpoints and political aims. Traditionally, since the 19th century, first-wave liberal feminism, which sought political and legal equality through reforms within a liberal democratic framework, was contrasted with labour-based proletarian women's movements that over time developed into socialist and Marxist feminism based on class struggle theory. Since the 1960s, both of these traditions are also contrasted with the radical feminism that arose from the radical wing of second-wave feminism and that calls for a radical reordering of society to eliminate male supremacy; together liberal, socialist, and radical feminism are sometimes called the "Big Three" schools of feminist thought.
Since the late 20th century, many newer forms of feminism have emerged. Some forms, such as white feminism, have been criticized as taking into account only white, middle class, college-educated, heterosexual, or cisgender perspectives. These criticisms have led to the creation of ethnically specific or multicultural forms of feminism, such as black feminism and intersectional feminism. Some feminists have argued that feminism often promotes misandry and the elevation of women's interests above men's, and criticize radical feminist positions as harmful to both men and women.
## History
### Terminology
Mary Wollstonecraft is seen by many as a founder of feminism due to her 1792 book titled A Vindication of the Rights of Woman in which she argues that class and private property are the basis of discrimination against women, and that women as much as men needed equal rights. Charles Fourier, a utopian socialist and French philosopher, is credited with having coined the word "féminisme" in 1837. The words "féminisme" ("feminism") and "féministe" ("feminist") first appeared in France and the Netherlands in 1872, Great Britain in the 1890s, and the United States in 1910. The Oxford English Dictionary dates the first appearance in English in this meaning back to 1895. Depending on the historical moment, culture and country, feminists around the world have had different causes and goals. Most western feminist historians contend that all movements working to obtain women's rights should be considered feminist movements, even when they did not (or do not) apply the term to themselves. Other historians assert that the term should be limited to the modern feminist movement and its descendants. Those historians use the label "protofeminist" to describe earlier movements.
### Waves
The history of the modern western feminist movement is divided into multiple "waves".
The first comprised women's suffrage movements of the 19th and early-20th centuries, promoting women's right to vote. The second wave, the women's liberation movement, began in the 1960s and campaigned for legal and social equality for women. In or around 1992, a third wave was identified, characterized by a focus on individuality and diversity. Additionally, some have argued for the existence of a fourth wave, starting around 2012, which has used social media to combat sexual harassment, violence against women and rape culture; it is best known for the Me Too movement.
### 19th and early 20th centuries
First-wave feminism was a period of activity during the 19th and early-20th centuries. In the UK and US, it focused on the promotion of equal contract, marriage, parenting, and property rights for women. New legislation included the Custody of Infants Act 1839 in the UK, which introduced the tender years doctrine for child custody and gave women the right of custody of their children for the first time. Other legislation, such as the Married Women's Property Act 1870 in the UK and extended in the 1882 Act, became models for similar legislation in other British territories. Victoria passed legislation in 1884 and New South Wales in 1889; the remaining Australian colonies passed similar legislation between 1890 and 1897. With the turn of the 19th century, activism focused primarily on gaining political power, particularly the right of women's suffrage, though some feminists were active in campaigning for women's sexual, reproductive, and economic rights too.
Women's suffrage (the right to vote and stand for parliamentary office) began in Britain's Australasian colonies at the end of the 19th century, with the self-governing colonies of New Zealand granting women the right to vote in 1893; South Australia followed suit with the Constitutional Amendment (Adult Suffrage) Act 1894 in 1894. This was followed by Australia granting female suffrage in 1902.
In Britain, the suffragettes and suffragists campaigned for the women's vote, and in 1918 the Representation of the People Act was passed granting the vote to women over the age of 30 who owned property. In 1928, this was extended to all women over 21. Emmeline Pankhurst was the most notable activist in England. Time named her one of the 100 Most Important People of the 20th Century, stating: "she shaped an idea of women for our time; she shook society into a new pattern from which there could be no going back." In the US, notable leaders of this movement included Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Susan B. Anthony, who each campaigned for the abolition of slavery before championing women's right to vote. These women were influenced by the Quaker theology of spiritual equality, which asserts that men and women are equal under God. In the US, first-wave feminism is considered to have ended with the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution (1919), granting women the right to vote in all states. The term first wave was coined retroactively when the term second-wave feminism came into use.
During the late Qing period and reform movements such as the Hundred Days' Reform, Chinese feminists called for women's liberation from traditional roles and Neo-Confucian gender segregation. Later, the Chinese Communist Party created projects aimed at integrating women into the workforce, and claimed that the revolution had successfully achieved women's liberation.
According to Nawar al-Hassan Golley, Arab feminism was closely connected with Arab nationalism. In 1899, Qasim Amin, considered the "father" of Arab feminism, wrote The Liberation of Women, which argued for legal and social reforms for women. He drew links between women's position in Egyptian society and nationalism, leading to the development of Cairo University and the National Movement. In 1923 Hoda Shaarawi founded the Egyptian Feminist Union, became its president and a symbol of the Arab women's rights movement.
The Iranian Constitutional Revolution in 1905 triggered the Iranian women's movement, which aimed to achieve women's equality in education, marriage, careers, and legal rights. However, during the Iranian revolution of 1979, many of the rights that women had gained from the women's movement were systematically abolished, such as the Family Protection Law.
### Mid-20th century
By the mid-20th century, women still lacked significant rights.
In France, women obtained the right to vote only with the Provisional Government of the French Republic of 21 April 1944. The Consultative Assembly of Algiers of 1944 proposed on 24 March 1944 to grant eligibility to women but following an amendment by Fernard Grenier, they were given full citizenship, including the right to vote. Grenier's proposition was adopted 51 to 16. In May 1947, following the November 1946 elections, the sociologist Robert Verdier minimized the "gender gap", stating in Le Populaire that women had not voted in a consistent way, dividing themselves, as men, according to social classes. During the baby boom period, feminism waned in importance. Wars (both World War I and World War II) had seen the provisional emancipation of some women, but post-war periods signalled the return to conservative roles.
In Switzerland, women gained the right to vote in federal elections in 1971; but in the canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden women obtained the right to vote on local issues only in 1991, when the canton was forced to do so by the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland. In Liechtenstein, women were given the right to vote by the women's suffrage referendum of 1984. Three prior referendums held in 1968, 1971 and 1973 had failed to secure women's right to vote.
Feminists continued to campaign for the reform of family laws which gave husbands control over their wives. Although by the 20th century coverture had been abolished in the UK and US, in many continental European countries married women still had very few rights. For instance, in France, married women did not receive the right to work without their husband's permission until 1965. Feminists have also worked to abolish the "marital exemption" in rape laws which precluded the prosecution of husbands for the rape of their wives. Earlier efforts by first-wave feminists such as Voltairine de Cleyre, Victoria Woodhull and Elizabeth Clarke Wolstenholme Elmy to criminalize marital rape in the late 19th century had failed; this was only achieved a century later in most Western countries, but is still not achieved in many other parts of the world.
French philosopher Simone de Beauvoir provided a Marxist solution and an existentialist view on many of the questions of feminism with the publication of Le Deuxième Sexe (The Second Sex) in 1949. The book expressed feminists' sense of injustice. Second-wave feminism is a feminist movement beginning in the early 1960s and continuing to the present; as such, it coexists with third-wave feminism. Second-wave feminism is largely concerned with issues of equality beyond suffrage, such as ending gender discrimination.
Second-wave feminists see women's cultural and political inequalities as inextricably linked and encourage women to understand aspects of their personal lives as deeply politicized and as reflecting sexist power structures. The feminist activist and author Carol Hanisch coined the slogan "The Personal is Political", which became synonymous with the second wave.
Second- and third-wave feminism in China has been characterized by a reexamination of women's roles during the communist revolution and other reform movements, and new discussions about whether women's equality has actually been fully achieved.
In 1956, President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt initiated "state feminism", which outlawed discrimination based on gender and granted women's suffrage, but also blocked political activism by feminist leaders. During Sadat's presidency, his wife, Jehan Sadat, publicly advocated further women's rights, though Egyptian policy and society began to move away from women's equality with the new Islamist movement and growing conservatism. However, some activists proposed a new feminist movement, Islamic feminism, which argues for women's equality within an Islamic framework.
In Latin America, revolutions brought changes in women's status in countries such as Nicaragua, where feminist ideology during the Sandinista Revolution aided women's quality of life but fell short of achieving a social and ideological change.
In 1963, Betty Friedan's book The Feminine Mystique helped voice the discontent that American women felt. The book is widely credited with sparking the beginning of second-wave feminism in the United States. Within ten years, women made up over half the First World workforce. In 1970, Australian writer Germaine Greer published The Female Eunuch, which became a worldwide bestseller, reportedly driving up divorce rates. Greer posits that men hate women, that women do not know this and direct the hatred upon themselves, as well as arguing that women are devitalised and repressed in their role as housewives and mothers.
### Late 20th and early 21st centuries
#### Third-wave feminism
Third-wave feminism is traced to the emergence of the riot grrrl feminist punk subculture in Olympia, Washington, in the early 1990s, and to Anita Hill's televised testimony in 1991—to an all-male, all-white Senate Judiciary Committee—that Clarence Thomas, nominated for the Supreme Court of the United States, had sexually harassed her. The term third wave is credited to Rebecca Walker, who responded to Thomas's appointment to the Supreme Court with an article in Ms. magazine, "Becoming the Third Wave" (1992). She wrote:
> So I write this as a plea to all women, especially women of my generation: Let Thomas' confirmation serve to remind you, as it did me, that the fight is far from over. Let this dismissal of a woman's experience move you to anger. Turn that outrage into political power. Do not vote for them unless they work for us. Do not have sex with them, do not break bread with them, do not nurture them if they don't prioritize our freedom to control our bodies and our lives. I am not a post-feminism feminist. I am the Third Wave.
Third-wave feminism also sought to challenge or avoid what it deemed the second wave's essentialist definitions of femininity, which, third-wave feminists argued, overemphasized the experiences of upper middle-class white women. Third-wave feminists often focused on "micro-politics" and challenged the second wave's paradigm as to what was, or was not, good for women, and tended to use a post-structuralist interpretation of gender and sexuality. Feminist leaders rooted in the second wave, such as Gloria Anzaldúa, bell hooks, Chela Sandoval, Cherríe Moraga, Audre Lorde, Maxine Hong Kingston, and many other non-white feminists, sought to negotiate a space within feminist thought for consideration of race-related subjectivities. Third-wave feminism also contained internal debates between difference feminists, who believe that there are important psychological differences between the sexes, and those who believe that there are no inherent psychological differences between the sexes and contend that gender roles are due to social conditioning.
#### Standpoint theory
Standpoint theory is a feminist theoretical point of view stating that a person's social position influences their knowledge. This perspective argues that research and theory treat women and the feminist movement as insignificant and refuses to see traditional science as unbiased. Since the 1980s, standpoint feminists have argued that the feminist movement should address global issues (such as rape, incest, and prostitution) and culturally specific issues (such as female genital mutilation in some parts of Africa and Arab societies, as well as glass ceiling practices that impede women's advancement in developed economies) in order to understand how gender inequality interacts with racism, homophobia, classism and colonization in a "matrix of domination".
#### Fourth-wave feminism
Fourth-wave feminism is a proposed extension of third-wave feminism which corresponds to a resurgence in interest in feminism beginning around 2012 and associated with the use of social media. According to feminist scholar Prudence Chamberlain, the focus of the fourth wave is justice for women and opposition to sexual harassment and violence against women. Its essence, she writes, is "incredulity that certain attitudes can still exist".
Fourth-wave feminism is "defined by technology", according to Kira Cochrane, and is characterized particularly by the use of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Tumblr, and blogs such as Feministing to challenge misogyny and further gender equality.
Issues that fourth-wave feminists focus on include street and workplace harassment, campus sexual assault and rape culture. Scandals involving the harassment, abuse, and murder of women and girls have galvanized the movement. These have included the 2012 Delhi gang rape, 2012 Jimmy Savile allegations, the Bill Cosby allegations, 2014 Isla Vista killings, 2016 trial of Jian Ghomeshi, 2017 Harvey Weinstein allegations and subsequent Weinstein effect, and the 2017 Westminster sexual scandals.
Examples of fourth-wave feminist campaigns include the Everyday Sexism Project, No More Page 3, Stop Bild Sexism, Mattress Performance, 10 Hours of Walking in NYC as a Woman, \#YesAllWomen, Free the Nipple, One Billion Rising, the 2017 Women's March, the 2018 Women's March, and the \#MeToo movement. In December 2017, Time magazine chose several prominent female activists involved in the \#MeToo movement, dubbed "the silence breakers", as Person of the Year.
#### Postfeminism
The term postfeminism is used to describe a range of viewpoints reacting to feminism since the 1980s. While not being "anti-feminist", postfeminists believe that women have achieved second wave goals while being critical of third- and fourth-wave feminist goals. The term was first used to describe a backlash against second-wave feminism, but it is now a label for a wide range of theories that take critical approaches to previous feminist discourses and includes challenges to the second wave's ideas. Other postfeminists say that feminism is no longer relevant to today's society. Amelia Jones has written that the postfeminist texts which emerged in the 1980s and 1990s portrayed second-wave feminism as a monolithic entity. Dorothy Chunn describes a "blaming narrative" under the postfeminist moniker, where feminists are undermined for continuing to make demands for gender equality in a "post-feminist" society, where "gender equality has (already) been achieved". According to Chunn, "many feminists have voiced disquiet about the ways in which rights and equality discourses are now used against them".
## Theory
Feminist theory is the extension of feminism into theoretical or philosophical fields. It encompasses work in a variety of disciplines, including anthropology, sociology, economics, women's studies, literary criticism, art history, psychoanalysis, and philosophy. Feminist theory aims to understand gender inequality and focuses on gender politics, power relations, and sexuality. While providing a critique of these social and political relations, much of feminist theory also focuses on the promotion of women's rights and interests. Themes explored in feminist theory include discrimination, stereotyping, objectification (especially sexual objectification), oppression, and patriarchy. In the field of literary criticism, Elaine Showalter describes the development of feminist theory as having three phases. The first she calls "feminist critique", in which the feminist reader examines the ideologies behind literary phenomena. The second Showalter calls "gynocriticism", in which the "woman is producer of textual meaning". The last phase she calls "gender theory", in which the "ideological inscription and the literary effects of the sex/gender system are explored".
This was paralleled in the 1970s by French feminists, who developed the concept of écriture féminine (which translates as "female or feminine writing"). Hélène Cixous argues that writing and philosophy are phallocentric and along with other French feminists such as Luce Irigaray emphasize "writing from the body" as a subversive exercise. The work of Julia Kristeva, a feminist psychoanalyst and philosopher, and Bracha Ettinger, artist and psychoanalyst, has influenced feminist theory in general and feminist literary criticism in particular. However, as the scholar Elizabeth Wright points out, "none of these French feminists align themselves with the feminist movement as it appeared in the Anglophone world". More recent feminist theory, such as that of Lisa Lucile Owens, has concentrated on characterizing feminism as a universal emancipatory movement.
## Movements and ideologies
Many overlapping feminist movements and ideologies have developed over the years. Feminism is often divided into three main traditions called liberal, radical and socialist/Marxist feminism, sometimes known as the "Big Three" schools of feminist thought. Since the late 20th century, newer forms of feminisms have also emerged. Some branches of feminism track the political leanings of the larger society to a greater or lesser degree, or focus on specific topics, such as the environment.
### Liberal feminism
Liberal feminism, also known under other names such as reformist, mainstream, or historically as bourgeois feminism, arose from 19th-century first-wave feminism, and was historically linked to 19th-century liberalism and progressivism, while 19th-century conservatives tended to oppose feminism as such. Liberal feminism seeks equality of men and women through political and legal reform within a liberal democratic framework, without radically altering the structure of society; liberal feminism "works within the structure of mainstream society to integrate women into that structure". During the 19th and early 20th centuries liberal feminism focused especially on women's suffrage and access to education. Former Norwegian supreme court justice and former president of the liberal Norwegian Association for Women's Rights, Karin Maria Bruzelius, has described liberal feminism as "a realistic, sober, practical feminism".
Susan Wendell argues that "liberal feminism is an historical tradition that grew out of liberalism, as can be seen very clearly in the work of such feminists as Mary Wollstonecraft and John Stuart Mill, but feminists who took principles from that tradition have developed analyses and goals that go far beyond those of 18th and 19th century liberal feminists, and many feminists who have goals and strategies identified as liberal feminist ... reject major components of liberalism" in a modern or party-political sense; she highlights "equality of opportunity" as a defining feature of liberal feminism.
Liberal feminism is a very broad term that encompasses many, often diverging modern branches and a variety of feminist and general political perspectives; some historically liberal branches are equality feminism, social feminism, equity feminism, difference feminism, individualist/libertarian feminism and some forms of state feminism, particularly the state feminism of the Nordic countries. The broad field of liberal feminism is sometimes confused with the more recent and smaller branch known as libertarian feminism, which tends to diverge significantly from mainstream liberal feminism. For example, "libertarian feminism does not require social measures to reduce material inequality; in fact, it opposes such measures ... in contrast, liberal feminism may support such requirements and egalitarian versions of feminism insist on them."
Catherine Rottenberg notes that the raison d'être of classic liberal feminism was "to pose an immanent critique of liberalism, revealing the gendered exclusions within liberal democracy's proclamation of universal equality, particularly with respect to the law, institutional access, and the full incorporation of women into the public sphere." Rottenberg contrasts classic liberal feminism with modern neoliberal feminism which "seems perfectly in sync with the evolving neoliberal order." According to Zhang and Rios, "liberal feminism tends to be adopted by 'mainstream' (i.e., middle-class) women who do not disagree with the current social structure." They found that liberal feminism with its focus on equality is viewed as the dominant and "default" form of feminism.
Some modern forms of feminism that historically grew out of the broader liberal tradition have more recently also been described as conservative in relative terms. This is particularly the case for libertarian feminism which conceives of people as self-owners and therefore as entitled to freedom from coercive interference.
### Radical feminism
Radical feminism arose from the radical wing of second-wave feminism and calls for a radical reordering of society to eliminate male supremacy. It considers the male-controlled capitalist hierarchy as the defining feature of women's oppression and the total uprooting and reconstruction of society as necessary. Separatist feminism does not support heterosexual relationships. Lesbian feminism is thus closely related. Other feminists criticize separatist feminism as sexist.
### Materialist ideologies
Rosemary Hennessy and Chrys Ingraham say that materialist forms of feminism grew out of Western Marxist thought and have inspired a number of different (but overlapping) movements, all of which are involved in a critique of capitalism and are focused on ideology's relationship to women. Marxist feminism argues that capitalism is the root cause of women's oppression, and that discrimination against women in domestic life and employment is an effect of capitalist ideologies. Socialist feminism distinguishes itself from Marxist feminism by arguing that women's liberation can only be achieved by working to end both the economic and cultural sources of women's oppression. Anarcha-feminists believe that class struggle and anarchy against the state require struggling against patriarchy, which comes from involuntary hierarchy.
### Other modern feminisms
#### Ecofeminism
Ecofeminists see men's control of land as responsible for the oppression of women and destruction of the natural environment. Ecofeminism has been criticized for focusing too much on a mystical connection between women and nature.
#### Black and postcolonial ideologies
Sara Ahmed argues that Black and postcolonial feminisms pose a challenge "to some of the organizing premises of Western feminist thought". During much of its history, feminist movements and theoretical developments were led predominantly by middle-class white women from Western Europe and North America. However, women of other races have proposed alternative feminisms. This trend accelerated in the 1960s with the civil rights movement in the United States and the end of Western European colonialism in Africa, the Caribbean, parts of Latin America, and Southeast Asia. Since that time, women in developing nations and former colonies and who are of colour or various ethnicities or living in poverty have proposed additional feminisms. Womanism emerged after early feminist movements were largely white and middle-class. Postcolonial feminists argue that colonial oppression and Western feminism marginalized postcolonial women but did not turn them passive or voiceless. Third-world feminism and indigenous feminism are closely related to postcolonial feminism. These ideas also correspond with ideas in African feminism, motherism, Stiwanism, negofeminism, femalism, transnational feminism, and Africana womanism.
#### Social constructionist ideologies
In the late 20th century various feminists began to argue that gender roles are socially constructed, and that it is impossible to generalize women's experiences across cultures and histories. Post-structural feminism draws on the philosophies of post-structuralism and deconstruction in order to argue that the concept of gender is created socially and culturally through discourse. Postmodern feminists also emphasize the social construction of gender and the discursive nature of reality; however, as Pamela Abbott et al. write, a postmodern approach to feminism highlights "the existence of multiple truths (rather than simply men and women's standpoints)".
#### Transgender people
Third-wave feminists tend to view the struggle for trans rights as an integral part of intersectional feminism. Fourth-wave feminists also tend to be trans-inclusive. The American National Organization for Women (NOW) president Terry O'Neill said the struggle against transphobia is a feminist issue and NOW has affirmed that "trans women are women, trans girls are girls." Several studies have found that people who identify as feminists tend to be more accepting of trans people than those who do not.
An ideology variously known as trans-exclusionary radical feminism (or its acronym, TERF) or gender-critical feminism is critical of concepts of gender identity and transgender rights, holding that biological sex characteristics are an immutable determination of gender or supersede the importance of gender identity, that trans women are not women, and that trans men are not men. These views have been described as transphobic by many other feminists.
#### Cultural movements
Riot grrrls took an anti-corporate stance of self-sufficiency and self-reliance. Riot grrrl's emphasis on universal female identity and separatism often appears more closely allied with second-wave feminism than with the third wave. The movement encouraged and made "adolescent girls' standpoints central", allowing them to express themselves fully. Lipstick feminism is a cultural feminist movement that attempts to respond to the backlash of second-wave radical feminism of the 1960s and 1970s by reclaiming symbols of "feminine" identity such as make-up, suggestive clothing and having a sexual allure as valid and empowering personal choices.
## Demographics
According to 2014 Ipsos poll covering 15 developed countries, 53 percent of respondents identified as feminists, and 87 percent agreed that "women should be treated equally to men in all areas based on their competency, not their gender". However, only 55 percent of women agreed that they have "full equality with men and the freedom to reach their full dreams and aspirations". Taken together, these studies reflect the importance differentiating between claiming a "feminist identity" and holding "feminist attitudes or beliefs".
According to a 2015 poll, 18 percent of Americans use the label of "feminist" to describe themselves, while 85 percent are feminists in practice as they reported they believe in "equality for women". The poll found that 52 percent did not identify as feminist, 26 percent were unsure, and 4 percent provided no response.
Sociological research shows that, in the US, increased educational attainment is associated with greater support for feminist issues. In addition, politically liberal people are more likely to support feminist ideals compared to those who are conservative.
According to a 2016 Survation poll for the Fawcett Society, 7 percent of Britons use the label of "feminist" to describe themselves, while 83 percent say they support equality of opportunity for women – this included higher support from men (86%) than women (81%).
## Sexuality
Feminist views on sexuality vary, and have differed by historical period and by cultural context. Feminist attitudes to female sexuality have taken a few different directions. Matters such as the sex industry, sexual representation in the media, and issues regarding consent to sex under conditions of male dominance have been particularly controversial among feminists. This debate has culminated in the late 1970s and the 1980s, in what came to be known as the feminist sex wars, which pitted anti-pornography feminism against sex-positive feminism, and parts of the feminist movement were deeply divided by these debates. Feminists have taken a variety of positions on different aspects of the sexual revolution from the 1960s and 70s. Over the course of the 1970s, a large number of influential women accepted lesbian and bisexual women as part of feminism.
### Sex industry
Opinions on the sex industry are diverse. Feminists who are critical of the sex industry generally see it as the exploitative result of patriarchal social structures which reinforce sexual and cultural attitudes complicit in rape and sexual harassment. Alternately, feminists who support at least part of the sex industry argue that it can be a medium of feminist expression and a in a woman's right to control and define her own sexuality. For the views of feminism on male prostitutes see the article on male prostitution.
Individualist feminists support the existence of a sex industry on the grounds that adult women have the right to consent to sexual acts as they choose and should have access to labor rights, to earn money how they choose. In this view, banning the sex industry effectively strips women of their right to work and earn money on their own terms, treating them as children who cannot make decisions for themselves. In this view, women who consider the sex industry degrading do not have to partake in it. Women who do choose to work in the sex industry however should not be banned from doing so, given that they are doing so willingly. Libertarian Feminist Zine, Reclaim, has argued that sex work has helped more women (including students, freelancers, and women in poverty) achieve financial independence than all government grants combined.
Feminist views of pornography range from condemnation of pornography as a form of violence against women, to an embracing of some forms of pornography as a medium of feminist expression and a legitimate career. Similarly, feminists' views on prostitution vary, ranging from critical to supportive.
### Affirming female sexual autonomy
For feminists, a woman's right to control her own sexuality is a key issue and one that is heavily contested between different branches of feminism. Radical feminists such as Catharine MacKinnon argue that women have very little control over their own bodies, with female sexuality being largely controlled and defined by men in patriarchal societies. Radical feminists argue that sexual violence committed by men is often rooted in ideologies of male sexual entitlement and that these systems grant women very few legitimate options to refuse sexual advances. Some readical feminists have argued that women should not engage in heterosexual sex, and choose lesbianism as a lifestyle and political choice, a view that has fallen out of favor, as sexuality is seen as largely biologically influenced rather than a choice one can make for political reasons.
Some radical feminists argue that all cultures are, in one way or another, dominated by ideologies that deny women's right to sexual expression, because men under a patriarchy define sex on their own terms. This entitlement can take different forms, depending on the culture. In some conservative and religious cultures marriage is regarded as an institution which requires a wife to be sexually available at all times, virtually without limit; thus, forcing or coercing sex on a wife is not considered a crime or even an abusive behaviour.
In 1968, radical feminist Anne Koedt argued in her essay The Myth of the Vaginal Orgasm that women's biology and the clitoral orgasm had not been properly analyzed and popularized, because men "have orgasms essentially by friction with the vagina" and not the clitoral area.
Other branches of feminism such as individualist feminism consider themselves sex-positive, and see women's expression of their own sexuality as a right. In this view, what is or is not "degrading" is subjective, and each person has a right to decide for themselves what sexual acts they find degrading and if they want to participate in them or not. Individualist feminist, Wendy McElroy wrote in her book, XXX: A Woman's Right to Pornography, "let's examine [...] the idea that pornography is degrading to women. Degrading is a subjective term. Personally, I find detergent commercials in which women become orgasmic over soapsuds to be tremendously degrading to women. I find movies in which prostitutes are treated like ignorant drug addicts to be slander against women. Every woman has the right-the need!-to define degradation for herself.”
According to this view, part of sexual autonomy is the right to define one's boundaries, desires and limits around their sexuality rather than accept a narrative in which all women are victims of men during a sex act.
## Science
Sandra Harding says that the "moral and political insights of the women's movement have inspired social scientists and biologists to raise critical questions about the ways traditional researchers have explained gender, sex and relations within and between the social and natural worlds." Some feminists, such as Ruth Hubbard and Evelyn Fox Keller, criticize traditional scientific discourse as being historically biased towards a male perspective. A part of the feminist research agenda is the examination of the ways in which power inequities are created or reinforced in scientific and academic institutions. Physicist Lisa Randall, appointed to a task force at Harvard by then-president Lawrence Summers after his controversial discussion of why women may be underrepresented in science and engineering, said, "I just want to see a whole bunch more women enter the field so these issues don't have to come up anymore."
Lynn Hankinson Nelson writes that feminist empiricists find fundamental differences between the experiences of men and women. Thus, they seek to obtain knowledge through the examination of the experiences of women and to "uncover the consequences of omitting, misdescribing, or devaluing them" to account for a range of human experience. Another part of the feminist research agenda is the uncovering of ways in which power inequities are created or reinforced in society and in scientific and academic institutions. Furthermore, despite calls for greater attention to be paid to structures of gender inequity in the academic literature, structural analyses of gender bias rarely appear in highly cited psychological journals, especially in the commonly studied areas of psychology and personality.
One criticism of feminist epistemology is that it allows social and political values to influence its findings. Susan Haack also points out that feminist epistemology reinforces traditional stereotypes about women's thinking (as intuitive and emotional, etc.); Meera Nanda further cautions that this may in fact trap women within "traditional gender roles and help justify patriarchy".
### Biology and gender
Modern feminism challenges the essentialist view of gender as biologically intrinsic. For example, Anne Fausto-Sterling's book, Myths of Gender, explores the assumptions embodied in scientific research that support a biologically essentialist view of gender. In Delusions of Gender, Cordelia Fine disputes scientific evidence that suggests that there is an innate biological difference between men's and women's minds, asserting instead that cultural and societal beliefs are the reason for differences between individuals that are commonly perceived as sex differences.
### Feminist psychology
Feminism in psychology emerged as a critique of the dominant male outlook on psychological research where only male perspectives were studied with all male subjects. As women earned doctorates in psychology, females and their issues were introduced as legitimate topics of study. Feminist psychology emphasizes social context, lived experience, and qualitative analysis. Projects such as Psychology's Feminist Voices have emerged to catalogue the influence of feminist psychologists on the discipline.
## Culture
### Design
There is a long history of feminist activity in design disciplines like industrial design, graphic design and fashion design. This work has explored topics like beauty, DIY, feminine approaches to design and community-based projects. Some iconic writing includes Cheryl Buckley's essays on design and patriarchy and Joan Rothschild's Design and Feminism: Re-Visioning Spaces, Places, and Everyday Things. More recently, Isabel Prochner's research explored how feminist perspectives can support positive change in industrial design, helping to identify systemic social problems and inequities in design and guiding socially sustainable and grassroots design solutions.
### Businesses
Feminist activists have established a range of feminist businesses, including feminist bookstores, credit unions, presses, mail-order catalogs and restaurants. These businesses flourished as part of the second and third waves of feminism in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s.
### Visual arts
Corresponding with general developments within feminism, and often including such self-organizing tactics as the consciousness-raising group, the movement began in the 1960s and flourished throughout the 1970s. Jeremy Strick, director of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, described the feminist art movement as "the most influential international movement of any during the postwar period", and Peggy Phelan says that it "brought about the most far-reaching transformations in both artmaking and art writing over the past four decades". Feminist artist Judy Chicago, who created The Dinner Party, a set of vulva-themed ceramic plates in the 1970s, said in 2009 to ARTnews, "There is still an institutional lag and an insistence on a male Eurocentric narrative. We are trying to change the future: to get girls and boys to realize that women's art is not an exception—it's a normal part of art history." A feminist approach to the visual arts has most recently developed through cyberfeminism and the posthuman turn, giving voice to the ways "contemporary female artists are dealing with gender, social media and the notion of embodiment".
### Literature
The feminist movement produced feminist fiction, feminist non-fiction, and feminist poetry, which created new interest in women's writing. It also prompted a general reevaluation of women's historical and academic contributions in response to the belief that women's lives and contributions have been underrepresented as areas of scholarly interest. There has also been a close link between feminist literature and activism, with feminist writing typically voicing key concerns or ideas of feminism in a particular era.
Much of the early period of feminist literary scholarship was given over to the rediscovery and reclamation of texts written by women. In Western feminist literary scholarship, Studies like Dale Spender's Mothers of the Novel (1986) and Jane Spencer's The Rise of the Woman Novelist (1986) were ground-breaking in their insistence that women have always been writing.
Commensurate with this growth in scholarly interest, various presses began the task of reissuing long-out-of-print texts. Virago Press began to publish its large list of 19th- and early-20th-century novels in 1975 and became one of the first commercial presses to join in the project of reclamation. In the 1980s Pandora Press, responsible for publishing Spender's study, issued a companion line of 18th-century novels written by women. More recently, Broadview Press continues to issue 18th- and 19th-century novels, many hitherto out of print, and the University of Kentucky has a series of republications of early women's novels.
Particular works of literature have come to be known as key feminist texts. A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792) by Mary Wollstonecraft, is one of the earliest works of feminist philosophy. A Room of One's Own (1929) by Virginia Woolf, is noted in its argument for both a literal and figural space for women writers within a literary tradition dominated by patriarchy.
The widespread interest in women's writing is related to a general reassessment and expansion of the literary canon. Interest in post-colonial literatures, gay and lesbian literature, writing by people of colour, working people's writing, and the cultural productions of other historically marginalized groups has resulted in a whole scale expansion of what is considered "literature", and genres hitherto not regarded as "literary", such as children's writing, journals, letters, travel writing, and many others are now the subjects of scholarly interest. Most genres and subgenres have undergone a similar analysis, so literary studies have entered new territories such as the "female gothic" or women's science fiction.
According to Elyce Rae Helford, "Science fiction and fantasy serve as important vehicles for feminist thought, particularly as bridges between theory and practice." Feminist science fiction is sometimes taught at the university level to explore the role of social constructs in understanding gender. Notable texts of this kind are Ursula K. Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness (1969), Joanna Russ' The Female Man (1970), Octavia Butler's Kindred (1979) and Margaret Atwood's Handmaid's Tale (1985).
Feminist nonfiction has played an important role in voicing concerns about women's lived experiences. For example, Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings was extremely influential, as it represented the specific racism and sexism experienced by black women growing up in the United States.
In addition, many feminist movements have embraced poetry as a vehicle through which to communicate feminist ideas to public audiences through anthologies, poetry collections, and public readings.
Moreover, historical pieces of writing by women have been used by feminists to speak about what women's lives were like in the past while demonstrating the power that they held and the impact they had in their communities. An important figure in the history of women's literature is Hrotsvitha (c. 935–973), a canoness who was an early female poet in the German lands. As a historian, Hrotsvitha is one of the few writers to address women's lives from a woman's perspective during the Middle Ages.
### Music
Women's music (or womyn's music or wimmin's music) is the music by women, for women, and about women. The genre emerged as a musical expression of the second-wave feminist movement as well as the labour, civil rights, and peace movements. The movement was started by lesbians such as Cris Williamson, Meg Christian, and Margie Adam, African-American women activists such as Bernice Johnson Reagon and her group Sweet Honey in the Rock, and peace activist Holly Near. Women's music also refers to the wider industry of women's music that goes beyond the performing artists to include studio musicians, producers, sound engineers, technicians, cover artists, distributors, promoters, and festival organizers who are also women. Riot grrrl is an underground feminist hardcore punk movement described in the cultural movements section of this article.
Feminism became a principal concern of musicologists in the 1980s as part of the New Musicology. Prior to this, in the 1970s, musicologists were beginning to discover women composers and performers, and had begun to review concepts of canon, genius, genre and periodization from a feminist perspective. In other words, the question of how women musicians fit into traditional music history was now being asked. Through the 1980s and 1990s, this trend continued as musicologists like Susan McClary, Marcia Citron and Ruth Solie began to consider the cultural reasons for the marginalizing of women from the received body of work. Concepts such as music as gendered discourse; professionalism; reception of women's music; examination of the sites of music production; relative wealth and education of women; popular music studies in relation to women's identity; patriarchal ideas in music analysis; and notions of gender and difference are among the themes examined during this time.
While the music industry has long been open to having women in performance or entertainment roles, women are much less likely to have positions of authority, such as being the leader of an orchestra. In popular music, while there are many women singers recording songs, there are very few women behind the audio console acting as music producers, the individuals who direct and manage the recording process.
### Cinema
Feminist cinema, advocating or illustrating feminist perspectives, arose largely with the development of feminist film theory in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Women who were radicalized during the 1960s by political debate and sexual liberation; but the failure of radicalism to produce substantive change for women galvanized them to form consciousness-raising groups and set about analysing, from different perspectives, dominant cinema's construction of women. Differences were particularly marked between feminists on either side of the Atlantic. 1972 saw the first feminist film festivals in the U.S. and U.K. as well as the first feminist film journal, Women & Film. Trailblazers from this period included Claire Johnston and Laura Mulvey, who also organized the Women's Event at the Edinburgh Film Festival. Other theorists making a powerful impact on feminist film include Teresa de Lauretis, Anneke Smelik and Kaja Silverman. Approaches in philosophy and psychoanalysis fuelled feminist film criticism, feminist independent film and feminist distribution.
It has been argued that there are two distinct approaches to independent, theoretically inspired feminist filmmaking. 'Deconstruction' concerns itself with analysing and breaking down codes of mainstream cinema, aiming to create a different relationship between the spectator and dominant cinema. The second approach, a feminist counterculture, embodies feminine writing to investigate a specifically feminine cinematic language. Bracha L. Ettinger invented a field of notions and concepts that serve the research of cinema from feminine perspective: The Matrixial Gaze. Ettinger's language include original concepts to discover feminine perspectives. Many writers in the fields of film theory and contemporary art are using the Ettingerian matrixial sphere (matricial sphere).
During the 1930s–1950s heyday of the big Hollywood studios, the status of women in the industry was abysmal. Since then female directors such as Sally Potter, Catherine Breillat, Claire Denis and Jane Campion have made art movies, and directors like Kathryn Bigelow and Patty Jenkins have had mainstream success. This progress stagnated in the 1990s, and men outnumber women five to one in behind the camera roles.
## Politics
Feminism had complex interactions with the major political movements of the 20th century.
### Socialism
Since the late 19th century, some feminists have allied with socialism, whereas others have criticized socialist ideology for being insufficiently concerned about women's rights. August Bebel, an early activist of the German Social Democratic Party (SPD), published his work Die Frau und der Sozialismus, juxtaposing the struggle for equal rights between sexes with social equality in general. In 1907 there was an International Conference of Socialist Women in Stuttgart where suffrage was described as a tool of class struggle. Clara Zetkin of the SPD called for women's suffrage to build a "socialist order, the only one that allows for a radical solution to the women's question".
In Britain, the women's movement was allied with the Labour party. In the U.S., Betty Friedan emerged from a radical background to take leadership. Radical Women is the oldest socialist feminist organization in the U.S. and is still active. During the Spanish Civil War, Dolores Ibárruri (La Pasionaria) led the Communist Party of Spain. Although she supported equal rights for women, she opposed women fighting on the front and clashed with the anarcha-feminist Mujeres Libres.
Feminists in Ireland in the early 20th century included the revolutionary Irish Republican, suffragette and socialist Constance Markievicz who in 1918 was the first woman elected to the British House of Commons. However, in line with Sinn Féin abstentionist policy, she would not take her seat in the House of Commons. She was re-elected to the Second Dáil in the elections of 1921. She was also a commander of the Irish Citizens Army, which was led by the socialist and self-described feminist Irish leader James Connolly, during the 1916 Easter Rising.
### Fascism
Fascism has been prescribed dubious stances on feminism by its practitioners and by women's groups. Amongst other demands concerning social reform presented in the Fascist manifesto in 1919 was expanding the suffrage to all Italian citizens of age 18 and above, including women (accomplished only in 1946, after the defeat of fascism) and eligibility for all to stand for office from age 25. This demand was particularly championed by special Fascist women's auxiliary groups such as the fasci femminilli and only partly realized in 1925, under pressure from dictator Benito Mussolini's more conservative coalition partners.
Cyprian Blamires states that although feminists were among those who opposed the rise of Adolf Hitler, feminism has a complicated relationship with the Nazi movement as well. While Nazis glorified traditional notions of patriarchal society and its role for women, they claimed to recognize women's equality in employment. However, Hitler and Mussolini declared themselves as opposed to feminism, and after the rise of Nazism in Germany in 1933, there was a rapid dissolution of the political rights and economic opportunities that feminists had fought for during the pre-war period and to some extent during the 1920s. Georges Duby et al. write that in practice fascist society was hierarchical and emphasized male virility, with women maintaining a largely subordinate position. Blamires also writes that neofascism has since the 1960s been hostile towards feminism and advocates that women accept "their traditional roles".
### Civil rights movement and anti-racism
The civil rights movement has influenced and informed the feminist movement and vice versa. Many American feminists adapted the language and theories of black equality activism and drew parallels between women's rights and the rights of non-white people. Despite the connections between the women's and civil rights movements, some tensions arose during the late 1960s and the 1970s as non-white women argued that feminism was predominantly white, straight, and middle class, and did not understand and was not concerned with issues of race and sexuality. Similarly, some women argued that the civil rights movement had sexist and homophobic elements and did not adequately address minority women's concerns. These criticisms created new feminist social theories about identity politics and the intersections of racism, classism, and sexism; they also generated new feminisms such as black feminism and Chicana feminism in addition to making large contributions to lesbian feminism and other integrations of queer of colour identity.
### Neoliberalism
Neoliberalism has been criticized by feminist theory for having a negative effect on the female workforce population across the globe, especially in the global south. Masculinist assumptions and objectives continue to dominate economic and geopolitical thinking. Women's experiences in non-industrialized countries reveal often deleterious effects of modernization policies and undercut orthodox claims that development benefits everyone.
Proponents of neoliberalism have theorized that by increasing women's participation in the workforce, there will be heightened economic progress, but feminist critics have stated that this participation alone does not further equality in gender relations. Neoliberalism has failed to address significant problems such as the devaluation of feminized labour, the structural privileging of men and masculinity, and the politicization of women's subordination in the family and the workplace. The "feminization of employment" refers to a conceptual characterization of deteriorated and devalorized labour conditions that are less desirable, meaningful, safe and secure. Employers in the global south have perceptions about feminine labour and seek workers who are perceived to be undemanding, docile and willing to accept low wages. Social constructs about feminized labour have played a big part in this, for instance, employers often perpetuate ideas about women as 'secondary income earners to justify their lower rates of pay and not deserving of training or promotion.
## Societal impact
The feminist movement has effected change in Western society, including women's suffrage; greater access to education; more equal payment to men; the right to initiate divorce proceedings; the right of women to make individual decisions regarding pregnancy (including access to contraceptives and abortion); and the right to own property.
### Civil rights
From the 1960s on, the campaign for women's rights was met with mixed results in the U.S. and the U.K. Other countries of the EEC agreed to ensure that discriminatory laws would be phased out across the European Community.
Some feminist campaigning also helped reform attitudes to child sexual abuse. The view that young girls cause men to have sexual intercourse with them was replaced by that of men's responsibility for their own conduct, the men being adults.
In the U.S., the National Organization for Women (NOW) began in 1966 to seek women's equality, including through the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), which did not pass, although some states enacted their own. Reproductive rights in the U.S. centred on the court decision in Roe v. Wade enunciating a woman's right to choose whether to carry a pregnancy to term. Western women gained more reliable birth control, allowing family planning and careers. The movement started in the 1910s in the U.S. under Margaret Sanger and elsewhere under Marie Stopes. In the final three decades of the 20th century, Western women knew a new freedom through birth control, which enabled women to plan their adult lives, often making way for both career and family.
The division of labour within households was affected by the increased entry of women into workplaces in the 20th century. Sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild found that, in two-career couples, men and women, on average, spend about equal amounts of time working, but women still spend more time on housework, although Cathy Young responded by arguing that women may prevent equal participation by men in housework and parenting. Judith K. Brown writes, "Women are most likely to make a substantial contribution when subsistence activities have the following characteristics: the participant is not obliged to be far from home; the tasks are relatively monotonous and do not require rapt concentration and the work is not dangerous, can be performed in spite of interruptions, and is easily resumed once interrupted."
In international law, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) is an international convention adopted by the United Nations General Assembly and described as an international bill of rights for women. It came into force in those nations ratifying it.
### Jurisprudence
Feminist jurisprudence is a branch of jurisprudence that examines the relationship between women and law. It addresses questions about the history of legal and social biases against women and about the enhancement of their legal rights.
Feminist jurisprudence signifies a reaction to the philosophical approach of modern legal scholars, who typically see the law as a process for interpreting and perpetuating a society's universal, gender-neutral ideals. Feminist legal scholars claim that this fails to acknowledge women's values or legal interests or the harms that they may anticipate or experience.
### Language
Proponents of gender-neutral language argue that the use of gender-specific language often implies male superiority or reflects an unequal state of society. According to The Handbook of English Linguistics, generic masculine pronouns and gender-specific job titles are instances "where English linguistic convention has historically treated men as prototypical of the human species."
Merriam-Webster chose "feminism" as its 2017 Word of the Year, noting that "Word of the Year is a quantitative measure of interest in a particular word."
### Theology
Feminist theology is a movement that reconsiders the traditions, practices, scriptures, and theologies of religions from a feminist perspective. Some of the goals of feminist theology include increasing the role of women among the clergy and religious authorities, reinterpreting male-dominated imagery and language about God, determining women's place in relation to career and motherhood, and studying images of women in the religion's sacred texts.
Christian feminism is a branch of feminist theology which seeks to interpret and understand Christianity in light of the equality of women and men, and that this interpretation is necessary for a complete understanding of Christianity. While there is no standard set of beliefs among Christian feminists, most agree that God does not discriminate on the basis of sex, and are involved in issues such as the ordination of women, male dominance and the balance of parenting in Christian marriage, claims of moral deficiency and inferiority of women compared to men, and the overall treatment of women in the church.
Islamic feminists advocate women's rights, gender equality, and social justice grounded within an Islamic framework. Advocates seek to highlight the deeply rooted teachings of equality in the Quran and encourage a questioning of the patriarchal interpretation of Islamic teaching through the Quran, hadith (sayings of Muhammad), and sharia (law) towards the creation of a more equal and just society. Although rooted in Islam, the movement's pioneers have also used secular and Western feminist discourses and recognize the role of Islamic feminism as part of an integrated global feminist movement.
Buddhist feminism is a movement that seeks to improve the religious, legal, and social status of women within Buddhism. It is an aspect of feminist theology which seeks to advance and understand the equality of men and women morally, socially, spiritually, and in leadership from a Buddhist perspective. The Buddhist feminist Rita Gross describes Buddhist feminism as "the radical practice of the co-humanity of women and men".
Jewish feminism is a movement that seeks to improve the religious, legal, and social status of women within Judaism and to open up new opportunities for religious experience and leadership for Jewish women. The main issues for early Jewish feminists in these movements were the exclusion from the all-male prayer group or minyan, the exemption from positive time-bound mitzvot, and women's inability to function as witnesses and to initiate divorce. Many Jewish women have become leaders of feminist movements throughout their history.
Dianic Wicca is a feminist-centred thealogy.
Secular or atheist feminists have engaged in feminist criticism of religion, arguing that many religions have oppressive rules towards women and misogynistic themes and elements in religious texts.
### Patriarchy
Patriarchy is a social system in which society is organized around male authority figures. In this system, fathers have authority over women, children, and property. It implies the institutions of male rule and privilege and is dependent on female subordination. Most forms of feminism characterize patriarchy as an unjust social system that is oppressive to women. Carole Pateman argues that the patriarchal distinction "between masculinity and femininity is the political difference between freedom and subjection." In feminist theory the concept of patriarchy often includes all the social mechanisms that reproduce and exert male dominance over women. Feminist theory typically characterizes patriarchy as a social construction, which can be overcome by revealing and critically analyzing its manifestations. Some radical feminists have proposed that because patriarchy is too deeply rooted in society, separatism is the only viable solution. Other feminists have criticized these views as being anti-men.
### Men and masculinity
Feminist theory has explored the social construction of masculinity and its implications for the goal of gender equality. The social construct of masculinity is seen by feminism as problematic because it associates males with aggression and competition, and reinforces patriarchal and unequal gender relations. Patriarchal cultures are criticized for "limiting forms of masculinity" available to men and thus narrowing their life choices. Some feminists are engaged with men's issues activism, such as bringing attention to male rape and spousal battery and addressing negative social expectations for men.
Male participation in feminism is generally encouraged by feminists and is seen as an important strategy for achieving full societal commitment to gender equality. Many male feminists and pro-feminists are active in both women's rights activism, feminist theory, and masculinity studies. However, some argue that while male engagement with feminism is necessary, it is problematic because of the ingrained social influences of patriarchy in gender relations. The consensus today in feminist and masculinity theories is that men and women should cooperate to achieve the larger goals of feminism. It has been proposed that, in large part, this can be achieved through considerations of women's agency.
## Reactions
Different groups of people have responded to feminism, and both men and women have been among its supporters and critics. Among American university students, for both men and women, support for feminist ideas is more common than self-identification as a feminist. The US media tends to portray feminism negatively and feminists "are less often associated with day-to-day work/leisure activities of regular women". However, as recent research has demonstrated, as people are exposed to self-identified feminists and to discussions relating to various forms of feminism, their own self-identification with feminism increases.
### Pro-feminism
Pro-feminism is the support of feminism without implying that the supporter is a member of the feminist movement. The term is most often used in reference to men who are actively supportive of feminism. The activities of pro-feminist men's groups include anti-violence work with boys and young men in schools, offering sexual harassment workshops in workplaces, running community education campaigns, and counselling male perpetrators of violence. Pro-feminist men also may be involved in men's health, activism against pornography including anti-pornography legislation, men's studies, and the development of gender equity curricula in schools. This work is sometimes in collaboration with feminists and women's services, such as domestic violence and rape crisis centres.
### Anti-feminism and criticism of feminism
Anti-feminism is opposition to feminism in some or all of its forms.
In the 19th century, anti-feminism was mainly focused on opposition to women's suffrage. Later, opponents of women's entry into institutions of higher learning argued that education was too great a physical burden on women. Other anti-feminists opposed women's entry into the labour force, or their right to join unions, to sit on juries, or to obtain birth control and control of their sexuality.
Some people have opposed feminism on the grounds that they believe it is contrary to traditional values or religious beliefs. Some anti-feminists argue, for example, that social acceptance of divorce and non-married women is wrong and harmful, and that men and women are fundamentally different and thus their different traditional roles in society should be maintained. Other anti-feminists oppose women's entry into the workforce, political office, and the voting process, as well as the lessening of male authority in families.
Writers such as Camille Paglia, Christina Hoff Sommers, Jean Bethke Elshtain, Elizabeth Fox-Genovese, Lisa Lucile Owens and Daphne Patai oppose some forms of feminism, though they identify as feminists. They argue, for example, that feminism often promotes misandry and the elevation of women's interests above men's, and criticize radical feminist positions as harmful to both men and women. Daphne Patai and Noretta Koertge argue that the term "anti-feminist" is used to silence academic debate about feminism. Lisa Lucile Owens argues that certain rights extended exclusively to women are patriarchal because they relieve women from exercising a crucial aspect of their moral agency.
### Secular humanism
Secular humanism is an ethical framework that attempts to dispense with any unreasoned dogma, pseudoscience, and superstition. Critics of feminism sometimes ask "Why feminism and not humanism?". Some humanists argue, however, that the goals of feminists and humanists largely overlap, and the distinction is only in motivation. For example, a humanist may consider abortion in terms of a utilitarian ethical framework, rather than considering the motivation of any particular woman in getting an abortion. In this respect, it is possible to be a humanist without being a feminist, but this does not preclude the existence of feminist humanism. Humanism played a significant role in protofeminism during the Renaissance period in such that humanists made educated women popular figures despite the challenge of the patriarchal organization of society.
## See also
- Black feminism
- Feminism and racism
- Feminist Studies
- Feminist peace research
- Index of feminism articles
- Lesbian erasure
- List of feminist parties
- List of queens regnant
- Masculism
- Matriarchy
- Matrilineality
- Men's rights movement
- Multiracial feminist theory
- Straw feminism
- White feminism
## Explanatory notes |
28,363,521 | Focus Grill | 1,126,879,196 | null | [
"2004 American television episodes",
"American television series finales",
"Home Movies (TV series) episodes"
]
| "Focus Grill" is the thirteenth episode of the fourth season and the series finale of the American animated sitcom Home Movies, and 52nd episode of the series overall. It originally aired in the United States on Adult Swim on April 4, 2004. In the episode, Brendon, Melissa, and Jason decide to finally film an ending to the first movie they did together.
"Focus Grill" was written by Brendon Small and directed by Loren Bouchard. Despite struggling with the knowledge of the show's cancellation since the start of the fourth season production run, Small noted that this final episode was actually an optimistic note for the series. The episode concludes with Brendon's camera breaking, which Small believed was a way to finally eliminate the hindrances of the character's metaphorical crutch.
The final episode received a largely positive response, with reviewers praising it for its sentimental, bittersweet way of concluding the show.
## Plot
Coach McGuirk volunteers to assemble Paula's large and complicated new grill, but he proves to be both incredibly inexperienced and largely incompetent at performing such a task.
Meanwhile, Brendon, Melissa, and Jason decide to screen their latest movie in front of a focus group that consists of their schoolmates Fenton, Junior, Perry, and Walter. The focus group members harshly criticize it, and in the midst of trying to find the movie's flaw, the three friends discover that the first movie they ever made together — in which they are a biker gang contemplating whether or not to fight an unknown adversary — is missing an ending. The three cannot agree on a conclusion for the movie, so they decide that each of them will film their own, and then screen the three potential endings in front of the focus group. None of the three endings are well received.
After the focus group leaves, Brendon, Melissa, and Jason watch a reel composed of scenes from several of their film projects; they come to the consensus their movies aren't fit for an audience, and that they've been filming them out of pure habit.
When McGuirk believes that he has finally completed the grill, he gathers Paula and the three kids together to witness its first ignition, but he ultimately causes a large explosion. The five go off on a drive, covered in soot. Brendon, filming the road out the window, accidentally drops his camera on the road, where it is run over by a car. He groans "oh no," and almost begins to tell the others about what has just happened, but ends up getting drawn into a conversation about where to go for dinner.
The episode and series concludes with Paula, McGuirk, Jason, Melissa, and Brendon chattering about tapas, as Brendon's broken camera briefly shoots an empty road before the picture flickers and turns to static.
## Production
The episode was written by Home Movies co-creator Brendon Small, and was the final episode of the series' production run. The episode was the fifty-second of the series, a number that allows for an even distribution of reruns of the series; Small noted that the technique is normally used on animated children's shows, though Home Movies is actually created for an adult audience.
Small knew before writing the episode that it would be the last. Mike Lazzo, executive vice president of Adult Swim, had never "responded to the show" as Small had noted, which was in stark contrast to Vice President of Original Series Khaki Jones, whose enthusiasm over the series was what Small admitted to keeping it alive. During the production run for the fourth season, Lazzo had informed the crew bluntly that the season would conclude the series, explaining, "No matter what the numbers are, no matter what happens – we're not going to bring the show back."
Having been informed of this definite end of the series' run, Small decided to write "Focus Grill" with the intention of it concluding the show. While penning the teleplay, he kept in mind the knowledge that "nothing positive [is] happening"; however, Small did admit that the final scene of the episode—Brendon's camera breaking on the road—was meant as an optimistic footnote in the series' narrative. Small explains that Brendon was using filmmaking and the camera as a crutch, and "he doesn't need this crutch anymore...he can actually start living his life as an actual earthling."
"Focus Grill", like all episodes, was directed by co-creator Loren Bouchard, and as with every episode of Home Movies after its first season, the episode was animated using Macromedia Flash. The Squigglevision animation program is briefly used in one scene in the episode, where Brendon, Melissa, and Jason watch various movies of theirs from throughout the series, some of which are from the first season, in which the show utilized Squigglevision.
## Reception
"Focus Grill" originally aired on Adult Swim, a cable network that shares channel space with Cartoon Network, on April 4, 2004. After the episode aired, Small received several e-mails from various fans, who told him that watching the episode's ending had made them cry. The episode received a largely positive response from reviewers. C.S.Strowbridge of The Numbers wrote that it was "able to really wrap up the series in a great way and show why the characters acted the way they did", and praised it for "[showing] some real character development." Pop Matters' Jesse Hassenger described it as both "bittersweet" and "hilarious".
Writing for his DVD Talk review of the show's tenth anniversary DVD boxset, Jason Bailey considered the episode "especially strong, drawing the series to a fine full circle, both structurally and thematically." Bailey concurred with Hassenger's description of it as bittersweet, writing: "It's an affectionate send-off, bittersweet and kind of wonderful and therefore perfectly in tone with this charming little show." Nate Meyers of Digitally Obsessed described it as the epitome of the show's various themes, including childhood, art, and family, calling it "a slightly nostalgic episode"; he considered it an excellent way to close the series, writing "Acting as probably both a reflection of the show's staff at the time and a final send off, I can't think of a better way to send Brendon Small and Loren Bouchard's creation into the sunset." |
2,651,754 | Federalist No. 26 | 1,139,685,892 | Federalist Paper by Alexander Hamilton regarding a standing army | [
"1787 essays",
"1787 in American law",
"1787 in the United States",
"Federalist Papers by Alexander Hamilton"
]
| Federalist No. 26, titled "The Idea of Restraining the Legislative Authority in Regard to the Common Defense Considered", is an essay written by Alexander Hamilton as the twenty-sixth of The Federalist Papers. It was published on December 22, 1787, under the pseudonym Publius, the name under which all The Federalist papers were published. Federalist No. 26 expands upon the arguments of a federal military Hamilton made in No. 24 and No. 25, and it is directly continued in No. 27 and No. 28.
Federalist No. 26 addresses the power of the legislature to maintain a standing army during peacetime, making an argument in favor of the constitution's provisions regulating this power and criticizing anti-federalists that opposed granting this power to Congress. These arguments reflect Hamilton's views of centralized government and his rejection of the idea that government power necessarily constrains civil liberties. The arguments surrounding legislative power over the military would go on to influence the Second and Third amendments to the constitution, and legislative maintenance of a standing army has since become standard practice in the United States.
## Summary
Hamilton condemns the urge to sacrifice governmental power in the name of private rights. He describes the legislature's power over the military as one such example, describing the importance of this power and explaining why he believes representative government is able to prevent a military coup. He cites historical precedent for his proposed system by describing how the English Bill of Rights 1689 empowered the Parliament of England to regulate peacetime armies. He also criticizes North Carolina and Pennsylvania for provisions in their constitutions that discourage but do not prohibit standing armies in peacetime.
Hamilton expresses support instead for the restriction in the proposed constitution: that the legislature be required to renew or abolish the army every two years. He deems the political process and challenge by the opposition, as well as that of the state governments, to be a sufficient check on this power. He says that military plots require time and are impossible to keep secret, allowing for many points where party control over the government can be broken or the government can be reformed. He concludes that the states will be easier to defend as a united government rather than in disunity.
## Background and publication
The debate of a standing army in peacetime existed since the Bill of Rights 1689 that effectively made the Kingdom of England a constitutional monarchy, in part by transferring power over peacetime armies to Parliament. The proposed constitution emulated this system by empowering the legislature with control over funding of the military every two years. Hamilton's defense of a peacetime army under congressional regulation draws from political philosophy and from the experiences of the American Revolution. Opponents of a standing military during peacetime feared a reprisal of the military subjugation of state governments and American civilians as had occurred under the colonial rule of the British.
Like all of the Federalist Papers, Federalist No. 26 was published under the pseudonym Publius in New York newspapers with the intention of explaining the provisions of the Constitution of the United States and persuading New York to ratify it. It first appeared in the Independent Journal on December 22, 1787, followed by the Daily Advertiser on December 24, and the New-York Journal and the New-York Packet on December 25. Federalist No. 26 continued the discussion of a standing army during peacetime that Hamilton began in No. 24 and No. 25 of the Federalist Papers. While No. 24 argued for the benefits of such an army and No. 25 argued that a federal standing army is superior to state armies, No. 26 argues against restricting the federal government's power to create such an army.
## Analysis
Federalist No. 26 was "an unreserved plea" by Hamilton for a stronger central government. He believed that restricting the legislature's ability to provide for defense was an emotional response instead of a rational one. His writing in this essay reflected his concern that liberty had been given too much emphasis in the American Revolution and that imbuing the federal government with too few powers made it impotent—concerns shared by fellow Federalist Papers authors James Madison and John Jay. The focus on the legislative rather than the executive reflected anti-federalist concerns that it was the legislature that was given too much power by the constitution. There was relatively little concern at the time of the president having significant control of the military.
The argumentation of Federalist No. 26 complies with Hamilton's support for centralized government. He challenges the notion that such a government is likely to restrict civil liberties using a standing military, and he considers it highly unlikely that such a thing could occur without being discovered early. He does, however, indicate that state governments are useful in challenging such an eventuality. Hamilton believed that representative governance and the requiring a renewal of military appropriations every two years, as was mandated by the proposed constitution, was sufficient to protect from any risks associated with a standing military. He considered the threat to public safety by restricting the legislature to be much greater than the threat of abuse of power.
Central to Hamilton's argument was his belief that the federal government would be representative of the people and that a federal legislature could be trusted with a standing military. Federalist No. 26 was one of the more populist of the Federalist Papers, contrasting with the elitism that is present in many others. Hamilton identifies the commoner as generally resistant to the "zeal for liberty" that leads to anarchy, noting that only two of the 13 state governments (North Carolina and Pennsylvania) expressly condemned standing armies during peacetime in their respective constitutions. He also believed that citizens were generally capable of discerning good leaders from bad ones and that citizens can be trusted to remove bad leaders from power when they do arise. This was also the only one of the Federalist Papers to give credence to the idea of political parties. Although he speaks of them dismissively, saying that they "must be expected to infect all political bodies", Hamilton acknowledges their role in challenging the majority.
## Aftermath
Hamilton continued his argumentation in favor of a standing federal army in No. 27 and No. 28 of the Federalist Papers. He argues in No. 27 that a federal army will bring more stability than state armies, and he argues in No. 28 that a federal army may be necessary to prevent insurgency. The legislature's power to maintain a standing army remained contested during the ratification process of the constitution and the drafting of the Bill of Rights. The relevant clauses of the constitution were ratified without amendment, but the debate contributed to the ratification of the Second Amendment to guarantee the right to keep and bear arms and the Third Amendment to prohibit the quartering of soldiers in peacetime.
In the 1957 Supreme Court case Reid v. Covert, Federalist No. 26 was one of the works cited by Justice Hugo Black in his plurality opinion to establish that the founding fathers intended for civilian control of the military. The federal maintenance of a standing army during peacetime eventually became a widely accepted idea in the United States, with a volunteer military and production of arms consistently maintained since World War II. No military coup has ever occurred in the United States. |
16,749,611 | Adriatic campaign of 1807–1814 | 1,150,723,564 | Campaign in the Napoleonic Wars | [
"Battles involving Montenegro",
"Campaigns of the Napoleonic Wars",
"Conflicts in 1807",
"Conflicts in 1808",
"Conflicts in 1809",
"Conflicts in 1810",
"Conflicts in 1811",
"Conflicts in 1812",
"Conflicts in 1813",
"Conflicts in 1814",
"French rule in the Ionian Islands (1807–1814)",
"History of the Adriatic Sea",
"Military history of Slovenia",
"Naval battles involving France",
"Naval battles involving Italy",
"Naval battles involving the United Kingdom",
"Wars involving Slovenia"
]
| The Adriatic campaign was a minor theatre of war during the Napoleonic Wars in which a succession of small British Royal Navy and Austrian Navy squadrons and independent cruisers harried the combined naval forces of the First French Empire, the Kingdom of Italy, the Illyrian Provinces and the Kingdom of Naples between 1807 and 1814 in the Adriatic Sea. Italy, Naples and Illyria were all controlled either directly or via proxy by the French Emperor Napoleon I, who had seized them at the Treaty of Pressburg in the aftermath of the War of the Third Coalition.
Control of the Adriatic brought numerous advantages to the French Navy, allowing rapid transit of troops from Italy to the Balkans and Austria for campaigning in the east and giving France possession of numerous shipbuilding facilities, particularly the large naval yards of Venice. From 1807, when the Treaty of Tilsit precipitated a Russian withdrawal from the Septinsular Republic, the French Navy held naval supremacy in the region. The Treaty of Tilsit also contained a secret clause that guaranteed French assistance in any war fought between the Russians and the Ottoman Empire. To fulfil this clause, Napoleon would have to secure his supply lines to the east by developing the French armies in Illyria. This required control of the Adriatic against increasingly aggressive British raiders. The Royal Navy decided to prevent these troop convoys from reaching Illyria and sought to break French hegemony in the region, resulting in a six-year naval campaign.
The campaign was not uniform in approach; British and French forces were limited by the dictates of the wider Mediterranean and global conflict, and consequently ship numbers fluctuated. Although numerous commanders held commands in the region, the two most important personalities were those of William Hoste and Bernard Dubourdieu, whose exploits were celebrated in their respective national newspapers during 1810 and 1811. The campaign between the two officers reached a climax at the Battle of Lissa in March 1811, when Dubourdieu was killed and his squadron defeated by Hoste in a celebrated action.
The events of 1811 gave the British dominance in the Adriatic for the remainder of the war. British and Greek expeditionary forces steadily captured fortified French islands and their raiding parties inflicted havoc on trade across the region. As a result, French plans against the Ottoman Empire were cancelled, La Grande Armée turning towards Russia. British forces continued operations until the advancing armies of the Sixth Coalition drove the French from the shores of the Adriatic in early 1814, British troops and marines assisting in the capture of several important French cities, including Fiume (Rijeka) and Trieste.
## Background
There had been a French presence in the Adriatic Sea since the Treaty of Campo Formio during the French Revolutionary War. Campo Formio marked the end of the War of the First Coalition in 1797 and confirmed the demise of the independent Republic of Venice and the division of its territory between the French Republic and the Austrian Empire. One of France's gains from this division were the seven Ionian Islands that controlled the entrance to the Adriatic. These French outposts in the Eastern Mediterranean were considered a threat by both the Russian and the Ottoman Empires and in 1798 a united Russo-Ottoman force attacked the massively fortified French citadel on Corfu, which fell the following year after a four-month siege. The victors took possession of the islands and from them created the Septinsular Republic, nominally Ottoman, practically independent and guaranteed by the Russian Navy.
On mainland Europe, the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte as the ruler of the new French Empire resulted in a new conflict, the War of the Third Coalition in 1805, which ended disastrously for the Austrian and Russian allied armies at the Battle of Austerlitz. The treaties that ended the war created two French client monarchies in Italy, the Kingdom of Italy and the Kingdom of Naples, and French troops were left holding substantial parts of the Eastern coastline of the Adriatic in Dalmatia. These holdings significantly increased French naval interest in the Adriatic, which was well supplied with excellent ports and shipbuilding facilities, particularly at Venice.
The Russian garrison on Corfu, augmented with a powerful naval squadron, effectively blocked French use of the Adriatic by sealing the entrance through the Straits of Otranto. French military concerns were also directed further north at this time, resulting in the War of the Fourth Coalition during 1806 and 1807 that saw Napoleon's armies overrun Prussia and force the Russians to sign the Treaty of Tilsit on 7 July 1807. One of the minor clauses of this treaty transferred the Ionian Islands back into French hands, the Russians withdrawing completely from the Adriatic. This withdrawal supported a hidden clause in the treaty that guaranteed French support in the continuing Russian war with the Ottomans in the Balkans.
## Campaign
### Opening exchanges
As the Russians withdrew, the French immediately despatched garrisons to the Ionian Islands, rapidly amassing over 7,400 French and Neapolitan troops on Corfu alone. This effectively turned the Adriatic into a sheltered French sea from which they could be free to despatch raiders against British convoys, colonies and Royal Navy blockade squadrons, which had controlled the Mediterranean since the Battle of Trafalgar two years earlier. To facilitate this, the French Navy placed significant orders at the Venetian naval yards, intending to build forces in the region with locally produced and crewed vessels.
The Royal Navy's Mediterranean Fleet responded rapidly to this threat, and in November 1807 the fourth rate ship HMS Glatton and several smaller craft were blockading Corfu, seizing several French and Italian reinforcement convoys. Encouraged by the success of the blockade, small British raiders began entering the Adriatic independently, to prey on French convoys along the Italian coast. One of the first British operations in the region was the seizure of the small Dalmatian Island of Lissa, for use as a safe harbour deep in nominally French-controlled waters. The largely uninhabited island was rapidly developed into an effective naval base with the construction of a town and harbour at Port St. George. During 1807, British ships stationed in the Adriatic were relatively small and their impact was consequently minor. British raiders also limited their attacks on the Illyrian coast to purely military objectives in order to maintain the support of the local population, who supplied the British cruisers with food, water and naval stores. The French Mediterranean Fleet, led by Admiral Ganteaume made a foray to Corfu in February 1808 that the British blockading squadron was powerless to stop, but this was the only attempt by the French to send ships of the line to the region and the fleet had returned to Toulon by mid-March.
The first major British deployment into the Adriatic came in May 1808, when the frigate HMS Unite under Captain Patrick Campbell arrived off Venice. During May, Campbell severely disrupted French and Italian shipping off the busiest Adriatic seaport and captured three ships sent against him by the Italian Navy. The French response to these depredations was to despatch the small frigate Var to Venice, an action which had little effect on British operations. British activity in the Adriatic was however curtailed during the year by the British war with the Ottoman Empire, which absorbed the scant British naval resources in the Eastern Mediterranean.
### Invasions of the Ionian Islands
The British presence in the Adriatic was greatly strengthened in 1809 with the arrival of the frigates HMS Amphion under William Hoste and HMS Belle Poule under James Brisbane. These reinforcements made an immediate impact with a series of raids in the Dalmatian and Ionian islands. In February Belle Poule captured the Var off Valona; the French responded by despatching the frigates Danaé and Flore from Toulon. HMS Topaze attacked these frigates as they arrived, but they were able to reach Corfu before sailing north to augment French defences in the Adriatic.
Throughout the year British attacks intensified, driven by Hoste's Amphion operating from Lissa. Raids on the Italian coastline seized dozens of coastal merchant vessels and gunboats while parties of marines and sailors landed at coastal towns, driving off the defenders and blowing up the fortifications before returning to their ships. These successes in the face of negligible French opposition encouraged the British commander in the Mediterranean, Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood, to detail a force specifically to eliminate the French garrisons on the Ionian Islands. This expedition, led at sea by Brigadier-General John Oswald from HMS Warrior succeeded in landing on the island of Cefalonia on 1 October and forcing the Neapolitan garrison to surrender within hours. Within days the neighbouring islands of Zante and Ithaca had also surrendered and the detached frigate HMS Spartan under Jahleel Brenton effected a successful invasion of Cerigo shortly afterwards.
These islands were defended by small garrisons, with a few dozen regular French soldiers and larger numbers of men of the Albanian Regiment(400 on Zante, 145 on Cefalonia, 46 on Ithaca, and 27 on Cerigo) on each island. These forces were completely inadequate to offer anything but a token resistance; the captured men were transferred to Italy as prisoners of war, but more than a few of the Albanian Regiment's men simply scattered into the countryside and resumed their traditional guerrilla habits. Most of these escapees, as well as those taken prisoner, were soon induced to enter British service in what eventually became the 1st Regiment Greek Light Infantry. Over 70% of the Albanian Regiment's men on the four islands switched to the British, including most of the officers. The 1st Regiment Greek Light Infantry, initially under Richard Church and later under Robert Oswald (brother of John), soon attracted many Greek military leaders who would later play a crucial role in the Greek War of Independence, most notably Theodoros Kolokotronis.
Troop withdrawals late in 1809 delayed any further invasions until March 1810, when Collingwood's temporary successor Thomas Byam Martin detached a squadron of the Mediterranean Fleet for an operation against Santa Maura. Landings were effected on 22 March, and the island surrendered on 16 April after an eight-day siege of the principal fortress, the attackers considerably aided by the desertion of the garrison's native Greek troops to the Greek volunteers fighting on the British side. Along with a 2nd Regiment raised in 1813, the Greek units took part in the capture of Paxoi and Parga and the Allied capture of Genoa in 1814.
### French reinforcements
The conclusion of the War of the Fifth Coalition in late 1809 had changed the political situation in the Adriatic, confirming French possession of the Illyrian Provinces and removing any threat to the Adriatic seaports from Austrian-held territory. It also freed the French Army to operate against the Ottoman Empire, as intended in the Treaty of Tilsit. It did not however affect the British frigates raiding in the Adriatic under the command of William Hoste, who was now launching coordinated raids against coastal convoys, towns and forts along the Italian coast.
In the late summer of 1810 the French Navy made their first serious effort to contest British operations in the Adriatic, with the despatch of Bernard Dubourdieu from Toulon in Favorite. Dubourdieu was considered one of the more successful frigate commanders in the French Navy, and he collected the French and Italian forces scattered across the Adriatic into a squadron that significantly outnumbered Hoste's forces. Hoste was aware of Dubourdieu's movements and maintained a careful watch on the French-led squadron in its base at Ancona.
In early October, having failed to draw Dubourdieu into battle the previous month, Hoste resupplied at Lissa and returned to the blockade of Ancona, now accompanied by HMS Cerberus. Discovering Dubourdieu and his squadron missing, Hoste gave chase in the direction of Corfu, acting on inaccurate information supplied by a passing Sicilian privateer. As Dubourdieu had planned, this detour opened Lissa to attack. Landing on the island with overwhelming force on 21 October, the French seized the shipping in the harbour but were unable to find the island's garrison, which had retreated to the mountains. Dubourdieu remained on Lissa for seven hours, but withdrew to Ancona when local fishermen informed him that Hoste was returning from the south. To defend against a repeat of this raid and to guard against intervention by the French ship of the line Rivoli, which was completing at Venice, the British Mediterranean Fleet sent the third-rate HMS Montagu to Lissa. The arrival of such a powerful vessel stifled any further French initiatives during the year, allowing Hoste to conduct limited raids on the Italian coastline.
### Battle of Lissa
In early 1811 Montagu left the Adriatic. With HMS Cerberus and HMS Active detached on operations against the ports of Pescara and Ortona in February, Dubourdieu organised a second attack on Lissa, this time with the ambition of permanently seizing the island and garrisoning it with Italian troops. Departing Ancona on 11 March with six frigates, numerous support craft and over 500 soldiers, the Franco-Italian squadron sailed for Lissa overnight. Early in the morning on 12 March, the French were spotted by British observers on Lissa and Hoste brought his squadron, including the recently returned Cerberus and Active, to meet Dubourdieu off the island's northern coast.
Maintaining a close line of battle, Hoste forced Dubourdieu to attack him directly, Dubourdieu attempting to personally board Hoste's Amphion at the head of the Italian soldiers carried aboard his flagship. Hoste responded to the attempt with fire at point blank range from a carronade containing over 750 musket balls. The first shot killed Dubourdieu and almost all of his officers, creating confusion in the French squadron that resulted in Favorite being wrecked on Lissa's coastline. Hoste then engaged the following Flore and Bellone, forcing them both to surrender. The head of the British line, led by HMS Volage engaged the three remaining French and Italian ships, driving off Danaé and Carolina and capturing Corona. Flore too later escaped to the safety of French batteries off Lesina.
The victory at the Battle of Lissa confirmed British dominance in the region for the next three years, the French unable to replace the losses in ships and experienced officers inflicted at the action. Attempts to reinforce the Adriatic and maintain the convoys that supplied Corfu were launched from Toulon during the spring of 1811, but few reached the Adriatic; stopped by the British blockade of the Southern French ports. Of those that escaped the blockade of Toulon, most were subsequently captured by the squadron at Lissa, which had been augmented by the return of HMS Belle Poule and the newly arrived HMS Alceste, replacing HMS Amphion and the wounded Hoste who had returned to Britain. The squadron also continued the raids on coastal shipping and towns that defined the British campaign, attacking Parenzo and Ragosniza to destroy supply ships sheltering in the harbours.
In November HMS Eagle chased and captured the small French frigate Corcyre in a failed attempt by a French convoy to transport supplies to Corfu. A day later, the action of 29 November 1811 foiled the most significant French attempt to bring more forces to the Adriatic in 1811 when a British squadron under Captain Murray Maxwell in Alceste chased and engaged two frigates and an armed store ship. One frigate and the store ship were captured, the other reaching Ancona in a disabled state. This action had wide-ranging effects; Napoleon himself took an interest in the reports, and it has been suggested that it was this engagement that convinced him to change the direction of his plans for eastwards expansion from the Balkans to Russia.
### British dominance
French hopes of regaining supremacy in the Adriatic now rested on the Rivoli, a ship of the line under construction at Venice. Although her completion had been delayed by almost two years, British intelligence was aware of her condition and had periodically supplied ships of the line to observe her movements and engage her if the opportunity should arise. In February 1812, Rivoli departed Venice for the first time, destined for Pola on her maiden voyage. Waiting for Rivoli was the British HMS Victorious, commanded by John Talbot, who chased Rivoli and captured her in a four-hour battle in which both sides suffered heavy casualties.
The loss of Rivoli ended French efforts to contest British dominance of the Adriatic. Although the campaign in the theatre would continue until 1814, from February 1812 British raiders were able to attack French convoys, forts, islands and even significant cities with impunity. In the summer of 1812, William Hoste returned to the Adriatic as captain of HMS Bacchante and raided the Apulian coast for several months. The freedom with which British cruisers could operate within the Adriatic attracted reinforcements from the Mediterranean Fleet, such as HMS Eagle which arrived off Ancona in September and blockaded the city, chasing and destroying whole coastal convoys unopposed.
Even without British intervention, French losses in the Adriatic mounted. In November 1811 the Flore, veteran of Lissa, was wrecked off Chioggia while in September 1812, the Danaé suddenly exploded with heavy loss of life at Trieste. For the French Navy, these losses were irreplaceable; French frigates were increasingly unable to escape the blockades of their home ports to reach the Adriatic and ensure the protection of their convoys. In early 1813 the first significant British squadron was detached to the Adriatic, under the command of Admiral Thomas Fremantle. This force had wide-ranging orders to seize or destroy all French islands, forts and outposts, disrupt coastal trade wherever possible and assist the allied armies of the Sixth Coalition. Under Fremantle's orders the islands or coastal towns of Lagosta, Curzola, Carlopago, Cherso, Dignano, Giuppana and others were systematically invaded, to be either held by British forces or have their shore facilities slighted to prevent their use by the French.
Fremantle also despatched several officers, including Hoste, to operate independently. Hoste in Bacchante returned to Apulia and attacked a string of ports, castles and anchorages, while Captain George Cadogan in HMS Havannah effectively halted the movement of supplies along the northern Italian coast in support of the approaching Austrian armies. In June, Fremantle himself led his whole squadron against the important port city of Fiume, seizing or burning 90 vessels from the harbour and huge quantities of naval stores after a sharp battle in the city streets. Three months later, Fremantle attacked the city of Trieste, blockading it from the sea, bombarding its defences and landing marines and cannon to join with the besieging Austrian armies and force the city's surrender.
### End in the Adriatic
In the autumn of 1813, British raiders enjoyed unopposed domination over the Adriatic sea. Working in conjunction with the Austrian armies now invading the Illyrian Provinces and Northern Italy, Fremantle's ships were able to rapidly transport British and Austrian troops from one point to another, forcing the surrender of the strategic port of Zara in December. Cattaro was captured in collaboration with Montenegrin ground troops, and the same result occurred at Ragusa in January 1814. By 16 February 1814, Fremantle wrote to his superior Sir Edward Pellew that every French harbour had been captured by British or Austrian troops. Over 700 French merchant ships had been seized and the only remaining French outpost in the region was Corfu. The last surviving French warship in the region, the frigate Uranie, was destroyed by its own crew at Brindisi on 3 February to prevent her falling into British hands.
The abdication of Napoleon in early April 1814 brought the War of the Sixth Coalition to a close. Corfu, the longest-held French territory in the Adriatic surrendered and was added to the United States of the Ionian Islands under British protection.
## Aftermath
Many awards were presented in Britain for service in the Adriatic, Hoste, Maxwell and Fremantle among those knighted in the 1815 reforms to the knightly orders, as well as the recipients of a large amount of prize money for their captures in the theatre. The dearth of significant fleet actions in the last nine years of the war also increased public interest in actions such as that at Lissa, which were widely celebrated both before and after the peace.
### Impact
Although a minor theatre of the Napoleonic Wars, the naval campaign in the Adriatic may have had far reaching consequences for the wider conflict. In particular, the events of 1811 were studied closely by Napoleon; in a chance meeting with Murray Maxwell in 1817, the former Emperor recalled Maxwell's action on 29 November 1811 intimately and commended Maxwell on his victory. The agreement between France and Russia to support each other in operations against the Ottoman Empire could not have been fulfilled without secure supply lines from France to the Balkans and those supply lines could not be assured without naval control of the Adriatic. British historian James Henderson has linked the action of November 1811 to this strategic problem, suggesting that the loss of the convoy and its 200 cannon may have been a factor in Napoleon's decision to change the emphasis of his planned campaign of 1812 from the Balkans to Russia.
On a smaller scale, the Adriatic was one of the few areas in which French and British ships saw regular combat during the period, Rivoli being the last French ship of the line captured in battle at sea. The drain of resources from the French Mediterranean Fleet to the Adriatic in the final years of the Napoleonic Wars, prompted by the need to convoy supplies to the isolated garrison of Corfu, frustrated successive French admirals, particularly after the death of Dubourdieu in 1811. The British blockade of Toulon stifled efforts to rebuild forces lost in battle and through accident to such a degree, that by 1812 British ships were free to operate almost with impunity, keeping thousands of French and Italian soldiers that would otherwise have been deployed against the Sixth Coalition in garrisons along the coastline. In the final months of the war, the ability of the Royal Navy to strike at any point on the coast without opposition undermined the entire defensive structure of the French forces in the region and eased the capture of several heavily defended port cities by the advancing Austrian armies. |
93,740 | Leicester Square | 1,168,992,681 | Pedestrianised square in London, United Kingdom | [
"1670s establishments in England",
"Cinemas in London",
"Global Radio",
"Leicester Square"
]
| Leicester Square (/ˈlɛstər/ LEST-ər) is a pedestrianised square in the West End of London, England. It was laid out in 1670 as Leicester Fields, which was named after the recently built Leicester House, itself named after Robert Sidney, 2nd Earl of Leicester.
The square was originally a gentrified residential area, with tenants including Frederick, Prince of Wales and the artists William Hogarth and Joshua Reynolds. It became more down-market in the late 18th century as Leicester House was demolished and retail developments took place, becoming a centre for entertainment. Several major theatres were built in the 19th century, which were converted to cinemas towards the middle of the next. Leicester Square is the location of nationally significant cinemas such as the Odeon Leicester Square, Empire, Leicester Square, which are often used for film premieres (and the now closed Odeon West End). The nearby Prince Charles Cinema is known for its screenings of cult films and marathon film runs. The square remains a tourist attraction which hosts events, including for the Chinese New Year.
The square has always had a park in its centre, which was originally Common land. The park's fortunes have varied over the centuries, reaching near dilapidation in the mid-19th century after changing ownership several times. It was restored under the direction of Albert Grant, which included the construction of four new statues and a fountain of William Shakespeare. The square was extensively refurbished and remodelled for the 2012 London Olympics at a cost of more than £15 million, taking over 17 months to complete.
## Geography
The square lies within an area bound by Lisle Street, to the north; Charing Cross Road, to the east; Orange Street, to the south; and Whitcomb Street, to the west. The park at the centre of the square is bound by Cranbourn Street, to the north; Leicester Street, to the east; Irving Street, to the south; and a section of road designated simply as Leicester Square, to the west. It is within the City of Westminster, north of Trafalgar Square, east of Piccadilly Circus, west of Covent Garden, and south of Cambridge Circus.
The nearest London Underground station is , which opened in 1906. London bus routes 24, 29 and 176 run on nearby Charing Cross Road.
Leicester Square has also been used as name for the immediate surrounding area, roughly corresponding with Coventry Street, Cranbourn Street, Charing Cross Road and St Martin's Street. This includes Bear Street, Haymarket, Hobhouse Court (named after Sir John Cam Hobhouse), Hunt's Court (after Samuel Hunt, 17th century carpenter and leaseholder), Irving Street (after actor Henry Irving), Orange Street (named after William III, Prince of Orange), Oxendon Street (after Sir Henry Oxenden, 1st Baronet), Panton Street (after local property dealer Thomas Panton), and Trafalgar Square.
## History
### 16th–18th centuries
The land where Leicester Square now lies once belonged to the Abbot and Convent of Westminster Abbey and the Beaumont family. In 1536, Henry VIII took control of 3 acres (1.2 ha) of land around the square, with the remaining 4 acres (1.6 ha) being transferred to the king the following year. The square is named after Robert Sidney, 2nd Earl of Leicester, who purchased this land in 1630. By 1635, he had built himself a large house, Leicester House, at the northern end. The area in front of the house was then enclosed, depriving inhabitants of St Martin in the Fields parish of their right to use the previously common land. The parishioners appealed to King Charles I, and he appointed three members of the privy council to arbitrate. Lord Leicester was ordered to keep part of his land (thereafter known as Leicester Fields and later as Leicester Square) open for the parishioners.
The square was laid out to the south of Leicester House and developed in the 1670s. The area was originally entirely residential, with properties laid out in a similar style to nearby Pall Mall. In 1687, the northern part of the square became part of the new parish of St Anne, Soho. The 7th Earl of Leicester took ownership of the property in 1728 and it was briefly the residence of Frederick, Prince of Wales, from 1742 until Leicester's death the following year. The poet Matthew Prior lived at what is now No. 21 around 1700 and artist William Hogarth resided at No 30 between 1733 and 1764, where he produced some of his best known works including Gin Lane. The magistrate Thomas de Veil, later to found Bow Street Magistrates' Court, lived at No 40 between 1729 and 1737; this location is now the Odeon West End. The painter Joshua Reynolds lived at No 47 from 1760 until his death in 1792; this location is now Fanum House, once the Automobile Association head office.
At the end of the 17th century, Lord Leicester's heir, Philip Sidney, 3rd Earl of Leicester, permitted a small amount of retail development in booths along the front of Leicester House. A statue of King George I was built on the square in 1760 following the coronation of his great-grandson, George III. The square remained fashionable throughout most of the 18th century, with notable residents including the architect James Stuart at No 35 from 1766 to 1788 and the painter John Singleton Copley at No. 28 from 1776 to 1783.
Leicester House was intermittently inhabited during the mid-18th century, and was finally sold to the naturalist Ashton Lever in 1775. Lever turned the house into a museum with a significant amount of natural history objects. In turn, the square began to serve as a venue for popular entertainments. Brothels began to appear around Leicester Square during the century, and visitors could pay to watch the severed heads of traitors executed at Temple Bar through a telescope. Leicester House became home of a museum of natural curiosities called the Holophusikon in the 1780s. It was demolished in 1791–72 due to rising debts following the extinction of the Leicester peerage, and replaced by Leicester Place. That in turn was converted into a church in 1865 and is now the site of the Prince Charles Cinema.
In 1790, a new Royal Opera House was proposed to be built in Leicester Square. The scheme was led by The Prince of Wales, Francis Russell, 5th Duke of Bedford and James Cecil, 1st Marquess of Salisbury and aimed to re-establish London as a centre for Italian opera and ballet, with an opera house to rival those in mainland Europe. The opera house was never built, as the royal patent needed at that time to license a theatre was refused. The plans for the original design are preserved in Sir John Soane's Museum, while a 1790 painting by William Hodges, which displays the finished design, belongs to the Museum of London.
### 19th–21st centuries
By the 19th century, Leicester Square was known as an entertainment venue, with many amusements peculiar to the era, including Wyld's Great Globe, which was built for The Great Exhibition of 1851 and housed a giant scale map of the Earth. The construction of New Coventry Street made it easier for traffic to access the square, resulting in private residences being replaced by shops, museums and exhibition centres. Savile House at No. 5–6, built in 1683 for Thomas Bruce, 2nd Earl of Ailesbury, had become a museum by this time, and was ultimately destroyed by fire in 1865. It was rebuilt as the Empire Theatre.
Several foreign-owned hotels were established around the square, making it popular with visitors to London. Brunet's Hôtel at No. 25 was opened by Louis Brunet in 1800, later expanding to Nos. 24 and 26 during the following decade. It was bought by Francis Jaunay in 1815 known as Jaunay's Hôtel. The Hôtel Sablonière et de Provence opened at No. 17–18 in 1845 as the Hôtel de Provence, and renamed in 1869. It closed in 1919 and became a public house. The Cavour, at No. 20 at the southeast of the square, opened in 1864. It was badly damaged in World War II but subsequently restored.
The Alhambra Theatre was built in 1854 on the east side of the square, dominating the site. It temporarily closed two years later when the original owner, Edward Clarke, became bankrupt, but then reopened in 1858 as the Alhambra Palace. It enjoyed a surge in popularity after Queen Victoria and family came to see "Black Eagle – The Horse of Beauty". It burned down in 1882, but reopened the following year. In the early 20th century, the theatre became a popular venue for ballet. It was demolished in 1936 and replaced by the Odeon Cinema. The Empire Theatre of Varieties opened in 1881 on the former site of Savile House, but had a troubled start, closing for a time, until the end of the decade. The theatre gained a reputation for high-class prostitutes frequenting the theatre, and in 1894 the London County Council ordered the promenade on the upper balcony to be remodelled. A young Winston Churchill, then a cadet at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, helped destroy canvas screens that had been erected to prevent access to the balcony. The theatre closed in 1927, to be replaced by the Empire Cinema.
During the Winter of Discontent, where the incumbent Labour Party struggled to meet demands of trade unions and a shrinking economy, refuse collectors went on strike in January 1979. Leicester Square was turned into a de facto dump, earning it the nickname of "Fester Square". In the 1980s, the square was pedestrianised, cutting off all vehicular traffic. Access to the square for goods and deliveries is now controlled by specially designated marshals.
By the start of the 21st century, Westminster City Council were concerned that the square was too dangerous at night, and wanted to demolish sections of it to encourage the growth of theatres and cinemas, and reduce popularity of nightclubs. In 2010, a major redevelopment of Leicester Square took place as part of a Great Outdoors scheme proposed by the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson. The improvements included 12,000 square metres (130,000 sq ft) of granite paving and a water feature surrounding the Shakespeare statue. The square re-opened in May 2012 after 17 months' work at a total cost of £15.3 million. The Greater London Authority said the refurbishments would accommodate more than 1,000 new jobs. The re-opening coincided with the 2012 Summer Olympics later that year.
## Features
### Gardens square
In the middle of the square is a small park that was originally available for common use on Lammas Day (12 August), such as washing clothes and herding cattle. The Earl of Leicester was obliged to preserve these grounds, which were separated from the rest of the square with railings. In 1808, the garden was sold by the Leicester Estate to Charles Elmes for £210 (), who neglected to maintain it. Ownership changed hands a number of times during the first half of the 19th century, including Robert Barren following Elmes' death in 1822, John Inderwick in 1834, and Hyam Hyams and Edward Moxhay in 1839. Little maintenance was done and the garden deteriorated to the point of severe dilapidation.
In 1848, the land was subject to the significant legal case of Tulk v Moxhay. The plot's previous owner, Moxhay, had agreed upon a covenant not to erect buildings but the law would not allow buyers who were not "privy" to the initial contract to be bound by subsequent promises. The judge, Lord Cottenham, decided that future owners of land could be bound by promises to abstain from activity, subject to the doctrine of notice (actual or constructive). Otherwise, a buyer could (re-)sell land to himself to undermine an initial promise. James Wyld bought the assets of the garden from the Tulk and Moxhay's death estates in 1849 to erect the Great Globe, though buried the statue of George I under 12 feet of earth with the globe stuck on top. The statue was uncovered following the globe's demise, but by 1866 it had deteriorated due to vandalism and was sold for £16. Arguments continued about the fate of the garden, with Charles Augustus Tulk's heirs erecting a wooden hoarding around the property in 1873. These were quickly removed after the Master of the Rolls ordered that the land must be preserved for its original purpose.
The garden was saved by the Member of Parliament (MP) Albert Grant, who purchased the park in 1874 for £11,060 and donated it to the Metropolitan Board of Works. The title deed for the square passed to the succeeding public bodies and is now in the ownership of the City of Westminster. After the purchase, the architect James Knowles redesigned the park. A statue of William Shakespeare surrounded by dolphins was constructed in the centre. The four corner gates of the park had one bust each of famous former residents in the square: the scientist Sir Isaac Newton designed by W. Calder Marshall; Sir Joshua Reynolds, the first President of the Royal Academy by H. Weekes; John Hunter, a pioneer of surgery, by T. Wooler; and William Hogarth, the painter, by J. Durham. Ownership transferred to Westminster City Council in 1933. The most recent addition was a bronze statue of film star and director Sir Charlie Chaplin, designed by sculptor John Doubleday in 1981. On the pavement were inscribed the distances in miles to several Commonwealth countries, including Canada, Kenya and Jamaica. After the Great Outdoors refurbishment of the square, only the statue of Shakespeare still remains.
### Entertainment
Leicester Square is the centre of London's cinema land, and one of the signs marking the square bears the legend "Theatreland". It contains the cinema with the largest screen and another with the most seats (over 1,600). The square is the prime location in London for film premieres and co-hosts the London Film Festival each year. Similar to Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, the square was surrounded by floor mounted plaques with film stars' names and cast handprints. During the 2010–2012 refurbishment, many of the plaques were removed, confusing tourists who still expected to find them there.
The Leicester Square Theatre is based in nearby Leicester Place. It was constructed in 1955 as a church, before becoming the Notre Dame Hall, then the Cavern in the Town, a popular live music venue in the 1960s. In the 1970s, it was renamed back to the Notre Dame Hall, where the Sex Pistols played one of their first gigs at the club on 15 November 1976. It was converted into a theatre in 2002 as The Venue, and refurbished as the Leicester Square Theatre in 2008.
The square has been the home for TKTS (originally known as the Official London Half-Price Theatre Ticket Booth), since 1980. Tickets for theatre performances taking place around the West End that day and during the week are sold from the booth at a significant discount. The popularity of the booth has given rise to other booths and stores around the square that advertise half-price tickets for West End shows. The Official London Theatre Guide recommends avoiding these booths as they are not official and do not contain the Society of Ticket Agents & Retailers (STAR) logo.
The square is home to the 93,000 square feet (8,600 m<sup>2</sup>) Hippodrome Casino. Following a £40m refurbishment in 2012, the premises can now accommodate 2,000 patrons.
Global Radio has its headquarters on the east side of Leicester Square at No. 30, close to the Odeon. The building houses the radio stations Capital, Capital Xtra, Classic FM, Gold, Heart, LBC, Smooth Radio and Radio X.
#### Cinemas
The Odeon Leicester Square, which dominates the east side of the square, hosts many film premieres. Opened in 1937, it has a capacity for 1,683 people, arranged in circle and stalls. The last 70mm film showing was Armageddon in 1998, after which the theatre began to use digital technology. The projection room still contains some of the original 1930s decor and normally houses two projectors. The Empire opened in 1962. It was previously the largest cinema on the square, but in 2013 it was subdivided to cater for an IMAX screen. The Odeon West End, on the south side, opened in 1930. It was not generally used for premieres and was earmarked for demolition in 2014, to be replaced by a ten-storey hotel including a two-screen cinema. Westminster City Council reported 400 new jobs would be available after the redevelopment. Vue West End, on the north side, near the north east corner, was the first cinema in Europe to show a 3D film with Chicken Little in 2006.
A short distance from the west of the square, on the south side of Panton Street, is the Odeon Panton Street. The Prince Charles Cinema, to the north of the square opened in 1962 with a "satellite dish" design where the audience looks upwards to the stage. The cinema became known for showing pornographic and erotic films during the 1970s, including Emmanuelle (1974). It later became a favourite venue for showing cult films, including The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) and a sing-along version of The Sound of Music (1965), and marathon performances including all seven Muppet films back to back. Prices are considerably cheaper than the main cinemas in the square; in 2013 a ticket for a new release at the Prince Charles cost £10, compared to £24 at the Odeon.
Due to the Leicester Square's long association with cinema, a film-themed sculpture trail entitled Scenes in the Square was installed. In February 2020, eight sculptures were installed which depict characters from the last 100 years of cinema including Laurel and Hardy, Mary Poppins, Batman, Bugs Bunny, Don Lockwood portrayed by Gene Kelly, Paddington Bear, Mr. Bean, and Wonder Woman. In September 2020, a statue of Harry Potter riding a Nimbus 2000 was installed, becoming the ninth statue in the exhibition. In June 2021, a statue of the Iron Throne from HBO TV series Game of Thrones was unveiled to mark 10 years since the release of the first episode.
### Other attractions
Leicester Square is one of several places in the West End that puts on events relating to the Chinese New Year. The celebrations are organised by the London Chinatown Chinese Association and held on the first Sunday during the new year period. Events include music, acrobatics and dancing. In 2015, the celebrations attracted more than 1,000 participants, becoming the largest of their kind in the UK. These included lion dances, a show of the Cultures of China and a drum show. A parade ran nearby through Charing Cross Road and Shaftesbury Avenue.
The Royal Dental Hospital and school was based at 40–41 from 1874 to 1901 and at 31–36 from 1901 to 1985, when the building was redeveloped as the Hampshire Hotel.
The School of English operated on Leicester Square from 1992 until its closure in 2015. It taught over 25,000 students during its years of operation.
The world's largest Lego store opened on 3, Swiss Court, Leicester Square in November 2016. The opening was marked by unveiling a 6-metre (20 ft) high model of Big Ben made out of 200,000 Lego bricks.
In 2022, Burger King announced it would open its first meat-free restaurant in Leicester Square. The restaurant is scheduled to operate from 14 March to 10 April.
### Infrastructure
The main electrical substation for the West End is beneath the square. The electrical cables to the substation are in a large tunnel ending at Leicester Square, and originating in Wimbledon, at Plough Lane, behind the former Wimbledon F.C. football ground, before which the cables are above ground.
## Cultural references
In 1726, anatomist Nathaniel St André claimed to have delivered rabbits from Mary Toft, a woman who lived at No. 27 Leicester Square. The event was widely reported around London, attracting interest from King George I and Royal Society president Hans Sloane. Shortly afterwards, the woman was caught trying to buy a rabbit in secret, and the incident was uncovered as a hoax.
Leicester Square is commemorated in the lyrics of the music hall song "It's a Long Way to Tipperary" along with nearby Piccadilly, which became popular with soldiers during World War I. During the war, British inmates of Ruhleben Prisoner of War camp mentioned the square in a song: "Shout this chorus all you can. We want the people there, to hear in Leicester Square, That we're the boys that never get downhearted." It is mentioned in the lyrics of several rock & pop band tracks, including the Rolling Stones' notorious "Cocksucker Blues", (1970) "Jeffrey Goes To Leicester Square" on Jethro Tull's album Stand Up (1969), "Emit Remmus" on the album Californication by the Red Hot Chili Peppers (1999), "He's on the Phone" (1995) by Saint Etienne and "Leicester Square" on Rancid's Life Won't Wait (1998). A verse in "Something About England" on the Clash's 1980 album Sandinista! refers back to "It's a Long Way to Tipperary", including a reference to Leicester Square.
Leicester Square is one of a group of three on the British Monopoly board along with Coventry Street and Piccadilly. The board was set out by designers Victor Watson and Marge Phillips in the order of entertainment on a Saturday night: film at Leicester Square, meal in Coventry Street and hotel on Piccadilly.
## Pronunciation
The word Leicester features the ending cester which is with rare exceptions spoken as a simplified pronunciation, so is counterintuitive, a quirk of British English. A report by Premier Inn said Leicester Square was the most mispronounced place in the UK by tourists, usually as "/laɪˈtʃɛstər/" ("Lie-chester") Square.
## See also
- List of eponymous roads in London
- 1 Leicester Square
- Swiss Centre, London
- Scenes in the Square |
11,149,404 | Red Clay State Historic Park | 1,168,486,043 | State park in Tennessee, United States | [
"1979 establishments in Tennessee",
"19th century Cherokee history",
"Cherokee Nation (1794–1907)",
"Museums in Bradley County, Tennessee",
"National Register of Historic Places in Bradley County, Tennessee",
"National Register of Historic Places in Tennessee",
"Native American history of Tennessee",
"Native American museums in Tennessee",
"Protected areas of Bradley County, Tennessee",
"State parks of Tennessee",
"Trail of Tears"
]
| Red Clay State Historic Park is a state park located in southern Bradley County, Tennessee, United States. The park was the site of the last capital of the Cherokee Nation in the eastern United States from 1832 to 1838 before the enforcement of the Indian Removal Act of 1830. This resulted in a forced migration of most of the Cherokee people to present-day Oklahoma known as the Cherokee removal. The site is considered sacred to the Cherokees, and includes the Blue Hole Spring, a large hydrological spring. It is also listed as an interpretive center along the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail.
After the Cherokee removal, the site became private land, and was primarily used for agriculture. In the later part of the 20th century, a group of local historians undertook an effort to preserve and protect the site and turn it into a state park. The site was named to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 1972, and Red Clay State Park opened to the public in 1979. It encompasses 263 acres (1.06 km<sup>2</sup>) of land directly above the Tennessee—Georgia state line, and consists of a museum, replicas of Cherokee structures that once stood on the site, and three hiking trails, along with other amenities.
## History
### Cherokee history
Before the arrival of the first European settlers, the area was inhabited by the Cherokees, an Iroquoian-speaking people believed to have migrated south from the Great Lakes area, where other Iroquoian tribes arose. Their territory encompassed parts of present-day western North Carolina, western South Carolina, East Tennessee, northern Georgia, and northern Alabama. The Cherokee peoples in Tennessee were known by European settlers as Overhill Cherokee because they lived west of the Blue Ridge Mountains. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the Cherokees organized a national government modeled on the United States Constitution, and were recognized by European Americans as one of the Five Civilized Tribes. After the Hiwassee Purchase of 1819, in which the Cherokees ceded their lands between the Hiwassee and Little Tennessee rivers to the federal government, the Indian Agency was moved to the site of present-day Charleston along the Hiwassee in 1821, which is located approximately 23 mi (37 km) northeast of Red Clay. In anticipation of a forced removal of the Cherokees by the federal government, White settlers began rapidly moving into the area.
Between 1827 and 1831, Georgia legislators passed a series of laws that prohibited the Cherokees from holding public meetings and nullified all Cherokee laws within their borders. In 1830, the federal government passed the Indian Removal Act, which authorized then-President Andrew Jackson to negotiate removal treaties with Native American tribes in the Southeastern United States. As a result of these actions, the Cherokees began to vacate their capital of New Echota, with the council temporarily meeting in Chattooga in Alabama in 1831. The following year, the Cherokee Nation permanently moved the seat of their government to Red Clay due to the site's central location and the abundant water source from the Blue Hole Spring, which they considered sacred. By 1836, the site had grown to include 91 log buildings.
A total of eleven general councils were held at Red Clay between 1832 and 1838 under the command of Principal Chief John Ross, each attended by an estimated 4,000 to 5,000 Cherokees. During the meetings, the Cherokees sent delegations to Washington, D.C. to argue to Congress and the President on their behalf, and repeatedly rejected agreements to surrender their lands east of the Mississippi River and move west. While these councils were ongoing, a pro-removal faction known as the Treaty Party arose within the Cherokee Nation, led by Major Ridge, his son John Ridge, Elias Boudinot, and Stand Watie. This faction believed that removal was inevitable and in the best interest of the Cherokee peoples. On December 29, 1835, they secretly signed the Treaty of New Echota at their former capital, without authorization from the national council at Red Clay.
The Treaty of New Echota was considered by many Cherokees to be an act of treason, and was rejected by the council at Red Clay on February 2, 1836. Later that month, two councils convened at Red Clay and Valley Town, North Carolina (now Murphy, North Carolina) and produced two lists totaling some 13,000 names, written in the Sequoyah writing script of the Cherokee language, of Cherokees who were opposed to the treaty. The lists were dispatched to Washington, D.C., and presented by John Ross to Congress. Nevertheless, a slightly modified version of the treaty was ratified by the U.S. Senate by a single vote on May 23, 1836, and signed into law by Andrew Jackson. The treaty provided a grace period until May 1838 for the Cherokees to voluntarily relocate themselves. In an effort to prevent a Cherokee uprising, Brigadier General John E. Wool ordered approximately 300 men to take up position near the Red Clay Council Grounds in mid-1836. The final council at Red Clay took place in August 1837, in which the Cherokees made a final unsuccessful effort to retain their lands. The Cherokee removal officially began on May 26, 1838, and the Cherokee agency at Charleston served as the military operational headquarters for the removal. Many detention camps were located in northern Bradley County between Charleston and Cleveland, with two of the largest at Rattlesnake Springs. The removal became known as the Trail of Tears.
### Post-removal
A village known as Red Clay was established south of the park on February 29, 1840, in the present location of Cohutta, Georgia. A large tract of land that includes the site of the park was sold by the state government to Frank Kincannon and John D. Traynor in 1841. Another tract was sold to John B. Marston the following year. The railroad, which had been planned through the area prior to the Cherokee removal, was completed in 1852, and a train depot and section house known as both "Red Clay" and "State Line" was constructed on the site. Most of the council grounds remained farmland. At least three skirmishes took place along the railroad at Red Clay during the American Civil War. On November 27, 1863, two days after the end of the Chattanooga Campaign, Union troops destroyed the depot and tracks at Red Clay in an attempt to prevent the Confederate Army from using the railroad through the area. Beginning in 1864, the site was used by the Army of the Ohio as a staging ground in preparation for the Atlanta Campaign, with additional troops under the command of William Tecumseh Sherman arriving months later. A group of Union scouts engaged in a skirmish nearby on May 3 of that year, and the troops began moving south four days later.
The railroad depot and section house were rebuilt some time after the Civil War, and were later demolished, probably in the 1930s. The land that is now Red Clay State Park was sold and divided multiple times in the roughly 100 years after the Civil War, and continued to be used as farmland. An African American church and cemetery is also speculated to have existed on the site some time after the Civil War. By the 1930s, the exact location of the council grounds had been forgotten, and some speculated that they may have been located in Georgia. This misunderstanding likely resulted from the Red Clay community's location in present-day Cohutta. Local historian John Morgan Wooten conducted research in 1934 and 1935 that established the approximate location of the council grounds; however, the Georgia chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution placed a historical marker commemorating the site less than 1⁄2 mi (0.80 km) south of the state line on November 10, 1935.
### State park history and events
In the late 1950s, an effort arose, spearheaded by a number of local historians, to preserve the land of the Red Clay Council Ground, then private land, and turn it into a state park. Local historian James F. Corn purchased 150 acres of the property on June 15, 1964, and five months later, the Cherokee-Red Clay Association was incorporated. In January 1970, Corn reached an agreement with the Bradley County Quarterly Court for them to purchase the land for the purpose of developing it into a tourist attraction. Shortly thereafter, Bill Jenkins, then the Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Conservation, worked with then-Governor Winfield Dunn to appropriate funds for the establishment of the state park. A series of archaeological excavations of the site took place between 1973 and 1975 and uncovered a small number of artifacts, but failed to determine the location of the council house. The Red Clay Council Grounds were added to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) on September 14, 1972, and the state of Tennessee purchased the land for the park in 1974. A dedication for the park took place on May 8, 1976, in a ceremony attended by members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and local and state leaders. Groundbreaking for the park occurred on April 26, 1978, and Red Clay State Park opened to the public on September 28, 1979. The southeasternmost 1.11 acres (0.45 ha) were added to the park on July 2, 1980. The blacksmith shop was added in June 2023.
The Eternal Flame of the Cherokee Nation, a memorial to the Cherokees who suffered and died during the removal, was placed on the site on April 6, 1984, at an event attended by both the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. This was the first time the two tribes were reunited since the removal. Between April 17 and 19, 2009, a joint council again convened at Red Clay to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the 1984 event. On August 22 and 23, 2015, the three federally recognized Cherokee tribes; the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, Cherokee Nation, and the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians; reconvened at Red Clay State Park for the first time since the removal. The park has also hosted a number of recurring events. Between 1982 and 2001, an event called the Cherokee Days of Celebration (known as Cherokeefest until 1986) was held at the park in August and sponsored by the state. The festival returned in 2003 as the Cherokee Cultural Celebration. The event, sponsored by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and other groups, features exhibitions about Cherokee culture and heritage. Friends of Red Clay was established as a nonprofit organization in 2007, and hosted an annual pow wow in October, the last of which occurred in 2019.
## Description
Red Clay State Historic Park is situated on approximately 263 acres (1.06 km<sup>2</sup>) of land in a rural part of Bradley County, Tennessee, with the Tennessee—Georgia state line and the city of Cohutta, Georgia, forming the southern boundary. It is located in the Ridge and Valley physiographic province of the Appalachian Mountains. Elevations in the park range from slightly over 800 ft (240 m), where the council grounds were located, to more than 1,050 ft (320 m) atop a ridge. It is accessible via Red Clay Park Road, which traverses the park; the main entrance is on the north end, and a secondary entrance is located at the southeast boundary on the state line. A Norfolk Southern Railway mainline runs along the eastern fringes of the park.
A replica of a Cherokee farmstead, sleeping huts, blacksmith shop, and the council house where the council meetings took place prior to the removal are found on the location of the council grounds. Originals of all of these structures once stood on the site; however, the number of sleeping huts and other log structures was much greater. More recent historical investigations also suggest that the actual council house may have been much larger, with a smoke vent in the roof for the council fire. The park contains the iconic Blue Hole Spring, also known as the Council Spring, which was considered sacred to the Cherokees. The spring rises out of a bowl-like depression and takes its name from its deep blue color. It has a daily flow of 414,720 US gal (1,569.9 m<sup>3</sup>), and its runoff flows into nearby Coahulla Creek, a tributary of the Conasauga River. Also located on the site is the Eternal Flame of the Cherokee Nation, which serves as a memorial to the Cherokees who suffered and died during the removal, and is permanently kept lit.
The James F. Corn Interpretive Center inside the park is a museum that features exhibits about 18th and 19th century Cherokee culture, government and politics, economy, recreation, religion and spiritual beliefs, and history. A series of stained glass windows depicts the forced removal of the Cherokee and subsequent Trail of Tears emigration. There is also a short film about the history of the site. An unmarked grave believed to belong to Sleeping Rabbit, a prominent Cherokee who fought in the War of 1812, is reportedly located in the eastern part of the park.
The park also contains three trails: the Connector Trail, Blue Hole Trail, and Council of Trees Trail, with lengths of 0.15 miles (0.24 km), 0.2 miles (0.32 km), and 1.7 miles (2.7 km), respectively. The last of these ascends the ridge on the eastern half of the park and has a stone overlook tower. Also within the park are a pavilion, picnic areas, an amphitheater which can seat about 500 people, and a mini-theater. The pavilion must be reserved.
## See also
- New Echota
- Fort Cass
- Hiwassee River Heritage Center
- Cherokee Removal Memorial Park |
448,584 | Lawrence Taylor | 1,173,857,080 | American football player (born 1959) | [
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| Lawrence Julius Taylor (born February 4, 1959), nicknamed "L.T.", is an American former professional football player who spent his entire career as a linebacker for the New York Giants (1981–1993) in the National Football League (NFL). He is widely regarded as the greatest defensive player of all time.
After an All-American career at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1978–1981), Taylor was selected by the Giants as the second overall selection in the 1981 NFL Draft. Although controversy surrounded the selection due to Taylor's contract demands, the two sides quickly resolved the issue. Taylor was named both the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year in 1981 and the only NFL player to win the AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year award in his rookie season. Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, Taylor was a disruptive force at outside linebacker, and is credited with changing defensive game plans, defensive pass rushing schemes, offensive line blocking schemes, and offensive formations used in the NFL. Taylor produced double-digit sacks each season from 1984 through 1990, including a career-high of 20.5 in 1986. He also won a record three AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year awards (a record now tied by J. J. Watt and Aaron Donald), and was named the league's Most Valuable Player (MVP) for his performance during the 1986 season. Taylor is one of only two defensive players in the history of the NFL (the other one being Alan Page in 1971) to have ever won the NFL MVP award, and no defensive player has won since him. He was named First-team All-Pro in eight of his first ten seasons, and Second-team All-Pro in the other two. Taylor was a key member of the Giants' defense, nicknamed the "Big Blue Wrecking Crew", that led New York to victories in Super Bowls XXI and XXV. During the 1980s, Taylor, fellow linebackers Carl Banks, Gary Reasons, Brad Van Pelt, Brian Kelley, Pepper Johnson, and Hall of Famer Harry Carson gave the Giants linebacking corps a reputation as one of the best in the NFL. He is widely regarded as the best defensive player of his generation, and is often considered to be the greatest defensive player of all time.
Taylor has lived a controversial lifestyle, during and after his playing career. He was known for his on-game persona, and at one point inadvertently caused a compound fracture of the right leg of quarterback Joe Theismann. He admitted to using drugs such as cocaine as early as his second year in the NFL, and was suspended for 30 days in 1988 by the league for failing drug tests. His drug abuse escalated after his retirement, and he was jailed three times for attempted drug possession. From 1998 to 2009, Taylor lived a sober, drug-free life. He worked as a color commentator on sporting events after his retirement, and pursued a career as an actor. His personal life came under public scrutiny in 2010 when he was arrested for having sex with a 16-year-old girl. After he pleaded guilty to sexual misconduct and patronizing a prostitute, Taylor was registered as a low-risk sex offender.
## Early life
Lawrence Taylor was the first of three sons born to Clarence and Iris Taylor in Williamsburg, Virginia. His father worked as a dispatcher at the Newport News shipyards, while his mother was a schoolteacher. Referred to as Lonnie by his family, Taylor was a mischievous youth. His mother said that "[h]e was a challenging child. Where the other two boys would ask for permission to do stuff, Lonnie ... would just do it, and when you found out about it, he would give you a big story." Taylor concentrated on baseball as a youth, in which he played the position of catcher, and only began playing football at the advanced age of fifteen. He did not play organized high school football until the following year (eleventh grade), and was not heavily recruited coming out of high school.
## College
After graduating from Lafayette High School in 1977, Taylor attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he was a team captain, and wore No. 98. Originally recruited as a defensive lineman, Taylor switched to linebacker before the 1979 season. He had 16 sacks in his final year there (1980), and set numerous defensive records. He was recognized as a consensus first-team All-American and the Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year in 1980. While there the coaching staff marveled at his intense, reckless style of play. "As a freshman playing on special teams, he'd jump a good six or seven feet in the air to block a punt, then land on the back of his neck", said North Carolina assistant coach Bobby Cale. "He was reckless, just reckless." UNC later retired Taylor's jersey.
## NFL career
### 1981 NFL Draft and training camp
In the 1981 NFL Draft, Taylor was drafted by the NFL's New York Giants in the first round as the 2nd pick overall. In a poll of NFL general managers (GMs) taken before the draft 26 of the league's 28 GMs said if they had the first selection they would select Taylor. One of the two GMs who said they would not take Taylor was Bum Phillips, who had just been hired as coach and general manager by the New Orleans Saints. As fate would have it for Taylor, the Saints were also the team who had the first pick in the draft. Giants GM George Young predicted before the draft that he would be better than NFL legends such as Dick Butkus: "Taylor is the best college linebacker I've ever seen. Sure, I saw Dick Butkus play. There's no doubt in my mind about Taylor. He's bigger and stronger than Butkus was. On the blitz, he's devastating."
On draft day, Phillips made good on his promise not to draft Taylor and the Saints instead selected Heisman Trophy-winning halfback George Rogers with the first pick, leaving the Giants with the decision of whether to select Taylor. To the raucous approval of the crowd in attendance at the draft (which was held in New York City), the Giants selected him. Privately, Taylor was hesitant about playing for New York as he had hoped to be drafted by the Dallas Cowboys, and was unimpressed with a tour of Giants Stadium he was taken on, after the draft. Publicly, however, he expressed excitement about the opportunity to play in the city. Taylor changed his stance after he was drafted as Harry Carson made a point to reach out to him, and Taylor said he "talked to some players and coaches" and "got things straightened out." One of the factors that the Giants said they considered in selecting Taylor was his solid reputation. "He was the cleanest player in the draft. By that I mean there was no rap on him", said head coach Ray Perkins. "Great potential as a linebacker, a fine young man, free of injuries." Taylor chose to wear number 56 because he was a fan of Cowboys linebacker Thomas Henderson. As it would turn out, Taylor would have the longer and more successful career while Rogers, although successful in his own right with several 1,000-yard rushing seasons and two Pro Bowl selections, was injury-prone and forced to retire following the 1987 season with the Washington Redskins.
Taylor's talent was evident from the start of training camp. Reports came out of the Giants training compound of the exploits of the new phenom. Taylor's teammates took to calling him Superman and joked that his locker should be replaced with a phone booth. Phil Simms, the team's quarterback, said, "on the pass rush, he's an animal. He's either going to run around you or over you. With his quickness, he's full speed after two steps." Taylor made his NFL exhibition debut on August 8, 1981, recording 2 sacks in the Giants' 23–7 win over the Chicago Bears. Before the season word spread around the league about Taylor. Years after facing him in an exhibition game, Pittsburgh Steelers Quarterback Terry Bradshaw recalled, "[h]e dang-near killed me, I just kept saying, 'Who is this guy?' He kept coming from my blind side and just ripped my ribs to pieces."
Taylor developed what has been termed a "love-hate relationship" with Bill Parcells who was the team's defensive coordinator when he was drafted, and would later become their head coach. Parcells often rode players in the hopes of driving them to better performance. Taylor did not appreciate this approach, and early on told Parcells, "I've had enough. You either cut me or trade me but get the fuck off my back." Parcells kept on Taylor, but privately told some veterans, "I like that LT. That motherfucker's got a mean streak."
### Early career: 1981–1985
Taylor made his NFL regular season debut on September 6, 1981, in a 24–10 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. Aside from incurring a penalty for a late hit on Eagles running back Perry Harrington, Taylor played a nondescript game. In a game versus the St. Louis Cardinals later in the season, Taylor rushed and sacked the passer when he was supposed to drop into coverage. When told by Parcells that was not what he was assigned to do on that play, and that what he did was not in the playbook, Taylor responded "Well, we better put it in on Monday, because that play's a dandy." He recorded 9.5 sacks in 1981, and his rookie season is considered one of the best in NFL history. He was named 1981's NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year. Taylor's arrival helped the Giants defense reduce their points allowed from 425 points in 1980 to 257 in 1981. They finished the season 9–7, up five games from the previous season, and advanced to the NFL divisional playoffs, where they lost 38–24 to the eventual Super Bowl champion San Francisco 49ers. The San Francisco win was due partly to a new tactic 49ers coach Bill Walsh used to slow Taylor. Walsh assigned guard John Ayers, the team's best blocker, to block Taylor and, although Taylor still recorded a sack and three tackles, he was not as effective as normal. In contrast to his on-field success Taylor was already developing a reputation for recklessness off the field; after nearly getting killed during the season when his speeding resulted in a car crash, Young told the team's trainer he would be surprised if the linebacker lived past the age of 30, and the Giants insured Taylor's life for \$2 million.
The 1982 NFL season, which was shortened to nine regular season games by a players strike, included one of the more memorable plays of Taylor's career. In the nationally televised Thanksgiving Day game against the Detroit Lions, the teams were tied 6–6 early in the fourth quarter, when the Lions drove deep into New York territory. Lions quarterback Gary Danielson dropped back to pass and threw the ball out to his left toward the sidelines. Taylor ran in front of the intended receiver, intercepted the pass, and returned it 97 yards for a touchdown. This play was indicative of Taylor's unusual combination, even for a linebacker, of power with speed. He was again named Defensive Player of the Year.
After the 1982 season, Perkins became head coach of the University of Alabama and the Giants hired Parcells to replace him. In the coming years this change proved crucial to the Giants and Taylor. Leading up to the 1983 season, Taylor engaged in a training camp holdout that lasted three weeks and ended when he came back to the team under his old contract with three games left in the preseason.
Although Taylor recorded nine sacks and made the All-Pro team for the third consecutive season in 1983, the Giants struggled. The team went 3–12–1, and Parcells received heavy criticism from fans and the media. Taylor was forced to play inside linebacker for part of the season, a position which allowed him fewer pass rushing opportunities, when Carson was injured. Despite this change, Taylor made the 1983 All-Pro Team at both outside linebacker and inside linebacker, becoming the first first-team All-Pro in NFL History selected for two positions in the same year. Frustrated by the losing, Taylor began acting out by arriving late for meetings, and not participating in conditioning drills in practice. After the season, Taylor was involved in a fight for his services between the Giants and the New Jersey Generals of the United States Football League. Taylor was given a \$1 million interest-free, 25-year loan by Generals owner Donald Trump on December 14, 1983, with the provision that he begin playing in the USFL in 1988. Taylor regretted the decision, and less than a month later attempted to renege. His agent was able to negotiate by meeting with Trump personally and then the Giants which resulted in allowing Taylor to go with the Giants. Taylor got a 6-year, \$6.55 million package that also included a \$1 million interest-free loan. The main results of these negotiations were threefold: 1) Taylor returned the \$1 million to Trump, 2) the Giants paid Trump \$750,000 over the next five seasons, and 3) the Giants gave Taylor a new six-year, \$6.2 million contract.
The Giants' record rebounded to 9–7 in 1984, and Taylor had his fourth All-Pro season. He got off to a quick start, recording four sacks in a September game. In the playoffs the Giants defeated the Los Angeles Rams 16–13, but lost 21–10 to the eventual champion 49ers.
In contrast to the previous season the Giants headed into the 1985 season with a sense of optimism after their successful 1984 campaign and a 5–0 pre-season record. The Giants went 10–6, and Taylor spearheaded a defense that led the NFL in sacks with 68. Taylor had 13. One of the more memorable plays of his career occurred during this season. On a Monday Night Football game against the Redskins, Taylor's sack of Redskins quarterback Joe Theismann inadvertently resulted in a compound fracture of Theismann's right leg. After the sack, a distraught Taylor screamed for paramedics to attend to Theismann. Although this sack ended Theismann's career, Theismann has never blamed Taylor for the injury. Taylor says he has never seen video of the play and never wants to. During the first round of the playoffs, the Giants defeated the defending champion 49ers 17–3, but lost to the eventual champion Chicago Bears in the second round 21–0.
### Mid-career and championships: 1986–1990
In 1986, Taylor had one of the most successful seasons by a defensive player in the history of the NFL. He recorded a league-leading 20.5 sacks and became one of just two defensive players to win the NFL Most Valuable Player award and the only defensive player to be the unanimous selection for MVP. He also was named Defensive Player of the Year for the third time. The Giants finished the season 14–2 and outscored San Francisco and Washington by a combined score of 66–3 in the NFC playoffs. He appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated alone the week leading up to Super Bowl XXI with a warning from the magazine to the Denver Broncos regarding Taylor. The Giants overcame a slow start in Super Bowl XXI to defeat Denver 39–20. Taylor made a key touchdown preventing tackle on a goal line play in the first half, stopping Broncos quarterback John Elway as he sprinted out on a rollout.
With the Super Bowl win, Taylor capped off an unprecedented start to his career. After six years, he had been named the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year Award (1981), NFL Defensive Player of the Year a record three times (1981, 1982, 1986), First-team All-Pro six times, become the first defensive player in NFL history unanimously voted the league's MVP (1986), and led his team to a championship (1986). After the win, however, Taylor felt let down rather than elated. Taylor said:
> When the Super Bowl was over Everyone was so excited, but by then I felt deflated. I'd won every award, had my best season, finally won the Super Bowl. I was on top of the world right? So what could be next? Nothing. The thrill is the chase to get to the top. Every day the excitement builds and builds and builds, and then when you're finally there and the game is over
>
> And then, nothing.
The Giants appeared to have a bright future coming off their 1986 championship season as they were one of the younger teams in the league. They struggled the next season however, falling to 6–9 in the strike-shortened 1987 season. Taylor caused strife in the locker room when he broke the picket line after early struggles by the team. He explained his decision by saying "The Giants are losing. And I'm losing \$60,000 a week." He finished the season as the team leader in sacks with 12 in 12 games played, but missed a game due to a hamstring injury, ending his consecutive games played streak at 106.
The Giants looked to rebound to their championship ways in 1988 but the start of the season was marred by controversy surrounding Taylor. He tested positive for cocaine and was suspended by the league for thirty days, as it was his second violation of the NFL's substance abuse policy. The first result in 1987 had been kept private and was not known to the public at the time. He was kept away from the press during this period and checked himself into rehab in early September. Taylor's over-the-edge lifestyle was becoming an increasing concern for fans and team officials. This was especially true given the eventual career paths of talented players like Hollywood Henderson and others whose drug problems derailed their careers. The Giants went 2–2 in the games Taylor missed. When Taylor returned he was his usual dominant self as he led the team in sacks again, with 15.5 in 12 games played. The season also contained some of the more memorable moments of Taylor's career. In a crucial late-season game with playoff implications against the New Orleans Saints, Taylor played through a torn pectoral muscle to record seven tackles, three sacks, and two forced fumbles. Taylor's presence in the lineup was important as the Giants' offense was having trouble mounting drives, and was dominated in time of possession. Television cameras repeatedly cut to the sidelines to show him in extreme physical pain as he was being attended to by the Giants staff. Taylor had already developed a reputation for playing through pain; in a 1983 game against the Eagles the team's training staff had to hide his helmet to prevent the injured Taylor from returning to the field. Taylor's shoulder was so injured that he had to wear a harness to keep it in its place. The Giants held on for a 13–12 win, and Parcells later called Taylor's performance "[t]he greatest game I ever saw." However, the Giants narrowly missed the playoffs in 1988 at 10–6 by losing tie-breakers with the Eagles in their division and the Rams for the Wild card.
In 1989, Taylor recorded 15 sacks. He was forced to play the latter portion of the season with a fractured tibia, suffered in a 34–24 loss to the 49ers in week 12, which caused him to sit out the second half of several games. Despite his off-the-field problems, Taylor remained popular among his teammates and was voted defensive co-captain along with Carl Banks. The two filled the defensive captain's spot vacated by the retired Harry Carson. The retirement of the nine-time Pro Bowler Carson, broke up the Giants linebacker corps of Carson, Reasons, Banks, and Taylor, which spearheaded the team's defense nicknamed the "Big Blue Wrecking Crew" in the 1980s. The Giants went 12–4, and advanced to the playoffs. In an exciting, down-to-the-wire game, the Rams eliminated the Giants 19–13 in the first round, despite Taylor's two sacks and one forced fumble.
Taylor held out of training camp before the 1990 season, demanding a new contract with a salary of \$2 million per year. Talks dragged into September with neither side budging, and as the season approached Taylor received fines at the rate of \$2,500 a day. He signed a three-year \$5 million contract (making him the highest paid defensive player in the league) just four days before the season opener against the Philadelphia Eagles. Despite sitting out training camp and the preseason, Taylor recorded three sacks and a forced fumble against the Eagles. He finished with 10.5 sacks and earned his 10th Pro Bowl in as many years, although the season marked the first time in Taylor's career that he was not selected First-team All-Pro. The Giants started out 10–0 and finished with a 13–3 record. In the playoffs, the Giants defeated the Bears 31–3, and faced the rival 49ers in the NFC Championship Game. The Giants won 15–13, after Taylor beat two successive blocks by 49ers tight end Brent Jones and fullback Tom Rathman to get into the 49ers offensive backfield to be in position to recover a key fumble forced by nose tackle Erik Howard late in the game to set up Matt Bahr's game-winning field goal. In Super Bowl XXV, they played the Buffalo Bills and won one of the more entertaining Super Bowls in history, 20-19, after Buffalo's Scott Norwood missed a potential game-winning field goal in the closing seconds of the game.
### Final years and decline: 1991–1993
Following the 1990 season, Parcells, with whom Taylor had become very close, retired, and the team was taken over by Ray Handley. 1991 marked a steep decline in Taylor's production. It became the first season in his career in which he failed to make the Pro Bowl squad, after setting a then record by making it in his first ten years in the league. Taylor finished with 7 sacks in 14 games and the Giants defense, while still respectable, was no longer one of the top units in the league.
Taylor rebounded in the early stages of what many thought would be his final season in 1992. Through close to nine games, Taylor was on pace for 10 sacks and the Giants were 5–4. However, a ruptured Achilles tendon suffered in a game on November 8, 1992, against Green Bay sidelined him for the final seven games, during which the team went 1–6. Before the injury Taylor had missed only four games due to injury in his 12-year career. Throughout the 1992 season, and the ensuing offseason, Taylor was noncommittal about his future, alternately saying he might retire, then later hinting he wanted a longer-term contract.
Taylor returned for the 1993 season enticed by the chance to play with a new coach (Dan Reeves), and determined not to end his career due to an injury. The Giants had a resurgent season in 1993. They finished 11–5, and competed for the top NFC playoff seed. Taylor finished with 6 sacks, and the Giants defense led the NFL in fewest points allowed. They defeated the Minnesota Vikings 17–10 in the opening round of the playoffs. The next week on January 15, 1994, in what would be Taylor's final game, the Giants were beaten 44–3 by the San Francisco 49ers. As the game came to a conclusion, television cameras drew in close on Taylor who was crying. He announced his retirement at the post-game press conference saying, "I think it's time for me to retire. I've done everything I can do. I've been to Super Bowls. I've been to playoffs. I've done things that other people haven't been able to do in this game before. After 13 years, it's time for me to go."
Taylor ended his career with 1,089 tackles, 132.5 sacks (not counting the 9.5 sacks he recorded as a rookie because sacks did not become an official statistic until 1982), nine interceptions, 134 return yards, two touchdowns, 33 forced fumbles, 11 fumble recoveries, and 34 fumble return yards.
## Legacy
> Lawrence Taylor, defensively, has had as big an impact as any player I've ever seen. He changed the way defense is played, the way pass-rushing is played, the way linebackers play and the way offenses block linebackers.
Taylor is considered one of the best players to ever play in the NFL, and has been ranked as the top defensive player in league history by some news outlets, media members, former players and coaches. He has also been described as one of the most "feared" and "intimidating" players in NFL history. Taylor's explosive speed and power is credited with changing the position of outside linebacker from a "read and react" type of position to a more attacking, aggressive position.
Washington Redskins head coach Joe Gibbs developed the two tight end offense and the position of H-back to prevent Taylor from blitzing into the backfield unhindered. "We had to try in some way have a special game plan just for Lawrence Taylor. Now you didn't do that very often in this league but I think he's one person that we learned the lesson the hard way. We lost ball games." His skills changed the way offensive coaches blocked linebackers. In the late '70s and early '80s, a blitzing linebacker was picked up by a running back. However, these players were no match for Taylor. The tactic employed by San Francisco 49ers head coach Bill Walsh in the 1982 playoffs, using an offensive guard to block Taylor, was copied around the league. However, this left a hole in pass protection that a blitzing middle linebacker could exploit. Later, Walsh and other coaches began using offensive tackles to block Taylor. Later it became common for offensive linemen to pick up blitzing linebackers. In addition to the changes in offensive schemes Taylor influenced, he also introduced new defensive techniques to the game such as chopping the ball out of the quarterback's hands rather than tackling him.
## Drug and lifestyle problems
> For me, crazy as it seems, there is a real relationship between wild, reckless abandon off the field and being that way on the field.
Taylor began using illicit drugs during his professional rookie season, 1981–1982. He would pass the NFL's drug tests, however, by routinely obtaining his teammates' urine to submit as his own urine samples.
As his drug habit escalated, he would spend up to thousands of dollars a day on "coke and women." His first wife, Linda, once had to pick him up from a crack house. And he once attended a team meeting still handcuffed from the night before by some "ladies that were trying out some new equipment", but "just didn't happen to have the key" he would recall.
In 1987, he finally tested positive for cocaine, and admitted to using it. The next year, 1988, he failed a second drug test, whereupon the NFL suspended him for 30 days. With that, he abstained from drugs until his 1993 retirement, as a third failed drug test would end his career. Yet he would later recall that in retiring, "I saw blow as the only bright spot in my future."
During 1995, he went through drug rehab twice. But over the next three years, he was arrested twice, via undercover police officers, for attempts to buy cocaine. Meanwhile, he associated mainly with drug users, and his home usually had white sheets over its windows. "I had gotten really bad. I mean my place was almost like a crack house," Taylor would later explain.
## Post-NFL life
### Investments
In Taylor's final year in the NFL, he started a company called All-Pro Products. The company went public at \$5 a share, and tripled in value during its first month. The stock price reached \$16.50 a share, at which point Taylor's stake had an estimated value of over \$10 million. The company ceased production shortly thereafter however, and Taylor, who never sold his stock, lost several hundred thousand dollars. He had been defrauded by several members of the penny stock firm Hanover Sterling & Company, who had short sold the company's stock, making it worthless. The Securities and Exchange Commission ruled that two traders had manipulated the price of the stock, which skyrocketed while the company was losing over \$900,000. Taylor has also had self-inflicted financial problems; in 1997 he pleaded guilty to filing a false tax return in 1990, and in 2000 he was "sentenced to three months of house arrest, five years of probation, and 500 hours of community service for tax evasion."
### Television pundit
After his career ended, Taylor worked in several regular television jobs. He first worked as a football analyst for the now defunct TNT Sunday Night Football. In a one-off show, Taylor also appeared as a wrestler in the World Wrestling Federation, defeating Bam Bam Bigelow in the main event of WrestleMania XI. He also worked as a color commentator on an amateur fighting program entitled Toughman on the FX channel. On September 4, 1995, the Giants retired Phil Simms' jersey during halftime of a game against the Cowboys (Taylor had his number retired the year before). Simms celebrated the moment by throwing an impromptu ceremonial pass to Taylor. Simms recalled, "[a]ll of a sudden it kind of hit me, I've put Lawrence in a really tough spot; national TV, he's got dress shoes and a sports jacket on, and he's had a few beers and he's going to run down the field and I'm going to throw him a pass." Simms motioned for Taylor to run a long pattern and after 30–40 yards threw him the pass. Taylor later said the situation made him more nervous than any play of his career, "I'm saying to myself (as the pass is being thrown), 'If I drop this pass, I got to run my black ass all the way back to Upper Saddle River because there ain't no way I'm going to be able to stay in that stadium'." Taylor caught the pass, however, and the capacity crowd in attendance cheered in approval.
### Movies & video games
Taylor pursued a career in acting, appearing in the Oliver Stone movie Any Given Sunday where he played a character much like himself. He appeared as himself in the HBO series The Sopranos and the film The Waterboy. He also had a role in the 2000 version of Shaft. Taylor voiced the steroid-riddled, possibly insane former football player B.J. Smith in the video game, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. The character poked fun at his fearsome, drug-fueled public image. He also added his voice to the video game Blitz: The League and its sequel, which were partially based on his life in the NFL. He also acted in the 2000 Christian film Mercy Streets with Eric Roberts and Stacy Keach, and the 2003 prison movie In Hell with Jean-Claude Van Damme.
### Hall of Fame induction
In 1999, when Taylor became eligible for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, there were some concerns his hard-partying lifestyle and drug abuse would hurt his candidacy. These concerns proved to be ill-founded, however, as he was voted in on the first ballot. His son Lawrence Taylor Jr. gave his introduction speech at the induction ceremony. Taylor's ex-wife, his three children, and his parents were in attendance and during his induction speech Taylor acknowledged them saying, "thank you for putting up with me for all those years." He also credited former Giants owner Wellington Mara for being supportive of him saying, "[h]e probably cared more about me as a person than he really should have."
### Autobiography
In 2004 Taylor released an autobiography, LT: Over the Edge. Taylor often spoke of his NFL years, which he played with reckless abandon, and the drug-abusing stages of his life as the "L.T." periods of his life. He described "L.T." as an adrenaline junkie who lived life on a thrill ride. Taylor said in 2003 that "L. T. died a long time ago, and I don't miss him at all ... all that's left is Lawrence Taylor."
### Advertising and television
Taylor re-emerged into the public eye in July 2006, after appearing on the cover of a Sports Illustrated issue dedicated to former athletes and sport figures. In the magazine, Taylor credited his hobby of golf with helping him get over his previous hard-partying ways and drug filled lifestyle. He co-founded eXfuze, a network marketing company based in West Palm Beach, Florida. Along with former NFL players, such as Eric Dickerson and Seth Joyner, he was a spokesman for Seven+, the flagship multi-botanical drink produced by the company. His son Brandon signed a national letter to play with the Purdue Boilermakers. Taylor was a contestant on the 8th season of Dancing with the Stars, partnered with Edyta Śliwińska. He was eliminated in the seventh week on the April 21, 2009, show.
### Run-ins with the law
In 2009, Taylor started having troubles in his personal life again. On November 8, he was arrested in Miami-Dade County, Florida for leaving the scene of an accident after striking another vehicle with his Cadillac Escalade. He had already committed the same offense in 1996 when he totaled his Lexus in a one-car accident and left the scene, saying he did not think the law required the reporting of a single driver incident. He was released on a \$500 bond, and the other driver later sued him, seeking \$15,000.
In May 2010, Taylor was arrested for raping a 16-year-old girl at a Holiday Inn located in Montebello, New York. He was charged with felony third-degree statutory rape, for allegedly engaging in sexual intercourse with someone under 17. He was also charged with third-degree patronization for allegedly paying the underage girl \$300 to have sex with him. The girl told investigators that her pimp commanded her to tell Taylor that she was 19, which Taylor corroborated. The pimp, 36-year old Rasheed Davis, was charged with federal child sex trafficking. The girl was represented by celebrity attorney Gloria Allred when Taylor pleaded guilty on March 22, 2011, and was sentenced to six years probation as part of a plea agreement, in which he pleaded guilty to the misdemeanors of sexual misconduct and patronizing a prostitute. He also registered as a low-risk, level-one sex offender. On October 26, 2012, a court rejected the victim's claims that Taylor assaulted her.
As of 2016, Taylor resides in Pembroke Pines, Florida. On June 9, 2016, Taylor's wife was arrested for domestic violence in Florida after she threw "an unknown object" and struck Taylor in the back of the head.
In May 2017, Taylor put up for auction the Vince Lombardi mini statue he had won for the Super Bowl XXV win. The next month, he pleaded guilty to driving under the influence of alcohol following a September 2, 2016 crash into a stopped police car in Palm Beach County, Florida. The two breathalyzer tests taken five hours after the crash measured Taylor's blood-alcohol level at .082 and .084, above the Florida legal limit of .080.
## NFL career statistics
### Regular season
\* Unofficial statistic (sacks did not become an official statistic until 1982); however, this number is stated on Taylor's Pro Football Hall of Fame bio and is considered to be accurate.
† Including the 9.5 Taylor unofficially recorded as a rookie, his total is 142.
## See also
- History of the New York Giants (1979–1993) |
53,315,665 | Paddington tube station (Circle and Hammersmith & City lines) | 1,160,300,138 | London Underground station | [
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"Former Great Western Railway stations",
"Former Metropolitan Railway stations",
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]
| Paddington is a London Underground station served by the Circle and Hammersmith & City lines. It is located adjacent to the north side of Paddington mainline station and has entrances from within the mainline station and from Paddington Basin. The station is between Royal Oak and Edgware Road and is in London Fare Zone 1.
The station is one of two separate Underground stations of the same name. The other station, on Praed Street to the south of the mainline station, is served by the Bakerloo, Circle and District lines. Although shown on the London Underground map as a single station, the two stations are not directly linked and interchange between them is via the concourse of the mainline station.
## History
### Metropolitan Railway
The station was opened as Paddington (Bishop's Road) by the Metropolitan Railway (MR, later the Metropolitan line) on 10 January 1863 as the western terminus of the world's first underground railway. The station building was located on the road bridge carrying Bishop's Road (now Bishop's Bridge Road) over the mainline tracks of the Great Western Railway (GWR). Services were initially operated with rolling stock provided by the GWR, and the MR route to Farringdon was laid with dual-gauge track for both broad-gauge and standard-gauge trains.
On 9 May 1864, the boiler exploded on the engine of a train about to leave the station eastbound. The driver and fireman, a member of staff on the platform and a passenger on a train arriving from the east were injured. The explosion threw fragments of the boiler up to 404 feet (123 m) away. The canopy and end screen of the station's roof, the side wall of the platform stairs and the carriage of the arriving train were all damaged.
On 13 June 1864, GWR services were extended westward when the Hammersmith & City Railway (H&CR) opened to Hammersmith. MR services began operating to Hammersmith in 1865. Initially, trains ran for about 1 mile (1.6 km) on the GWR's mainline tracks between Paddington and the start of the Hammersmith branch, but delays on the mainline section led to a separate pair of parallel tracks for the Hammersmith service being constructed. These opened on 30 October 1871.
On 1 October 1868, the MR opened a south-west facing junction (Praed Street junction) approximately 350 yards (320 m) west of Edgware Road for a new branch to Gloucester Road. MR trains to Gloucester Road served a separate station named Paddington (Praed Street) south of the main-line station. Paddington (Bishop's Road) station was given its current name on 10 September 1933.
From 1 August 1872, the '"Middle Circle"' service also began operations through the station running from Moorgate then over the Hammersmith branch to Latimer Road then, via a now demolished link, to the West London Line to Addison Road and the District Railway (DR, later the District line) to Mansion House. The service was operated jointly by the GWR and the DR. The service ended on 31 January 1905.
Until 1990, services through the station were shown on maps as part of the MR and, later the Metropolitan line. They were separately identified as the Hammersmith & City line in 1990.
### Circle line
In December 2009, Circle line services began serving the station. Originally operating as a loop-line using tracks constructed by the MR and the DR and serving only the station in Praed Street, the Circle line's route was altered to include the Hammersmith branch to increase train frequency on the branch and improve the regularity of Circle line trains. Trains run in a spiral anti-clockwise from Edgware Road around the loop, back to Edgware Road and then on to the Hammersmith branch.
The station was rebuilt during 2012 and 2013 to provide longer platforms, improved access and connections to the mainline station. A new entrance to Paddington Basin was opened.
### Accidents and incidents
On 9 May 1864, the boiler of a Great Northern Railway 0-6-0 locomotive exploded as it was leaving Bishops Road. Two people were seriously injured and the resulting debris landed up to 250 yards (230 m) away, and a section of the main station roof was dented.
## Services
The station is in London Fare Zone 1 between Royal Oak and Edgware Road stations. Train frequencies vary throughout the day, but, generally, Hammersmith & City line trains operate every 10 minutes from approximately 04:50 to 00:42 eastbound and 05:22 to 00:53 westbound; they are supplemented by Circle line trains every 10 minutes from approximately 04:58 to 23:43 eastbound and 06:40 to 00:45 westbound. Both lines use the same tracks.
## Connections
London Buses routes serve Bishop's Bridge Road, north of the station. Other bus routes serve the station in Praed Street. |
1,046,769 | Speed 2: Cruise Control | 1,173,241,616 | 1997 film by Jan de Bont | [
"1990s American films",
"1990s English-language films",
"1990s disaster films",
"1997 action thriller films",
"1997 films",
"20th Century Fox films",
"American action thriller films",
"American disaster films",
"American sequel films",
"Films about ship hijackings",
"Films about terrorism",
"Films directed by Jan de Bont",
"Films scored by Mark Mancina",
"Films set in the Caribbean",
"Films set on cruise ships",
"Films shot in California",
"Films shot in Florida",
"Films shot in Los Angeles",
"Films shot in Miami",
"Films shot in the Bahamas",
"Films with screenplays by Jeff Nathanson",
"Golden Raspberry Award winning films",
"Speed (film series)"
]
| Speed 2: Cruise Control is a 1997 American action thriller film produced and directed by Jan de Bont, and written by Randall McCormick and Jeff Nathanson. It is the sequel to Speed (1994) and stars Sandra Bullock (who reprises her role from the original), Jason Patric, and Willem Dafoe. Cruise Control tells the story of Annie (Bullock) and Alex (Patric), a couple who go on vacation to the Caribbean aboard a luxury cruise ship, which is hijacked by a villain named Geiger (Dafoe). As they are trapped aboard the ship, Annie and Alex work with the ship's first officer to try to stop it after they discover it is programmed to crash into an oil tanker.
De Bont had the idea for the film after he had a recurring nightmare about a cruise ship crashing into an island. Speed star Keanu Reeves was initially supposed to reprise his role as Jack Traven for the sequel, but decided not to commit and was replaced by Patric before filming. The writers had to rework the script to accommodate the addition of a new character. Production took place aboard Seabourn Legend, the ship on which the film is set. The final scene, in which the ship crashes into the island of Saint Martin, cost almost a quarter of the budget, and set records as the largest and most expensive stunt ever filmed. Many interior scenes aboard the ship were shot on soundstages in the Greater Los Angeles Area. The soundtrack featured mostly reggae music. Mark Mancina returned to compose the film score, released as an album 13 years after the film's release.
The film was released by 20th Century Fox on June 13, 1997, to largely negative reviews from critics, who criticized the acting, story, characters, absence of Reeves, and its setting on a slow-moving cruise ship, citing it as less thrilling than that of Speed on a fast-moving bus. Eminent critic Roger Ebert defended the film, calling it a "truly rousing ocean liner adventure story". The film was also a box-office bomb, earning \$164 million worldwide against a production budget as high as \$160 million. It was nominated for eight Golden Raspberry Awards, winning the Worst Remake or Sequel category.
## Plot
Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) cop Alex Shaw is on a motorcycle chasing a vehicle with stolen goods. After he catches the driver of the vehicle, his girlfriend Annie Porter runs into him during her driving test. She finds out that Alex is on the SWAT team after he lied and told her that he was a beach officer. As an apology, Alex surprises her with a Caribbean cruise on Seabourn Legend.
Aboard the ship, deranged passenger John Geiger, a former employee of the cruise company, hacks into the ship's computer system, and the following evening, he sabotages the ship's communication systems and kills Captain Pollard. After remotely blowing up two of the ship's engines, Geiger calls the bridge to tell the first officer, Juliano, that Pollard is dead and he is in charge. Juliano is ordered by Geiger to evacuate the ship. Geiger steals jewelry from the ship's vault. As passengers evacuate, Drew, a young deaf girl, becomes trapped in an elevator, and a group of people also become trapped behind locked fire doors in a hallway filling with smoke. As Annie and Alex attempt to board the last lifeboat, Geiger programs the ship to continue sailing. When the winch lowering the lifeboat jams, Alex jumps into the boat to rescue the passengers, while Annie and Juliano use the ship's gangplank to get them back on deck.
Alex realizes that Geiger is controlling the ship. Armed with shotguns, he goes with Juliano to the cabin. Geiger remotely detonates explosives inside the room. Annie and Dante, the ship's photographer, notice the people trapped behind the fire doors, and use a chainsaw to cut the door open and let them out on the other side of the hallway. Meanwhile, Alex orders the navigator, Merced, to flood the ship and slow it down by opening the ballast doors. As the ship floods, Alex sees Drew on a monitor after she climbs out of the elevator, and runs to save her. Alex notices Geiger leaving the vault and holds him at gunpoint, but he escapes by closing the fire door in front of him. Using the ship's intercom, Geiger explains that he designed the ship's autopilot system, and is taking revenge against the cruise line after being fired when he contracted copper poisoning. Geiger again escapes from Alex by attaching a grenade to a door.
The crew notices that Geiger has set the ship to crash into an oil tanker off the coast of Saint Martin. Alex decides to stop the ship by diving underneath it and jamming the propeller with a steel cable. Geiger realizes that Alex is trying to stop the ship, so he jams the cable winch while Alex is underwater, causing it to break off the ship and free the cable. Geiger takes Annie hostage and escapes with her on a boat from the ship's stern.
To avoid collision with the oil tanker, Alex and Dante go into the ship's bilge and use the bow thrusters to turn it. The ship screeches down the side of the tanker, but manages to withstand the damage, and heads straight into a marina. It then crashes into a Saint Martin town and eventually stops. Alex jumps off, uses a speed boat, and pursues Geiger to a seaplane. Alex shoots at it from the boat with a speargun and reels himself in through the water. He climbs onto the plane, rescues Annie, and both escape from the plane on one of its floats, which falls onto the ocean. Geiger attempts to fly over the oil tanker, but the plane becomes impaled on the ship's foremast, causing both to explode. The tanker crew however are safe, having launched their lifeboat just in time, leaving Geiger to die in the ensuing explosion. Annie and Alex travel back to shore in the speed boat, and he gives her an engagement ring, asking her if she will "wear this for a while", and she accepts.
## Cast
### Main cast
- Sandra Bullock as Annie Porter
- Jason Patric as Officer Alex Shaw
- Willem Dafoe as John Geiger
### Seabourn Legend crew
- Temuera Morrison as Juliano
- Brian McCardie as Merced
- Jeremy Hotz as Ashton
- Bo Svenson as Captain Pollard
- Royale Watkins as Dante
- Tamia Hill as Sheri Silver
- Kimmy Robertson as Liza
### Cruise passengers
- Christine Firkins as Drew
- Lois Chiles as Celeste
- Francis Guinan as Rupert
- Michael G. Hagerty as Harvey
- Colleen Camp as Debbie
### Additional cast
- Joe Morton (uncredited cameo) as Lieutenant Herb 'Mac' McMahon
- Tim Conway as Mr. Kenter
- Glenn Plummer as Maurice
- Patrika Darbo as Ruby Fisher
## Production
### Background and writing
Speed was released in June 1994, starring Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock. The film's plot features the story of a runaway bus armed with a bomb that will explode if its speed drops below 50 miles per hour (80 km/h). It was a commercial and critical success. Director Jan de Bont felt the film was a "one-time story" with no sequel potential, and its studio, 20th Century Fox, included no obligation for the actors to appear in a follow-up film in their contracts. Due to positive word of mouth prior to its release, Fox considered producing a Speed sequel, and officially announced plans after the film's initial box office success in the first week of its release. De Bont was contractually obligated to direct it, and was paid a reported \$5–6 million salary. Even though their contracts did not obligate them to do so, Fox expected Reeves and Bullock to reprise their roles, and envisioned the follow-up film with Reeves and Bullock's characters as a married couple.
Hundreds of ideas for a sequel were submitted to De Bont, all of which he turned down in favor of his own idea, based on a recurring nightmare he experienced about a cruise ship crashing into an island. Speed screenwriter Graham Yost had an idea for a film involving a boat, with a Vietnam War-era vessel loaded with weapons that would explode if its ammunition came in contact with water. He also had an idea for a story about a plane that has to fly through the Andes mountains, but cannot ascend above 10,000 feet (3,000 m). Neither Yost nor Speed producer Mark Gordon were asked to participate in the sequel, although Yost received a "characters created by" credit and Gordon was credited as executive producer for Speed 2. Randall McCormick was hired to write the sequel in 1994 and received a story credit along with De Bont. McCormick and Jeff Nathanson collectively wrote the screenplay, working back from the idea based on De Bont's nightmare. Die Hard director John McTiernan claimed in 2001 that "the studio used most of the material we'd developed" for a potential Die Hard sequel and turned it into Speed 2, including "the ocean liner going on the beach." The storyline for that film had been abandoned because it was too similar to Under Siege. Prior to production, details about the film were kept secret, and De Bont refused to confirm rumors about the film taking place on a ship, although he did state that the sequel would be "funnier", while Speed 2 star Jason Patric said the sequel is a "very complex movie" and would have "bigger sequences."
Speed 2 was produced by De Bont's production company, Blue Tulip, and he was one of the film's three co-producers along with Steve Perry and Michael Peyser. The director began working on pre-production prior to the release of his previous film, Twister (1996). For the cruise ship on which the film would be set, De Bont visited ships from various cruise lines and chose Seabourn Legend for its luxurious amenities and sleek design. While Speed was produced for \$30 million, the sequel was green-lit at "just under \$100 million" due to the larger production and higher cast salaries. He started location scouting in the Caribbean in May 1996, and chose Saint Martin as the primary filming location because he felt it was least likely to be subjected to a hurricane. It was later reported that the film had gone over-budget and costs had ballooned to as much as \$160 million. De Bont acknowledged that they had gone over budget but that the cost would be close to \$100 million.
### Casting
Bullock initially declined to star in the sequel, but later agreed to get financial backing for the drama film Hope Floats (1998); she was paid a reported \$11–\$13 million to reprise her role as Annie. Reeves was offered \$12 million to reprise his role as Jack Traven, but turned it down because he did not like the script, was financially secure from the success of Speed, and felt he was not "ready to mentally and physically" star in another action film after having completed Chain Reaction (1996). He passed on Speed 2 in order to star in the film The Devil's Advocate (1997), which was filmed at the same time, then subsequently toured with his band, Dogstar. Reeves said that Fox was "furious" with his decision and released "propaganda" against him, falsely claiming that he turned down the role to tour with his band. De Bont said that the character in the sequel was not specific to Reeves and could be played by any young actor, as long as he had chemistry with Bullock.
Many actors were considered to replace Reeves including: Simon Baker Denny, Jon Bon Jovi, Patrick Muldoon, Johnathon Schaech, Christian Slater, and Billy Zane. Bullock initially suggested Matthew McConaughey, who passed on the role, prompting her to suggest Jason Patric, with whom she had wanted to work since seeing his performance in After Dark, My Sweet (1990). De Bont was skeptical of featuring a relatively unknown actor such as Patric, but was reminded by the studio that Bullock and Reeves were also relatively unknown prior to Speed, and chose Patric based on his role in Sleepers (1996). Patric was paid a reported \$4.5–\$8 million for his role in Speed 2 and used his salary to finance a 1998 drama, Your Friends & Neighbors. After accepting the role, Patric stated that he never saw Speed or had any intentions of seeing it; Reeves said he was looking forward to seeing Patric star in the sequel. After Reeves declined to appear in Speed 2, the screenplay was rewritten to remove his character from the story, which De Bont wanted to deal with early in the film. His absence is explained in the first scene, where Annie talks about how her relationship with Jack did not work out, and mentions her current relationship with Alex (Patric), before his character is introduced in the film.
Gary Oldman turned down the role of the villain, Geiger, to star as another villain in Air Force One (1997). Willem Dafoe was cast as Geiger after he wanted to star in a "big movie" and once again play a villain. De Bont cast New Zealand actor Temuera Morrison as Juliano based on his role in Once Were Warriors (1994). Although he did not like the script, Brian McCardie accepted the role as Merced as his agents assured him it would be good for his career.
Comedian Royale Watkins was hired by De Bont for the part of Dante after discovering Watkins performing at a comedy club. Glenn Plummer was cast as a character named Maurice whose boat is hijacked by Alex, reprising his role from Speed as a Jaguar owner whose car is hijacked by Jack. To add comic relief, De Bont cast comedian Tim Conway as Annie's driving instructor, and hoped it would be a comeback role for him. Singer Tamia was cast as Sheri, an entertainer on the ship, because De Bont wanted a singer who could also act. She did not plan on doing any film acting that early in her career, as she had yet to release her debut album, but said the part was "too perfect for [her] to resist." Joe Morton reprised his role from Speed as SWAT lieutenant Herb "Mac" McMahon in an uncredited cameo appearance in the beginning of the film.
### Filming
Principal photography took place from September 23, 1996, to late February 1997. Film crews moved to West Palm Beach and Miami, Florida in July 1996 anticipating shooting in each location for several weeks later that year. However, due to scheduling issues with Patric, production did not take place in West Palm Beach and there were "just a few days" filming in Miami. The Miami production took place in a gymnasium and boat hangar at the Dinner Key marina complex, rented by Fox. After spending over \$55,000 on repairs to the facilities, Fox refused to pay the \$35,000 in rental fees to the City of Miami. The city sued for the rent since Fox did not seek approval for the repairs, and a compromise was reached when the city credited some repair costs, resulting in Fox paying around \$26,000 rent.
Seabourn Legend was rented for six weeks at a reported cost of \$38,000 per day; the ship served as the film's primary setting and provided accommodation for the cast and crew. The evacuation sequence was among the first scenes filmed on the ship, and was shot in Key West, Florida over a two-week period. Approximately 30 hoses and the ship's fire sprinkler system were used to simulate heavy rainfall in the scene. Severe weather conditions from Hurricane Lili delayed production activity on the ship for several days, and caused seasickness among the cast and crew for the remainder of the production at sea. To make the ship appear faster, all exterior shots were filmed from a moving vehicle. Scenes on the bridge were filmed in a mockup dubbed the "bridge ship", a large-scale reconstruction of the bow and bridge built atop the hull of a cargo ship. Additional ship interiors were filmed at Sony Pictures Studios and Warren Entertainment in Los Angeles County, California. Full-scale replicas of the ship's atrium, cabins, and engine rooms were constructed on sound stages where production took place for over a month. The scene where Alex rescues Drew while the ship is being flooded was filmed by camera operators wearing wet suits inside a sound stage tank, which was constructed with plywood and a hydraulic lift to give the effect that the water level was rising.
For the climactic scene when the ship crashes into an island, De Bont wanted to create and destroy an actual town. He opted against miniature scale models or computer-generated imagery (CGI) to provide a sense of realism for the actors and the audience. A \$5 million, 35-building set was constructed in Marigot, Saint Martin based on the town's local architecture, which temporarily housed production offices. Despite De Bont's reason for choosing Saint Martin for filming, a hurricane struck the town and destroyed the set during construction. It had to be rebuilt with hurricane-proof buildings. Exteriors of the bow mockup on the bridge ship were used in the first part of the scene when the Seabourn Legend is crashing into sailboats in the harbor; the bridge ship was used in place of the actual Seabourn Legend, as the latter could not navigate the harbor's shallow waters. The captain of the bridge ship had great difficulty hitting the sailboats during filming, despite cameras placed on the boats for the captain to view. A second mockup was constructed for the latter part of the scene, which featured a 150-foot (46 m) long replica of the Seabourn Legend's bow. This mockup, referred to as the "rail ship", weighed 300 short tons (270 t), and sat atop a set of wheels along a 1,000-foot long (300 m) track built 60 feet (18 m) underwater.
Filming the final scene with the rail ship was initially delayed because it could not be hoisted onto the track because of large waves caused by the hurricane. The scene was filmed using 14 cameras, with the rail ship traveling 50 feet (15 m) at a time into the set, with debris from the destruction cleared between each take. The mockup was powered by four diesel engines and pulled by a large chain at a speed of 18 miles per hour (29 km/h). The scene's three planned collisions were aided by explosives and hydraulics to ensure the set's structures collapsed precisely. Concrete was also removed from the buildings and replaced with sand-coated balsa wood so the buildings would "crumble" more effectively after being hit by the rail ship. In the scene's final shot, it had to stop successfully within a 6-inch (15 cm) area on the first take. The five-minute scene cost \$25 million to produce, roughly one quarter of the film's entire budget, and set records as both the largest and the most expensive stunt ever filmed.
The underwater scene where Alex swims underneath the ship was filmed in the Tongue of the Ocean off the coast of New Providence in the Bahamas. The location was chosen due to its water clarity, however, after viewing dailies of the scene, De Bont felt the water was too clear, so it was reshot with divers above the camera dusting the area in front of the lens with sediment to alter the clarity of the footage. The scene was filmed underneath a propeller-less barge that was designed to resemble the Seabourn Legend. To provide a sense of velocity in the scene, the barge was towed by tugboats at one and a half knots. The production crew did not have a winch system available for the underwater shoot as depicted in the scene, so a pulley system was created by feeding Patric a rope that was attached to the axle of a car that drove along the barge.
Instead of using stunt doubles, De Bont persuaded Bullock, Patric, and Dafoe to perform their own stunts, so the scenes would appear more realistic; the lead actors were required to engage in physical exercise sessions before and during filming. Stunt coordinator Dick Ziker was very impressed with Patric's stuntwork, and said that he "is so physical he probably could be one of the top stunt men in the world." His stunts included being dragged by a seaplane through the water, jumping onto collapsing buildings, and scuba diving while pulled by a moving ship. He was also required to tread water for multiple hours at a time. During a motorcycle stunt on a Ducati 916 on the second day of filming, Patric flew off the bike 30 feet (9 m) into the air and landed on a small bush; Bullock said the incident was so serious that Patric "should be dead." After surviving a traumatic surfing incident as a teenager, Bullock had to overcome her fear of water to perform necessary stuntwork in the film. During production at sea, Bullock was smacked into the ship on multiple occasions, and was saved by Patric from dangerous situation by the ship's rudder in one scene. Bullock and Patric also had a scene filmed in an underwater tank where they had to kiss underwater with Bullock's hands tied together. Navy SEALs with scuba gear were present inside the tank during shooting, as the actors had to hold their breath during the scene. According to Bullock, she performed all of her own stuntwork "except for a quarter of one stunt"; her stunt double worked for only three days during production. Of all the stunt-related incidents during production, De Bont said the most frightening was when a stunt woman was hit in the face by a boat cable and required reconstructive surgery. Following the production at sea, De Bont said that filming on water "was 100 percent more difficult than [he] imagined."
### Music
#### Score
Composer Mark Mancina wrote the film score for Speed 2 having previously composed the scores for Speed and Twister. He started composing the music in March 1997 and it was recorded at the end of April. He began by creating themes and melodies, then worked them into the film where he felt they would fit. The score includes a reworking of the 20th Century Fox fanfare, in which the final chord is sustained and "slithers down" into the opening theme, while the studio logo fades into a traveling shot of the ocean on screen. Fox was initially hesitant to feature an altered version of their fanfare, but allowed the alteration after being convinced by De Bont and hearing it performed by an orchestra.
Specific action cues were scored on the piano down to each second of film. Noting how the film was set in the Caribbean and had a different, slower pace than Speed, Mancina gave the score a "Jamaican/Latin feel" by incorporating reggae music between action sequences. The reggae music was written to give the feel of being on vacation and serve as a love theme for the characters. Some themes from Speed were included in the score between sections of the newly written material. He wrote new themes for Annie and Alex because he felt the original themes written for Reeves' character would not work well with Patric. After viewing the scene where Geiger attaches leeches to his body to cleanse his blood, Mancina felt the scene was "so gross" that he wrote a "slimy theme" for the character, which is distinctively different from the rest of the music. He mixed the score at the same time the film was being edited, which meant the music had to be constantly re-edited into the film. During the scoring of Speed 2, Mancina said in an interview that keeping up with the editing of the film was the "hardest thing [he had] ever done."
Over 100 minutes of score are present in Speed 2, more than Mancina wrote for Speed and Twister combined. After the score was written, he created a demo of the entire score on a synthesizer to play for De Bont. While the score for Speed only used strings, French horns, and percussion, Speed 2 used a wider variety of instruments including trombones, large woodwinds, bass clarinets, and contrabassoons. The score was recorded by a 96-person orchestra, including Mancina, who performed on a classical guitar on several cues. The reggae music featured a band with steel drums, in addition to Cuban drums and Latin percussion. De Bont wanted 16 steel drum players, but due to a lack of available players, Mancina used eight drums which were double-tracked.
Mancina's score was not initially released on CD to avoid competition with sales of the soundtrack album. De Bont made a deal with Virgin Records that it could not be released until at least six months after the release of the soundtrack. The score was not officially released until June 2010, when it was sold by La-La Land Records as a 3000-unit limited edition album. The album features 70 minutes of music across 14 tracks and, according to La-La Land, it also features a "notable amount of music" that was not used in the film, due to the constant re-edits prior to its release date. Daniel Schweiger of Film Music Magazine said that Mancina's score was "arguably a better one than Speed", praising the album's "thrilling themes", "epic orchestrations", and "Jamaican-style grooves." Filmtracks.com gave the release four out of five stars, saying the album was "perhaps [La-La Land's] finest offering of a previously unreleased score", although it also stated that "some of the action and suspense material in the latter half of the score becomes a bit generic."
#### Soundtrack
To complement the film's Caribbean setting, the soundtrack consists of mostly reggae music. De Bont wanted musicians to appear in the film as entertainers on the cruise ship. A cameo appearance for reggae band UB40 was written into the script after the filmmakers heard a demo of their song "Tell Me Is It True", and wanted them to perform it in the film. Brazilian reggae musician Carlinhos Brown was also chosen to be featured as a performer on the ship because De Bont wanted music that was "lively" and felt that Brown's music was "full of energy." Tamia worked with De Bont and producer Quincy Jones to choose a song for her character to perform in the film, and selected "Make Tonight Beautiful", which was written by Diane Warren.
In addition to UB40 and Brown, the soundtrack features reggae music from: Jimmy Cliff, Common Sense, Maxi Priest, Shaggy, Rayvon, and Betty Wright. Mark Mancina wrote a techno track for the soundtrack based on his film score, titled "Speed TK Re-mix", performed by Japanese musician Tetsuya "TK" Komuro. Other songs recorded specifically for the soundtrack include Priest's cover of "The Tide Is High" and Cliff's re-recording of his 1972 song "You Can Get It If You Really Want". The Speed 2: Cruise Control soundtrack album was released by Virgin Records on May 20, 1997, about one month before the film's release. The album features 12 songs, all of which are featured in the film; five of them were released as singles.
## Reception
Speed 2: Cruise Control did not receive the same positive feedback as its predecessor. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 4% based on reviews from 75 critics, with an average rating of 3.4/10. The website's consensus reads: "Speed 2 falls far short of its predecessor, thanks to laughable dialogue, thin characterization, unsurprisingly familiar plot devices, and action sequences that fail to generate any excitement." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 23 out of 100, based on 22 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "B−" on scale of A to F.
Time magazine stated that Patric's character was "fundamentally uninteresting", but blamed De Bont and the screenwriters for "not providing their actors with stuff to act." Many critics stated that a major issue with the film was the lack of thrills due to the setting on the slow-moving ship. Entertainment Weekly heavily criticized the lack of story and said the film is "as slow-moving as a garbage scow." According to the Los Angeles Times, even children who saw the film felt it was strange that it took place on a ship "not capable of going more than a few knots per hour [sic]", and claimed that Speed was "much more logical." Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times stated, "Even the film's big-ticket closing stunts are more impressive for their size than for any excitement they generate."
It is also considered to be one of the worst film sequels of all time, and many publications have placed Speed 2 on their lists of the worst film sequels. Complex ranked the film first on a list of The 50 Worst Sequels of All Time, calling it "one of the worst 'event' movies ever conceived", while praising Reeves' choice not to return for the sequel, and referring to Patric as "wooden and woefully miscast." In 2010, New York film critic David Edelstein featured an article on Speed 2 that described it as the "Worst Sequel of All", mainly due to the film's explanation for the absence of Reeves' character. In addition to being ranked among the worst sequels, Empire ranked the film at number 24 on its list of The 50 Worst Movies Ever.
Bullock later regretted starring in the film, and stated that the script was to blame for the film's negative reception. She admitted to having been skeptical about its success during production and "knew it was going to be a big flop" once she saw the final product. Patric also admitted "it wasn't a good movie" and said that its lack of success was due to de Bont's direction, while praising Bullock and the rest of the film's crew. Mark Gordon and Graham Yost stated they felt "bitter and happy" after initially not being asked to be involved in Speed 2, then seeing that the film was unsuccessful.
The film did receive some positive feedback. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun Times and Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune both gave Speed 2 three out of four stars, two of the film's three positive reviews included on Rotten Tomatoes. On their film review TV series Siskel & Ebert, they collectively gave Speed 2 a positive rating of "Two Thumbs Up", calling it a "truly rousing ocean liner adventure story", although Ebert criticized Bullock's more limited role in the sequel while Patric "stole all the action sequences." Since his original review, Ebert claimed that he enjoyed Speed 2 more than Bullock, and wrote an article in 2013 that his favorable review of the film "inspired more disbelief" than any other he had written and was frequently cited as an example of him being a poor film critic. At the Conference on World Affairs in 1999, Ebert spoke about the difficulty of making films such as Speed 2 and defended his review by offering a "Speed 3" contest for anyone to create a five-minute short film that takes place on something that cannot stop moving.
Speed 2 was listed on About.com's Top 9 Cruise Ship or Ocean Liner Movies, and said it had "good shots of the ship and a spectacular ending", but also described the plot as "lame." The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Los Angeles Daily News, and The Sacramento Bee each gave favorable reviews, while stating that the film was not as good as Speed. Empire Magazine's Andrew Collins gave the film 3 out of 5 stars, while commenting "...top-billed Sandra Bullock, formerly an accidental heroine, is insultingly sidelined here to boyfriend's little helper and hostage-in-waiting. Patric is the film's actual seaborne legend, and a watchable one, but the pair's gooey relationship sorely lacks Speed's thrown-together dynamic."
### Box office
Speed 2: Cruise Control premiered at the Cineplex Odeon in Century City, Los Angeles on June 9, 1997, and was released into theaters on June 13. The release date was rescheduled twice—originally set for July 2 and pushed up to June 6 to avoid competition with Men in Black and Titanic (which was then scheduled for July), then moved back one week to avoid competition with Con Air.
During its opening weekend, Speed 2 was shown on 2,615 screens and grossed \$16.2 million. It ranked at number one in the box office, grossing just \$500,000 more than Con Air in second place. Box office sales for Speed 2 dropped 54% the following weekend, grossing only \$7.8 million and ranking at number five behind Batman & Robin, My Best Friend's Wedding, Con Air and The Lost World: Jurassic Park.
The film grossed \$48 million in the United States, and had a total gross of \$164.5 million worldwide. Moviefone and Time have both ranked the film among the biggest box office bombs of all time, with estimated losses for the studio ranging from \$40–70 million.
### Awards
The film received eight Razzie Award nominations out of 12 possible categories at the 18th Golden Raspberry Awards, and had the second-highest number that year following Batman & Robin (1997), which had 11 nominations. Speed 2 won the award for "Worst Remake or Sequel", but lost the award for "Worst Picture" to The Postman (1997). At the Stinkers Bad Movie Awards, the film was nominated for three awards. It won Worst Sequel but lost both Worst Director and Worst Screenplay for a Film Grossing Over \$100M to Batman & Robin.
## Home media
Speed 2: Cruise Control was released on VHS on December 2, 1997. A LaserDisc version would be released that same month. The film would be released for the first time on DVD on November 3, 1998. It was once again released on DVD on July 30, 2002 along with its predecessor. This THX certified DVD release features animated menus that resemble Geiger's computer. Bonus features include a half-hour HBO special called "The Making of Speed 2: Cruise Control" and three trailers. These are a single trailer for Speed and two others for its sequel. On May 6, 2014, Speed 2: Cruise Control was released on Blu-ray as part of the Speed Collector Pack.
## Legacy
Speed 2: Cruise Control has been referenced and parodied in pop culture. A 1998 episode of the Irish sitcom Father Ted titled "Speed 3" involves a bomb planted on a milk float that will explode if the float travels under 4 mph (6.4 km/h). While the plot is a parody of Speed, writers Graham Linehan and Arthur Mathews got the idea for the episode after asking themselves if it was possible to come up with a "worse idea for a sequel than Speed 2." The Simpsons episode "Bye Bye Nerdie" (2001) features a scene on a racing school bus where character Milhouse Van Houten says "It's like Speed 2, only with a bus instead of a boat!" The Family Guy episode "Blind Ambition" (2005) includes a parody of the film's finale where a cruise ship crashes into a pier and through a city before stopping in the middle of an airport.
## Potential sequel
In September 2013, Keanu Reeves stated that he believed that an opportunity for his return in a sequel had passed. By September of the following year however, the actor stated that he would be open to reprising his lead role in a sequel. In May 2019, Reeves once again expressed his interest in a potential third movie. By November 2020, Jan de Bont stated that a third film may be developed, while acknowledging that he would want the original cast to return. In December 2021, Reeves expressed his desire to work again with Bullock in the future, and said "never say never" while acknowledging that the realization of a third installment may become a reality. By March 2022, Bullock expressed interest in reprising her role while joking about how much older they both are at this point in time. Later that month she stated that though she was taking a hiatus from acting, she would like to make a third Speed film alongside Reeves. During the interview, she and Daniel Radcliffe brainstormed comedic ideas for the potential project.
In March 2023, Reeves stated that he would reprise his role under the condition that the story justifies the movie with a great script. By April, Graham Yost expressed interest in returning to serve as screenwriter. |
69,116,732 | Golf Club: Wasteland | 1,168,772,720 | 2018 video game | [
"2018 video games",
"Android (operating system) games",
"Golf video games",
"IOS games",
"Nintendo Switch games",
"PlayStation 4 games",
"Post-apocalyptic video games",
"Single-player video games",
"Untold Tales games",
"Video games developed in Serbia",
"Windows games",
"Xbox One games"
]
| Golf Club: Nostalgia (formerly known as Golf Club: Wasteland) is a 2018 video game developed by Demagog Studio and published by Untold Tales. It was initially launched on June 20, 2018, on iOS and on Android in late December 2018. On September 3, 2021, it was released on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch, after being announced at E3 2021. The game has players explore desolate ruins of the Earth that have been transformed into a golf course after an apocalyptic event kills all of humanity except for the extremely wealthy, who flee to Mars. The game's narrative is mainly told through its soundtrack, which presents itself as a radio show called "Radio Nostalgia from Mars" playing music and interviews of people reminiscing about life on Earth.
Primarily developed by the visual artist Igor Simić, the game follows in the footsteps of his earlier mobile games, Crisis Expert and Children's Play, in providing commentary on social issues. Specifically, Golf Club: Nostalgia was inspired by the influence that owners of large corporations have on the world. The game has been praised for its soundtrack, narrative, and art style, while it has been criticized for relatively simple and shallow golf gameplay.
## Gameplay and synopsis
The gameplay of Golf Club: Nostalgia occurs over 35 two-dimensional, side-on golf stages. Some levels also have players use golf balls to open mechanical switches. Each hole has a designated par, ranging from 3 to 20. There are three modes of gameplay: "Story Mode", with no restrictions on stroke count, "Challenge Mode", with an enforced par limit, and "Iron Mode", in which no mistakes are allowed. On the desktop and console releases, players set an angle and power using an analog stick or mouse, swinging with one button press, while mobile players drag their fingers to aim and release.
In the story, an ecological catastrophe has caused rich inhabitants of Earth to move to Tesla City on Mars, with the decaying wasteland of Earth (specifically the city of Alphaville) being used as a golf course. The narrative of the game is primarily told through its soundtrack, an in-game radio station called "Radio Nostalgia from Mars" playing original music tracks, safety public service announcements, and interviews of survivors, in addition to diary entries that are unlocked through game progress. A common theme throughout the interviews is the nostalgia that people have for Earth, contrasting to the corporate-owned environment of Mars, with one interviewee wondering "Is living this way on Mars worth living at all?" The public service announcements showcase details of Martian life, such as the need for rationing water and anger management. The art of the game's stages features demolished and empty buildings dotted with neon signs.
## Development and release
Golf Club: Nostalgia was developed by Igor Simić, a visual artist from Belgrade, Serbia, in collaboration with two high school friends who were programmers. The team initially formed because of Simić's interest in pursuing video games as art, and he stated that the games aimed to be "something more akin to interactive satire" due to his background as an editorial cartoonist. Together known as "Demagog Studio" (named after demagogue, a term for a populist leader), they had previously worked on other "experiments" aiming to provide dark commentary on social issues, including Crisis Expert, a game referencing the 2008 financial crisis, and Children's Play, themed around child labor. For Golf Club: Nostalgia, Simić was inspired by the power and influence of corporations and their owners, an idea he called the "Silicon Valley Ideology". The apocalyptic golf concept (described internally as "Desert Golfing meets Blade Runner") took inspiration from a viral picture of golfers playing in front of the Eagle Creek Fire in addition to then-United States President Donald Trump's ownership of golf courses. Simić aimed to create an "emotional kind of message" with the story, attempting to "make [players] think of things [they] have now as if [they] had lost them forever". The background ruins were illustrated to look like communist-era architecture, particularly brutalist buildings and large monuments.
Golf Club: Nostalgia was created using the game engine Unity. The development team used FMOD to create ambient sounds, and they used custom shaders and tools to form the game's atmospheric art style. They reduced background assets to minimal silhouettes with small color palettes and used a blue fog effect, aiming to create a bleak yet light-hearted mood. Demagog also animated three-dimensional music videos, acting as narrative-less mood boards, in Unity. "Radio Nostalgia from Mars", the game's soundtrack, was developed in collaboration with Shane Berry and originally comprised seven original songs in addition to interviews. Simić envisioned the game as an "interactive audio book", with the radio program being the focal point of the game. After meeting Janet Biggs, an artist who had worked at the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah, they decided to make the interviews be realistic and plausible for Martian residents, rather than add satirical elements, as "the reality was absurd enough".
The game was released for iOS on June 20, 2018, to coincide with the Unite Berlin event. In September 2018, a new song called "Two Astronauts" was added to the soundtrack, with vocals from Ana Ćurčin. The game was then ported to Android on December 24, 2018. The desktop and console release of Golf Club: Nostalgia was announced for August 2021 during IGN's Summer of Gaming event, part of E3 2021. Simić jokingly announced in July of that year that only one copy of the game would be sold, at a price of \$500 million. He added that it would be distributed on 750 floppy disks to "help maximize the amount of environmental damage" of the video game. The game's release was slightly delayed, due to the developers wanting "to finish up some free extras", to September 3, 2021. On that day, it was released on Microsoft Windows (distributed via both Steam and the Epic Games Store), PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. Orders of the game also included a two-hour-long soundtrack and a 55-page graphic novel called Charlie's Odyssey. The publisher Untold Tales, consisting mostly of former Techland employees, attempted to create word-of-mouth marketing for the game by posting information about the game's story and message rather than its mechanical features.
## Reception
According to review aggregator Metacritic, reviews of Golf Club: Nostalgia were "generally favorable" on all desktop and console platforms.
Reviewers generally praised the sound design of the game, especially its radio format: Andy Chalk of PC Gamer stated that it "plays one of the best videogame soundtracks [he's] heard in ages". Several found it calming, including Jordan Loades from Nintendo World Report, who noted that the soundtrack "offers an incredible yet melancholic backdrop", and Rock Paper Shotgun's Katharine Castle, who called the station "[the game's] greatest weapon against any grinding or gnashing of teeth" and "just so darn soothing". The narrative and art style were also high points noted by reviewers, with Chalk writing that "the real hook, though, is everything that's going on in the background". TouchArcade's Carter Dotson enjoyed the story and its themes, saying that "it uses golf quite well to convey a message, even if it is a bit ham-fisted at times". However, Ollie Reynolds of Nintendo Life found some of the neon signs to be "needlessly childish" or inappropriate and that they "pulled [him] out of an otherwise pretty engaging and deep narrative". Christopher Byrd, writing for The Washington Post, applauded the game's use of references to science fiction novels and films.
Some reviewers, such as Byrd, praised Golf Club: Nostalgia's simple mechanics, but others, including Loades and Reynolds, largely considered it and the repetitive gameplay a negative. Loades also thought that the level design was uninspired, with the puzzle elements seeming more like annoyances. Chandler Wood of PlayStation LifeStyle found the gameplay highly frustrating, with inconsistent swings, necessary trial and error to determine the correct path, and long animations required to restart each stage; he stated that the golf "is simply not all that fun" and that he wished the developers focused more on secrets and interactions rather than "making frustratingly difficult levels that require lobs to barely reachable and tiny platforms". Push Square's John Cal McCormick stated that the holes "are more like little, self-contained puzzles than actual golf courses" but noted the presence of some frustrating levels. Additionally, Castle felt that the distance of shots could be difficult to judge and thought it could be clarified with color coding. |
12,915,112 | Thomas Bates | 1,134,207,704 | UK 1605 Gunpowder plot planner | [
"1567 births",
"1606 deaths",
"16th-century English people",
"16th-century Roman Catholics",
"17th-century Roman Catholics",
"English Roman Catholics",
"Executed Gunpowder Plotters",
"Executed people from Warwickshire",
"People executed by Stuart England by hanging, drawing and quartering",
"Roman Catholic activists"
]
| Thomas Bates (1567 – 30 January 1606) was a member of the group of provincial English Catholics who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605.
Bates was born at Lapworth in Warwickshire, and became a retainer to Robert Catesby, who from 1604 planned to kill King James I by blowing up the House of Lords with gunpowder, and inciting a popular revolt during which a Catholic monarch would be restored to the English throne. Bates was invited to join the conspiracy after he accidentally became aware of it. As he rode with Catesby to prepare for the group's planned uprising on 5 November 1605, Guy Fawkes was found guarding the gunpowder stored under the House of Lords and arrested. Bates subsequently accompanied Catesby and his small group of fugitives to Holbeche House in Staffordshire, but left shortly before his master was killed there by government forces on 8 November. He was subsequently captured and taken to London.
Bates was the only member of the group to implicate the Jesuits in the conspiracy, but may have done so only to alleviate his punishment. He retracted his statement when it became clear he was to be executed. Three days after his trial on 27 January 1606, he was hanged, drawn and quartered.
## Biography
### Servant
Bates was born at Lapworth in Warwickshire, and was married to Martha Bates. He was employed as a retainer to Sir Robert Catesby's family, and with his wife lived in a cottage on the Catesby family estate. He was allowed his own servant, as well as his own armour. Bates was considered a loyal and devoted servant to Catesby.
Bates was the seventh man to be enlisted into what became known as the Gunpowder Plot, a scheme devised early in 1604 by Catesby to kill King James I by blowing up the House of Lords with gunpowder, and inciting a popular revolt during which a Catholic monarch would be restored to the English throne. Bates's involvement in the plot began when he became suspicious of Catesby's movements. In December 1604 he was invited to his master's lodgings at Puddle Wharf in London, and questioned there by Thomas Wintour and Catesby, who had noted his suspicion. Bates told them that he thought that they "intended some dangerous matter about the Parliament House, because he had been sent to get a lodging near unto that place." At that point the two men let Bates in on the secret.
In the same month it was announced that because of the plague, the re-opening of Parliament would not be in February, but rather in October. During this delay the conspirators may have dug a tunnel beneath Parliament, although no evidence for its existence has ever been found. The plotters ultimately stored their gunpowder in the undercroft directly beneath the House of Lords. In July 1605 the opening of Parliament was again delayed, this time until Tuesday 5 November. Catesby had funded most of the plot, but by August 1605 he was running out of money. During a secret meeting at Bath in August, at which he, Percy and Thomas Wintour were present, the plotters decided that "the company being yet but few" he was to be allowed to "call in whom he thought best". Bates was uncomfortable with the idea, and was the only member of the conspiracy to object. He was over-ruled however, and Catesby soon enlisted Ambrose Rookwood, Francis Tresham and Everard Digby.
### Failure
The last details of the plot were finalised in October. Guy Fawkes would light the fuse and then escape across the Thames, while simultaneously a revolt in the Midlands would help to ensure the capture of Princess Elizabeth. Late on Monday 4 November, Bates set out with Catesby and John Wright for the planned revolt. The following day while at Dunstable re-shoeing Catesby's horse, they were met by Rookwood, who delivered the devastating news that Fawkes had been discovered guarding the gunpowder and arrested. As those conspirators still in London fled the city, the group soon integrated Christopher Wright and Thomas Percy. They rode toward Dunchurch, on horses sent from Everard Digby by prearrangement. They met Robert Wintour (brother to Thomas) at Ashby St Ledgers, and Digby at Dunchurch. On 6 November they stole horses from Warwick Castle, and collected stored weapons from Norbrook, near Stratford-upon-Avon. As they continued toward Huddington, and as the government issued a proclamation for the fugitives' arrest (Catesby's servant was listed as Robert Ashfield, probably a mistake for Bates), Catesby ordered Bates to deliver a letter to Father Garnet at Coughton Court, asking for his support. Bates's news proved momentous for the Jesuits; he overheard Tesimond exclaim "we are all utterly undone". Garnet's reply to Catesby begged them to stop their "wicked actions", and to listen to the pope's teachings.
### Capture
By the time the fugitives and their supporters arrived at Holbeche House on the border of Staffordshire, they were exhausted. Drenched from the rain, they spread out some of the now-soaked gunpowder in front of the fire, to dry out. A spark from the fire landed on the powder and the resultant flames engulfed Catesby, Rookwood, Grant, and another man. At some point between then and the arrival of the Sheriff of Worcester and his men, Bates left the house, possibly with his son and Digby. If he was with the latter, he was captured later the same day and taken to London. Catesby was killed early that day along with Percy, John Wright and his brother Christopher.
### Imprisonment and execution
While imprisoned, on 4 December Bates claimed that Father Oswald Tesimond knew of the plot. In the opinion of author Antonia Fraser however, Bates's evidence is suspect; he was of a lower class than his co-conspirators, and could therefore reasonably have assumed he was at more risk of being tortured than the others. Perhaps trying to curry favour with his interrogators, he was the only conspirator to implicate the Jesuits. He later retracted his confession when it became clear that he was to be executed.
Bates was charged with high treason, and tried at Westminster Hall on Monday 27 January 1606, alongside seven of his fellow conspirators. He arrived at the hall separately from the others; prisons operated on a class-based system and so he was kept at the Gatehouse Prison, rather than the Tower. Only Digby pleaded guilty. On the morning of 30 January 1606 therefore, Bates was tied to a wattled hurdle and dragged by horse along the street, from the Gatehouse Prison to the western end of St Paul's Churchyard. There he was present as first Digby, then Robert Wintour, and then Grant, were hanged, drawn and quartered. Bates was the last to ascend the scaffold that day, and met a similarly gruesome end. The following day the four remaining conspirators were executed in the same manner. |
48,754,515 | The Best Thing (Ivy song) | 1,166,126,928 | null | [
"1997 singles",
"1997 songs",
"Atlantic Records singles",
"Ivy (band) songs",
"Songs written by Adam Schlesinger",
"Songs written by Andy Chase",
"Songs written by Dominique Durand"
]
| "The Best Thing" is a song by American band Ivy on their second studio album, Apartment Life (1997). Released on September 12, 1997 by Atlantic Records, it was the band's major-label debut single and served as the parent album's lead single. The track was written by Dominique Durand, Adam Schlesinger and Andy Chase, and was produced by the latter two. A pop song, "The Best Thing" is accompanied by several guitars and a keyboard.
It was distributed to radio stations for airplay in September 1997, coinciding with the release of two CD singles. Rumors of a music video for the single circulated during the same month, although one was ultimately never released. "The Best Thing" was also pressed as a 7" jukebox single in Italy, where it was paired with the B-side track "A Nanny in Manhattan", performed by the American band Lilys. music critics praised "The Best Thing", with several calling it one of the catchiest tracks on Apartment Life.
## Background and release
"The Best Thing" was taken from Ivy's second studio album, Apartment Life, which was released on October 7, 1997 by Atlantic Records. It was recorded in 1997 in New York City at three different recording studios. The single was released in three formats; the commercial CD single includes the album version of "The Best Thing" while a promotional Italy 7" jukebox single, released by East West Records, used Ivy's song as the A-side and Lilys' "A Nanny in Manhattan" as the B-side. Another promotional CD single was also created containing the "Video Remix" of the track.
According to the liner notes of the promotional release, Atlantic Records billed "The Best Thing" as Ivy's official debut single. Following its distribution as a physical single, "The Best Thing" was serviced to modern rock and modern adult contemporary radio stations beginning September 12, 1997. The record label had hoped that Ivy would receive considerable radio airplay, in light of musical trends during the same time period when Apartment Life was scheduled to be released. Michael Krumper, the vice president of product development for Atlantic Records, predicted this, given that "there are a number of records that have a similar feel to Ivy".
Prior to the scheduled release date for Apartment Life, Ivy was scheduled for a promotional radio tour in September 1997. Around this same time, Billboard announced that a music video for "The Best Thing" would complete filming and production by the end of the same month; however, an official video was never released for the single, despite another Billboard article describing preparations for filming in November of that same year.
## Composition and production
"The Best Thing" was written by Dominique Durand, Adam Schlesinger and Andy Chase, with the latter two also serving as producers. Paul Q. Kolderie and Sean Slade contributed as the mixers, with Matthew Ellard serving as an assistant mixer; Bob Ludwig finalized the mastering and James Iha contributed backing vocals to the track. It was recorded in New York City in 1997 at three recording studios: The Place, Duotone Studios, and Compositions. A pop song, it features "rippling atmospherics" and a "punk-ish guitar", with a user from Sputnikmusic commenting that it may have been influenced by the American band Pixies. Its production consists of a "briskly strummed" acoustic guitar and a triplet-playing keyboard. Durand "stretch[es] out each syllable" while singing in a style that is reminiscent of the German musician Nico during the lyrics: "She's driving fast / She took the family car / She's getting high / She's never slipped so far". As the chorus begins, she repeats "It's the best thing / She's ever had" regularly alongside several guitars.
## Critical reception
"The Best Thing" was praised by music critics. AllMusic's Jack Rabid was extremely positive, calling it a "true single with a chorus that is to swoon and croon for". Vickie Gilmer and Ira Robbins from Trouser Press described the song as an "engaging opener" and lauded it and album track "I've Got a Feeling" for being catchy. Frank Tortorici from MTV News agreed, and predicted that it would likely "succeed at radio if given a chance". Calling it "sensuous", Stephen Thompson from The A.V. Club claimed that the rest of Apartment Life does not match the quality of "The Best Thing", but also stated that the entire album "never slips too far" because the end product includes "impeccably tasteful performances".
## Track listings and formats
- CD single
1. "The Best Thing" – 3:43
- CD single 2
1. "The Best Thing (Video Remix)" – 3:43
- Italy jukebox 7" single
A1. "The Best Thing" – 3:38
B1. "A Nanny in Manhattan" (performed by Lilys) – 1:45
## Credits and personnel
Management
- Recorded at The Place, New York City; Duotone Studios, New York City; and Compositions, New York City
Personnel
- Andy Chase – engineering, executive producer, mixing
- Dominique Durand – lead and background vocals
- Matthew Ellard – assistant mixing
- Josh Grier – legal
- James Iha – background vocals, additional production
- Paul Q. Kolderie – mixing
- Bob Ludwig – mastering
- Q Prime – management
- Adam Schlesinger – engineering, executive producer, mixing
- Sean Slade – mixing
Credits and personnel adapted from Apartment Life. |
43,420,154 | The Boat Race 1856 | 1,154,814,491 | null | [
"1856 in English sport",
"1856 in sports",
"March 1856 events",
"The Boat Race"
]
| The 13th Boat Race took place on the River Thames on 15 March 1856. Typically held annually, the event is a side-by-side rowing race between crews from the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. The race, the second to be held on the ebb tide, was won by Cambridge who beat Oxford by half a length.
## Background
The Boat Race is a side-by-side rowing competition between the University of Oxford (sometimes referred to as the "Dark Blues") and the University of Cambridge (sometimes referred to as the "Light Blues"). The race was first held in 1829, and since 1845 has taken place on the 4.2-mile (6.8 km) Championship Course on the River Thames in southwest London. It was the second race to be held on the ebb tide, the first time since the 1846 race, from Barker's Rails to Putney, approximately 1,200 yards (1,097 m) longer than the conventional course. Oxford went into the race as reigning champions, having defeated Cambridge by seven lengths in the previous race held in 1854. Cambridge led overall with seven wins to Oxford's five.
No Boat Race took place in 1855 – severe frost had caused both the Thames (from Oxford to Henley) and the River Cam to freeze, and heavy snow curtailed efforts to practice for the race. Instead the universities faced each other at the Henley Royal Regatta where Cambridge won the Grand Challenge Cup. Despite the victory, Cambridge agreed that they should propose the challenge to Oxford and did so during the October term; it was duly accepted. Both crews raced in boats constructed by Searle. The umpire for the race was W. G. Rich, the former Cambridge University Boat Club president who had rowed in both the March and December races of 1849. The starter was Edward Searle.
## Crews
The Cambridge crew weighed an average of 11 st 9.375 lb (73.9 kg), 8.75 pounds (4.0 kg) per rower more than their opponents. None of the competitors had taken part in a previous Boat Race.
## Race
Cambridge won the toss and elected to start from the Middlesex station, handing the Surrey side of the river to Oxford. The race commenced shortly after 11 a.m. with Oxford taking an early lead. Cambridge's number six, M'Cormick, caught a wave with his oar by the Ship pub and lost his seat, allowing Oxford to extend their lead. After recovering, Cambridge made a substantial push and passed Oxford to hold a small advantage, to hold a half-a-length by Barnes Bridge. Although they nearly increased their lead to a length, the Light Blues encountered a barge at Corney Reach which caused them to change course and lose ground, enabling Oxford to draw level once again. The crews exchanged leads with Oxford shooting Hammersmith Bridge with a half-length advantage. Cambridge steered closer to the shore and retook the lead. Despite a late surge from the Dark Blues, Cambridge passed the finish first, winning by half a length in a time of 25 minutes 45 seconds. It was Cambridge's first win in four attempts and their eighth win overall against Oxford's five victories. |
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